This is my “on-board” sound system for “Analog Dinosaurs”. As a confirmed “AD” I tried one of those $170 sound systems with far less than stellar results. Fingers did not work so well, could not get the magnets on wheels and reed switches properly aligned, kept knocking off parts because track magnets were too high, or a rock got in the way, gave up after about two months and filed the entire project in the “round file”.
I get these “wannabe iPods” from the “electronics” section at the local toy departments when they are on clearance. This one was $15 (+$7 for the speakers); I left the lid off the speakers so you can see the size of the setup (AA battery). Typically they can hold 20~30 minutes of music. I downloaded steam sounds, you know the ones that last for about 4~5 seconds, and several whistle sounds. Using a freeware mp3 editor, I cleaned up the ends of the sounds. Using “copy & paste” I turned 2.5 seconds of chuffing into about 90 seconds of chuff. Insert a whistle, then more chuff and so on until I had a 10 minute “sound track.” For the saloon I ripped a “honky tonk” CD. I put the music on the left track and party/crowd sounds on the right track. For the old “haunted mansion” (Halloween clearance sale at Hallmark Store) I ripped a Halloween sound CD. <