I recieved a call from my LHS. The trix Big boy is IN! I will pick it up Saturday. I have a question about smoke for the unit. My LHS has offered to supply smoke units for the loco for twnty five dollars ea ,apperently it requires two. Is this a good price ? They told me that the trix unit is ready and all I will have to do is plug it in ??? Look forward to your feed back. Thanks in advance.
I could easily live without the smoke. It’s been my experience that the oil from the smoke settles on the track as an oily film that almost requires an act of congress to clean up.
Not only that, but you have to keep buying the “smoke”. After a while, it’s expensive, AND a mess.
Some people really like it for the looks though, so to each his own!
I do not recommend the smoke. I have a PCM variant, it has smoke, and that oil got on the tracks, and my engines slip like an ice storm came through. Also, the oil got on the engine.
I only use smoke to impress relatives at christmas.
Otherwise, its a no-no.
I would leave the smoke .
When I went to the Springfield show a couple of years back, one of the exhibitors was running a smoke engine. This was a big, big hall with many booths, but you could smell it everywhere, and the booths near this one were downright unpleasant to be at.
If it can do that to an exhibit hall, think what it can do for your basement.
Smoke is a gimmick best left for outdoor railways.
…but the questions were…
IIRC, the Yardbird ones are around $15. (I think. Can’t find their price list) Probably not plug n play though.
http://yardbirdtrains.com/YBsmkunit.htm
Yep, they stink, but that smell brings back memories of Christmas as a kid. I heard you can use mineral oil. Anyone know if that works or not?
Jerry,
Your LHS is correct. My Trix Mike is also all set up to receive a smoke unit. From what I understand, it’s fairly simple to install.
Is the price quoted for the actual smoke unit(s) and installation, or just installation alone? If the former, that would be a pretty decent price. Not so, for the latter.
Congrats on the newest acquisition. I’ve been very pleased with my Trix Mike. The detailing is beautiful. Make sure you post when you’ve had a chance to run it a bit.
Tom
Have fun with the new train!
THANKS
I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT IS INSTALLED ? I BELIEVE IT IS JUST FOR THE SMOKE PLUG IN .
Jerry,
Seems that I remember that the smoke unit was somewhere in the $12-15 ea. range. So, yes, it’s a decent price.
Tom
[Correction: Oops! I misread Jerry’s original post. I thought he said that they were $25 for the pair. Actually, $25/ea. does sound about right.]
I have 2 smoke units in my Athern Challenger. They are Seuthe units, and I believe I paid about $20 each (my LHS discounts about 15-20%) On the Athern, they just push in & connect to a plug in the loco. Probably the same on the Trix, Seuthe being a German Co. Mine have stopped working, & I probably won’t fix them 'till Christmas time!! (probably a dirty connection - electronic contact cleaner should do the trick)[:D]
If I remember correctly, $25 each was the list price or at least the same as I paid when I got my Trix. I tried them and removed them. My advice is skip the extra $50. You may like them, I did not. My PCM Big Boys come with a smoke unit installed already with a fan to lift up the smoke, but it is switched off.
If you are running on a large club layout, they will run out of oil long before you get to service them and guess what happens when you run them without fluid in them?? They burn out.
Nice feature that switch.
Cheers