Polar Express Smoke Unit - How does this thing work?

[Buckeye Riveter]

The photo below shows the smoke unit from the Polar Express. (I had to take off the cover to change the broken whistle.)

We get minimal smoke from this unit. It appears that the wicking material is not sufficent and does not keep the fluid near the resistor. Any other ideas on how to improve the smoke output from this unit? (Remember I didn't say replace.)

[ben10ben]

Pop the cover off the smoke unit(a flatblade screwdriver in the center hole) and use an exacto knife to cut the woven sleeve off the element. Pull it down slightly so that it will be in better contact with the wicking.

The sleeve that Lionel puts over the elements often chars after a little bit of use, making it difficult for it to wick fluid up to the element, thus starving it and reducing smoke output. Cutting the sleeve off will prevent this problem.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Thanks Ben, you and I are on the same page. Do you have any suggestions on a material to replace the wicking. That stuff is cheap. I read somewhere you could use white fiberglass insulation. I'm not really sure what white fiberglass insulation is or where to get it. Would pink fiberglass insulation work as well? There is a ton or two of that in the attic.

[jonadel]

I hardly got any smoke out of my unit and I've already put it away but maybe I'll copy this article for next Christmas. Is the whistle supposed to sound like it's wheezing? I just attributed it to a bad design.........

Jon

[jimhaleyscomet]

Sometimes the whistle does not blow loud at very low voltages (slow speed). Otherwise the whistle should be fairly nice.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Turn the whistle assembly around 180 degrees in the tender.
The end result is the sound chamber has it's air intake improved resulting in a much nicer tone.
I also replaced the plastic decorative whistle on the loco witha nickel (read metal) one from a PW berkshire with very nice results that are more child proof an won't break when the wind blows unlike the orrigional piece.

[lionelsoni]

Since smoke pellets are once again available, I wonder whether anyone has yet converted a modern locomotive from fluid to pellets. It would be nice not to have to worry about burning the wick.

[ChiefEagles]

Mine smokes up a storm like a choo choo train [funny]. My questions has been, is the smoke suppose to come out the sides of the engine where the cylinders are [to be like steam]? Or, do I have a bad seal at the stack? Mine is smoking great but smoke is rolling out the sides too.

[ben10ben]

Buckeye,
I use buy Tiki Torch wicks from Walmart or K-mart, and cut them open to get the stranded stuff out. If you really want to, you can wrap this all the way around the element, which will improve smoke production even more.

Chief,
New engines use a cheap plastic piston that within a few minutes will wear to the point that it will leak smoke out of it whenever moved. At the same time, they've reduced the size of the cylinder, so a postwar metal piston won't work. You can help it some by smearing vaseline all over the piston, but there's no real fix that I know of.

[wrmcclellan]

If you put vaseline on the piston it will not work anymore as the piston relies on gravity to come down after the lever pushes it up. Vaseline will gum up the piston and it will stick at the top.

Chief, the old and reproduction pellets leave a waxy residue. The old uints had a chamber that was like a small di***o hold the residue. The new units have a hole in the bottom and the melted residue will leak out. So a complete redesign or use of an old style smoke unit would be required. The residue when it melts is still good as smoke supply as it vaporizes. Probably not good to call it a residue vs solidified.

Regards,
Roy

[ChiefEagles]

Roy, you ment your answer for Bob. My question is: is the Polar Express suppsoe to smoke out the sides at the cylinders? Mine does a lot. DodI avhe a bad seal at the stack or is it designed to look like the steam?

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ChiefEagles

Roy, you ment your answer for Bob. My question is: is the Polar Express suppsoe to smoke out the sides at the cylinders? Mine does a lot. DodI avhe a bad seal at the stack or is it designed to look like the steam?

Chief, after taking it apart, you might not have a seal between the top of the unit and the cast cover. See that black ring in my posted photo. That is the seal between the smoke unit and the die-cast cover.

The smoke is puffed out of the top by a bellows type of arrangement. I haven't looked at it hard enough to see if there is a valve of sorts.

[lionelsoni]

Roy, except for reversing an earlier conversion the other way, I appreciate that converting from fluid to pellets would be a formidable task. That's why I would be interested to hear that someone had done it successfully.

[ben10ben]

Roy,
I must respectfully disagree on the vaseline. As long as you don't put too much on the piston, the action may be retarded slightly, but it will still work fine. All of the newer engines that I've worked with have a spring within the piston that will always return it to its down postion, no matter what.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ben10ben

Roy,
I must respectfully disagree on the vaseline. As long as you don't put too much on the piston, the action may be retarded slightly, but it will still work fine. All of the newer engines that I've worked with have a spring within the piston that will always return it to its down postion, no matter what.

Would white model grease be a better alternative? It is more viscous than Vaseline.

[Buckeye Riveter]

I took several of the suggestions and the smoke has definately increased.


But, when I put the shell on, the smoke decreases radically. I am starting to think that the die-cast shell is removing the heat from the smoke unit through the light mount on the front.

[?][?][?][?][?][?][?] Any other thoughts or ideas ?

[ChiefEagles]

Buckeye, I ran mine for about 10 minutes straight the other day as I had a visitor downstairs. [Broke Lionel's rule on do not leave train unattended, I could deffinately hear it running] When I got back, still smoking. Stopped to add some more smoke fluid [I think the Mega has to be replinished more often], the element down the stack was glowing red. I was running on 13.5 volts pulling hoppers.

[Jim Duda]

Buck and Chief - Most of us will agree that it's a GOOD thing you guys aren't neighbors, but wouldn't it be great if you could put your two locos side by side to finally determine why Chief's smokes so well and yours doesn't...?

Can't wait to hear a definitive reason as I'm sure there are lots of folks interested in how well the PolExp smokes. I'll admit this is an important factor for me. Meanwhile, the next batch of 'em gets closer to shipping...

[mcattardo]

The PE engine I saw seemed to smoke ok. It was using megasteam.

[ChiefEagles]

From what I saw over on OGR, about half and half. I'm one of the lucky halves.

[Buckeye Riveter]

I'm using JT's Mega Smoke. I've not seen my smoke element glow any color. I am thinking of using a round O-Ring to keep the smoke unit from contacting the die-cast shell.

[johnsgg1]

I am thinking of using a round O-Ring to keep the smoke unit from contacting the die-cast shell.>>>>>

Or a felt gasket used on Postwar and some older Modern units. That should provide a seal and insulation.

[ChiefEagles]

John, I think that might be why mine smokes so good. No gasket [I think] and not touching [ mine also smokes out both sides of the engine at the cylinders].