Lionel 8903

[brianel027]

Lionel 8903, I haven't been on the forum much as I have had tons of OT at work.

I'm the odd man out as I run my layout on DC current. I have a bunch of this very locomotive. As was said, NO it never came with a smoke unit. These small DC powered steamers use the same motor chassis that is in most of the starter smaller Lionel steamers like the staple 4-4-2 steamer that came in most Lionel sets from 1989 up to date.

But the design of the shell is different and the space inside will NOT allow room for the basic Lionel smoke unit to be installed. There are some other companies that make smoke units such as Bachmann, Suethe and Model Power, but the power requirements of your loco versus these smoke units are different. The other problem is these smoke units generate a lot of heat and can easily cause damage to the plastic shell of the locomotive.

I had installled a lower power smoke unit into one of mine with a scratch built housing to prevent heat damage, but the smoke unit burned out after about a year and I never replaced it. If you want a visual effect, stick some cotton inside the smoke stack and fan it out and you'll have a simple visual impression of smoke.

The one thing you really need to do is to clean the gears with a tooth brush if they look dirty with gunk on them and to buy a plastic safe gear lubricant at a hobby shop. This should be your main concern. Wiping down the track (provided it isn't rusty) with 91% isopropyl alcohol should be next and is equally important. You can also use a paper towel with the same alcohol to clean the wheels of the locomotive which will improve running.

The traction tire may also be shot just from time... just the nature of rubber. So you might want to check with a Lionel dealer to buy one. I don't know if ordering one from Lionel will arrive before CHIRSTmas. A mail order Lionel parts dealer like Jeff Kane, the Train Tender can get one to you pretty quick.

If you are mechanically inclinded and feel comfortable taking the loco apart, the other thing you can easily do to greatly improve the running of the loco is to add some self-adhesive lead tire weights (found at an auto parts store) to the sheet metal motor frame of the loco. You can add them to the inside of the back side of the chassis, as well as a strip to the top. You can also add a cut piece of the bottom of the plastic shell over the front guide wheels, as well as below the side windows on the inside of the plastic shell. You may want to spray paint them flat black first.

Whether or not the traction tire is shot, adding the weights will greatly improve the performance of your loco. You can add the weights and leave the traction tire off as I do.

Also one more thought. The DC power pack Lionel included in these sets was a Tyco/Revell type of DC power pack which had a high starting voltage for this loco. The starts and stops will be sort of fast. A hobby shop might have a newer Bachmann or Life Like starter set power pack available. I tried running one of these locos with a Bachmann one that looked something like a stationary roll-ball computer mouse. It was a vast improvement over the one that came with that set.

None of these small DC power packs though have much reserve power. They'll do fine running the loco and pulling the train cars. But if you add illuminated train cars with lights, these power packs don't have enough juice to do that. You set came with a non-illluminated caboose though.

Please don't misread my comments. These were low end inexpensive Lionel sets designed for department stores to introduce young kids to trains. Which is what happened in your case, so this was great... and a nice tribute to your dad to get it up and running.

But they are what they are. But I really like these sorts of locos. They're still inexpensive and easily improved visually. Like I said, I have a small fleet of them painted in all different roads and colors with added details like marker lights, hand rails, engineer figures, etc.

PS: Important after thought. You cannot run this loco as is with a normal Lionel transformer. You have to use a DC power pack as included in the set or you may burn out the motor. There are alterations you can make that will allow normal Lionel transformer operation, but that's another story.

[rtraincollector]

Lionel 8903

Hi I am trying to fix my fathers old Lionel 8903 train witch he bought for my brother in 1979 or 1980 for Christmas before he passed away it was there first family Christmas. so I would like to get this running for this one. What I need is the smoker, The part of the train you drop the pellet in and it smokes. What happened is, A long time ago the gear retainer broke and the cluster gear got lost and someone worked on it and lost the smoker part and I cant find one. So can anyone help?

If you goto this link which is Lionel supplements and goto page 3-41 and 3-42 you will see the diagram of your engine and a list of all the parts and no it doesn't have a smoke element in it. Acually pages 150 and 151 in adobe

http://www.lionel.com/media/supplements/Supplement1to9/1Complete.pdf

now to get it running again its a dc engine so you need a dc transformer. if engine isn't running it could be your transformer also. if you have the transformer that normally came with those sets it will have a accessories side and a track side to hook the wires to it make sure you use the 2 for track.

[Penny Trains]

Try Olsen's, OTTP dot com.  They have a plethora of pre and post-war parts and should have a pill type smoke unit in stock.

Becky

[Lionel 8903]

[e-mail] told me the 8903 did'nt have a smoker?

 

[TRAINCAT]

Call Chuck Sartor at Mizells Trains in Denver. He will have it and can help you.

[Lionel 8903]

Hi I am trying to fix my fathers old Lionel 8903 train witch he bought for my brother in 1979 or 1980 for Christmas before he passed away it was there first family Christmas. so I would like to get this running for this one. What I need is the smoker, The part of the train you drop the pellet in and it smokes. What happened is, A long time ago the gear retainer broke and the cluster gear got lost and someone worked on it and lost the smoker part and I cant find one. So can anyone help?