Are there any HO steam locos out there that will run on DC & give the ‘chuffing’ sound + smoke exp elation, both synchronized with wheel revolutions?
Thanks
Tanked
Three letters, MTH…
Not such a good idea in HO.
David B
Could you elaborate please??
Tanked
Tanked–
one of the problems with HO ‘smoke’ is the fact that it’s extremely ‘wispy’ when it comes out of the stack. Two things that don’t model well in smaller scales–actual smoke and actual water. They just refuse to ‘scale down’.
Actually, when I was growing up around steam, the railroad nearest me (Southern Pacific) insisted on running as ‘clean’ a stack as possible. Very little actual smoke, and that’s even from the massive Cab-forwards that used to run over Donner Summit. A lot of the smoke you see from current steam operations or posed photographs is actually produced as an ‘effect’, because a lot of people tend to expect it from a steam locomotive. But it’s an effect that is generally impossible to duplicate with smaller scales.
Myself, I just let my steamers run ‘clean’.
Tom [:)]
This is why smoke in HO is not a good idea:
Liquid smoke is an OIL based product. What goes up, must come down. The smoke eventually makes it’s way onto the tracks. OIL on tracks leads to very poor electrical pickup. Oil also likes to eat traction tires.
So, If you enjoy cleaning your track more than running your trains, then by all means, run smoke in HO. But remember that when you have oil on the rails, then that oil gets on EVERYTHING, including paint, fingers, wheels, grass, buildings and eventually electrical components…it is just a mess.
Also, it doesnt look realistic by any stretch.
David B
You have to wonder, though, why MTH would market such a gizmo. Their engines aren’t what you would call cheap, either in design, materials, or cost. They are meant for the seasoned modeller who would be willing to shell out for one engine what two or more discounted Bachmann Spectrum engines, good in their own right, would cost. So, I am left wondering why this would appeal to people who would also not care much about the up-front cost of one of these engines. It must be that some guys really do enjoy the effect.
I have seen the effect in video, and must say it beats the heck out of the earlier smoke box units that just let a wisp of white smoke drift upward by convection as the train moved along. The timed puffs goes a long way to improving the suspension of disbelief.
And yet, so many people insist that the residue left around and about the layout and tracks after multiple sessions (ten, ninety…who knows?) degrades the quality of the layout. The smoke doesn’t drift away realistically or in scale, as mentioned above, but dissipates quickly. I have also heard that the units are not terribly reliable (the older ones, that is), and that there is a high probability of creating a mess during the refills and during initial start-up when some spitting and spluttering can get droplets spread around the engine’s boiler. That can’t be good for an otherwise A-1 paint job.
But, you have your answer…the best of this almost toy-like appliance appears to be had from Mike’s Train House HO steamers. No one would compel you to use it once you make up your own mind.
If you are looking for something that smokes in all the right places, then consider HO live steam. It costs a few bucks, but it is real steam. However, again, H2O and a layout is a bad idea…H2O doesnt scale down…etc…
David B
Tom
I can recall in the 50’s steam on the North Island New Zealand main trunk line used to blow a lot of smoke. I think they were coal fired & possibly burning Greymouth/ South Island coal - that may have had something to do with it.
But I take the point made elsewhere about the oil based product/ PIA cleaning up afterwards.
Tanked.
I don’t know guys. I have 3 MTH HO steam engines (triplex, GS-4 and L-4b Mohawk) and the smoke is excellent. It looks good, is very thick for most of the operation cycle (approximately 20 minutes for 12 drops of smoke fluid), floats nicely over the train and does not seem to leave any objectionable residue on the track or layout and does not seem to affect the traction tires on the locomotive. You can easily turn the smoke off if you don’t want it, but if you do want it, it adds a very nice touch to operations. The synchronization of the puffs with the chuffs is excellent and really makes the engine look and sound like a real steam engine.
In the above circumstances, are you running it DC or DCC?
Tanked
I have a great aerial photo taken in 1944 of an SP cab forward coming out of a passing siding just south of Grass Lake on the Cascade Division " Cleaning it’s flues". The amount of black smoke being emitted would make the hair stand on end of even the most conservative EPA agent. Peter Smith, Memphis ( Still trying to separate paragraphs)
Peter–
You’re right–when those cab-forwards would clean their flues, you’d think a forest fire just exploded, LOL! Another SP lokie that was famous for throwing it out were their MT series Mountains–they always seemed to like to ‘let go’ heading west out of Roseville, and you could see it for miles. I have a feeling that the President of the railroad, Mr. Russell, in his offices on Market Street in San Francisco shuddered every time he heard about it [:O].
But generally, when I’d go train-watching as a kid up at Emigrant Gap, the only way you knew a train was coming your way was from the distant sound of those ‘talking pumps’, not the smoke plumes.
Actually, I think that SP’s insistence on a ‘clean stack’ came about partially from their experiences in those long snowsheds between Emigrant Gap and Norden on Donner Pass. Of course, that’s why the cab-forwards in the first place.
Tom [:)]
I operate in DC with an MRC Black Box, which is like operating the engines on DCC. But the engines will run on straight DC with the synchronized chuff and smoke puff fully operable. On straight DC, though, you cannot access the bell, whistle and coupler slack sounds. Those additional sounds are accessible with the Black Box as well as all the other features of the MTH engines that are accessable on DCC. You certainly don’t need to use the MTH DCS system to operate their engines and access the sounds that are generally available in DCC mode. In fact, the Black Box lets you operate any DCC equiped engine. I use the Black Box to operate my QSI and MRC sound equiped engines because the Black Box gives better throttle control than using DC with the Quantum Engineer or DC Master.
My guess would be DCS, but all are possible.
David B