Turbine "Turbo" smoke

[Anonymous]

Hello guys,

How would you like a system that would retro-fit Lionel's pennsy turbines smoke units to give them a more-realistic stream of smoke instead of a puff-puff cycle? The kit would consist of a circuit board the would either fit in the tender or boiler, a motor, and and would sell for under $20. And, best of all, it would be easy to install.
Tell me if you would be interested in this,
Jerry

[spankybird]

Tell us more Jerry,

Is it a fan driven smoke unit[?]

[ChiefEagles]

Sounds good to me.

[jwse30]

I'd like to have one, especially if there were no permanent modifications involved. I've got one of the early smoke bulb turbines (2020), and haven't converted it to push rod type because I don't want to alter the body.

If there's a way to make it fit in the boiler, that would be even better.

J White

[wrmcclellan]

Lionel's Century Club I Pennsy Turbine has a fan driven "constant smoke" unit. I wonder if you can get the parts as it fits into the shell.

[Roger Bielen]

I have a 2020 with the piston smoke unit. A number of years ago I changed it from a pill to a liquid unit. It smokes great but having the steady stream of smoke would be better.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by spankybird

Tell us more Jerry,

Is it a fan driven smoke unit[?]

Well, cant give out too much, but the unit consits of taking the piston out, and putting a motor with a teeny-weensy propeller on it in the cylinder. The propeller will make air go through the vent hole in the bowl, and pu***he smoke out. The kit will include a small pre-made, custom, circuit board to hold all the "stuff" on that is required to make the motor turn with AC current. The board and motor only require basic soldering skills to assemble.

Me and Ben (ben10ben) are jointly working on it right now, seeing what works best.

May be 1-5 months when we perfect the system.

[ChiefEagles]

Go young men, go!!!

[SPFan]

Experimenting is a good way to learn but you may not want to reinvent the wheel. K-Line's Plymouth Switchers use a fan driven smoke unit that is very effective, small, and must be inexpensive given the street prices of the complete engines.

Pete

[jwse30]

QUOTE:
Well, cant give out too much, but the unit consits of taking the piston out, and putting a motor with a teeny-weensy propeller on it in the cylinder. The propeller will make air go through the vent hole in the bowl, and pu***he smoke out. The kit will include a small pre-made, custom, circuit board to hold all the "stuff" on that is required to make the motor turn with AC current. The board and motor only require basic soldering skills to assemble.

Me and Ben (ben10ben) are jointly working on it right now, seeing what works best.

May be 1-5 months when we perfect the system.

Sounds like I'll need to buy a few more parts to make your mod work in my engine [:(] Hopefully it won't be anything that's difficult to find.

J White

[Roger Bielen]

Better clear whatever you do with MTH, they may have a patent on the concept of a steady smoke stream.[:o)]

[Anonymous]

J White,

Is your turbine with a bulb type smoke unit? I will consider making one for the bulb type also.

[jwse30]

Jerry,

Yes it is the bulb type (currently without a bulb though), I'm going to guess that if one were to be made for this version, only one of them would sell, unless there's a few people that have had the piston version removed (one of my "junkers" came without a smoke unit). Hey, if only one of them sold, and I bought it, that would mean I'd own a prototype right? I'll be rich! [:D]

Just went downstairs and grabbed my Turbine. Wow, this thing is cavernous! I bet they could fit TMCC and Railsounds in this boiler (that may be a bit of an exaggeration) I forgot about the "manhole cover" bulb holder.

I think that a new headlight socket would be required in this application, as I would think the smoke bulb would have to be removed. If it were just replaced with a smaller lamp, the smoke unit would be in front of it. (at least that's what I'm envisioning). Of course, that's not to say the lamp socket would need to be a part of the smoke unit. I, or anyone else buying one could add their own, or even upgrade to an LED while tinkering inside the boiler.

J White

[ben10ben]

J White,
I don't think that the upgrade will work on the bulb units. The upgrade only provides a motor and fan(along with the necessary controlling circuits), and not a heating element. Provided that you replace the bulb and remove the flapper mechanism, the fan upgrade installed in the smoke box might boost your smoke output slightly when used with SP smoke pellets, although it probably still won't do much of anything. The difference in boiling point of NH4NO3 and m-terphenyl is about 200ºC, and the temperatures of their respective elements reflect this will. Adding a fan close to the bulb would probably lower the temperature of it even more, and decrease smoke production. If I can find an affordable 671 with a bulb smoke unit, I'll do some experimenting of my own.

As for installing an SP smoke pellet unit in a bulb unit, you're better off not doing it. If you can find one of the original upgrade kits, which are pretty valuable in and of themselves, you must make some serious modifications to the engine body. Looking through my service manual, the parts used were unique to the kit, and not commonly available smoke unit parts.

If you must have smoke, it's much more economically practical to sell your bulb engine(which commands a slight premium) and replace it with a heater element engine.

[jwse30]

ben10ben,

I didn't realize the unit did't have a wick. I guess this engine will stay smokefree, as I do not intend on modifying this boiler. It's only in good to very good condition, but I still think it's worth preserving. That's not to say I don't run it; behind my modern Lionel GG1 and my 2046, it's my favorite runner. It can pull as long a train that looks comfortable on my layout (about 15 9700 series boxcars + caboose)

Regarding the upgrade kit, I assumed that taking the parts out of another junker Turbine would work. Hadn't really thought about much, as I don't want to modify this one.

I guess I'll just have to buy another one to use your unit in. It's a good excuse to upgrade to a 681 while I'm at it. [:)]

I'm still interested in at least one of these units though. If I can't make it work in the Turbine I have, I can always rig it up on my factory or diner. (hint, hint; when these get produced, they can make other things smoke too if a wick and "bowl" can be obtained)

Thank you for clarifying,

J White