Does anyone remember Onboard Sound & Control

[PASMITH]

Quoted from a post by :

andrechapelon 2006

"Herb Chaudiere was the first to achieve realistic sound from a moving locomotive. His ideas and the technology used were later developed by others into the PFM and PBL sound systems. If you've got sound on your layout or in your engines, you're following in the footsteps of Herb Chaudiere and his work with the Puget Sound Display group. "

Before  Herb migrated to the Puget Sound area  he lived in Harrington Park NJ. When I was a kid I remember him recording sounds down by the HP station on the double track West Shore Division of the NYC. 

'He was the one that got me into HO. He married one of my friend's sister. One day when I was visiting my friend's house I saw one of Herb's scratch built four wheel cabooses, I then went home and told my father the I was selling all of the Lionel Trains he bought me and, going into HO. I was 13 at the time.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[rrinker]

That is the basis for what became the PFM sound system.

             --Randy

 

[PASMITH]

Does anyone remember Herb Chaudiere and his sound systems from the mid 1950's ( See May 1959 MR and May/june 2007 NG&SLG)

Peter Smith, Memphis

[rrebell]

narrow gauge nuclear

As an electronics engineer and MR, I watched closely over these many past years as electronics got smaller and microcontroller IC's blossomed, got smaller and more powerful.  I watched a lot of different systems come and go including Keller's system.

I realized that until some standard was set in some advanced future baseline of operation (NMRA), that a lot of different systems of varied and specialized capabilities would constantly be offered only to, ultimately, fall to the wayside.

You kind of have to wait and watch in such cases until a rigid fixed standard is set or you will be left with an orphan.  I chose to wait out the electronic control and sound battles and only in 2010 came back to both MR and the modern accepted standard.  Note I said "standard".  I consider it still, a bit shakey, but all the best players are currently on board.  Sound is only in the last year or so being truly perfected with on processor, built-in mixers and sound processors accessed through a myriad of CV's.

One of the best out there is Tsunami, of course and others have taken note and are rising to its standard.  Diesel sound seems to have been the easiest to synthesize with many synthesized steam sound systems sounding really bad in the past.  Now, direct, real recorded sounds can be placed in vast memories contained in the controller and many selections of real sounds are the norm.  Synthesized sound is currently a poor step child, making many grimace who hear it.

Radio remote DCC and sound  operation is now the norm on many advanced layouts where several engines are run in complex operation sessions.

It is a brave new world out there and within the now fixed standards, you will see yet more growth for sure as the standards were designed to allow for digital, electronic expansion.

Pioneering systems like Keller's were all steps along the way even though many had a short life span. What was fabulous and unheard of then is now considered marginal, at best, yet remembered with a certain nostalgic fondness and well deserved recognition of the pioneering spirit shown at the time.

Richard

Since you have the credentials, do you think they will perfect the charging station for battery powered trains or are the obstacle's too high (for those that don't know a few out there are working on a battery powered engine that recharges at a spot on the track, not electrical in the rails except at the charging track)??????????

[maxman]

Jalisco

 I cannot find the manual. I would like to continue to use this system. can you help?

 

It appears that there is a Yahoo group devoted to this system.  You might try to get information there: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/onboard-keller/

[hminky]

I have a box of Onboard in my basement

Leave Onboard in the box and invest in DCC.

It was a good idea in 1985 but is truly obsolete.

Harold

[Jalisco]

Hi there, my name is Ken and I now live in Mexico. Many years and one wife ago I lived in Washington State and the layout I had then I put the Onboard system on. Now many years and moves later I am getting ready to start another layout.  I liked the way the Onboard system worked and think it would still fit my needs. At the time I had to box everything up I had not completed setting up all my locos. I cannot find the manual. I would like to continue to use this system. can you help?

Email: [e-mail]

Thanks, ken

[dl&w brakeman]

Yes, I remember it well...Bob Keller would only sell through hobby shops to ensure service and I was the guy for The Hobby Center in Elizabeth NJ who did installs etc....The Hobby Center also known as Bob's home for wayward boys is long gone with the resurgence of the area and doubling of the rent. The owner...also Bob, hence the name, ran a relaxed hangout hobby shop where friends met and the coffee and conversation flowed. Bob's retired to Florida and s still a model railroader....gosh I miss those times.

But I digress....I still have stock....throttles (decoders) and controllers....hand held throttles....manuals...sound for both steam and diesel and reverb units. My power supply was on old American Flyer transformer.....We ran on several layouts and boy was it loud....good stuff!!! Yes the controllers used buttons,not knobs and I still gravitate to using the buttons  on my NCE system.

Bob Keller was easy to reach by phone and very helpful....he even reconfigured my customer's system to enable his  LGB layout to power a smoke unit...no charge! I have fond memories of him and the Onboard System and am saddened to hear of his passing. He moved electronics forward in this great hobby of ours.

[betamax]

If anyone has pictures of the Onboard equipment (handhelds, decoders, etc.,) I would appreciated them to illustrate the DCC History page I maintain.  Or any other Command Control equipment for that matter.  Makes the text just that much more interesting.

Your pictures please, nothing scanned from an ad or something like that.

[narrow gauge nuclear]

As an electronics engineer and MR, I watched closely over these many past years as electronics got smaller and microcontroller IC's blossomed, got smaller and more powerful.  I watched a lot of different systems come and go including Keller's system.

I realized that until some standard was set in some advanced future baseline of operation (NMRA), that a lot of different systems of varied and specialized capabilities would constantly be offered only to, ultimately, fall to the wayside.

You kind of have to wait and watch in such cases until a rigid fixed standard is set or you will be left with an orphan.  I chose to wait out the electronic control and sound battles and only in 2010 came back to both MR and the modern accepted standard.  Note I said "standard".  I consider it still, a bit shakey, but all the best players are currently on board.  Sound is only in the last year or so being truly perfected with on processor, built-in mixers and sound processors accessed through a myriad of CV's.

One of the best out there is Tsunami, of course and others have taken note and are rising to its standard.  Diesel sound seems to have been the easiest to synthesize with many synthesized steam sound systems sounding really bad in the past.  Now, direct, real recorded sounds can be placed in vast memories contained in the controller and many selections of real sounds are the norm.  Synthesized sound is currently a poor step child, making many grimace who hear it.

Radio remote DCC and sound  operation is now the norm on many advanced layouts where several engines are run in complex operation sessions.

It is a brave new world out there and within the now fixed standards, you will see yet more growth for sure as the standards were designed to allow for digital, electronic expansion.

Pioneering systems like Keller's were all steps along the way even though many had a short life span. What was fabulous and unheard of then is now considered marginal, at best, yet remembered with a certain nostalgic fondness and well deserved recognition of the pioneering spirit shown at the time.

Richard

[tin can]

I believe Bob Keller passed away a few years ago in the Portland area.  He used to post regularly on a couple of narrow gauge forums, because after his Onboard years, he served in a management capacity at the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. 

He led an interesting and full life.  His posts / stories were full of humor and information. 

The old Texas Northern Model Railroad Club in Dallas utilized Onboard.  It did what we needed it to do.  I still have a complete Onboard system that was going to be used when I finally built my own railroad.

[Pruitt]

I owned one of those. I used it back in the late 80's and early 90's. The decoders cost about $50 each, and provided only speed and direction control.

The system ran off touch-tone signals through the rails. It was extremely sensitive to dirty track. I had to install Tomar contact shoes on my locos to get the system to work well. Once I did that, it was great!

The system sat in a box for years after I left Seattle. Finally I gave it to a guy at my NMRA division a couple years ago.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Never had one, but I do remember it. A friend of mine had the system on his layout. I spent many an afternoon drooling over it, wishing I could afford to get one. Unfortunately the layout and it's owner were both lost in a house fire in 1988.

[Stourbridge Lion]

ElectronicWizard - Welcome to trains.com!

[ElectronicWizard]

Living close to Los Gatos where OnBoard sound & Control System was designed and knew Bob Keller, inventor: I have a new-in the box system I've never used with the documentation and two 'throttles' and a sound unit. Beside what you note, the the documents list a variety of electronic modules with different power ratings, so hopefully you have something that can handle your train - from HO (or N) up through garden railroad G, you need more power, obviously. The control box will ramp speed up, down or trigger reverse. Other buttons are for horn. Wire the box with the AC cord to the input circuit of the control panel and wire the output from it to two or more tracks. It is a walk-about system so you can get a train going and then disconnect the control pad, go elsewhere, and connect in some other place you set up for other connection.  The 'throttle' module goes between the track pickup of a locomotive and the motor connections. In HO it should fit OK; N may require space inside a connected dummy locomotive; ditto for sound. 

Systems were sold through The Train Shop, Santa Clara. Basic two channel system was $315 and throttles were $100 +/- $20 depending on size, as of 1989.

 

 

[burktronics]

I am getting ready to play with DCC but I bought this box of ONBOARD stuff on ebay (couple boxes with 4 push-buttons, one decoder, and a control? box with a house power AC line cord (among others) coming out of it. Now I am looking for information about what to do with it to start getting familiar with it just for fun.

Does camarokid have anything I could buy or copy to learn about this equipment?

Thanks,

burktronics

[BigJim]

Do any of you have the instructions that tell how to reproduce any steam whistle according to it's length? I have a copy of the promo tape and it mentions that this was in the instructions.
Does anyone know where Bob is today?

[mecovey]

I also had Keller's On Board system. I purchased it while in Los Gatos in 1985. I was pleased with it and had few problems. It can't compare of course with DCC for size and features. I think I still have a few decoders (Keller called them throttles, I think) laying around somewhere

[camarokid]

Yes I do. It really did work very well for me. I only installed it in my diesels and was amazed at how warm the top of the bodies became. I was always afraid they were going to melt! I now have about $1,000 worth sitting in a box waiting to find someone who still uses this system. The only thing I still use is the 18 volt power supply to power my DCC.

[cjcrescent]

I operated with the Onboard sound and control system for a while when I lived in Mobile, Al. on a friend's layout. It was really well concieved and worked just as well. The sound was limited to a generic diesel sound, (thats all he ran), and the bell left a lot to be desired, but it was the best system at the time. It used "tones" similar to telephone tone pulses to change speed/direction etc. I really didn't care for the pushbutton control system,no knobs or levers, but it did work well. Given that it was analog, the recievers were still quite small for the recievers of the time and he had no problems installing them into his Atlas diesels. He used Motorola voice pager speakers, and for their size were quite loud. I believe that if it could have been converted into digital, the ONboard system would have become the standard instead of the one we currently have.

[Anonymous]

I saw it used once. At the time it was simply fantastic!! It's too bad he couldn't swtich over to DCC as I think his system was probably the best at the time.

[Anonymous]

I'm too young to remember using it, but I have seen it in some old Model Railroader magazines. It seems it was pretty new and advanced at the time. (early 80's)

[BigJim]

Do any of you remember the Onboard Sound & Control System or Bob Keller, the man that developed it? Where is Bob now?