Railking Christmas Express (O Guage) No Smoke!

[Anonymous]

An obvious novice question, but we just set up a MTH Railking Christmas Express set. Its a big improvement over the old plastic special from K-Mart that use to go around the tree. Everything seems to be working with the sounds, directions, etc., although the remote is exceedingly awkward to figure out. But the smoke won't smoke! The booklet says to toggle on the smoke feature under the engine, and sure enough, there is a slot there for "on" and :"off", but there is no switch to toggle. I have tried to look it up on the net, but have come up empty so far. Someone suggested the switch is beneath the tender. If so, how do I get at it? Any help, even the pointing in the general direction kind, would be greatly appreciated.

[brianel027]

I don't know this set... could it be that instead of a toggle switch, there is some kind of slot with an inset switch that you'll need to insert a pin into to slide the switch?? I can't image smoke would be controlled from the tender... sound yes, but smoke would more than likely be controlled from engine. Dumb suggestion, but make sure you put smoke fluid in first... it won't smoke at all without that, regardless of on/off switch. I was unaware MTH was doing an off/on switch for smoke - no mention of that in catalogs. Go to MTH's website and write to MTH with your problem. You could also try calling MTH direct by phone or one of the authorized service centers. I know some have voiced complaints about poor customer service from MTH. But I know the few times I've called MTH direct, folks were very very helpful and even had a sense of humor. Of course we were joking about the competition, but I won't go into that! Even when the person didn't have the answer to my question, he got someone right away who could answer it.
I've also heard others say the IR controler is a little awkward to use and not very smooth control. But I really like the idea of the IR system. Wish it could be developed to work good, since it seems to be a good idea for "control" without all the extra electronics and cost.
brianel

[Anonymous]

brianel, thanks for the repsonse. It turns out that this set does have a toggle switch in the tender, and now its smoking away! The remote is a great feature, as you can do it from the easy chair as opposed to getting down on the floor. I am starting to work through it a little better. I have to confess that my "breakthrough" on the problem happened when I figured out what a tender was. I thought it was part of the engine itself. I wasn't kidding when I said I was a novice! I think this year's models have much more elaborate controls and sound packages which you can download from the MTH web. Next set. We're happy with the one we have, and its cool the way the smoke is in sync with the engine sounds. Thanks again!