LIONEL K-LINE K-0952B RAILSOUNDS WHISTLE & or HORN CONTROLLER

Make one yourself.  This shouldn't slow things down as it puts the diodes in the circuit all the time and removes some to cause the DC offset.

 Has anyone heard from Dale H. at all?  John?  He stopped answering my occasional e-mails about a year or more ago.

Nope, he's another guy that has dropped out of sight.  You're right, haven't seen any posts from him for a long time.

WOW, longer than I thought!  Last Visit: 12/26/166:03 PM  He hasn't been here for over two years!

Thanks for that John. I figured you might have spotted him elsewhere at some point; I think you manage to get around more than I do. Hopefull he is just enjoying that game room to it's fullest. 

Thank you GUNRUNNERJOHN

Dale H had a stroke a coupe of years ago, as I recall he posted that here on the forum. I think he posted a couple of times after that and has been silent since. I also emailed him a while back to see how he was doing and got no reply. This doesn't sound good. Too many good folks are leaving us around here. Although I prefer command control, I always enjoyed Dale's use of relays and conventional methods of controlling his trains. 

Reviving an old thread since the OP directly referenced the unit I'm interested in.  I like that Kline unit since it can toggle between a horn and a bell, which is what I need.  Is there an equivalent Lionel product?  I saw one listed on the Bay (ebay item number 115558141796) that says it's a 'LIONEL MTH WHISTLE OR HORN CONTROL BUTTON', again with a toggle switch between horn/bell.  The Lionel 5906 unit doesn't have that toggle, so I understand that to go between horn and bell you have to switch wires.

@texgeekboy posted:

Reviving an old thread since the OP directly referenced the unit I'm interested in.  I like that Kline unit since it can toggle between a horn and a bell, which is what I need.  Is there an equivalent Lionel product?  I saw one listed on the Bay (ebay item number 115558141796) that says it's a 'LIONEL MTH WHISTLE OR HORN CONTROL BUTTON', again with a toggle switch between horn/bell.  The Lionel 5906 unit doesn't have that toggle, so I understand that to go between horn and bell you have to switch wires.

Look at the size of that switch and the wires- you don't want your track power going through something like that for anything larger than a starter set.

To my knowledge, no "equivalent" Lionel product was made other than very oldschool postwar and it only did one polarity. Lionel made a ton of whistle buttons- but for cheap starter sets with small transformers and very low loads.

Since by design, track power passes through this device all the time, and inserts the diode when you activate- a modern layout with a big transformer and 6-10Amp capacity is too much for these small, cheap starter set sound activation boxes.

Either use a K-line one as they understood this robust design requirement and built to that kind of specification, or build your own is my best advice.

@texgeekboy posted:

... Lionel 5906 unit doesn't have that toggle, so I understand that to go between horn and bell you have to switch wires.

Or.

You can build your own whistle/bell box with a couple push buttons and a handful of 6A diodes.  You can make it as robust as needed.

@Vernon Barry,

I did notice the wires and thought 'Hmmm, not very beefy.'.  Thanks.

@ADCX Rob,

Thanks for the suggestion.  I had seen that configuration for 2 switches.  I was hoping to not have to do that.

@gunrunnerjohn,

I saw the thread about that box in 'Susans Train Room' (or something like that).  Yours looks a lot neater.  Since there isn't much stuff on my project table, I may do that.  Thanks.