Railsounds upgrade doesn't chuff

My son has a Lionel GN Hudson (6-28055) that had signal sounds. I bought the railsounds steam upgrade kit (6-22963) and installed it tonight. According to the instructions, it should chuff and the chuffs should increase with throttle speed (I am running it in conventional mode). However, when I open the trhottle I get only one chuff and then nothing else but background steam noise. Is it broke? Any suggestions?

It’s hard to say what the problem is – you may have to contact Lionel for this problem.

Sincerely,
Neil Besougloff
editor, Classic Toy Trains magazine

Hi Neil:

Thanks for the reply. I took the locomotive to a Lionel Service Center and they told me that the locomotive was not upgradable – even though I distinctly remember reading otherwise. That is why I bought the loco in the first place. Needless to say I was very dissappointed to learn this fact.

did you move the jumper over??

I am not sure what jumper you are referring too. The guy who checked out the loco seemed to know what he was doing so I am relying on his opinion.

I have contacted TrainAmerica and am seriously thinking of having those guys upgrade the engine.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Does the Railsounds board need to be reset? Most TMCC boards need to be told if they are steam or diesel or they will not behave properly. I do not know if this applies to non-TMCC conversions. I would contact Lionel service. There may be a code which needs to be invoked to let the sound system know that it is in a steam locomotive.