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ERR Railsound Steam Kit Install

JmJmOGR Forum Member

I recently bought and installed the medium steam railsound kit. This is my first time so I followed the instructions carefully.

The steam sounds come up fine and the whistle blows great but only while stationary. When the loco is in motion the whistle only cherps once. Cherp = toot. (I added a lighted caboose to the train per instruction manual, no change).

The loco is from the MPC era with an AC type postwar motor. Lionel loco #6-8003.
Center rail power from tender pickup and a wire tether from the loco pickup. (Same results with or without the tether from the loco).
Using a postwar ZW, and also have a #6-5906 sound activation button. The sound activation button has better control than the ZW whistle control but both have the same results. 
Anybody experience this problem?  And what might be the fix?  ERR did not offer any help except to ask here in the OGRR Forum.
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T Trainman2OGR Forum Member

I had this issue with my first steam Railsounds. Just like you're saying, whistle blew fine standing still, but running, not so much.

I put together a group of four resistors, around 100 ohms each, connected in parallel, and attached the whole group in parallel with the transformer output and the track.

Putting them in parallel with one another caused a higher current draw that improved the whistle performance considerably.

These are the heavy duty ceramic resistors, not the little ones you find in electronic devices. Those kind would melt if subjected to the current our trains draw.

Also, even the ceramic resistors can get hot during normal usage, so if children will be using your layout, place the resistors someplace where they won't accidentally be touched.

Eventually I went over to Legacy, but the resistors were a good stop gap.

Last edited by Trainman2
T Trainman2OGR Forum Member
Jm posted:

Thank you Trainman2,  Wondering if the "load" created by the resistors is similar to a "load" created by hauling train cars behind the loco?

Glad to help.

Clever double entendre with "load", but yes, adding more cars to the train will increase the current load on the motor. This effect didn't seem to make much difference for the whistle signal, however.

Another factor can be the transformer, as postwar transformers have pure sine wave outputs, which ac motors love, and which Lionel was making up to the MPC era.

The modern ZW puts out chopped sine wave ac, which is what modern Lionel sound and control systems prefer. Motors don't really seem to mind the difference, but electronics can be picky about what they respond to.

Now, this doesn't mean you have to ditch your old ZW and get a new one. I have an MRC pure sine transformer myself. I bought a CAB 1L command set, and added a powemaster to each track, which lets me run conventional engines with the handheld. That also improved the transformer whistle signal.

 

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Tags: Railsound Steam Kit Install, ERR
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