# New Haven 495 locomotive



## Dewman (May 15, 2018)

Hello, first time posting. I just purchased an American Flyer 494/495 locomotive along with a diesel air horn. I am having trouble receiving anything but a buzz from the 495 speaker. I've checked the connections to make sure they are correct. Anyone have any suggestions


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I don't have any of the old AF diesels and have never worked on them. No help here.
Hopefully someone here can give you some suggestions. Much knowledge here.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

If you only hear the buzz when pushing the Diesel horn button you may be hearing the actual horn! Sounds like a possible part failure. It can be either the speaker, the condenser or the vibrator in the horn button. 
I usually do not run these engines. Three reasons. It is a pain to correctly wire all the track through the horn button (or alternatively set up an isolated track section where the horn blows.) The horn sounds marginal at best. The horn requires a pure sine wave transformer. Any other type of track power supply has harmonics that cause the horn to continuously sound.


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## Dewman (May 15, 2018)

Thanks for your response. I do have that train on an isolated track and I'm using the 4B to power it. I will investigate to see if the problem is in the unit itself or the control generator button.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Hopefully you will find the problem. Replacement parts are available from a couple of the AF parts vendors.


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Here's a video that lets you hear the diesel horn. Look at the wiring diagram that he shows towards the end and make sure yours is the same. Also, the diesel roar came in the 495 and the sound is amplified thru the same speaker. As was stated they aren't hard to get parts for or repair. There are quite a few videos on YouTube that cover the repair of these horns.


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## Dewman (May 15, 2018)

Cramden, Thank you for your reply. I double checked the wiring and find it is correct. I purchased the generator and control button from a reliable source and stated that it was tested. I have since ordered replacement parts for the 495 engine.

Dale


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Dewman said:


> Cramden, Thank you for your reply. I double checked the wiring and find it is correct. I purchased the generator and control button from a reliable source and stated that it was tested. I have since ordered replacement parts for the 495 engine.
> 
> Dale


Good deal, glad to hear you have narrowed it down. Let us know when you get it working.


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## Dewman (May 15, 2018)

Cramden, 
Thanks for suggesting the video. After watching it I believe the buzzing I hear from the 495 is the actual horn sound. I am still going to replace the guts with new parts when they arrive to see if there is a difference. Thanks again!

Dale


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

Just to follow up, does your diesel roar work? One other thing is that you can usually fix the canister that plugs into the button housing. If you cut the outer case completely around at the bottom nearest the plug it will lift off and you then can clean the points that vibrate to make the horn noise. I've done it with one, the points were stuck from sitting for who knows how long.The same applies to the diesel roar, it also has a set of points that can get stuck. If it works you might find it gets annoying after a few minutes. Some have a lever under the chassis to turn it off, but most don't. New parts might make the horn louder if nothing else.


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## Dewman (May 15, 2018)

The diesel roar apparently does not work but after watching some videos maybe that's not too bad. I will check the points out in both cases. Thanks


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