lionel smoke units (newbee)

[Anonymous]

Hi
I hope someone can give me some suggestions on the proper storage of my locos.
Our trains are run from Nov. until Jan every year. The last 3 years one of my smokers did not work (different loco each time) .
What should be done to prepare them for storage?
Thank you

[Anonymous]

Run them almost dry. Takle a Turkey baster and draw out the exra smoke fluid
Try to store right side up if possible

Chris

[Anonymous]

By the way, Welcome to the forum!

[lionelsoni]

Of course, if your locomotives use smoke pellets, don't try to suck out the smoke fluid.

[eZAK]

[#welcome] mitymerc,

If you have newer loco's that use liquid smoke, i.e. mineral oil,
put about 8 drops of fluid in.
Then plug stack with cotton and masking tape. Making sure the tape makes good contact with the cotton. (for easy removal)

Doing this does 2 things.
First it keeps the wick & wadding moist. Which is a good thing.
The other thing it does is it makes sure you don't run the engine dry next year.

I've done this with several locos and it has worked fine for me.

Older engines do not need any prep. Just an occasional cleaning.

*A side note, If you have Lionel engines the sleeve style wick inside the smoke unit tends to burn up rather quickly making it unable to produce smoke.

If you are handy and comfortable working on trains there is a work around mod for
these smoke units.
Email me if you want details. [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your help