I thought I read where somewhere that the operating signal man hanging from a box car or caboose could be controlled using the horn instead of an operating track. Does anyone know ?
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You need to provide more information. Who makes the cars and what are the item numbers?
Any onboard electrical item or feature can be activated by a horn relay. Mount the relay in the railcar, use a truck with a center rail roller, and connect the center rail feed, relay contacts, a frame connection and the electrical item all in series. Press the horn button,and the feature will operate. This method can be used to operate a coil coupler, the brakeman, or any other item. Realize that when you push the button, the horn will blow, too.
As an alternative to tying up the horn relay feature, there are very inexpensive transmitter/receiver combinations available on Ebay that allow a key fob type button to activate a device. They are available in 1, 2,3, or 4 channel configurations. The receivers are powered by batteries, but the onboard train device will need either a separate battery or center rail power.
