1990s Lionel Boxcars with "Railsounds"?

I have 2 each of the diesel and steam cars. I like them for running with postwar and MPC engines that don't have sounds.  The sounds aren't up the level of the sounds that Lionel and MTH are putting in the locomotives now, but they are good to me.

These early RailSounds 1.0 electronics were pretty great for their time, but definitely show their age today.

Fortunately, they’ve held up pretty darn well in the 30+ years since and aren’t the most complicated to figure out how they work.

My bias is very nostalgic to this sound system (having watched the original Toy Train Revue video magazine in the 90’s) and have a few LTI-era locomotives with RailSounds 1.0 still intact, but they definitely aren’t up to match current sounds. If you can live with the datedness and can find them at reasonable prices ($50-60), they’re still nice to have.

I have the diesel sounds boxcar.  The sound is fine for the era it was produced.  Railsounds 2 boards as I recall. 

They were made in both Traditional and Standard O sizes.

This thread is about the diesel versions:

     Seeking Info - Lionel Railsounds Boxcar (Diesel Sounds, 1997 Version) | Mike H Mottler

Mike

It works really great with the K-line Diesel engine I have without any sounds at all.  I didn’t want to spend the bucks on this particular engine to add horn, bell and prime mover sounds, so this was an period accurate, inexpensive fix.  No way to tell that the sounds are not coming from the engine but from the following car.

Ron

Thanks for all of the positive comments.  I have two BEEP diesels that have no sounds whatsoever, so I hope to get one of these diesel boxcars around Christmas time.

All of my steamers have a whistle and bell, except for one that has no bell, so I think one of these cars would be good for that loco as well.

I'm not real picky about having lots of special options and electronic controls, since I stay primarily with the 1990s era can motor locomotives and traditional size cars.   For me, they are just toys, which makes it a less stressful hobby.

Best,

Mannyrock

I have the Santa Fe 9464 (?) diesel Railsounds boxcar from the Dash-8 set, and it is good sounding, but very low volume, and no volume pot to increase it. I also have the Rock Island Steam Railsounds; it’s drawback is 1 chuff per rev, very noticeable at slow speeds, good whistle. There is a way to unsolder something on the board  to get 2 chuffs/rev. And, lastly, have the Conrail 6464 sized diesel rs boxcar; needs a 9 volt battery for shutdown sounds. Very good sounds and volume, terrific horn.

I have the steam tender version to run with my 2 older conventional steam engines.  Works great.

Interesting comments, because historically, folks have either been saying that the sound level on these boxcars is very low, or that the sound level is just fine.

Do they all require a 9 volt battery?  Or just some of them?    Perhaps the battery versions have louder sound?

I only have conventional controls, so I don't think I can run the later ones that have some sort of command control.  Some of the descriptions say that they are PS models, but I'm no sure what that means.

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Interesting comments, because historically, folks have either been saying that the sound level on these boxcars is very low, or that the sound level is just fine.

Do they all require a 9 volt battery?  Or just some of them?    Perhaps the battery versions have louder sound?

I only have conventional controls, so I don't think I can run the later ones that have some sort of command control.  Some of the descriptions say that they are PS models, but I'm no sure what that means.

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock,

1. The very first models introduced did not have enough amplification.  All the later ones have adjustable volume controls that generally work well.
2. The 9V battery, as mentioned above in the thread I believe, is only present to ensure that the sounds do not abruptly stop when the throttle is moved to zero, or if the car rolls over a poorly connected piece of track.  It does not affect volume.  In practice it allows sounds to continue for several seconds after track voltage goes to zero.
3. Most, if not all, command control cars have conventional capability.  Your transformer's whistle/horn and bell buttons will operate them nicely.  You will get no advance command features, but the basic ones still work in the old-fashioned way.

Mike

I still have the NYC Pacemaker diesel and REA steam. Sold the rest many years as more of my fleet had electronics.

Yes, they are dated……..but, I remember that when these came out, we thought we had died and gone to heaven………they were light years over what we had available….  And, mine still work fine and run with my conventional engines.

Peter

I think I have tried most things that adds sound to my conventional fleet over the last 5 years.

I have a 2005 era Alaska Railsounds diesel sounds boxcar, sounds good.

I have a 2000 era Seaboard boxcar with Railsounds, sounds good.

A 26871 style tender from 2000 era and one from 2004 era, both are good.

2 of the 2426RS 19833 tenders with Railsounds II.  One Railsounds II tender with the 18040 set.  All are good and work well.  I use BRLT battery replacements in these.  One was "almost" new and had a 9v battery in it that leaked when boxed for 8-10 years.  Luckily the battery was in the "coal" area far from the electronics and was able to fix the damage.

I have had 4 of the 1993 (used) era 2671 style tenders with sounds.   2 bad, 2 volume control would not work.  On the two that would work I found that when I redid the "wire nut" connections it worked much better.   Volume control still never worked though.    I think they were at "full".     I now stay away from the early ones.

And then there is the first gen "Mighty Sound of Steam"  A white noise sound for chuffing and an OK, but not great whistle.  The grand kids love the whistle though.  I got it working on my 783 engine and tender, but never try these systems until you take it apart and inspect it.  The double back tape that held the board was rotted away on mine and If I had powered it, the board would have been fried.

To fix the 1993 era systems I  used some newer "Railsounds" kits.    I like the ERR soundsystems also. I have a couple of those installed.

That's my experience.

I had the Frisco version from Fallen Flags #5.  It sounded great then, and I would have no objection to running it today (I sold the whole set, so the decision had nothing to do with the sound car).

I frankly think that the sound car would be a great way to have sound for several engines.  Swap it so that it is behind whatever engine is running.  Update the car to have several sound sets depending on the engine it is behind if you are picky about matching the noises tot he engines.  For those who want to run sound without paying extra in each engine, or who have older engines that lack sound, it's a great way to enjoy the atmosphere.

Great information! Thanks,l

Sounds as if I'd better look for the years 2000 to 2005 cars, since I have zero skills in repairing old electronics.

I didn't think, though, that they were still making the Railsounds cars in those later years.  I thought they had moved on to Trainsounds cars with command control.

In the past Lionel, seems to have just made too many evolving variations of the same concept cars, with the original versions being nominally acceptable, and the later versions being hit or miss as to improvements.

Mannyrock

Trainsounds was a downgraded low cost version of Railsounds that had only one sound channel so chuffs would stop when the whistle was blown. It was never used in command engines only low priced sets. TMCC engines all moved to Railsounds 4 during that time.