Looking for a HO Steam engine w/smoke

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Heard bad stories about steam locos with smoke that oil leaks all over the tracks

Any good locos out there that wont make a mess

Any that are DCC

2

I like my PCM Big boys, never had much problem with them. Then I only have smoke fluid in two of them. It’s pretty nice but not worth the effort.

Magnus

3

I don’t think it’s leaking, its the smoke itself. It is usually some form of oil that it heated by the smoke generator, and this settles on everything and can leave an oily residue. The effects are generally pretty poor too unless you are in O scale, where the MTH and Lionel engines - diesel as well as steam - have large holding tanks and fans that blow out the smoke. Not overly pleasant, especially for people with allergies and/or breathing problems.

4

[#ditto]

The trouble caused by using the ‘smoke’ is not worth the miserable looks of it in HO.

5

Bachmann sells a few and Yardbird Trains sells an after market smoke unit you can install in whatever you want.

6

MTH HO Scale trains have smoke units in the! They have DCC & Sound and a bit expensive. The problem is that I don’t own one so I can’t tell you if they make a mess.

7

I have a Tyco that smokes… unfortunately, it doesn’t run.[:(]

Jim

8

Hi all,

For me a good smoke unit is a big plus. But by “good” I mean it has to put out a substantial volume of smoke for at least 15-20 minutes and not make a mess of my locomotive. As others have suggested the Sleuths type smoke units don’t make the cut. They hold very little fluid, so the smoke doesn’t last long, and they boil the fluid like a coffee percilator, which creates a lot of splatter (i.e. BIG MESS). The MTH smoke units are a totally different animal. For the HO K4 and Triplex (I’ve had 2 of the K4’s since they came out) MTH shrunk their O-scale design, which uses a fluid resevoir, wick, heating element and fan to generate the smoke. The difference is striking. You get more smoke for a much longer time (first 10 min it’s REALLY thick, and stays visible for about 30 min) and the only smoke that makes it out the stack is fully vaporized (NO SPLATTER). The vapor eventually settles out somewhere, but I have never had a problem with it contaminating the track or leaving a noticeable oily fim anywhere.

I started out with Lionel O-gauge when I was little and migrated to HO when I was about ten. But I got back into O when MTH, Lionel and Atlas started bringing out higher detiled scale engines. When MTH came out with their PS2 sound and control package it linked the chuffing sound to smoke unit’s fan, producing a puff of smoke in sync with each chuff. That got me hooked. Personally, I think the effect of a GOOD smoke unit speaks for itself.

One of the most important factors in keeping smoke fluid from making a mess is to use a good device for adding the fluid. The bottles that MTH and Lionel sell have pretty crude spouts that can lead to a big mess. A better option is to use an eye dropper, wh

9

Don’t put those Seuthe-style units in plastic locos - they’ll melt the stack. I found that out the hard way years ago when the LHS assured me the one they sold was plastic friendly. I had to destroy it to get it out of the loco (fortunately only minor damage to the engine) and argue with them until they gave me a refund. And Dave is right, the Seuthes are basically percolators and splatter oil everywhere. Smoke units are best left to the larger scales.

The units Yardbird sells are similarly for mounting in Zamac boilers only.