I finally got some time to play with my 269E set, the first in the at that time un-named Prewar Celebration Series from Lionel. The set is beautiful, and looks to my admittedly inexperienced eye like a pretty good replica of the locomotive and cars as shown in various books I own that include this unusual prewar set’s pieces (Tuohy-McComas, TCA book, Doyle. Greenberg). The locomotive runs well and is a nice conventional loco with E-unit and AC open frame motor, just like the original. So what’s not to like? Well, my personal preference would have been for TMCC, but that’s not a big deal. What is a bigger and not so hot deal is the Trainsounds. As Joe Bolton remarked some time ago, Trainsounds is not Railsounds. Trainsounds may not be as awful on the ear as MTH’s Locosounds or Lionel’s first generation Railsounds, but it’s pretty tinny and harsh, and obviously not a good representation of the original whistle. I’d have preferred either the full TMCC/Railsounds package or the original air whistle. Trainsounds may be designed for the lower end conventional loco, but in my view, does not belong in postwar or prewar repros. The saving grace is you can turn it off :). It’s not as jarring and ugly as having the wrong guy’s name on the side of the tender and caboose, but it isn’t exactly a positive for me, aesthetically or nostalgia-wise. My vote is to put Railsounds or an air whistle in future repros of this type.