I snagged one of these off the Bay, the speaker has a torn cone paper, and when power is applied, there is a hum. Other than the original horn control, is there another way to test the horn. What about a newer speaker??? THanks
Marty
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Replacement "Speakers" are available but they are less than optimal. The original unit is actually a vibrating coil inside a cone that vibrates to make the sound as opposed to a real speaker that had an electronic coil and magnet and relies on a proper signal to produce sound. If the paper is only torn in a few places, gently pull the pieces back into position with a tweezers. Once back into position, run a small bead of Elmers glue along the tear and leave it dry. Repeat if needed. The unit should should sound off normally. You will need an ossillator unit to activate the horn. They can be found on auction for about $15. But they too had a vibrating coil mechanical mechanism inside and the points would often get corroded and the unit would not work. This repair required the unit be cut open and the points cleaned. I have found the original sound units missing the entire paper top. Remove any remaining pieces of the paper. The red epoxy center will be bonded to the pin on the vibrating coil very well so just leave it. Obtain a thick piece of bond paper and cut a circle of the material out a little larger than the circumference of the sound unit. Cut a small hole in the center so you can accommodate the original red epoxy. Cut a slit from the edge to the center hole. Slip the pin from the vibrating pin through the slit and then glue the edges down. The small center hole should pull up against the old red epoxy. If not redo your assembly until the edges are all down and the center hole sits up against the old red epoxy. Run a fine bead of white glue along your slit to seal it, and around the old red epoxy. Leave dry and test, it should sound like the original.
Tin
Since the buzzing it produces sounds nothing like a whistle, you might want to consider the Gilbert Billboard Whistle instead which has a far more pleasing sound. Just sayin'...
"sounding like the original" is a dismal prospect! As a boy I was sorely disappointed with the Gilbert 'Air Chime Whistle' and the "Air Chime Horn'. The 'Diesel Roar' was decent but the horns & whistles sounded like nothing I had heard by real RR tracks before....
Now the early Flyer 'Smoke in Tender' was something else altogether. It was similar to what the first MTH Protosmoke output was!
About half of the paper is gone. Maybe should remove everything and put a ERR railsound unit init and get something that is more pleasing...THANKS for all the info, Don't have the sound generator anyway.
Marty
C.SAM,
I'm with you. The American Flyer air chime horns and whistles were terrible. Their whistling billboards and diesel horn billboards were great,
Or do what I did, take out the original sound unit and replace it with a Dallee "Stamp" sound unit and a speaker. (Doug at Port Lines has them, or order directly from Dallee). These units are easy to install, the whistle and bell are great and it will fit easily in the tender. I have been very happy with the unit. You do need to have a transformer that will activate a whistle and bell, or you can wire in activators from Dallee or Lionel to trigger the sounds.
The Dallee website has audio samples of the sounds if you want to hear them.
LittleTommy
Today, I removed the speaker and related hardware, don't see me using this old school stuff. Watched some youTube videos of the sound cars and I really like the Erie with its deeper whistle, sounds great. Looks like that will be the best way to go. Is there anything unique about the box car shells that would prevent one from being swapped out??? I have a 322 pulling my passenger consist, maybe I can put a REA shell on it, assuming the car was ever made.
Marty
c.sam posted:"sounding like the original" is a dismal prospect! As a boy I was sorely disappointed with the Gilbert 'Air Chime Whistle' and the "Air Chime Horn'. The 'Diesel Roar' was decent but the horns & whistles sounded like nothing I had heard by real RR tracks before....
Aw-gee. Call it nostalgia, but I kinda like the Gilbert "Nathan air chime" whistles. 
Depends on the sample. Some were better than others (circa mid-50's). Used as a diesel horn in the PAs, it is really not any worse than Lionel's bicycle horns. Of course, the synchronized smoke and choo-choo conquered all.
Bob
OK, Gilbert's sound isn't prototypical, but it was a toy when it was made and an advancement when it was introduced. I have to make all my Gilbert engines with one work. Plus all the engines with the unit usually cost more and and more valued by operators.
I guess that means they were a success then and now.
Bob Bubeck posted:c.sam posted:"sounding like the original" is a dismal prospect! As a boy I was sorely disappointed with the Gilbert 'Air Chime Whistle' and the "Air Chime Horn'. The 'Diesel Roar' was decent but the horns & whistles sounded like nothing I had heard by real RR tracks before....
Aw-gee. Call it nostalgia, but I kinda like the Gilbert "Nathan air chime" whistles.
Depends on the sample. Some were better than others (circa mid-50's). Used as a diesel horn in the PAs, it is really not any worse than Lionel's bicycle horns. Of course, the synchronized smoke and choo-choo conquered all.
Bob
I agree with you, Bob. The 1955 Gilbert 708 diesel horn generator sounds like the single chime horns that were in common use early in the diesel era. Modern locomotives have multi chime horns and of course sound much different, but the AF horns were installed in Alco PAs and GP7s.
You can listen to some horn sounds at the following wikipedia site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...n_horn#Audio_samples
Listen to the Leslie A200-156 and WABCO E2 sound files (both single chime horns). The old AF diesel horn sounds pretty good to my ears. Certainly better than the high pitched Lionel diesel horns of the day, which sound a little like a clown car horn.
Scott Griggs
Louisville, KY
LittleTommy posted:
Well, fair enough for an early example, but it sounds somewhat better when enclosed in a shell. Circa mid-50's, a better speaker than the one shown was used by Gilbert. And recall that we are discussing a toy train development dating from 67 years ago. 
Bob
For a few years ('55-'56?) a few of the top-of-the-line locomotives came with the 710 whistle control. It actually gives a more reasonable whistle sound than the regular (708) control. Even so, although the variable pitch helps, these still come up a bit short on the realism scale. They seem to be somewhat hard to come by these days and the ones I see for sale are a bit pricey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg8_BoOkZ78
I have a few of these and they work OK. One thing that always bothered me was the fact that when I activated the metal slide I always felt a slight "tingle" through my finger. Maybe it was just me...
I have a 710 control and a K325 Hudson and I like the way it sounds. To me it sounds a little like a grainy sound recording of a whistle, rather than the in-person sound of a whistle.
And I agree that the 710 gives you a little tingle feeling through the slide lever when you activate it. It feels like a mild electric shock, but I think it is just mechanical vibration.
Scott Griggs
Louisville, KY
