Lionel released their AF Railsounds boxcars back in 2014 and I purchased two diesel railsounds cars. The UP had a 5 chime horn and the NH had a single note horn. Both work very well.
I decided to buy at least one Steam engine sounds car to run with my non-sound steam engines. I wanted the GN car since it had whistle sounds from what is described as a mid-sized steam engine. The Erie car has a deep steamboat whistle that is supposed to represent a much larger steam engine such as a Challenger or a Big Boy. I was going to use the car with a Pacific engine.
So as I tried to find a GN car I soon found that none were available from the usual on-line sources. Charles Ro had been sold out of the GN car for a while but now showed "PRE-ORDERS ACCEPTED-EXPECTED AVAILABILITY BY 09/27/2017" which confused me as the cars had been released in 2014. A call to Ro told me that the cars were having a second run from Lionel since they appeared again in the 2017 catalog.
If you want any of these cars take note that Erie car should have steam sounds and the NH car should have diesel sounds. The catalog page has them reversed.
I can say that Lionel did a good job on these cars. They respond quickly to sound commands and will bring your "Non-Sound" engines to life should you wish to have them make some noise. Engine sounds (steam and diesel) are varied with the speed of the engine. Horn (or whistle), bell and tower com sounds all sound good as well.
Try 'em...you'll like 'em!
Mark
