great to hear Trainman, how did the cherry switch install work out for you and if it did preaty neat isn’t it…
here are some pictures of the disassembly of my Polar Express engine
Hi mine looks the same the only difference is mine has a fan driven smoke unit in it now I would post pictures but I dont know how Thanks trainman
Hi Firefighter Nick
I did not put the cherry switch in since I dont have constant volatage or TMCC I figured it would not be worth putting the cherry switch in to be honest I am happy the way it is now when you turn the transformer down the smoke dies down when the transformer is turned up its full steam ahead but when lionel opens its parts department maybe I wil buy the switch and try it just for the heck of it the hard parts over now at leats I did not have to put anything in the tender and have thoses ugly wires hang out now if I can get TMCC out of it I be in good shape
trainman
I used Photo Bucket to upload my pictures and copied the direct link option for the photos.
hope that helps
Trainman,
I’d love to see photos of your installation of your new fan-driven smoke unit in your PE loco.
I’m very disappointed with Lionel’s design of the PE smoke units! [:(!]
With as many Lionel PE sets that have been sold - a person could make a living by swapping out the junky smoke units for a nice fan-driven one. Anyone looking to start a new business[?]
Hi As soon as I learn how to post pictures I post some it is very easy to put the fan driven smoke unit in I even used the same head lamp bracket so I had to nothing even with the head light maybe take about 1 1/2 to complete the job but what you end up with is a 100 times better smoke unit then the orginal and you dont do any damage to the engine itself so if you wanted to you can put back to orginal as far as starting a business I have 4 of them to do now I should have never put it on my shop layout LOL but I enjoy fixing trains and look forward to it again soon as I laern how to post pictures I will.
Trainman
Alright I finally got the approval from the wife to order the parts [swg]…So I should have them in by either Tues or Wed. So I’m hoping to have the pictures and details on how to do it by Thurs.
Great news[tup] Be extra nice to the wife LOL I cant wait see how you do yours May I ask where your buying the parts I tryied lionel but they are closed because of moving I had my smoke unit in my parts bin but I still need the cherry switch I amalso looking into making the Polar express TMCC Thanks Again
trainman
Thanks, the Wife was the one who brought it to my attn yesterday morning asking me if she could make my day and she gave in so I ordered the parts about 5 minutes after I received the approval. The Lionel dealer I purchased the parts from is called Brasseur Electric Trains that is also the link for them they are located in Michigan and friendly and very knowledgeable…Phone calls to the Service Department are accepted on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 9:AM to 3:PM eastern standard time only Orders and parts: (989) 793-6887.
OK so I’m burnin the Midnight oil here just to get this done for you guys…(and ladies out there)…Well I thought I would start with two pictures of the completed project with the fan-driven smoke unit install so here they are!!
Alright lets start from the start… First: dissemble the engine and remove the control board, old smoke unit and light(not shown sorry) take extra care on removing the wiring from the board and label all wiring PRIOR to cutting…
Good Job [tup] but I dont understand the cherry switch part how does it work?? I think really all it does is turm the smoke unit on /off I did mine almost like yours but I cut down the lamp braket and just put the smoke unit on top of that everything ok here but the cherry switch part again good job really nice my email adress is trainman@intergrafix.net if you can send me a close up of the cherry switch that would be great Thanks Ed
Thank you for the detailed instructions and pics. I will be doing a polar express and a SF 4156 from the Super Freight set (same boiler casting and wheel arrangement).I also have the same question as Ed. Can you describe the function of the cherry switch. From an earlier post I was thinking it would make the smoke “puff”. Again thanks for the detailed photos.
Jason
Nick,
Thanks for the how to. That looks great.[tup] I’ve got an NYC berk from the 2004 catalog, and this upgrade would be perfect for it.
Thanks Nick for taking the time to put that tutorial together for everyone. I may give it a try, I think I will have to order the parts.
Paul
Hello all and FIRE 370
First let me say that I greatly applaud your efforts FIRE 370 as I think this is a great thing for many who have longed for a fan driven PE. Actually this has been quite a quest for me too ever since I got a PE set for Xmas last year so as such I have been following this thread.
Again this looks like a great idea, but I do have one question or point I would like to bring up though and I hope none of this comes off in a negative way and as well I would suspect that this is the case but I just wanted to ask.
As I am assuming that you are only going to use this on a variable voltage layout, I am assuming under all conditions that the heater element is receiving a variable voltage too, correct?
My reason for asking this it that most fan driven units are only used in some way shape or form in a system that under the needed conditions such as being parked, either controls the current sent to the heaters by either reducing or eliminating that voltage or runs the fan full time or both all in a effort to keep the heaters from over heating.
So I just wonder if by the way you done this, which if I understand you correctly, is wired so that the fan only runs if the microswitch is made, if you have you have considered that.
In other words, if the train is every sitting and is not in a physical position to run that fan as the micro switch is not made, but that the heaters were getting any kind of voltage that could run them even a little, especially for a long time, and/or especially if the unit were dry, that this could v
here is a close up picture of the smoke unit that I edited in paint shop for everyone to see about what I meant about Isolating the fan from the heat element.
and here is the best close up of the cherry switch that I can get for you guys
any other questions you guys have ask away…
WBFLine,
“Again this looks like a great idea, but I do have one question or point I would like to bring up though and I hope none of this comes off in a negative way and as well I would suspect that this is the case but I just wanted to ask.”
I would rather have both negative and positive feedback than no feedback at all… and FYI it did not come off as being negative just a concern.
“As I am assuming that you are only going to use this on a variable voltage layout, I am assuming under all conditions that the heater element is receiving a variable voltage too, correct?”
Correct: Just in conventional mode not TMCC.
“My reason for asking this it that most fan driven units are only used in some way shape or form in a system that under the needed conditions such as being parked, either controls the current sent to the heaters by either reducing or eliminating that voltage or runs the fan full time or both all in a effort to keep the heaters from over heating.”
Great question also: with this let me point out that I would NOT recommend having the engine parked for longer than a minute with out the micro switch activated (fan on) or the element WILL burn out or worse ( I spoke to Lionel tech support on that issue and they stated that the element will burn out if left on higher than 50% or V for extend periods with out the fan running), but with any smoke unit that happens and they are easy to replace and cheap too.
Great job but I’m coming in extremely late to the discussion. What was the problem and what is a cherry switch?
I was lucky enough to receive from my daughters a Hogwarts set for Christmas 2008 and I could not have been happier with the quality of the smoke, engine, constant voltage lighting and operating couplers in the coaches. Last April l purchased a 1952 336rr Berkshire at York and though the smoke unit appears to work, I can’t get anything more than a few wispy puffs for about 5 seconds after cooking the thing in neutral at 18 volts for a few mnutes. I’ve tried everything from Lionel fluid [from the hogwarts set] to Protosmooke to 3 different lamp oils. Nothing works. Any thoughts?? And I’ve been thinking about trying to rig some constant voltage into my old Flyers [which always smoked very well compared to the Lionel systems]. Thanks. I really enjoyed your article and admired your ingenuity. Way to go!
Cherry is a company that makes switches: http://www.cherrycorp.com/ Which of their products is being used here, I don’t know.