Any one have success adding a cost effective smoke unit to a conventional operating diesel? If so, what unit did you use and how did you accomplish the modification? I have a Williams SD45 O scale unit I would like to add smoke functionality to. The less complex the better but I would like to hear as many ideas as possible. I would be very grateful to duplicate someone else’s success.
Thanks
Not to conventionals but quite a few to command. Can be done because I reduce the voltage on the command ones.
You can get aftermarket units like this:
http://www.tastudios.com/tastudiosupgrades/smoke_unit.htm
or order a replacement unit from Lionel or MTH. It would have to be fan driven or you won’t get much of an effect (aka no piston to simulate “puffing” like a steam engine).
I’m not a big fan of smoke units for diesels. The only time a diesel smokes is when something is wrong like a transient situation e.g. turbo lag, or something more chronic/ominous like a major system failure.
Sorry Chuck but diesels do smoke. Need to watch some videos. I use Lionel fan driven units. Build my own brackets but you can get the brass “legs” for them. For conventional, run straight off of track power. For command, I build bridge rectifiers to reduce the voltage to keep them from smoking too much and looking like the engine is bad.
I’ve never seen a properly working 1:1 diesel unit put out smoke like we see from a toy train. I remember seeing the turbo lag mushroom cloud from the Erie RS-3’s when they left the station about 1/4 mile from my folks house when I was growing up in Pearl River (BTW, the plume dissipated by the time the comuter train was by our house and was already clocking something like 30 mph). The GP-7’s that were replacing them never did that nor did the U-34’s that repalced the GP-7’s. For the most part they didn’t seem to produce any more smoke than the average city bus or big rig tractor trailer. Every time I’ve seen a video of diesel loco belching smoke like we see from our toy trains something bad is happening[;)]
ChiefEagles,
Can you give me the part number for the Lionel fan driven unit you use? Can you tell me if you have modified any non-Command units? Were you satisfied with their performance?
Thanks
Seen a UP reving to pull a heavy coal train actually have fire coming out of the stack.
I don’t think that’s “normal” (or at least I hope not)[:D]
I don’t think that’s “normal” (or at least I hope not)[:D]
Just the NS runs dirty…[:D]
Have NOT done any conventionals. All mine are command. Do not have the part number. Go to your local train repair shop. They should have some. I’ve got 3 or 4 extra’s stored in my parts bin. You have three wires from the plug in [the wiring harness is the part hard to find, I have a radio control airplane part number I use]. Wire the two outer ones together to center pickup wire and the center wire of harness [usually black] to common. Also check for fan rotation of unit. Take top off, hook up wires [as described above] to power source and fan should rotate clockwise. If not, switch wires [black and red] on fan motor. A straight pin inserted into the back side of the plastic connector will flatten the flange holding the wire pin and release the wire. On conventional, I would use direct track power. You will get very little smoke at low voltage and more as track voltage increases. On command, I drop the voltabe to the smoke unit to about 12V. Now an MTH smoke unit is completely different. Try it. Not hard to do. I use small “L” brackets from ACE to make my mounting bracket. Elongate the holes to allow adjustment from side to side and up and down. I use closed foam strips from ACE to make a gasket between unit and shell. It is the wide type with one side sticky. The type used to seal camper shells to a truck body and etc. BTW: while you have the unit open, pull out that wicking and put in pink insulation. Cut the “sock” off of the element. [a discovery of Buckeye] Make sure the element touches the pink and the pink is not blocking the air passage from fan chamber to smoke chamber.
Well folks, I guess my whole view on the hobby (and life, really) is different. So many adult train guys today look back with fondness on their childhood train layout… on that very first train set. And I too, remember those times of running a train too fast, sounding a horn that in reality was a bicycle buzzer, running cars that often said “Lionel Lines” on them, and yet somehow the whole thing seemed SO REAL!!
Imagination… I’ve never lost it. So I fast forward to today: I have a bunch of smaller diesels that don’t have much room in them, like K-Line S-2’s, Lionel Industrial Switchers and small Lionel steamers. My utterly low-tech approach is to take some cotton, conveniently available out of aspirin or other medicine bottles. I poof a piece of cotton with some grey or black spray paint, and work a little steam of cotton into the smoke stack of the loco. If it’s solid, I’ll drill a hole into it.
Granted, it’s not working smoke, but somehow in my mind it is. And I love it when I have company and someone says “look at the smoke coming out of that diesel.” It’s just cotton, but they figured it out.
I know what has made the hobby fun for so many of us are all the innovative technological advancements in our trains. But we pay for those advancements, both retail and with frustration when they don’t work and can’t easily be fixed.
So for me (and this might not work for everyone), I accept LESS as actually being MORE.
You got mail. Found it.
