Those of us in the model railroad hobby who have Loksound equipped locomotives and also own the LokSound programmer hardware have loaded sound files more than once onto a decoder. That's inescapable. The discussion is for those of us who were lucky enough to purchase one of True Line Trains commuter locomotives that have the MP36PH-3C or 3S prime mover. Now that True Line Trains is out of business (yes I know their website is still there and thank God for that as you'll see shortly) the MP36s are becoming collectors items. They are the authentic MP36 engines. Sorry Athearn your model just doesn't measure up to the real thing (quick time to market though, I'll give you that). The problem comes when the ESU sound stops working. Here we go.
A member of our club (The Hostlers, Ogden Utah) came to me and said he had one of these engines and that the sound hasn't worked for a long time. I told him I'd take a look at it because I also have one of the Utah FrontRunner models. Here's a list of the supposed fixes I tried.
- multiple decoder resets
- multiple reloads of the ESU sound file project 91494
- jumpering know good speaker to verify speaker viability
- close examination of motherboard
- I worked on this engine on and off for 2 months
- giving up...
- no, not really
Like Dr. Pol, I never quit.
By not quitting I mean I went to the LokSound forum on groups.io. There is a plethora of information on this forum and it is THE place to go when you're at your wit's end. The first suggestion I received was to check first, the function layout and insure that F8 was the engine startup. This was a good suggestion for me as I had always assumed that F8 was the startup and it could be different. Also to look at the volume settings and make sure they were in the audible range. All good suggestions but to no avail as the problem persisted.
The second suggestion was, if I hadn't already done it, to go to the True Line Trains website and download their decoder file for new boards in the MP36 engines they produced. What??? Another file???
So I went to the website and downloaded the file. I reset the decoder, reloaded the 91491 project and then loaded the file I downloaded. YOU GUESSED IT!! The sound started up the second I pressed F8. Who knew?!?! (The guy on the forum that's who.) This is the only instance I've been able to find where a manufacturer has an additional file you need for the engine to work properly.
The moral of the story is always check the manufacturer's website to see if they have anything additional you will need for proper operation.
So if you are lucky enough to have one of True Line's MP36 models get the ESU sound file here and the additional True Line file here at the bottom of the page. Load the ESU sound file first followed by True Line's file and you'll be set. Save the True Line file somewhere where you won't lose it. You never know when that website will be gone forever.
<UPDATE 2022-01-12>
There is work in progress trying to get LokSound to update the MP36 v4 Select sound file to v5 but we'll see how long that takes. In the meantime, the author has made the extra file available here.
Also, Atlas has purchased certain molds and tooling from True Line Trains of Ontario, Canada. Models in this acquisition include in HO scale the C-Liner and RS18 Locomotives, the Slab Side Covered Hopper, the 50' Newsprint Freight Car, the Fowler Stock Car, the Bulkhead Flat Car, the CN/CP Caboose and the 40' AAR Box Car. In N scale, Atlas has acquired the C424 and GP9 Locomotives. Notice, the MP36 is not one of the acquired locomotives.
Happy Commuting!
If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.
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