For sometime, sound decoders have been available for locomotives. The quality and variety of these is increasing gradually, and it was only a matter of time that these became available for cars.
While sound in cars is nothing new (Lionel amongst others, has been offering them for their models for a while now), the first commercially available sound (that I know of) for an HO scale model was the mechanical reefer released by Athearn last year. This decoder is now released as a separate available decoder by Soundtraxx, it is called the Tsunami Soundcar. While I have not found a dealer in the UK that stocks this one yet, I have ordered one from the US to try out, and have received it. I'm in the process of doing an installation of it in a HO scale 53' Atlas boxcar.
The decoder also has lighting outputs, bell and horn sounds , so it is also suitable to be used for a passenger cab car, mechanical reefer sounds etc. While this means that there's a lot in there that the majority of freight cars don't need, I doubt it would make a huge impact on price if the extra's weren't included.
With a bit of creativity, it might fit in some N scale cars too.
Here are a few video's of what it can do.
In a freight car.
In use in a variety of cars:
While sound in cars is nothing new (Lionel amongst others, has been offering them for their models for a while now), the first commercially available sound (that I know of) for an HO scale model was the mechanical reefer released by Athearn last year. This decoder is now released as a separate available decoder by Soundtraxx, it is called the Tsunami Soundcar. While I have not found a dealer in the UK that stocks this one yet, I have ordered one from the US to try out, and have received it. I'm in the process of doing an installation of it in a HO scale 53' Atlas boxcar.
The decoder also has lighting outputs, bell and horn sounds , so it is also suitable to be used for a passenger cab car, mechanical reefer sounds etc. While this means that there's a lot in there that the majority of freight cars don't need, I doubt it would make a huge impact on price if the extra's weren't included.
With a bit of creativity, it might fit in some N scale cars too.
Here are a few video's of what it can do.
In a freight car.
In use in a variety of cars:
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