I hope the following information is helpful to others.
I placed my Brass Hybrid (6-84675, 3160 class Mikado) on the the tack for the first time after on display for a number of years. Everything ran fine. The sounds were a bit load and therefore I reduced the sound volume via the master volume control under the back hatch on the tender. I placed it back on the track and it immediately tripped my fast acting breaker.
I checked the engine for continuity (short) and found none. Placed it by itself on the track and all was good. All functioned as it should.
I checked the tender and there was a short. Opened the tender shell and found a pinched wire under one of the mounting tabs. The pinched wire was from the LED to the Railsound board. I repaired the damaged wire, checked for short (none) and placed it back on the track. It again tripped the fast acting breaker. And I could smell a burnt smell. Checked continuity and found no short, but it would still cause the breaker to trip. Removed the power plug to the Railsound board and no circuit tripping (no sounds either).
I was able to communicate with support at Lionel about this. I wanted to be sure that a shorted wire to/from the LED would kill the Railsound board. They confirmed that it would. From looking at the pin-out diagram of the Railsound lite board connection it goes to the GND pin on the six pin connector.
While I had it opened, I looked for other possible causes. What I noticed is the volume control pot is extremely close to the brass hatch hinge leaf spring. I attached a photo. When the hatch is closed, in my case, it touches the volume pot. There is an ever so slight offset in the volume pot and one of the pins. Lionel support said this would not cause the board to fail even if it was shorted to frame. I did check for any shorts with the hatch opened or closed and found none.
Being a bit conservative, I will adjust and insulate the pot from the leaf spring. At $100.00 for the Railsound Lite board, I'm just a little paranoid. Please add your thoughts and especially if you had a similar problem with this or other Railsound Lite board failures.
