Hello Friends,I've spent the last year or so upgrading several of my conventional locos with sound (from electric RR), and I thought I'd share them. The latest is a Lionel Docksider 0-6-0, which was a tight squeeze. Sorry about the poor video. My next investment will be a good video camera. These were shot on my Christmas layout, modified for summer running. Shown here are a: 203, 2026, RMT Beep, Polar Express (SC and air whistle), Docksider (2 and 4 chuffs) and an On30 Bumble Bee loco. Yeah, the ON30 is a DCC upgrade I did for my youngest son for Christmas, but it is O scale, soooo... All have the upgrades in the tender, except the Beep and the Docksider. The Docksider has yet to have all its details re installed in the video.
Comments Welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9U6UO3aLjg
Oh, and here's a K-Line Porter with Sound Tender Added.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl0tO2KDPro
Bobby
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Hi Chief,
Which loco are you inquiring about? Or just in general? The Beep was by far the easiest, taking only about 15 minutes. No sweat at all. Most of the rest were each a unique experience. Overall the sound commander itself is easy to install. The chuffing mechanism can be tricky at first (mounting the magnet(s) on the wheel and the reed switch on the truck), but it's pretty straight forward. Finding a place for the speaker can be the challenge if space is limited.
Three hints that immediately come to mind are:
Plan ahead for speaker placement (the enclosure is about 2.25" across and .5" tall). I did use a different speaker than the one supplied on a couple of them, but I was sure to match the characteristics of the supplied speaker (8 ohm, at least .5 watt). Using a different speaker will probably void any warrenty.
Be careful with the reed switch for the chuff. They are glass and can break if twisted the wrong way (which I did on the very first one). I'm not saying their fragile. Just not gorilla proof.
Be careful with the magnet(s), as they can be dropped and roll away (another of my experiences). You hear it roll away and SNAP to something metal, but don't expect to find it.
You may or may not need to add a pair of diodes to the motors on newer locos to have the sound start working before the loco starts moving. I just bought 100 1N4004's from Mouser.com. They're pretty cheap, and can be used on plenty of other projects. I added them on some locos just so that the smoke output improved (Polar Express).
Is that the kind of thing your looking for Chief? Or are you interested in a particular loco?
Thanks for taking the time to make the video. I was surprised to hear different sounds in each of the engines. I haven't shopped for any sound or chuff electronics, so I never thought about the different sounds available.
I really like that Kline! It's small, but the sound makes it so much more fun than in stock form.
Wes
Bobby, that was freakin' awesome!!! Those upgraded locos all sound great! Every single one of them. The Polar Express sounds incredible. They all do! I book marked your videos! Sign me up!
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Nice, your engines smoke great too!So far I've upgraded a GG1 & an F7 using ERR. Tho on the diesels, it's hard to hear engine rev changes.
I have an RDC, a K-line switcher & an MTH dockside I'd like to do also.
Paul
Thanx All,
I don't have TMCC, but I think Jon also makes a TMCC upgrade for the Docksider that is a direct swap in (size wise), so I guess you can make your Docksider have command and sound??? I may have to look into TMCC just for that!
Wes,
Electric RR offers 3 different steam sounds. Which is plenty for most. Unfortunately I have three times that in steam locos, and I like all my locos to sound different (Jon, if you ever get some free time, please add more steam sounds). It gives them each their own personality I think. So I started mounting the speakers differently to get a little different sound. In the 2026 for example, I mounted the speaker facing out the bottom of the tender as would be normal SOP, but I did not use the included speaker baffle. Instead I sealed the tender shell with rubber cement, which makes the shell become the baffle. The result is a very deep sound from that one loco.
I really like the Porters too. I still have a couple new ones stashed away for possible kit bashing later.
Paul,
I know the RMT sound is muffled. My kids were rite behind me playing their Star Wars PC game and I think that audio may be coming across there. They did stop to watch me a couple times when they heard a new whistle. I had to laugh when they finally asked me to "Keep it down" so they could hear their game!!!
Bobby, Where exactly does the sound board fit in the Docksider? I converted mine to TMCC but it has no sound.
WOW!!! those sound great!!! I have a few locos that I will be doing TMCC and sound upgrades to. I noticed the smoking NYC caboose. Very cool! It looks like it might be O-scale as it's so big. Can you tell me what part number it is? I'm still waiting for Lionel to release their bay window scale NYC this October.
Dep
Virginian Railroad
Have you tried these?
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=sc_ri_1/602-8150723-5072616?ie=UTF8&asin=B0001HKVKQ
I have not, and they are pretty big, but you might be able to get them to fit in a tender vertically. It seems like a tactile speaker would be pretty neat in a train, if you can cram them in there.
Yea, I figured it would be a little big. I bet you could chop off one of those legs and still get good results. You don't need that much volume. of course, you also don't have 25 watts coming out of the sound board on these trains either...
John (jefelectric) - This link shows the video of the Docksider without the shell, and you can see the Sound Commander board hanging on the back for dear life .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrwbFMCAqrA
The shell fits rite over the Sound Commander just as you see it, AFTER I removed the bottom half of the backhead (is my terminology correct) that normally goes down to the frame in this area. This is no biggie, since the bottom half is not visible anyway. I did have to remove the plastic deck inside the back of the cab to make room for the capacitors, so the caps can be seen in the cab rite now. At least until I get around to painting them flat black. Then they should disappear. There were a few other things I had to do which are important. I'll try to get that info posted here ASAP. Probably not till Sunday or Monday night though (my weekend) in case anybody is interested in doing the same to their Docksider.
Deputy - That caboose is a K-Line Wood Sided Smoking Caboose that unfortunately I had to modify to get it to smoke. Previous to that the smoke was abismal at best. But I must say that K-Line did a fantastic job with it detail wise. Lots of details. It blows my Lionel smoking Caboose away completely (which also does not smoke....YET).
Wes, Yeah, that speaker is way too big of course. But always keep your eyes open for deals on small speakers if you plan on adding sound down the line (in locos or stationary). I've accumulated a shoebox load of them (all different) so I'm covered for the next ten years worth of projects!
Thanks to all who have commented. Just a couple more locos to go and then I can turn my attentions to the mess in my garage I call a layout. It's been held together with bubble gum and bandaids for over a year now. It needs attention badly!
lionroar88 wrote:Bobby,Let me know what you do to your Lionel Caboose to get it to smoke... mine doesn't do anything either and I have taken the shell off and dried out all the smoke fluid and then rewetted the wick... still no smoke... Don't know why Lionel can't get this right...
Brent: Are you running the caboose in conventional mode or TMCC/DCS mode? There have been posts about the Lionel smoking cabooses and the problems they had running in TMCC/DCS mode. Some of the heating elements got so hot they melted parts of the caboose. Wiring fried too. Some of the older smoking cabooses were wired to run in conventional mode and can't take the high voltage of TMCC mode. just a heads-up
Wow, the Sound Commander in the Polar Express sounds great. Like the fact you can flip a switch and have the air whistle or the digital one. I take it all the sound commander kit fit inside the tender?
I planning on converting my Polar Express to TMCC with Jon's Cruise Commander for the PE but I also want sounds. If the Sound Commander can be self contained in the tender, I think that would work out great.
Can you post a picture of the inside of the tender assuming that's where the speaker, original whistle and electronics are. I think it would be a very tight fit.
I am the monster in your head...And I thought you'd learn by now, It seems you haven't yet.I am the venom in your skin --- Breaking Benjamin
Paul - I'm not sure where the Sound Commander would go in a PE TMCC install, as it needs to be wired to the TMCC board to take advantage of the extra sound stuff under TMCC (can't get to those in conventional). I suppose there's no room for a speaker inside the loco shell. So there would probably need to be a tether of some type to the tender in any case. That would be a question for Jon at ERR I think. I'll try to include a photo of the inside of the PE Tender when I post some Docksider info next week. It was a tight fit, and not very pretty underneath. But it works.
anjdevil2 - If you download the manual for the Sound Commander (available at Jon's web site) I think it contains the basic Beep instructions. Basically... Remove shell, install speaker and circuit card under shell with 2 sided tape. Connect wires. Re install shell. Your done.
Deputy wrote: lionroar88 wrote:Bobby,Let me know what you do to your Lionel Caboose to get it to smoke... mine doesn't do anything either and I have taken the shell off and dried out all the smoke fluid and then rewetted the wick... still no smoke... Don't know why Lionel can't get this right... Brent: Are you running the caboose in conventional mode or TMCC/DCS mode? There have been posts about the Lionel smoking cabooses and the problems they had running in TMCC/DCS mode. Some of the heating elements got so hot they melted parts of the caboose. Wiring fried too. Some of the older smoking cabooses were wired to run in conventional mode and can't take the high voltage of TMCC mode. just a heads-up Dep
lionroar88 wrote:Dep,I was running in TMCC... So they come out with TMCC, which requires a higher voltage, and they build their stuff for conventional running ONLY? I'll repeat my earlier sentiment 'Why can't Lionel get this right?' Sounds like I need to open it up and take a gander again... maybe another purchase from ERR?
Brent:I think maybe they built some "smokers" before the TMCC came out. So they ended up not being compatible with the high voltage of TMCC. Or maybe they built them after TMCC, but they were "intended" for conventional operation. I think the fix is to install heavier gauge wiring in the caboose for both lights and smoke unit. I agree, though. Lionel should have at least come out with some kind of service bulletin on their website warning owners of rolling stock that has this problem to take them in to be upgraded or to upgrade them themselves. Can't have kids running a train that is a fire/burn hazard.
jaabat wrote:A heat sink would need to be installed as well, to protect the plastic from the heat of the smoke unit.
Geez...didn't they have that already in there???
Hey Bobby, I just ordered the BEEP kit, soooo....we'll see how it works inna couple of days.
I WAS brave enough to pop the top off my BEEP (geez, that was easy...), and saw the control board. I see no reason to panick(yet!!).
Thanks Bob, I'll post when I get it updated.
Deputy wrote: jaabat wrote:A heat sink would need to be installed as well, to protect the plastic from the heat of the smoke unit.Geez...didn't they have that already in there???
Nope. There's a kitchen sink. Different animal all together.
Bobby. I have all my locomotives packed up and ready to ship to you. Please install sound boards in them and send back to me with a bill. Can you have them all done by next Friday?
anjdevil2 - Just follow Jon's instructions. They're pretty good. If you have any questions, Jon is available via email and has helped me in the past with some questions, no problem.
Jaabat - I'd be happy to upgrade all your locos, however once here they may fall under eminent domain for this railroad!
Oh, by the way, the K-Lines answer to the smoking caboose TMCC/DCS problem was to add a switch that engages at single 1N4004 diode in series with the smoke resistor. Thereby cutting the voltage in half when in command mode.
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