I have 2 Lionel locomotives with smoke.
An older Lionel 243 Scout and a modern Lionel #25 Polar Express 0-8-0. The 243 Scout used to smoke quite well, but will not smoke now. The Polar Express will not make smoke. The smoke fluid I have is a bottle of Lionel 6-62909 smoke fluid. Does smoke fluid get old and not work if it has been around a long time ? I think the bottle of smoke fluid is 2 years old.
Steve
As far as I know, Lionel smoke fluid does not go bad. I have put both pellet type and liquid type smoke unit locomotives on the track after they've sat for years, and they would begin smoking after a few minutes running.Sorry to say, one possibility is that you put too much smoke fluid in the 243. If those smoke units get too much fluid, they will not get hot enough to produce smoke. .The Polar Express has a different smoke unit, I am not very familiar with them.
I don't know about your Scout locomotive, but if your Polar Express 0-8-0 is like my Strasburg 0-8-0 it probably won't smoke unless
A) It's going like a bat out of Hell, or
B) It's got a load on it, like a long consist.
I believe the locomotive has to have a fair amount of "juice" going into it before it'll smoke well.
As an aside, check the underside of the locomotive an see if the smoke switch is turned on. Not trying to insult your intelligence but you'd be surprised how many people miss this.
I suppose smoke fluid can age out, but I use mine up pretty quickly so I wouldn't know.
I have 909 smoke fluid from 45 years ago that's still good. It seems a little thicker than a fresh bottle, but it works in everything.
Rob
OK - I coupled 9 cars onto the Polar Express 0-8-0 and ran her around the layout a few laps with the throttle pushed to full power and she started to smoke but, .... oh so feeble, could barely notice the smoke. Should I not get better smoke output, or is that all to expect with a low end modern Lionel Locomotive like the Polar Express 0-8-0 ?
maybe try blowing down the smoke stack a little...sounds like maybe an air bubble
steve24944 OK - I coupled 9 cars onto the Polar Express 0-8-0 and ran her around the layout a few laps with the throttle pushed to full power and she started to smoke but, .... oh so feeble, could barely notice the smoke. Should I not get better smoke output, or is that all to expect with a low end modern Lionel Locomotive like the Polar Express 0-8-0 ? Steve
You will never get the kind of smoke you get out of the Legacy locos, not even close.
"Added a little bit of batting to the smoke unit" ? I'm not sure what that means ?
That is the material that they put in the smoke units to hold the fluid. It may also be called packing. I think it is made out of fiberglass. I used some Tiki torch wick in mine but I think Lionel sells it.
So .... you take a small amount of the stuff and put down into the smoke stack ?
You would have to take the loco apart and remove the top of the smoke generator to do it properly. one thing to check is that the piston is working properly for the smoke unit and the hose is connected from the piston to the smoke unit. when I replace a resistor, I will take the batting and create a small opening below where the hole is where the air is pumped from the piston. Sometimes too much batting will not allow the air to be pumped through. This produces a lot more smoke being pumped out when running.
The only other thing would be they are using a ceramic resistor instead of a open resistor which I am finding in parts on their site for 0-8-0 locos. It takes considerable voltage to get the resistor hot enough to produce smoke.
Well ... I ran my mixed freight local with the 0-8-0 at the head end. Ran her wide open for several dozen laps around the layout, and she started to puff and put out some more smoke, but not a whole lot. On a scale of 1-10 ( with 10 being a boatload of smoke ) I would say it was at 3 at best.
Is this the best to expect from this locomotive ?
You have to take the top off as indicated to add some of the batting. It takes only 4 screws. The front of mine was a tight fit and tough to get back on.
I would say that after adding the extra batting using your scale of 1-10 the smoke was at about a 5 to 6 level. It still has to be run under load at about a 14 volt level to get smoking.
I took the top off the loco and the smoke unit apart. I made sure that some of the batting was over the top of the resistor and not packed tightly. The factory put it at the bottom and not very close to the resistor where it does not get much heat and smokes poorly.
steve24944 Well ... I ran my mixed freight local with the 0-8-0 at the head end. Ran her wide open for several dozen laps around the layout, and she started to puff and put out some more smoke, but not a whole lot. On a scale of 1-10 ( with 10 being a boatload of smoke ) I would say it was at 3 at best. Is this the best to expect from this locomotive ? Steve
That's about the best I get from my Strasburg 0-8-0, a 3, maybe a 4 if it's been running a while. That's OK with me, no Lionel I've got smokes like my MTH locomotives. I like the Strasburg engine as it is, it's good looking and a good runner, anemic smoke nothwithstanding.
One way to get more smoke is to increase the voltage going to the smoke unit. You can do that by decreasing the voltage to the rest of the locomotive. When you turn up the track voltage to compensate for the lost motor voltage, the smoke-unit voltage winds up higher than it was before.
Bob Nelson
Firelock76 steve24944 Well ... I ran my mixed freight local with the 0-8-0 at the head end. Ran her wide open for several dozen laps around the layout, and she started to puff and put out some more smoke, but not a whole lot. On a scale of 1-10 ( with 10 being a boatload of smoke ) I would say it was at 3 at best. Is this the best to expect from this locomotive ? Steve That's about the best I get from my Strasburg 0-8-0, a 3, maybe a 4 if it's been running a while. That's OK with me, no Lionel I've got smokes like my MTH locomotives. I like the Strasburg engine as it is, it's good looking and a good runner, anemic smoke nothwithstanding.
I don't have any MTH engines to compare to but my Legacy engines will smoke you out. Any more would be too much. As it is if I have 2 running at once I have to shut them off. This one is not mine but I have the exact same engine.
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Man, dat's smokin'! My MTH Lackawanna Camelback smokes just like that, but being an older unit it ONLY smokes like that! Only two smoke settings, on and off. I only have the smoke unit turned on during the summer when I can open the windows in the "Chugger Barn" and set fans up. Otherwise...
The other MTH units have adjustable smoke. I haven't had the nerve to turn 'em up all the way. Yet.
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