Model Train Journal

I have one of these because my wife saw it in the catalog and got it for me because
she thought it was (ready?) cute and besides "you drink a lot of Coke".
It runs well and has sounds that are not loud enough. Now I am NOT a fan of train
sounds but this is a train that gets run for young visitors and they do like sounds.
The sound adjustment wheel on the bottom of the tender is up all the way but
still not enough. I have opened the tender and did not find an adjustment as on
Williams locos and some others for sound. I queried Lionel about this and was
told that this set was meant for younger children and they had to keep the sound
at a low level to meet "regulations".
Does anybody have any useful suggestions?
Don't tell me to junk it. My wife likes it.

Is this the Lionel O gauge General set, from a few years ago?

Roy wrote:Is this the Lionel O gauge General set, from a few years ago?

Yes.

OK, the tender circuit diagram should be available on the Lionel website. From there, a person with electronic smarts should be able to find the resistor or whatever Lionel put in, to knock down the volume.

Thank you but no electronic smarts here.

It might help if you could give the set number.

rogruth wrote: I queried Lionel about this and was
told that this set was meant for younger children and they had to keep the sound
at a low level to meet "regulations".

What they really mean to say is the louder and richer a sound system gets, the more it costs to manufacture.

You're probably right, John.
I have no idea what the set number is/was.

There was a fix. It was posted on OGR, but it was 2011. The specific post that described the process to bypass or remove a resistor was deleted fully, and all links to the Lionel website for the specific .pdf that described the mod are dead now.
Apparently it is for children safety.
Anybody want to argue that, I send you the links.
I am trying to unearth the process now.

The Lionel set number was 6-30166 "Coca- Cola 125th Anniversary Vintage Steam Set"(from the 2011 RTR catalog).

The tender number is 6918756T01. Here's p.1 of the replacement parts for it:

https://www.lionelsupport.com/ReplacementParts/index.cfm?startRow=1&DOACTION=productPartFilter&PRODUCTID=4d4f6fe0-7216-4ddf-8e34-15fe1344126d

I haven't found the circuit diagram, yet.

The number for the engine and tender is 6-18756. The engine by itself is 6108756001.

This was the link to fix it:
http://www.lionel.com/media/servicedocu ... umefix.pdf

Here ya go. Close enough you can figure it out. The photo shows a wire replacing the resistor.
http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/p/205009/2243110.aspx

Here's the Lionel page, via the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120108220110/http://www.lionel.com/media/servicedocuments/6336Startersetwhistlevolumefix.pdf

I don't know if this fix will work on Roger's tender, since he has TrainSounds, not an air whistle.