“The devil said I’ll start this show as he pulled out a bottle of lamp oil & ran it through his unit …It made an evil flame that sounded something like this…
…(snap, crackle, pop) as his house burns down and his life is in danger.
Well thats pretty good ole son, but sit right there and let me show you how its done…I use various light weight oils with safety & comon sence always in mind…I never seen a flame just alot of smoke…I never leave 'em unattened so I know this for a fact.” [:D][:o)]
Now that being said, I’ve used all types of smoke fluid and basicaly they are all scented mineral oil. [:p]
If you like scents by all means use it. [8D]
If you don’t you Can use mineral oil with out any harm what-so-ever. [;)]
If you choose lamp oil you will get better smoke output but you should also have a keen sense of awareness.
I’m Frugal NOT cheap!
If I save a few bucks here and a few there I’ll buy another K-line or Williams engine.
It’s your trains so get out there and smoke 'em up!![:D]
Well on the light side, I was watching the latest news off the campaign trail. [zzz]
And I can’t help but notice when it comes to real issues, these guys are the best of the best at putting up a smoke screen. [soapbox]
Then it got me to thinking - being the creative guy that I am - how the devil could I get one of those guys to fit in one of my train engines??? Talk about smoke output! Whoa!
Woudn’t that put a new twist on the next CTT Forum product debate:
“The Bush unit smokes like crazy.”
Yeah, but the Kerry unit costs less."
“But you get a tax break for buying the Bush unit.”
“The Dean unit was good, but I can’t find it anymore.”
“You know the lesser known Nader unit puts out environmentally safe smoke.”
And I also figure these guys have a lot in common with my trains: they all run in circles without really going anywhere.
I’m able to at least forgive my trains for this shortcoming.
I’ve used 3 in one oil in my american flyer challenger for years and no fire yet.
It is cheap and usually around the house.
We have an american flyler repairman at one of our train shows that recommends the use of wd 40 shot into the stack. He produces some good smoke at train shows with it. dave.
i also wonder about the health issue of mineral oil.
i have young children and you may know that means every busy body on the planet will offer advice on how to raise then without killing them. [D)] anyhow, there was an article one of my busybody relatives sent me and it was about children that have ingested mineral oils and ended up in thier lungs and caused a serious amount of distress and medical problems for several kids and a death or two [xx(]. i’ll try to find the article again.
is there a doctor in the house[?]
i asked this question before on another thread somewhere and it went unanswered (the safety aspect that is).
inhaling vaporizedor or burned oils cannot be good for you, BUT… is it bad for you?
[?][?][?]
I was looking for a sharpening fluid and found one (Buck Brothers, i think) that said “Contains pure mineral oil. Not harmful to people or the environment, or anything.” I liked that very positive statement.
Not wanting to pay $4.00 for a couple of ounces, I went to the drug store and found a quart of “pure mineral oil” for a few dollars.
The mineral oil was sold as some kind of bowel lubricant, among other uses.
Baby oil is mineral oil with perfume.
Sorry about the earlier double post. When I tried to post the first one, I got a message that the post couldn’t be made because “flood control had been activated. Try again later.” So I did, and got two posts. Curious.
dave,
me too. if you look at a bottle of babyoil or mineral oil the new ones have a warning that reads like a pack of cigarettes.
excerpt from a bottle of baby oil in our closet:
“drinking and accidental inhalation can cause serious injury or death. should any breathing problems occur consult a doctor immediately.”
we have an old bottle with no child cap or warning and a new bottle WITH a child proof cap and a warning. somebody call Oprah!
i’ve always been better at reverse engineering![:D]
if this baby/mineral oil thing is true about choo-choo smoke. we could possibly kill the gravy train (pun intended) for the smoke fluid manufacturers.[:p]
I haven’t tried the mineral oil in any trains. The only liquid smoke engine I have is an expensive RK Challenger that wouldn’t run the last time I put it on the track.
I do have some postwar smoking cabooses (they take a liquid), but they don’t smoke well with anything I have tried.
I did recall an article in one of the mags that said don’t use “lamp oil,” but I think that lamp oil is more like kerosene, that is petroleum based. I don’t know what mineral oil is from, hence the previous question. Looked for the magazine article when this topic started, assuming it was what it was all about, but couldn’t find it.
I am into postwar smokers. What I need is smoke pellets. After the article about them a while back I tried to interest a chemist friend to analyze some and make them, but no luck. $25 / bottle is a bit much for smoke, and the supply has to be running out. K-line smoke pellets aren’t quite the same. I want the Lionel smell. It reminds me of childhood.
please accept my apologies for posting a link to another forum here, but i think the info and discussion in this thread deserves a little more attention and i didn’t want to paste it all over and make a wicked long thread.
“I want the Lionel smell. It
reminds me of childhood.”
John,
The smells of my childhood hand-me-down Lionel set that I recall most vividly is that of the engine overheating and of the 3-in-1 oil I used to lube the train and the steel tracks to keep the rust down (I ran it on the dirt floor of my basement and used to get shocked when touching the tracks).
Was a load of fun watching the sparks fly. I still love sparks…
the sparks and the oil! [:O][:P][wow] that IS the stuff!
maybe i can try and dump out my wifes little candle/smelly wax/incense thingy and put some 3-in-1 in it and warm it up… [^] …but not too warm![:O][oops]