I recently purchased a Williams 4-8-4 J loco form the Trainz auctions. Cosmetically it is great. The electronics are not so good. The sound (it only has a whistle and a bell), worked part time, and the sound volume was so weak that it could barely be heard. After running the train for awhile the sound seemed to be fine, but then it crapped out altogether. I took the tender apart and checked all the electrical connections, put it back together, and it worked fine, for awhile.
I remembered having a spare set of boards from another Williams loco that I had converted some time back. (thank you to Alex M). When I checked the spare parts, the sound board seemed to be a match. So, I embarked on a switch out. Voila! Everything worked out just fine. The sound, both whistle and bell work great! For most of you, this is an easy task, and, after having done it, I can safely say that it was truly easy. But it was my first attempt at any such operation within a toy train. And, I'm pretty happy it did actually work.
Now, all I have to do is to find a replacement for the voltage regulator board for the loco headlight and smoke unit, and then switch it out too.
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