Large Scale Central

Uh-oooh

General Discussion
#1

A great Christmas day here in the mountains of S. AZ. Temp got clear up to 53F and played with trains all afternoon. But, found a couple of old LGB 2080 engines in the garage and for the life of me I could not locate a sound trigger strip. Guess I could fabricate one from scratch, but would be better to find one to purchase, or perhaps someone could give me the measurement above the ties on LGB track required to tiip the switch on the 2080. Then it would be very simple to make one. Any help or information would make my Christmas day!

Norm

#2

Norm,

Just about any magnet will trip it. See my post on magnets!

-Brian

#3

Brian,
the pre-late 1980’s LGB sound locomotives (#2080 steam and #2051 diesel) used a mechanical plunger/s to activate the whistle (steam) or horn (diesel). The activation contact was a ramp placed between the track ties, over which the plunger contact rode up and closed the switch circuit. The steam loco required two contact ramps for bell and whistle. The diesel only had one switch for the horn. It was not until the late 1980’s that an electrically operated horn/whistle reed switch was added.

    Several times I have pondered the possibility of replacing the mechanical plunger switch with a reed switch,  thus a magnet would then operate the sounds.
#4

Those things played hell with the “air hose” on a KD coupler, if memory serves.
Norm, wouldn’t be too hard to fab one up with a piece of wood.
Once in a blue moon, one shows up on e-bay.

#5

Yes, I need the ramp style, not the magnetic, but I checked eBay and no luck, so I’ll attempt to make one. I was looking for the exact hight , but I will experiment. I like the idea of changing the type of switch, but that’s a little “over my head”.

Thanks for the feedback.
Norm