Steam Turbine Sound

[Alfie Overacre]

Ihave the RailKing S-2 turbine (don't know the number) and it makes chuffing sounds, not static. MTH said they used chuffing sounds because no one knew exactly what the turbine sounded like and they thought that operators would prefer the chuffs to a whirr sound. The chuffing sounds were not great and the whistle was pathetic. I eventually changed the sound set to get an improved whistle.

I have the 30-1395-1 Imperial version of the S2. It indeed has a "whoooshing" sound rather than chuffing. The sounds appear to me to be very realistic based on feedback I have received from others. During the FYA sequence, the engineer even makes a comment about the whooshing sound of the engine. It is actually a nice change of pace from the usual chuffing steam locos that I run.

I was re-reading the article and looking at the photos of this engine again and saw something that to me was confusing. On the fireman's side was a reach rod and bell crank going to approximately the same spot on the boiler as the one on the engineer's side. I had to think for a minute as to why there would be two throttle linkages. DOH! Of course, the one on the engineer's side was for the foreward turbine and the other must control the reverse.

And all this controlled hydraulically from one lever. Curious as to whether this was picked up on the models, I rooted thru some old Lionel catalogs from the early 90's and in number two was what I was looking for. There in all it's glory was the huge Collector's Line model of the S-2 and it also had the fireman's side reach rod. Out of sheer curiousity, I'm going to do an internet search and see if I can find one of these bad boy's for sale.

From the photos of the S-2 geared drive in that article, the turbine input shaft pinions were angle cut left and right handed, to drive the intermediate/idler gears. The drawing of that set up on page 26 is incorrect as it has the pinion gears all cut the same way.

As such, the initial gearing of the S-2 was done the way turbines were geared in ships, with a herringbone pattern gear drive which when correctly adjusted was rather quiet. If anything, it has a kind of low pitched, moderate hum at speed.

However the final drive in the S-2 transmission was made with straight cut gears to the bull gear on the axles. This type gearing tends to growl and howl, especially as it wears. Sort of the sound old pre-PCC era trolleys and pre- 1950s subway cars made. That growling and howling increases in volume and rises in pitch as speed increases.

The S-2 exhaust would be a steady, rushing sound from spent steam. Turbine powered ships have condensers to reuse the water from spent steam, so they don't make exhuast noises. The S-2 did not have a condenser, so spent steam was exhausted into the atmosphere. That rushing noise would increase in volume, becoming ever louder and deeper as speed increased. It would no doubt be cut back as steam for the turbine was reduced enough to maintain a certain speed.

The reason I asked about condensing is that, in the article, the big box on the pilot beam is shown as containing "condensing apparatus for exhaust steam." With so little steam pressure left to propel the exhaust out the stacks, would there have been much exhaust noise at all, esp. at speed?

Conerning the gear and exhaust noises the Turbine put out, has any of the toy versions ever attempted to make some sort of sound effects? I know MTH put out a Bantam version with chugging, which was really inappropriate.

Jim I have an MTH Railking that is larger than the bantam - sorry dont know the number - to my eyes it is a pretty good representation of the real thing though still not scale size (25 inches though!) Mine has PS1 and makes a great "Whooshing" sound along with huge amounts of smoke/steam from it 4 stacks. Its great fun to run.

Hey Ed, are you sure about that condenser. It show's it on the full side view with descriptions. And imagine my surprize to see the rubber tipped "quill drive apparatus" inside the axle's bull gears. Shades of the GG-1.

I am wondering why the article mentions much about the exhaust steam noise. If the loco used a closed steam circuit with a condenser to feed water back to the tender, there should be no exhaust steam. All steam would be fully contained within the plumbing. Any noise from exhausting steam would also be minimal.

It seems from the article that the S-2 depended somewhat on exhaust steam to create draft for the fire. It was found insufficient to do so. No mention either, as to how the loco's condenser was used. Nor anything said about the possibilities of a blower to maintain or increase draft for the fire when needed.

It would seem that if exchaust steam had insufficient pressure for maintaining a suitable draft, something other than multiple, progressively linked stack butterflys and elephant ears would be required.

. . . the final drive in the S-2 transmission was made with straight cut gears to the bull gear on the axles. This type gearing tends to growl and howl, especially as it wears. Sort of the sound old pre-PCC era trolleys and pre- 1950s subway cars made. That growling and howling increases in volume and rises in pitch as speed increases.

You are an invaluable source of good, unbiased information to this forum, and I want to personally thank you for the many informed and accurate postings. We can always take anything you say as factual.

I've wondered if the performance of the S2 would have been better if they had put a heavy duty booster engine on the trailing truck and used that to start the train moving. Once the train was moving then start the turbine so the steam wouldn't just blow through the turbine.

The article revealed that observation and tested disclosed that a boiler design defect was in fact the most significant contributor. Baldwin engineers determined that there was an area of high thermal gradient caused by flow problems around the circulators in the firebox

I recently joined a local train club, and was excited to dig out of storage a Lionel S2 Turbine that I acquired a few years ago at auction. The box was very sun-faded, but the engine inside looked new. I had a K-Line 120W transformer (chopped sine wave) attached to the test track. Everything worked great, except the RailSounds 1. It makes that strange faint bong sound when power is first applied, then nothing. I located the volume screw on the tender bottom, and turned it both ways; still nothing more.

The train club runs mostly conventionally, with MTH 4000 power and block controls, although we are set up to run TMCC/Legacy when needed. I checked out the Dallee Electonics site, and saw diesels, electrics, and steam, but no turbine sounds ...

Yes, it is surprising that board would be available! I would like to restore the factory sounds if possible. I am frankly curious to hear and enjoy what was state-of-the-art when this engine was made. Around 1990?

It looks like the speaker comes with the Board assembly - there is no separate part number I can see on the parts diagram on the Lionel parts site. Does anyone know the right speaker to order? 8 ohms or 4?

Well, I am told it is good to keep an open mind. So ... after listening to the original RailSounds on YouTube, viewing/hearing Norm Charbonneau's upgraded S2 on You Tube, and listening to the ERR Turbine Sounds file using the link that GunRunner John kindly provided -- and finding 1 ERR Turbine Commander left in stock (after reportedly being discontinued) at a supplier I sometimes use --

Still want to tinker and see if I can get the original system to work, just to increase my knowledge base - I have wired electric, phone, and internet service in homes, but am new to working on electronics.

But I have been meaning to learn how to install an ERR kit for some time, and this particular engine seems to be worth it, and the change in sound quality seems to be quite marked, so also worth the trouble. Also ordered an ERR electric sound kit while I was at it, for a scale GG1 that is now known as Silent Bob.

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