I recently purchased several LGB ‘shorty’ sound tenders to strip for the sound units. While not the best around, for the price, they are adequate. The units come complete with sound board, speaker and bell/whistle trigger. Chuff and bell are acceptable, although the whistle has often been referred to as sounding like a beached whale. The units are not particularly loud so I am dispensing with the volume control facility for ease of installation. The sound board has the facility for direct installation of a LGB decoder, for those who are into MTS control.
Installation is simple. Right track power is connected to pin #4 on the board and left track power to pin #5. The board actually works reasonably well without the battery backup when used with a Train Engineer on linear power. I am fitting the sound boards to several ‘older’ style Aristo-Craft C-16 locomotives and maybe even a couple of LGB moguls. On the C-16’s, I have removed the coal/wood load and opened up an aperture in the shell. This gives me access to the interior, plus the ability to replace batteries as well. I prefer to use four off 1.2 volt rechargables rather than a single 9 volt cell as it gives a longer operating life.
The unused tender (minus sound) may then be disposed of on evilbay to recoup some cost.