Lionel American Freedom Train Sound Car Videos Heads Up !!

Just don't read the "made in china" on the bottom, it kills the mood. 

LOL, recording made in the USA !

Nice car.  You sure the shell is not on backwards.  I know another thread had Pennsy car with the same issue of the electronics showing and it turned out the shell was on backwards.

Not sure at all. Thanks. I will check this out asap.

Nice - thanks for posting but what is with all the wiring garb that is seen through the windows?!

Train Nut posted:

Nice car.  You sure the shell is not on backwards.  I know another thread had Pennsy car with the same issue of the electronics showing and it turned out the shell was on backwards.

Did anyone actually confirm the shell was on backwards?  I never did see the resolution. 

This was the last entry on that post-  

Shell is on backwards. Was told this by Lionel. Needs to be reversed to hide the electronics. 

I have e-mailed Dave and Dean.

I looked at the opposite end of the car and you cannot see more than 1/2" - 3/4" beyond the dividers. I do NOT know, but I have the feeling that if the shell is reversed, all of the wiring harnesses. etc will be hidden. I will e-mail Dave Olsen. I sure hope this is not the case. I do NOT want to mar my car by not reversing the shell properly.

Train Nut posted:

This was the last entry on that post-  

Shell is on backwards. Was told this by Lionel. Needs to be reversed to hide the electronics. 

I guess I missed this, as I still don't see that note in this thread.... unless you're referring to the Pennsy thread. 

In any case, I took a look at my AFT StationSounds car.  And upon a quick inspection, it does NOT appear that rotating the shell will help our cause here.  There are windows on both sides of the car that run the entire length of the car.  So rotating the shell 180-degrees will still place windows in front of the electronics.

As delivered the electronics are "hidden" from view on ONE side of the car only with what appears to be a solid piece of light-color plastic.  The other side of the car has no such plastic to obscure the view.  Not sure why that's the case.  I haven't opened the car to really see what's inside -- due to hearing it's a bit of a project to pop the shell off these cars now.  Will take a more detailed look when I have the time.

David

I'm looking at mine and reversing the shell does nothing.  The windows are the same on both sides.  There should be an extra plastic interior bulkhead or frosted windows on one end to hide the electronics.  There is a bulkhead on on side but not the other.

I love the car but I need to correct the visual of the wires. Surely !!!

Hi Eliot. Thanks for the kind words. We were very excited about the sound set for this car. It adds a lot of customized fun.

To answer the question on the exposed electronics:

Turning the shell around will not work. The interior has the same insert on both ends. It was from the UP car that did not have the windows on that side of the car. We requested that the windows were to be blocked out or frosted, but this was unfortunately missed.

What you can do is block the windows with whatever method you feel comfortable with. I've used electrical tape on the inside of the shell. You could also use a sheet of styrene or even paint if you're feeling dangerous. 

Hope this helps.

Dave Olson posted:

We requested that the windows were to be blocked out or frosted, but this was unfortunately missed.  What you can do is block the windows with whatever method you feel comfortable with. I've used electrical tape on the inside of the shell. You could also use a sheet of styrene or even paint if you're feeling dangerous. 

Sounds like maybe a piece of Scotch Tape (the frosted kind, not the crystal clear kind) applied to the window (probably inside, but could be cut/trimmed and applied to the outside) would prevent the wires from being viewed but still let the windows look like windows.

Stu

I STILL love the car, Dave, and I love Lionel, too. WAIT !!!

I know, I know. A good picture of Scrapiron's face looking out of the window and in the other windows . . . . . um . . . . . Dave, Dean, and . . . . . 

The excellent narrator on the sound car sounds a lot like Lionel's own Director of Audio, Rudy Trubitt.

Cheers!

Keith

Pop the shell.Take a piece of styrene in white and create a wall  around the electronics and leave the windows alone

Odd that the factory missed the window-block on the AFT sound car, but got it right on both the Amtrak and Penn Central sound cars (the other sound cars I purchased from this batch of production).  On both of those cars, a plastic bulkhead hides the electronics on one side of the car, and they're set back from the window a bit -- just like on the AFT sound car.  However, on the other side of the Amtrak and PC sound cars, it appears either a piece of  thin plastic or opaque tape has been applied directly to the inside of the windows.  Can't say for sure until I look inside (which I probably won't do anytime soon).  Take a look below at these quick iPhone photos below...

Whatever the factory did for these two cars is what should have been done for the AFT (and presumably the Pennsy BL) sound cars as well, but unfortunately that wasn't the case here. 

David

Don,

That is exactly right. That is what I'm going to do except I will adhere a photo of me playing guitar on the side of the white styrene. That will increase the value of the car by triple !!

@Railsounds Sounds like your voice on the announcements. 

Is there enough room between the body and the electronics that you could use sheet plastic to make an aisle way instead of putting something up against the window?

Scrapiron Scher posted:

Don,

That is exactly right. That is what I'm going to do except I will adhere a photo of me playing guitar on the side of the white styrene. That will increase the value of the car by triple !!

 

uality t's Scrapiron Scher posted:

Ok, OK, I know there are a couple of threads out there already on the new Lionel AFT cars. It's just that I don't see train items like this very frequently and I thought I would add my $0.02. This is a heads up for everyone on the fence about the AFT cars from Lionel. Get off of the fence. This sound car is, in a word, "Fabulous, Fabulous." That's two words because one ain't enough. There are so many reasons this car is going to take off and go into the stratosphere.Aaarrrggghghhhhhahhhhhrrrghghghg

Still, it is an absolute A+ snd I never give anything an A+ when it has flaws but this car is an A++.

1) Many different sounds

2) Crystal clear sound reproduction. Soooo good, that my wife heard it upstairs and thought I had the stereo on !!

3) National anthem, Stars and Stripes Forever . . . . .  Ohhhh man, put this car in front of an American flag and you will be saluting. I did !!

 

Eliot, will you please add a video clip of the car playing the National Anthem. I'd love to hear the rendition they used to compare its sound quality to the Star and Stripes Forever clip you posted. Thanks in advance.

They may tape our lives but they'll never tape our Freedom!

Red Green

ogaugeguy posted:

uality t's Scrapiron Scher posted:

Ok, OK, I know there are a couple of threads out there already on the new Lionel AFT cars. It's just that I don't see train items like this very frequently and I thought I would add my $0.02. This is a heads up for everyone on the fence about the AFT cars from Lionel. Get off of the fence. This sound car is, in a word, "Fabulous, Fabulous." That's two words because one ain't enough. There are so many reasons this car is going to take off and go into the stratosphere.Aaarrrggghghhhhhahhhhhrrrghghghg

Still, it is an absolute A+ snd I never give anything an A+ when it has flaws but this car is an A++.

1) Many different sounds

2) Crystal clear sound reproduction. Soooo good, that my wife heard it upstairs and thought I had the stereo on !!

3) National anthem, Stars and Stripes Forever . . . . .  Ohhhh man, put this car in front of an American flag and you will be saluting. I did !!

 

Eliot, will you please add a video clip of the car playing the National Anthem. I'd love to hear the rendition they used to compare its sound quality to the Star and Stripes Forever clip you posted. Thanks in advance.

Kindly add a video clip of the car playing the National Anthem to compare its sound quality to the Star and Stripes Forever clip you posted.

Now arriving in Schenectady the Freedom Train 

Thank you, Don, for posting a video of the car playing the National Anthem. It certainly sounds great and isn't just a snippet of the anthem.

That car sounds great.  Wonder what they are using for speakers.  Very nice videos, guys.  Thanks.

Can the Star and Stripes be played continuously without the verbal commentary>

Okay, what did I miss/ has this been released? If so, what is the SKU? And is this the only AFT with sound?

I've already collected all 17(?) of the AFT cars from Lionel.

@paulp575 posted:

Okay, what did I miss/ has this been released? If so, what is the SKU? And is this the only AFT with sound?

I've already collected all 17(?) of the AFT cars from Lionel.

This is a 5-year-old thread revived by a question.

@Jim R. posted:

This is a 5-year-old thread revived by a question.

@Jim R. - Thanks. I missed the small print.