Before I ask my questions, I do realize that these locos are not the best. However, I am only interested in the smoke feature.
How well does the smoke feature work on these locos?
Does the smoke consistently “come out” as the engine runs? Or does it come out periodically?
Does the smoke stink?
Does the smoke puff, or is it a long skinny strand?
Thank you in advance,
gpharo
Bad
Periodically
Yes
Long skinny strand.
gpharo,
To be honest, smoke is at best a novelty, unrealistic, and will leave everything on your layout (track, scenery, structures, etc.) coated with a thin layer of oil, that will eventually gunk up your locomotives and make them run badly. (Can you tell which way I lean on this topic?) Don’t waste your time and $$$.
Tom
I agree. It is a nifty sounding idea that must add to the realism…right? Well, not really. It gets old quickly. My parents got me and my brothers a Marklin train set many years ago, and the steamer had smoke. Of course my recollection of the early 60’s is poor, but I can recall looking at the smoke as a gimmick very soon after we tried it. We may have bothered to use it a half-dozen times, and then we let our imaginations take over…and do a better job.
However, something tells me you aren’t really interested in the loco…?
I bought two of the 0-6-0 models and I can’t get either one of them to smoke at all. Don’t buy for the smoke feature, only buy them if you need that style steam engine.
The smoke is little better than cigarette smoke for thickness, the locomotive spits partly unburned smoke oil while it smokes coating and gumming up everything. The smoke stinks literally and figuratively it’s oily residue can be hard to clean off of the engine and cars if you let it sit or build up on things. Nice idea lousy execution, I would avoid it in any locomotive I might ever buy. If you like the engine diconnect the smoke “feature” the two engines I have one has a Bowser repower kit and the other runs just fine smoke free (any Bachmann loco with the smoke feature isn’t even close to their Spectrum line of steamers but some run fine and others need a repower kit).
Just say NO!
I’ve got two old Bachmanns with holes in the shells from the smoke generator overheating.
And I will reiterate what others have said as to the quality of the smoke generated.
Just say NO!
Fergie
I have only one Bachmann locomotive with smoke, the 0-6-0. I bought it only because I wanted an 0-6-0, and not for the smoke. I tried the smoke one time – when the locomotive was ran at more than half throttle, the smoke fluid was spewed out in blobs instead of being evaporated. At lower speeds, the smoke was extremely erratic, wispy, and had a very irritating smell. I threw the smoke fluid away and disconnected the heater in the engine. I’m still trying to wipe the stains off of the shell that were made by the blobs of smoke fluid.
In my opinion, HO smoke is for young children, not modelers.
I agree with the negative response on “smoke”. And thanks for the great info someone supplied about making straight cuts on plexiglas. The awl “scoring” is by far the best way to go. Jig saws and the likes only tend to chip and crack. Many thanks.
i love the bachmanns with smoke. they don’t work to bad. i plan on buying 4-5 in the next few years.
Very cool but other than the smell, everything it passes will be covered in oil. If you want smoke there are 2 other options hornby’s OO(will run on HO track) live steam or mth O scale.