When running my engines I've noticed that the engine sounds (chuffs for steam and diesel sounds for...diesel) will spontaneously shut off at times during running. It started with my LEGACY K-4 Pacific (Polar Express) about a month or 2 ago. The issue could be resolved by powering everything down & then back up, and/or by re-loading the engine data from the orange chip into the CAB-2 & reprogramming the engine into the CAB-2. I figured it was an engine thing, though now that I though about it it may have done this once or twice with my N&W LEGACY Y6b. The K-4 was in the shop for warranty repairs for general electrical gremlins (needed a new motor), and the issue still persisted upon return from Lionel, though a power down & then back up fixed it. I figured it was just a quirk with this engine that I could live with.
However, when I got my LEGACY Polar Express GP7 Diesel back from the shop (smoke unit issue) the diesel sounds didn't work. Crew talk & the horn, bell worked, but there was no sound of the motor running when it would go. I tried powering down & reprogramming the engine into the CAB-2, and now it doesn't even seem to recognize the LEGACY signal: when I put power to the track it seems to start up in conventional mode. I've got the sounds switch set to "RS" (not "SS") and yes, the RUN-PGM switch was set back to RUN. FWIW, Odyssey and the smoke unit are both ON. I gave up after several attempts w/no success.
Last night I ran my gold PE Berkshire LEGACY w/out issue for about 5 minutes, then the chuff sounds cut out again. Would travel fwd, reverse fine, crew talk, water fill, blowdown, bell, & whistle sounds worked, just no steam. It was time for bed, so I didn't mess around further.
Given that this has happened w/multiple engines, including the Berk that's never had trouble before, I'm suspecting that this is a LEGACY issue & not an engine problem. Wondering if there's anything I can do short of calling Lionel on this. Is there a way to reset the unit (I've tried turning the remote on/off, unplugging)? Does it need a software update/upgrade? Did something get turned on/off in the settings of the unit? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
- Neal