They didn't have a whistle because at the time the locomotive was made, 1977, they were 'in between' developing an electronic whistle. the first attempt at an electronic whistle was in the 8206 4-6-4 in 1972. It really wasn't too bad, but the design of the circuit board wasn't compatible with postwar transformer whistle control and was dropped after one production run. (Along with the C&O 8204 4-4-2 of the same time period.) It wasn't until 1980 when Lionel finally perfected the electronic Sound of steam and whistle with the 8003 Chessie 2-8-4 to be used with a postwar transformer. Lionel thought at the time a whistle sound really wasn't that important to operators. So, the 8702 was in this 'dry spell'. Lionel did supply instructions in 1980 to add the new whistle and SOS board to older locomotives like yours and the Blue Comet and the 8600 and 8306, and 8900 4-6-4 engines.
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