Lionel Bandstand Accessory

An update:

I gave up repairing/replacing the factory installed audio tape recorder and its activation buttons built-in to the steps of the BANDSTAND. Instead, I bought a sound chip from ITT with "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Arron Copland recorded on it. That music (performed by a brass ensemble) is very appropriate to the "players" on the Bandstand.

Other owners of this accessory could adopt this idea; choose their own music selection. A Christmas carol performed by Stan  Kenton would be sensational.

Perhaps Lionel will some day re-make this accessory with a CD player as the source of music; better yet, a recordable chip.

Mike M.  LCCA 12394
mottlermike10@gmail.com

Lionel did catalog a remake of this accessory in 2020, replacing the cassette with a Bluetooth speaker... https://www.lionel.com/product...r-bandstand-2029020/. I think it may have been canceled. You can probably do the same, get a cheap Bluetooth speaker and install it.

@Mike H Mottler posted:

Perhaps Lionel will some day re-make this accessory with a CD player as the source of music; better yet, a recordable chip.

Easy to do, actually.  I've had a Lionel Bandstand (inop, of course) and plan to replicate the following...

When I built the HO layout for our LHS, it featured a classic octagonal bandstand in a park setting, central to the 4x8 layout.  I mounted an 8ohm speaker beneath the bandstand, and a small coax jack on the layout side panel (facing the staff area behind the counters.)  I acquired (at the time...maybe 15+ years ago) a small, portable CD player with a port for remote speaker.  I then fabricated a cable with male jacks at each end to connect the two.  (3-terminal for the CD end, 2-terminal for the bandstand end.)

Then, as the seasons/holidays would change...or just to liven the place up on a slow day!...we'd play appropriate CD's.

The bandstand featured a bunch of HO folks in band uniform playing various...mostly brass...instruments.  Ergo, we'd try to focus on band music...especially from the 1930-40's big bands, Canadian Brass, et al.

One of our favorite plays at Christmas, though, was the 'Alvin' (the chipmunk) seasonal CD's.  The chipmunks sounded just like a bunch of HO people!  Folks always gave a smile while listening.

Sooooo....  Find yourself an inexpensive...yet reliable...(?)...CD player with auxiliary speaker port, put a decent speaker in the L Bandstand, make a cable w/jacks, and have fun year-round!

FWIW...

KD

dkdkrd;

Thanks for sharing your BANDSTAND project. I "walked in your moccasins" for a bit ... I bought a portable CD player with separate stereo speakers. I placed it under my layout near the Lionel Bandstand. The CD player has a remote control gizmo, but changing the CDs required me to scamper under the layout -- quite a chore for me at 82 years old! The stereo speakers were too big to fit inside the Bandstand, and hanging them underneath the layout and below the bandstand was a hassle; also, the sound presence seemed unnatural -- not emanating from the Bandstand. I confess I didn't think this project through as carefully as I should have. 

I opted for a simpler (and better) method. ITT makes a small sound chip that can be custom-recorded with a music segment - up to about 2 minutes, which is long enough for the attention span of layout visitors

The chip also has terminals for connecting an 8-ohm speaker (I re-purposed the mono speaker built-in to the Bandstand) and for a momentary contact switch (I used a Lionel #90 switch) for activation).  The chip and its wiring fit inside the the base of the Bandstand. Perfect!

"Fanfare for the Common Man" performed by a brass ensemble is well suited to this project -- brassy but with modern chords. Fortunately,  that music is in the public domain.

Mike M.  LCCA 12394