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I have been putting my new Zepher threw it's paces and noticed the horn had a different pitch intermittently or so I thought. Well I "glanced" at the directions! This not being exactly my first engine I didn't really read them that well.  I'm thinking "Great" back to Lionel to see what's wrong with this thing! After going back to the book again I found out the Zepher has two horns. A tonned down horn for the city and a loud horn for the country."who knew" you need to press AUX-1 to toggle back and forth. Moral to the story? Read the directions no matter how long you've been in the hobby!  Here is a short video of the sound difference. 

 

 

Last edited by Chris Lonero
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First of all.  Cool horn idea.  Way to go, Lionel!

 

And yes, often the directions tell you things you didn't know you didn't know.  Still, I don't always, even though I know I should . . . 

 

Beyond the instructions often telling you the things you really need to know, they do explain about those "unknown unknowns" which will certainly make Dick Cheney happy!

The older I get, the more inclined I've been to read directions.

But I've found out why I've been blowing off directions for most of my life... they're often very poorly written.

When I bought my DCC system for my layout, I'm glad I had two guys with me who knew all about that stuff to hook it up and handle the wiring, because I later tried to read the instructions and I really didn't 'get' hardly any of it as it had almost no diagrams and the verbiage was very confusing to me.

Ditto and amen, on lousy directions, even if, and you're lucky, they were written by

English speakers. Many new car instructions won't tell you at what mileage you should

change the oil.  It will pop up on your dash and blot out the screen when you're

a hundred miles from a dealer in the middle of South Dakota.  I was just working on

my lawn mower, and noted that the "manual" didn't bother to mention what spark plug

it took, air filter to use, weight of oil to use when changing, etc.  I have all that penciled in the inside cover, now.  I guess you do that with trains.  Why read instructions, that are useless, and then have to write your own?

Originally Posted by Keith6700:

That's pretty cool! When I'm bored, I usually flip through some of my trains' instruction booklets. Though I've never really looked at any one instruction booklet before I mess with the train, and rarely even within a week of buying the item. I guess I'm just too exited to run the trains!!!

 

Exactly Keith;  I'm just an overgrown kid who can't wait to run the train!

Chris, thanks for highlighting that cool Lionel Zephyr feature.
 
 
Originally Posted by Up with UP:

Jeez, now I want a Zephyr.  Correction, now I need a Zephyr...

I've admired the various Lionel scale Zephyrs and recently started watching them more so with the numerous dealer markdowns out there.  However, as the character Dirty Harry once said, "A man has got to know his limitations."

 

Lionel's product description:
Minimum Curve: O-72

 

And my layout has 0-54 curves.

Just don't post a video showing me this model running smoothly through 0-54 or I'm likely a goner

Lionel has selectable whistles and horns on several models. My Milwaukee Road S3 has three - two whistles and an air horn. I believe some of the Daylights have a selectable whistle or air horn. This was common on real locomotives in the late 30's - the sound from the air horns carried better, so they were used at speed, while the whistle was used in the yard or in the station. 

I am about ready to pull the trigger on this one.  The only limitation is the credit card and I've got one with the Zephyr's name written all over it.  I had to let go of a LionMaster Big Boy because it looked so small against my UP Baldwin Centipede.  The Centipede is listed as Standard O and so is the Zephyr.  Does anybody think that they would look out of place side by side.  And I hated to let go of the Big Boy when I took it out for some pics cause it was so heavy and well built.  A forumite got it.

Chris, just got done with the order.  I did a "shout out" to you and rboatertoo in the comments section on the Nassau Hobby order form. Thanks for all the help you guys provided.  I suppose is should be angry with you as it set back my purchase of the Vision line Big Boy, but it was a screaming deal on the Zephyr and I did say I needed one...

Thanks also to LP.sr. for helping make the Zephyr happen by giving the LionMaster Big Boy a new home.  I was fairly impressed by the Lionel Zephyr Manual when it came to the Legacy controls but it was not mentioned, at least from my initial scan that the AUX-1 button did what it did, which is what started this topic and ultimately my purchase.  It turned out well for all, I think.

Originally Posted by Up with UP:

Chris, just got done with the order.  I did a "shout out" to you and rboatertoo in the comments section on the Nassau Hobby order form. Thanks for all the help you guys provided.  I suppose is should be angry with you as it set back my purchase of the Vision line Big Boy, but it was a screaming deal on the Zephyr and I did say I needed one...

Thanks also to LP.sr. for helping make the Zephyr happen by giving the LionMaster Big Boy a new home.  I was fairly impressed by the Lionel Zephyr Manual when it came to the Legacy controls but it was not mentioned, at least from my initial scan that the AUX-1 button did what it did, which is what started this topic and ultimately my purchase.  It turned out well for all, I think.

David. I sent you the link for Eric's review.  Let's see some pics when you get the Zepher.

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