A while back I thought I read a thread describing the use of a single rectifier diode and a capacitor to quiet a noisy e-unit. I thought it was on this board. Does anybody recall the thread?
I was wondering what size capacitor was recommended.
I have a junkbox gem that I wanted to try this on.
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One method I have used is to slightly straiten out the pawl that drops down to turn the drum. Do this in small adjustments until satisfied. If you get it too straight it will not catch the drum every time and you will have to put a little bend back in it.
I started a thread some time ago about the use of a bridge rectifier and capacitor to attempt to stop an E-unit from dropping out when going over switches. That required running the motor on DC. I had two engines that I experimented on. One worked but the other ran poorly when rewired.
Thank you for the tips, and the link. I did see that thread. I thought there was another on the subject.
I consider the e-unit sound a beautiful thing on my electric postwar locomotives.
But yes, on steam it can be a drag, Especially if you add sounds in the tender or something.
To me it always sounded like " READY"!
To each their own.
I once put a rubber grommet in the solenoid at the top, it made it much quieter but didn't affect the operation. I don't know if that would work every time, but it did once.
To quote the late John Belushi: "BUZZ, BUZZ..." 
Frankly, its MUSIC to my ears! 
Normally I don't mind a little e-unit buzz. But this particular loco is a 2028 Pennsy Geep. There is nothing inside but the e-unit, motor, and one lamp bracket. The sound seems to be really amplified by the almost empty shell.
The engine itself runs quite nicely.
I'll second the idea of bending the pawl a bit. My 624 switcher quieted down nicely after that little adjustment.
J White
I played around with bending the pawl. Doing so did reduce the noise, but did not eliminate it all together.
I only had a 100mfd Capacitor handy, so I tried an e-unit with a rectifer diode and this capacitor. It is too small.
Earlier Forest provided a link to a thread where using a 1,000 MFD cap was suggested for a similar application. I may try using a larger cap, or maybe I'll just go with a bridge rectifier.
Then again... maybe I will just leave it alone. 
I can attest that a bridge rectifier works well.
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