I really enjoy watching those steamers smoke when they are laboring that consist. I never seem to have a problem with the fan driven units, except for one time when I had to blow a short blast of air down the stack to remove a bubble created by the smoke fluid. The Lionel smoke units just seem to be lacking. The ones ones that are consistent are the starter set 2-4-2 engines. However, when I run my polar express or 4-4-2 Alantic, I hardly get anything.
After the Polar sits on the track for a few seconds, I get a brief puff when it first takes off, and then nothing, I never get anything out of the Atlantic. I read in another CTT thread that a guy posted that there is a hole in the bottom of the unit, and sometimes one needs to be checked to see if it is plugged. Are these holes in every Lionel smoke unit? I had a problem a couple of years ago with a lionel 4-6-4 hudson, and sent it off to Davis Trains in Ohio. Steve Ryder installed 2 resistors instead of the 1, and added more wicking. That sucker smokes as much or more than my MTH engines. Anyway, is anybody else having issues with these engines and if so what was done to correct it. I just wish these was a book out there with a step by step, with pictures, on how to work on the newer smoke units, that are not fan driven, that the average joe could work on…no pun inteded [:)]
Thanks,
JoeG