I’m looking at a brass Erie 2-10-2 with a Vanderbilt tender and I would like to add DCC and sound. The tender’s round water tank appears to be a cylinder screwed to the frame with no way to insert a speaker, or even a decoder. The coal bunker, however, is big enough to house the speaker and the decoder would fit in the engine. The question is how to create a coal load which will cover the speaker? It would have to be porous, to transmit the sound and rigid enough to support the coal and prevent it from interfering with the speaker. And of course it would have to look like real coal. Any suggestions?
Can you fit the decoder and speaker in the boiler or the cab? I have had to do this on some occasions.
David B
On the newer Hornby Rivarossi Big Boy’s they put the speaker up in the smoke box Of course every application is different but if at all possible the speaker should face down so the sound reverberates off the track surface rather then putting it in so the speaker faces upwards. Some may disagree but this way was proven to me to be the better way of doing it and if you look at a lot of steam loco’s that come with sound such as Proto Heritage 2000’s for example there are holes in the bottom of the tender. Don’t forget if possible you want some sort of enclosure around the speak. I would do a search and try and find someone who’s done that exact install and see how they did it.
The below link shows how Bachmann has done this but they have a plastic tender.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H842X-IS001.PDF
Rich
I have added the SoundTraxx Tsunami to a couple of my Southern Pacific brass locomotives with a Vanderbuilt tender. I’m in the process of doing one now I have been able to mount the speaker in the boiler next to the bulkhead. I have also re-motored these units so it makes the job a little easier. The first one really turned out well with the sound coming right out of the engine. I also just used the coupler bar to transfer the left rail pickup from the tender to the decoder. It has worked out well with no problems. So there are no wires between the tender and the locomotive.
I have done a few brass locomotives with a square tender and in those case I placed the speaker and decoder in the tender. I run 5 wires between the engine and tender. Pin 1 is headlight, pin 2 is motor, pin 3 is right rail pick-up, pin 4 is motor and pin 5 is headlight. So if I should plug it in backwards the locomotive runs backwards.
WPAllen How did you add the brass strip to the locomotive drawbar for the left rail pickup?
Hi
I used the tender for the left rail source of power. The tender power is already there in the engine as an isolated tab using the drawbar as the link. It worked out better than I thought it would as I was thinking of ways to pick up the power from the left side engine drivers. I forgot to say I fitted the decoder above the weight and gear box. The model is a Westside (KTM) Southern Pacific 4-8-2 MK-5. The one I’m currently working on is a Westside?(KTM) Southern Pacific 4-6-2 Pacific. I’m going to do the same thing with it. It does not have a box so I’m assuming it is a Westside.
I will order the Tsunami decoder next month as funds become available. Same with a Westside Western Pacific GS-6 4-8-4 that I have remotored and have everything ready to go for the decoder. The GS-6 will have the decoder and speaker in the tender. I’m using the same wiring method for the 5 pin plug as above. 1 is headlight, 2 is motor, 3 is right rail from engine, 4 is motor and 5 is headlight. That way if I accidently reverse the plug the only thing that will happen is the engine runs backwards.