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J Daddy posted:

I have to agree. The VL reefers have added a whole new dimension to my freight consist. These will be a great addition to the layout at a more affordable price!

Would have liked the Vision line cars to be single sale. Hope to see Vision Line modern 86' and 89' cars with this feature.

sinclair posted:

I went all out and ordered one of each due to how much I love the VL reefer.  From my experience of putting all 3 VL reefers next to each other on a train, I think you don't want/need sound in each car on a train.  Be sure to space them out otherwise you can't tell them apart.

I agree. I am going to position them one per train for consist shorter than 10 cars. And those that are around 20, 2 should do about do it.

I picked up my sound car yesterday and took it for a spin last evening.  Here's a video I shot with my iPhone.  Sorry, no time for a tripod and/or elaborate video set-up!  

The sound car volume is turned up pretty high (although NOT to the max level), and all engine and layout sounds were turned off in an attempt to make the car's sounds stand out.  I apologize for the wheel/clickety-clack noise coming from the train itself (not the sound car)...that's mainly due to the plastic roadbed track.

I also added some comments/observations below the video.  Oh, and in case you can't tell, it's the shiny & new (non-weathered) "State of Maine" boxcar...

The sound QUALITY is very good IMO...crisp, clear and certainly plenty of volume!  The sound MIX would be my only criticism.

Based on what I can tell from about an hour's worth of running, the wheel-against-rail squealing sounds really don't get going until the train reaches higher speeds...in this particular case, over "35" on my MTH DCS remote's speed setting.

At lower speeds, the thumping and banging sounds are more prevalent/dominant.  I'm thinking Lionel was trying to imitate the coupler slack and car-banging sounds often heard as a real train starts moving, when shifting cars around at slow speeds, or when coming to a stop.  

Moving forward, I would personally like to hear fewer of these sounds and more of the rail-grinding/squealing sounds once the car gets moving--even at low speeds--as that's what I'm used to hearing trackside in the real world.  That much thumping and banging on a real moving train would probably not be a good thing as there would certainly be a lot of damaged cargo!

I can also see how having more than one sound car in a train would be really cool, adding more of stereo sound effect between the banging, thumping and squealing occurring throughout the train.  Will probably look to buy a second one!

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Videos (1)
Lionel Scale PS-1 Sound Boxcar--BAR State of Maine
Last edited by CNJ #1601
SIRT posted:

A customer sent me the long tankers, they sound much more realistic (rail grinding) than those box cars. It would be great if someone offered a conversion kit so cars in the collection can be retrofitted!

Not sure I noted the additional rail grinding on the VL eco tank cars. I have these and the VL reefers, and they sound the same. From first review of the video it appears these PS-1 box cars have the same sound set as the VL reefers, minus the wheel repair and load and unload scenario? I will compare tonight.

It appears these  do not have an electro coupler. I wonder if the electronics would support adding them?

DMASSO posted:

SIRT. Eddiem from the forum bought a Bluetooth speaker unit from Walgreens for $20. He put it in a box car and it sounds great. 

I need to have him post what he bought and how he does the sounds.

I hadn't read about the Lionel boxcars, but it's a whole different thing.  The mechanical railsounds appear to be triggered by the movement and speed of the car.  My setup is for music, etc.  and doesn't trigger based on its environment.

DMASSO posted:

SIRT. Eddiem from the forum bought a Bluetooth speaker unit from Walgreens for $20. He put it in a box car and it sounds great. 

I need to have him post what he bought and how he does the sounds.

If you're running  DCS,  all one needs to to do is record moving train sounds off any RR video on the internet and play it back through protocast on any P-2 or P3 engine.    Its simple, easy & free, sounds more prototypical plus you can make Menards $18.00 boxcars sound better then a $129.00 RS boxcar...

Joe

Last edited by JC642
JC642 posted:
DMASSO posted:

SIRT. Eddiem from the forum bought a Bluetooth speaker unit from Walgreens for $20. He put it in a box car and it sounds great. 

I need to have him post what he bought and how he does the sounds.

If you're running  DCS,  all one needs to to do is record moving train sounds off any RR video on the internet and play it back through protocast on any P-2 or P3 engine.    Its free, sounds more prototypical plus you can make Menards $18.00 boxcars sound better then a $129.00 RS boxcar...

Joe

Not sure if its SOUNDS are more prototypical. The actual sound maybe better in quality, however the Lionel VL cars emit sound based on their movements. Plus you can put them back further in the consist.  129 per car ? Huh? They are only 92.00 at my Local LHS.

Thanks for the tips. I forgot about the BT post. In a 25 car train it would be nice to have some sounds on every 3rd car or so. Problem with DCS is once the MTH diesels pass, the train has no rail sounds. Kind of defeats the purpose. Another missed $ opportunity by the marketers.

As with many large completed collections , we need inexpensive retro sound kits to install. Like many others, I don't plan on buying any more cars. The window of time has passed in O offering high priced sound cars. Should have been available years ago.

As for the tanker sounds, I just pushed them around a curve and was quite impressed. Probably the same devices as the boxcars. I guess they just sounded better up close vs. the video? Tanks have nice echo, box cars shouldn't.

Last edited by SIRT
J Daddy posted:

Not sure if its SOUNDS are more prototypical. The actual sound maybe better in quality, however the Lionel VL cars emit sound based on their movements. Plus you can put them back further in the consist.  129 per car ? Huh? They are only 92.00 at my Local LHS.

Hopefully you saw the smiley face.... That aside, the car sounds exactly like my Ethanol tank cars,  I've heard rolling boxcars hundreds of times and no boxcar I've ever heard has hollow tank car sounds.    Want an example?  Go to the trains live webcam on their site, watch and listen as long trains roll over the BNSF/UP double diamond .  Better yet, tape it and play real prototypical boxcar RS's through your P-2 or P-3 engine. 

Joe

Last edited by JC642
SIRT posted:

Problem with DCS is once the MTH diesels pass, the train has no rail sounds. Kind of defeats the purpose. Another missed $ opportunity by the marketers.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point, but since the Lionel PS-1 sound box cars are conventional, they can be used freely under DCS or any other control system--or a conventional transformer-controlled layout.

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