While I am definitely NOT a person who vapes, I have seen these people on the streets using these “electronic” cigarettes and noted they exhale a large cloud of vapor, way more than our somewhat anemic AF smoke units can produce. So I was thinking, would it be possible to fit one of these vapor producing devices into a steam locomotive for a much larger cloud of “smoke”? Apparently these devices work by a battery heating propylene glycel and glycerol chemicals that produce the vapor which in our trains would not contain any nicotine.
The actual vapor generating part is usually called a ‘coil’. Here is an example of the variety of units you can buy:
Note that in most cases a typical ‘pod’ reservoir will not work. You will want to arrange some sort of capillary wick to the coil so the air pumped through has a clear path up the stack or out the safety valves or whatever. I think these things will draw 2-3A at typical DCC available voltage, but only for a comparatively short duty cycle.
Considering what they’re intended for I don’t think they would be exactly safe around children. Also I’ve had several severe allergic reactions to the residues those things leave on surfaces.
I believe some people modify such heating elements to create smoke generators for model ships. ultimately, they’re kinda the same thing as an American Flyer smoke element- a wick, and a resistive heating element wound around it.
There’s a bit of a tradeoff, the hotter the element gets, the more smoke you get- but, more heat can also burn up the wick much faster, not to mention the healing element too. This ultimately shortens the life of the heating element- so you really want something that’s a suitable compromise between smoke output and heating element lifespan.
In my experience, a 5-wire loco with a ~40 ohm heater does a pretty good job puffing smoke- the output is good enough for me.
-El
If you want a diesel to emit smoke it would not be too hard but I would not do it. In a steam engine the smoke unit must emit puffs in time with the cylinder action. In a real engine that is 4 chuffs per driver rotation. Gilbert engines only work as two chuffs/revolution from the factory.
It would be far easier to put in an MTH fan driven smoke unit to get clouds of smoke.
Here are some pictures . The first is an American Models Northern with the factory 2/chuffs/revolution piston replaced with an MTH fan driven unit. The engine is stopped at idle waiting for a clear signal. The second picture is the same engine moving out at a scale 20mph, a very slow speed. The third picture is a Y3 with a Lionel AF fan driven smoke unit. The engine has just started moving at about a scale 5mph.
Alternatively, rebuild the Gilbert smoke unit as El described.
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