lionel passenger car with station sounds

I have the Santa Fe Super Chief PWC StationSounds Diner and I absolutely love it! To me its very high quality, lots of variety and really adds to your experience. I'm actually  going to pick up the Alton Limited SS Diner this week.

 

I can never get enough of "All aboard the Santa Fe Super Chief"

I have seven of them and really love these cars. To me, there is no downside.

I have the N&W one and love it.

And mine chimes out "All Aboard the City of Denver, All Aboard...."  and can't get enough.  Sorry, not for sale.... "Tickets Please, Tickets Please...."

Announcements are train specific down to regional accents so you probably want to buy one that "fits".

These are fabulous add-ons to passenger sets, and at one time they were regular, albeit expensive, offerings.  They "complete" the set, and I try to grab them whenever possible.

When Lionel first offered these for their 15" passenger sets, the were offered years after the original set.  Then for 18" sets, we went thru a period when the StationSounds car was offered along with the 4-pk and coordinating 2-pk  --  making for an immediate 7-car set.

Unfortunately, it's been a few years now since Lionel has offered StationSounds diner cars, so the latest passenger sets cataog'd in 2011/2012 don't have them.  The announcements are train-specific, so they're not interchangeable.  Hopefully we'll see them return as after-the-fact offerings for the more recent sets.  But I almost get the impression that they are no longer on the list of "pet projects" for Lionel's current product managers.  I, like many of you here, love these cars.  But I'm not to sure we represent Lionel's "target market" anymore -- at least not the sweet spot.

David

Go for it.  I have both PRR and NYC station sound cars.  Lots of fun and visitors love them.

Highly recommend it. Love my Canadian Pacific car. Worth every penny!

 

Bob

I like them. I have two 15" N&W and 18" C&O George Washington.

 

doug

 

I'm really hoping Lionel proves me wrong here... But I'm wondering if we've seen the end of StationSounds cars, now that Lionel has gone the route of dumbing down the Towercom/Crewtalk feature on all but the Vision Line locomotives.  Seems they're no longer interested in this level of "detail" with respect to voice talent for its passenger trains.

 

Off the top of my head, the following new 18" passenger cars sets have not been announced with a StationSounds car:  Canadian Pacific, Milwaukee Road, and Santa Fe Superchief (although I've paired an El Capitan StationSounds diner for the effect).

 

And the latest heavyweight passenger set (NYC) to be catalog'd with a StationSounds diner went through a couple of edits.  First the StationSounds car was changed to a new SKU number that was to be a diner without sound.  And then finally, even THAT car was eventually cancelled altogether.  So that set has no diner car at all -- neither with nor without sound.

 

Makes me conclude that the signal Lionel is sending regarding StationSounds cars -- at least as we knew them -- is not very encouraging, despite the feedback here that we as well as folks visiting our layouts LOVE them.   Not one of Lionel's better marketing moves, IMHO.  

 

David

I have a UP passenger sounds. I used to use it quite often. Always works perfectly and sounds are great. Grtzbowski Trains had it at a discount price, can't remember for sure what I paid but it was a very good deal.

 

I have changed my layout to mostly Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley and PRR so I don't use it much anymore. They do add a lot of play value. I also have a Rutland Diesel sounds car that is very nice. That also sits in a box under the layout because I mostly run diesels with sound. 

I have the 50th anniversary heavyweight diner car.I love this car and glad I bought it.