Can i put ANY sound in a mth dockside switcher?

Well, it depends. If it's PS2 or PS3, you can download different sound files There's a young fellow in GA that downloaded a SD70 file to a Pennsy Turbine. That was pretty funny.

 

If it's PS-1 or Locosounds, you're probably "stuck".

 

Gilly

I want to INSTALL a sound system. I really dont care as long as i HAVE ANY sound in my railking switcher that i am thinking about getting.

Sorry, my mistake. Electric Railroad Company has sound boards. I used one on my Harry Potter engine. Pretty simple installation.

 

Gilly

nicks Train do you have the model number of the MTH docksider

it should be 20- or 30- and some other numbers

this will tell you what you are going to get if it is proto Sound 1 or Loco Sound you will have whistle bell and depending Chuff sound/  if it is PS2 or PS3 it is already set up with all the sounds that you could use. 

let us know what you are getting and then we can help you from there

if it is a Lionel then that is another ball game we need more information to help

 

 

I think for the MTH Ralking 0-4-0 Docksider, your best bet is to put the electronics in a trailing boxcar and run a tether. That thing barely has enough room for smoke and a motor and reverse board. Forget a speak, boards, etc. Personally, I would love a PS2/3 Dockside (RK tooling) but it is unlikely. 

20-3262-1 this is a Premiere 0-4-0 docksider with protosound2

That's not a Docksider...

 

Docksiders don't have tenders. All of MTH's Docksiders were RailKing and were so small that they had knurled driver tires because there wasn't enough contact area to put traction tires on them. It's practically the only MTH powered unit that doesn't have advanced features.

 

Nick's Trains, you're going to have to go a little bigger than a Docksider to get sound.

 

---PCJ

No, the Docksider was a B&O 0-4-0 Saddle Tank loco, with no tender. There were four of them built for switching in the close quarters of the Baltimore docks (hence the name Dockside), and later two were rebuilt into 0-4-0 tender locos, losing their saddle tanks. The rebuilt ones looked similar to the engine you referenced. The Docksiders from MTH include a bunch of models with non-prototype road names as well as the correct B&O (see  MTH #30-1339-0).

 

If MTH can fit Proto-Sound 3 into an HO PRR H10 2-8-0 steam loco, they should be able to get it into a reissue of the O scale Docksider (if they want to, that is). Beyond that, if you are willing to run DCC, you could probably strip out the MTH e-unit and refit a Soundtrax Tsunami decoder. Get rid of that noxious smoke unit and you should have enough room for a fair sized speaker & enclosure to pipe the sound out of the stack like it should be.

 

Then there's the fact that the Railking model has no valve gear, which is another thing MTH should include in a re-release, especially if they redo it as a Premiere version.

 

Bill in FtL

From looking at it, it looks like iy could fit. But im not the train wiz around here. What are its demisions? I would think i could fit a ERR mini sound commander in there.

Nick, I have this engine I would love to put sounds and PS2 or 3 into it but I don't think there is room. Also the wheels are knurled and makes quite the racket as it goes down the rails.

 

0-4-0 Docksider 30-1340-0

 

That's the one I put TMCC into Al, and I can assure you that there's no way the PS/2 board fits into that one! A new PS/3 small board might fit, that remains to be seen.  Of course, the PS/2 smoke unit would be smaller, but there's still not nearly enough room in there.

 

It does make a racket running down the rails, but the wheels offer surprising traction, even without rubber tires.

John, what tmcc board did you put in that docksider?

Ps a pic of the install (if you have one, if not don't bother) Would help.

I used the ERR Mini Commander 2, it's in the rear section.  I have a little home-brew module in the front that is managing the smoke, I have it turn off when the locomotive stops as there is no command control of the smoke function.  I probably should put a different MC2 in it with smoke control, but that's a "someday" project.

 

Well John, if you can fit a mini commander 2 in a dockside, than I should be able to fit a railsound mini commander in another dockside. Te only issues I see are that I also need to fit a speaker and I will get one from 2001. Yours is from 2004. Are their "insides"the same or are they different?

Mine was the conventional control model, but I suspect the mechanical bits are identical between the models.  You should be able to cram the new ERR RailSounds Commander in there, I'm not sure about the speaker.   You might need some surgery to get chuffs working, the reed switch will have to go on the drivers.

 

Could I use a mth ho speaker instead of a o gauge one to save space?

Any 8 ohm speaker that will fit will do the trick.  I think the MTH ones are mostly 4 ohms, I'd stick with 8 ohms.