1970's era Blue Comet Tender Issue

I'm not quite sure why the RailSounds tender wouldn't accept the Blue Comet body, since it shouldn't have any wires coming out of it, the last time I checked on the 16655 version from 1993 at least.

For the second question, all you need is something to keep the boards insulated from the metal frame. I used a piece of cardboard for my MPC engines.

I've used beads of sticky-tack, and I've used double sided foam tape strips.

Mikado,

Thanks for your reply. The blue comet tender shell has two long plastic prongs in the back and the middle of the tender has a divider. The RailSounds tender shell is totally open it's 16665 from 1993. The same style tender shell as the Blue Comet. 

Hmm,

Well, that would explain a lot. I've never actually opened up the Blue Comet tender, but I did something similar to the Wabash 4-6-2 and it seemed to go fine for me, but I guess since it's a later engine...

Anyways, since you don't want to cut the inside out, maybe you should follow Ed Boyle's technique and use a postwar 2046W chassis and run it with the classic air whistle. The only other thing I can think of is try to rearrange the baords, but that is very risky and not recommended.

Thanks again Mikado!

Jim

quote:

Anyways, since you don't want to cut the inside out, maybe you should follow Ed Boyle's technique and use a postwar 2046W chassis and run it with the classic air whistle. The only other thing I can think of is try to rearrange the baords, but that is very risky and not recommended.

If that Blue Comet shell is made from the same mold as other early Modern era 2046W/2671W style shells, there is a plastic web dividing the inside of the shell roughly in half, along with a post or two.  They must be cut away to clear a postwar whistle assembly too.

If so, why not look for a shell to modify on Ebay? Then you can keep yours 100% original, and have the RailSounds version too.

I would be interested in reading about your results with the function of the Railsounds tender when you are done. I tried a similar project on two of my engines and the Railsounds ranged from completely erratic to nonsense. One electronic train friend of mine advised me that the engines that were supplied with Railsound tenders had capacitors on the motor, different resistance values in the motor windings, and some of them had shunted brushes. None of which my engines had. Of course there are those who accomplished what you want and had no problem.

quote:

One electronic train friend of mine advised me that the engines that were supplied with Railsound tenders had capacitors on the motor, different resistance values in the motor windings, and some of them had shunted brushes. None of which my engines had.

He could always add capacitors, and replace the brushes with shunted ones. 

Mikado,

My 1970s Blue comet tender fitted the PW 2046W frame without any modification, that's why I am puzzled by the problem the OP is having. ( I am presuming he is referring to the 1978 Blue Comet set)

By the way, thanks for remembering my solution to the whistle problem.  I am NOT a Sound of Steam fan.

Ed Boyle

quote:

My 1970s Blue comet tender fitted the PW 2046W frame without any modification, that's why I am puzzled by the problem the OP is having. ( I am presuming he is referring to the 1978 Blue Comet set)

The shells to which I was referring were from the early 1970's

Thanks everyone for your feedback.  Mr. Boyle, would I got about seeing your PW 2046W conversion.  Is this a video you made available.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim,

I wrote about this in a Collector's Gallery article when I discussed the 1978 Blue Comet set.  Would not be much to see, I simply removed the 2046 W "Lionel Lines"  tender shell from a PW tender by taking out one screw in the front of the tender and one screw in the rear. One other plus in operation comes from this change, you now have an operating coupler on the back of your tender.

I have a PW tender in the office and just tried it again.  Took out the two screws and removed the shell.

In the article, I simply placed the Blue Comet tender shell on the frame of the PW tender and it fit perfectly.  Can't remember if I even bothered to screw the shell to the PW tender frame.  I saved the MPC tender frame and SOS guts in case I ever want to revert the the tender back to its original configuration.

I have used the Blue Comet steamer with the PW tender frame for several years and the combination works well without the the SOS "static" noise to annoy me and the audience.

Hope this helps.

Ed Boyle

The attached pictures show one of those early MPC tender shells to which I referred. This particular shell is lettered "Lionel Lines". They also made shells lettered "New York Central" and "Pennsylvania" (white letters).
There was also a Pennsylvania shell done with gold lettering, I don't recall whether these have the web and posts.

Note that the back of the shell is still marked "2671W-6".

I tried a similar project on two of my engines and the Railsounds ranged from completely erratic to nonsense. One electronic train friend of mine advised me that the engines that were supplied with Railsound tenders had capacitors on the motor, different resistance values in the motor windings, and some of them had shunted brushes. None of which my engines had.

Interesting... We had a steam Railsounds boxcar circa 1990 which worked pretty well with an unmodified postwar 2026 (obviously when pulling a medium-sized train.)  Of course this was released in the days of one chuff per revolution, before traditional steam locomotives were really capable of scale speeds.  In a related project, we added an Ott stored analog sound system to a different postwar non-whistle tender.   That one did tend to begin chuffing before the train was moving.  I think the Ott system had an optional connection to the E-unit which, for the sake of interchangeability with multiple locos, we chose not to install.

With a series-AC motor the speed is highly dependent on load.  I would love to hear more about the motor differences Railsounds vs. non-Railsounds.  It sounds like Lionel made an effort to tame this tendency and make speed more proportional to track voltage.  Perhaps a similar technique could be used to improve the performance of postwar and MPC-era steam?  

Most of the OEM railsounds installations I'm familiar with including the boxcar and the 2426W tender, use a hall effect sensor (magnetic wheel) on the tender axle to synchronize chuff to speed.  I know the original poster didn't want to modify his tender, but it will be tough to add a sensor to the four-wheel Bettendorf trucks that came on the '78 Blue Comet.  Good post!

Hi Mr. Boyle,

Thanks for the information. I agree with you. The old sound system sounds more like a jet taking off vs. a steam locomotive.

Thanks,

Jim

Mr Boyle,

Can you let me know which issue run you reviewed the Blue Comet 70's set. I have most of the issues and I would like to go back and read article.

Thanks,

Jim