Lionel PS-1 Freight Sounds Boxcar Questions

rickoshay posted:

... Can I swap the shell from a Lionel non-sound equipped PS-1 boxcar? Were there any known problems with these cars?    ...

I recall reading some folks here have done just that.  Hopefully, they'll chime in here to confirm.

As to "problems with these cars", some -- perhaps many -- folks were disappointed that the overriding sounds in these boxcars were "clunking sounds" as opposed to the expected "screeching wheel" sounds.  I returned mine (unopened) back to the dealer, once I read about the early reviews and watched/listened to forum videos featuring these cars.  So you may want to double-check videos here or on youtube.com to see if these cars will meet your expectations.

David

There is a pickup roller on each truck.  They are the same type used on a caboose and, probably, a passenger car.  I have MTH cars so I don't know for sure.

i compared the floor of the sound car to a scale Lionel boxcar and they appear to be identical so, you should be able to swap shells.

As David suggests, listen to them first.  I have no problem with them.  I have two spaced out in a train with volume very low.

Thank you David and Dan for the replies, much appreciated!

My PRR car is back at Lionel for the sound update.

I sent both of mine back for the upgrade.  Lionel turned them around in 5 working days.  I am less than 200 mils from Concord so UPS is just an overnight trip.  To be fair, I cannot tell the difference after the upgrade.  I probably should have kept one so I could hear the difference.  I also noticed that Lionel left no mark on the underside or the box to indicate that it had been upgraded.  In the future I'm not sure how you are going to know whether the car you buy has the upgrade or not.  For now I think we can assume that all inventory is from the first production run so anything you buy new today may need to be upgraded.  By the way, the upgrade is free but you will need an RA from Lionel.  Also you will have to pay the freight to get it to them but, they will pay the freight back to you.

I bought three. Two for my club and one for me. Clunks are loud so by turning the volume down and minimizing the frequency it was acceptable.

Thanks to all for the replies! I guess I need to ask...what was the problem that warranted an upgrade?

Two copper blades hold the floating pickup roller assemble onto the Sound Boxcar Truck, allowing extra up and down play on the roller.  Make sure your center-rail connectors are seated down in place, so they do not "tick" against the center roller as it passes over them. The two blades holding the roller can slide slightly if they hit something.  (More flexibility of movement)  Turn the sound down to 10% as a starting point.  I have not updated my sound boxcars yet, but they sound good at the lower volume when placed in the middle of the train.

The issue with the sound car was the noises.  There were a lot of clunks as compared to wheel squeal and rail sounds.  Apparently Lionel thought so too because they had replacement sound modules with less clunks within the first month after shipping.

The only change to the revised version of the PS-1 sound boxcar was to increase the frequency of the clickety-clack sound. 

Which cars come with the "new" revision of the sounds?

Only those sent in to the service department will have the more frequent clickety-clack.

Thanks for clarifying the upgrade Rudy. Why wasn't more squeal added in?

And less thumping.