Hacking Vintage Toy Train Tech: MRC AC Sound & Power Unit (Plus New BlueTooth Sound Tips!)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- Having been actively involved in the O gauge toy train hobby for some five decades, it isn’t often that I come across something I never knew existed, but while browsing an online auction site recently, I saw the MRC Sound & Power AC unit. I was fully aware of the the regular, DC-output Sound & Power unit, but AC? Can this be used with Lionel Trains?
In 1993, MRC combined these their sound and control products into the Sound & Power DC throttle. What I never knew until recently, was that MRC also made a Sound & Power unit for AC trains. I am assuming that MRC did not make many of the AC units because I do not recall ever seeing any promotional materials for the AC version, and in fact the box uses a photo of the standard DC version.
So now, I have synchronized sound for any locomotive of any era of any manufacturer at any time without having to fool with phone apps or coordinating my phone with the throttle. I can simply turn on my throttle and transmitter, pair the speakers, and I’m ready to roll! Or you can test the system with a stationary speaker if you’re not ready for the full Bluetooth experience. In any case, this is a great solution to add sound without having to modify every locomotive in your fleet. It may not sound quite as nice as today’s digital systems, but it’s certainly an improvement over many of the horn and whistle sounds of previous generations, and the whole installation can cost less than a contemporary sound board. AND it’s a great little power supply for my trains as well!
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Products Used In This Video:
amzn.to/3RhaOKx Leicex Speaker (2 work best)
amzn.to/3X69bDi BT Transmitter
amzn.to/4aPcZfh Line converter
Toy Train Tips And Tricks is a channel devoted to the operation, repair, history, and collecting of classic 3-rail O and O27 gauge trains made by Lionel, Marx, K-Line, Menards, and other manufacturers.
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I recently picked up a diesel generator system from a swap meet for free. Its from 1989 and has a fairly realistic diesel sound. This one takes an input from any throttle for synchronized sounds. It also came with a separate box just to generate the horn but does not sound as good as the horn shown here. I'd love to find one of those old Pacific Fast Mail units for my vintage steam engines!
Now that was interesting, I've been going to train shows since the 1990s and read magazines like "Model Railroader," "Classic Toy Trains," and "O Gauge Railroading" and have never seen one of these units. The units for HO and N Gauge yes, O Gauge no. Thanks for this informative video!
Thanks for watching!
I love this video. Playing catch up with older tech always fascinates me. But i gotta throw this out there: Railsounds steam and diesel boxcars from Lionel. They run off track power and compliment the type of locomotive you're running. You can find them under 100 apiece and as they're housed in MPC era 9700 series boxcars, you can swap shells if roadnames are important to you or your layout theme. I recently turned a Frisco diesel railsounds boxcar into a katy to run behind my Texas Special alcos.
Good tip!
You are one Smart Guy! OUTSTANDING👍👍🔥🙏
I try
Great video as always. I would love to have hear what it sounds like going through a powerful stereo system like what you showed us. I bet it would shake the house.
My microphone doesn't do it justice!
What a great tutorial! I have one of these at I got when I bought an estate full of trains. Thanks for sharing as always! Cbtrainnut
Glad it was helpful!
What a great find. Alot of good innovations came out in the 90s. That is perfect to use with your Williams units! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
This is very cool!
Thanks!
I have this unit but have not used this in years.
Great information 👍
Glad it was helpful!
Just saw one of these om E-Bay what a co-incidence! Thanks, very informative! I have also seen some similar (seemingly) pre DCC controllers from the U.K., but I think they all need 220v source power, I know the transformer output will still work (at lower power output) but not sure about the sound effects.
Interesting!
PFM can be installed in any scale of DC steam loco. It remains to this day, the best whistle function of ANY model RR sound system. I have several PFM units in my collection, and have friends still using it as the primary system on their DC 2 rail scale railroads. There is a FB group of PFM users.
Good to know! Thanks for the feedback!
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks AND, thanks for introducing me to some systems I had no knowledge of👍.. I always get something from your videos.. I really do appreciate the effort you put into them. 👋
@@jenniferwhitewolf3784 Thank you!
If you mount the speaker in box that will make it sound even better
8:11
I saw one of the DC ones on another model railroading TH-cam channel.
I am one of the "purists" who only wants sound in the trains and hence completely ignored it.
Now that I am planning to build a loco control stand thingy for my railroad, it might be nice to include a sound system built in it--it would feel like you're IN the locomotive, not in a fake locomotive.
Also--I would have had no idea as to whether the camera needed cleaning or not; my computer's monitor is very dusty and needs cleaning. Even if the camera was clean I wouldn't be able to see the difference.
You COULD put the speakers inside the locomotive, but then charging and power on/off access become issues. I suppose you could then use an Arduino or ESP32 board, powered by the track. as the BT receiver and speaker driver but that's more time, money, and effort than I'm willing to invest right now. Plus portable speakers means it works with every locomotive, not just the one installed.
It might also be possible to convert the DC current from a regular Sound & Power to an AC current (I have too much old electronic junk). Maybe hooking up a rectifier backwards?
@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks I was thinking to simply use any old speaker in the control stand.
When I first replied to this video I should have said also that I remembered that it was advertised Classic Toy Trains?
Do you know the issue? I went back through my CTT collection and found nothing.
I put a? at the end of that sentence, I went and looked at what I have left of "CTT". I was mistaken. I cannot find the instruction sheet or the recite. Did I buy this from our local hobby shop? Back 2017 I almost had a stroke and that has played havic with my memory at times.
I am from India and have been wanting to buy this MRC sound and speed unit but unfortunately could not do so. I have both AC and DC powered locomotives.
Has MRC made any AC power packs lately?
Nothing in current production.
Howdy my friend, I am on the slightly opposite side of the spectrum from you as an S Gauger/American Flyer fan but I hope you'll be willing to help me :)
My question is this, I find the sound effects of the Flyer whistling billboards to be absolutely silly, if I bought a bluetooth speaker and tucked it into a boxcar as you have done how could I find appropriate sound files to load on and then play at correct intervals (Things like bells, whistles, etc) and how then would I coordinate the files to play correctly?
This should give you some ideas: th-cam.com/video/SwvV_-1AjzU/w-d-xo.html
I have a suggestion too, you could try making a simple program using Scratch. It's a fairly simple programming language and it is free! I made a Bluetooth-based sound system using it.
@@Engine1988 Can you provide more explanation on how I would code such a thing?
@@jas5267 It's easier to understand if you have the system, but basically imagine a line of dominoes. When each one is knocked over, it does something. You configure the action. It might change something onscreen, it might delay the next action... or it might play a sound that you load in. With a bit of simplicity you can set it up so that it changes what sound it is playing when you press the right key.