Polar express trainsound tender - Is the sound good?

Honestly; Don't waist your money. I have one and I shut the chuff sounds off. It comes with train sounds which is nothing like Railsounds. The whistle sounds kind of "Tinny" and the bell is OK but the chuff sounds more like a machine gun than anything else. It is a little better than the old air whistle but not worth the extra money IMO.

I would stay away also. I have one of these tenders that I bought several years ago for my Pennsy Flyer Atlantic engine and it is not that great. Chris' observations are exact. I would suggest buying the Tom Hanks announcement car instead. It is a lot of fun even if it is only one phrase....

I have one too and ditto the above. We don't need any more hundred dollar dummies in the group!

Sounds are ok, whistle is a little better then the air model that came with the set, bell sounds are ok but tinny and the chuff sounds are poor. There is a little station announcement that comes up if you let it sit in neutral for a few minutes but I find it hard to understand.

QSI use to make a steam sound box car. I would see if they are still available and do a little transplant into the tender that came with the set. You wont get the announcements but they are not all that any way.

I bought this a couple of years ago as well. I am going to partially agree with the statements made so far. If you are going to compare this to current Railsounds then it is no contest. It really depends on what you are looking for. I bought this for my 5 year old and he loves it and runs it all the time. In conventional mode he knows how to activate the announcements. The original PE tender has not seen the track since we bought this one. At slower speeds the chuff is OK; at higher speeds it can become a little bothersome.

Thanks folks

Well, I'll chip in and say that the sound is better than nothing. It makes a choo-choo sound that varies with speed. Alone on a layout it is okay. That's about it. Put it on a layout with any recent Lionel product, or even MTH early PS1, and mine sounds pretty pathetic by comparison. This is not a speaker issue, I think its the electronics/sound synthesizer.

If you're willing to spend $100, AND if you are handy, try installing the Digital Dynamics RS4 into your existing PE tender. That's what I did, and am happy with the results.
http://www.digitdynam.com/rs_complete.html

it's a cheap and easy way to get sound. bad sound is better than nothing (just turn it loud enough to hear). i've seen some of the newer stuff on videos and i'm afraid if i had one of those, i'd throw the rest of my crap away.

I just got the PE set for my daughter this Christmas an I too recently asked this question.
http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve...062986027#8062986027

IT appears forumites approveof installing the ERR Railsounds in the whistle tender is the better way to go than purchasing the overpriced Trainsounds tender... plus not having to deal with an additional PE tender is a bonus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...uwE5k&feature=fvwrel

and this I assume is the Trainsounds verion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl6TyTpRWDc

quote:

and this I assume is the Trainsounds verion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl6TyTpRWDc

Beats the heck out of the..."Mighty Sounds of Steam!".

And to make this product even more bloody annoying and useless, I too bought one a while back only to discover Trainsounds doesn't work in 50hz countries!
Railsounds does though. I wish Lionel would realize they have customers worldwide and make their products compatible OR advertize that they won't work in 50hz countries. All the crap that has gone on for years and years with the CW80's, and it's taught them nothing. I've really gone right off Lionel.

quote:

Originally posted by prrhorseshoecurve:
... plus not having to deal with an additional PE tender is a bonus.

That's really the only UP side. A friend of mine relettered the original tender for Pere Marquette. Now I have a tender to run non-seasonal when it's not in the "Polar Express" mode. Since this is a generic Trainsounds tender, I'd look for one on 'Dabay and just swap the shell to make it PE.

Gilly

I put the Pennsy Switcher ERR in my HP tender and love it.

I have one too and wish I had thought of the ERR board before I spent the money. I have enjoyed having the sound upgrade though sometimes I put the old one on the track because I also like the air whistle.

quote:

Originally posted by springoflife:
If you're willing to spend $100, AND if you are handy, try installing the Digital Dynamics RS4 into your existing PE tender. That's what I did, and am happy with the results.
http://www.digitdynam.com/rs_complete.html

Great news - Is this the ERR Railsounds? Will I be able to control it from a Z-1000? Thanks.

TrainSounds is single channel and so when bell or whistle are activated, the chuffing ceases. Sorry to say lots of folks bought into this and afterwards were likely sorry they had. The crew talk dialogue is frequently unintelligible. You're paying for a sound chip that's old technology and hasn't been updated since tender was first introduced.  

I would find one of the earlier Conventional RS tenders from a set and use it.  They had the RS Chip and the separate Power Supply.  Much better sound then the TrainSound units plus it accepted a battery for power backup.  I swapped one of these in for my Lionel WWII Army set which had Signal Sounds (Bell and Whistle only).

 

Much better chuff, whistle and bell.  That would be a good add for the Berkshire engine.  Lionel needs to do better on the low end sounds.  The Legacy and RS are terrific, but they just allowed the Conventinal RS to dummy down to Signal Sounds and TrainSounds and then removed the battery.  So every time you change directions the sounds start over.  Just to save a few bucks on the cost of making the set.  

 

For a while there when I was watching, those RS tenders from Starter sets were going for about $75-100 alone.  That is how much the conventional operators wanted those tender sounds.   It has to be the older "Conventional Rail Sounds (2 piece set up on the mother board), not Signal Sounds (Though this has a great bell and whistle) or TrainSounds (Avoid).  G

Dave, although I fully agree that Trainsounds is a disaster with 50Hz, I do have to come to the defence of the CW-80.  Any CW-80 with a QC50-OK sticker on the box/casing works perfectly on 50Hz. I think that it is a great little transformer.

Polar Express is a Toy.  A GREAT Toy. Are the sounds better on the extra tender.  You bet they are.  But remember you are buying it because you liked the book and the movie.  It is all about imagination.