do I have a bad railsounds unit?

Do you have Bell and Whistle?  Is there a switch for RS/SS?  Volume pot turned down?

Then check to ensure the board is seated properly, the Power SUpply board also.  Is the speaker wire connected?  Those are the items to check.  If the board or power supply board is bad, Lionel has them.  Others may have the power supply board, but Lionel will want an exchange on the RS board I believe.  G

FWIW, I've had several (three I believe) RS boards that were "vintage" and stored for years that I had to reseat the railsounds PLCC chips before the sound would work.  If you decide to do that, visit your local Radio Shack and buy a PLCC chip puller, do NOT try to pry them out with anything else!

I wouldn't buy anything until you exhaust basic troubleshooting procedures.

Got a similar sij here. Thanks for the suggestions.

I keep my eye out for loose TMCC and RS boards that show up for reasonable prices, I have several spares on hand for when I have to sort out issues like this.  Makes it much easier to troubleshoot.

No whisle or bell. Switch was set on railsounds. Boards looked firmly set. Maybe the chips need to be reset. Thanks

Make sure the tether is solid as well.  If the tender power is coming from the locomotive, that would make it a mute as well.  Obviously, unplug the speaker and give it a simple test, I use a 100 ohm resistor and a battery to just see if I can get static out of the speaker.

Proper info the guys gave.  Do you have a Lionel tech in the area?  If you do have him throw the boards into the test fixture.  Bad Railsounds power board or pot might get the nod.

I would reseat the chips on the audio board as John stated.  These systems are not always a problem.