# Thoughts on add on Lionel Sound



## ftauss (Sep 18, 2012)

Looking at the Lionel site and catalog and I'm seeing a Sound Commander and a Railsounds add on board.

At twice the price I'm not sure exactly what makes the Railsounds twice as good. I have a Railsounds tender for the Polar Express, is that pretty much what I can expect from the add on?

Has someone heard them side by side to offer an opinion on each.

Steam or diesel.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The major thing that makes the RailSounds Commander better nowadays is that it's the only one available.  The Sound Commander was discontinued about three years ago, and they are no longer produced.

In truth, the Sound Commander was a very basic unit. I have a couple in locomotives, and the sound quality is not nearly up to the RailSounds quality. Also, they're much more basic, just a basic generic chuff or prime mover sound, coupler clank, and whistle/horn and bell, also generic for steam or diesel.

RailSounds 4 is pretty much the standard for all but the newest TMCC locomotives that moved to RailSounds 5 late in the production before Legacy was introduced. So, if you have a RailSounds 4 steam or diesel TMCC locomotive, that's pretty much the sound quality you'll get from the ERR RailSounds Commander, as it's the same board set.


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## BigAl56 (Dec 14, 2011)

An alternative to modifying your locomotives is to pick up a Railsounds boxcar. Lionel produced them in diesel and steam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXm3qZG6sPE


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Are you running conventional or command?


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## ftauss (Sep 18, 2012)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Are you running conventional or command?


Presently I am using conventional. Though I am starting to look at the kits for upgrading my various engines and considering costs. The Lion Chief RS-3 in Polar Express or PRR seemed interesting, too. Especially with the fan driven smoke. Wonder if could add something like that to my conventional diesels? Kline S-2, RMT S-4, 3 BEEPS (!?! how the hell did that happen!!!) the 2 Williams Sharks sets ABA and a 44 tonner.

No real decisions yet, this is still a holiday hobby, though I have already started on the "project" for this year. I love my Atlantics, plenty of room in the tenders for that stuff and I got the Hudson running, his whistle is not working again and I need to look at it, and of course the Polar Berk with the Trainsounds in it.

The older Atlantic is a candidate for a Dallee E-unit to replace the mechanical one - more as an exercise to see if I can do it.

On the diesels, the sounds of them starting up and revving always sounded very good to me, seems like an easier sound to recreate and having been around diesels idling and grumbling when I was younger, well there is something about that sound.

Mebbe you could give a quick run down of the several terms I've heard

Trainsounds
Railsounds
Signalsounds

Thanks


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

There is no currently available kit to add the LionChief remote to an existing locomotive. If you want to add command, right now you can go with either TMCC from ERR (division of Lionel) or DCS upgrades from MTH. There are fringe outfits making radio controlled and battery powered command solutions, but I'd be a bit concerned about them being around for the long term, and they're not cheap or standardized.

MRC has their AC Sounder that adds prime mover and horn/bell to diesels, that might be an option for conventional operation.

_Definitions_

Trainsounds - single thread sound board (when a horn or bell sounds, the prime mover or chuff stops). Used in Lionel's most inexpensive lines.

Railsounds - multi-thread sound board (able to have multiple sounds mixed simultaniously in the audio stream). Lionel's "mainstream" audio solution. There are multiple versions of RailSounds, 1.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, and now Legacy. Each has added features and added sound capability.

Signalsounds - Horn/whistle and bell sound board, no prime mover or chuff.


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## ftauss (Sep 18, 2012)

Ok, thanks, now it makes sense. I found 2 of the AC sounders and a remote for them so I'm going to try that, and I found 2 boxcars, one is a Trainsounds and one says it is a Diesel Railsounds from 1990. So even though the second one is as old as it is, I would need some kind of TMCC controller to make it work, yes?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Nope, the RailSounds boxcars were all conventional control, they just add sound. Basically, they have the prime mover sounds based on movement, and horn and bell. The RailSounds one will have better sound.


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