Diagnosing Sound Distortion in Legacy Engine

I also have your issue 1 on certain engines - as it happens two of the early Vision Line models, one steamer and one diesel. Other people have reported the same thing about VL and Legacy models but not everyone has the buzzing problem. It does not seem to be present in more recently issued models or in my VL GE Evo.

 

I have not seen any explanation on this forum of what the cause of the problem is and I hope someone has a clue. I was just about to ask Lionel for an RA for the steamer because the buzzing is so bad there's no way you can leave the engine idle on a powered siding as it makes a very distracting racket.

Yes I have a few engines that have the buzzing at idle as well. When I park my engines I shut power down with a toggle switch. When the volume is increased, I do not hear it anymore.

The humming seems to be a standard feature of some models, or at least specific examples of some.  The crackling is another matter, I'd be looking at the speakers first, and any wiring/connectors to the speaker next.

I owned a NS Vision Line Genset switcher long enough to ship it to Lionel only to tell me that they could do nothing about the buzzing. It went right back to the dealer.