Does anyone know if the 1946 version of the 2020 Turbine needs special smoke lamp pellets? I do not have any Lionel papers with my Turbine.
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I believe that they take a special #196 smoke pellet.
You can use the standard SP smoke pellets. You will not be able to find the original 196 pellets which were dangerous and extremely corrosive.
The Lionel docs for the 1946 671 turbine (identical to the 1946 2020 turbine) do state to use the 196 pellets. I read somewhere on this forum I believe, that the 196 pellets were toxic - I'm not sure if that's accurate, but I can tell you their smoke sure eats up the metal inside the engine! I attached the documents that I have.
George
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Ammonium nitrate.
Yeah, what Rob said! My first Google hit came up with this bit of info from our friends down under, "Ammonium nitrate has moderate toxicity if swallowed. It is not classified as hazardous according to criteria of WorkSafe Australia. Inhalation: High mist concentration of air-borne material may cause irritation to the nose and upper respiratory tract; symptoms may include coughing and sore throat." Other Google hits agreed with this description.
Here's some more info from Tandem Associates
Thank you to everyone who replied to my smoke pellet question. I will not use the 196 smoke pellets, even if I could find them!
Stan
I have two lamp engines. I use regular smoke pellets with no issues
Ammonium nitrate took out Texas City in the 40s. Also Beirut a few months ago.
I shredded a little MTH wick material they use in their smoke units, and placed it on top of the lamp. Then I put some smoke fluid directly on the wick material. It gives a decent amount of smoke.
A creative approach! :-)
I 'm pretty sure Lionel dumped the lamp generator as soon as they could. The danger with them is once the pellet melted to a liquid state, there was nothing to absorb the liquid. If a kid picked up the engine (I'm sure it happened) just after running and turned up side down, the liquid Ammonium Nitrate would spill on the kids hands and burn! I wonder how many engines were dropped because of this. Just FYI, the 196 pellets are glossier and harder than a SP pellet. You can crush a SP pellet between your fingers, You can't crush a 196 pellet like that. (unless you're Superman.)
I use regular smoke fluid in mine. A few drops added only when cold. Smokes nicely.
Also from greenberg's repair and operating manual page 186 top of page mentions that particular pellet along with warning not to use them in the standard pellet smoker .
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I bought and installed kits to convert from pellets to liquid smoke. This simple kit, found on the bay, makes your old steamer really smoke. Once installed, the engine appears original. I updated my #736 and #681.
Bill
@Odenville Bill posted:I bought and installed kits to convert from pellets to liquid smoke.
Completely unnecessary. I just use MegaSteam(or MTH or whatever is on hand) in the pellet smokers, and can switch back to pellets as desired.
Rob in above post is spot on . Liquid will work in a pellet smoker i also converted some to liquid early on also have mth engines and they use liquid.
Still use the repro pellets in others like the smoke bulb engines and others as well.
@Odenville Bill posted:I bought and installed kits to convert from pellets to liquid smoke. This simple kit, found on the bay, makes your old steamer really smoke. Once installed, the engine appears original. I updated my #736 and #681.
Bill
Bill, I'm happy enough with my (1946) 671 smoke capability, but I am curious if the conversion kit's puffing abilities. Do the kits rely on the same puffing mechanism installed in the original engine, or do they provide something new?
George
Bill... Rob... the OP isn’t about it being a pellet smoker, but about it being an early bulb smoker. Lionel has special indented headlight bulbs made to hold the ammonium nitrate pellet. The heat of the bulb would melt the pellet, and a flapper would push the smoke up the stack.
This is not the same as converting a later unit from pill to liquid.
Jon 
Don't add the liquid smoke solution unless the bulb is cold. The bulb will break, learned the hard way from experience.
George,
The kits I bought uses the stock puffing components. I converted my 681 first. I compared the new and old and I prefer using smoke fluid. Less mess inside and you have a wide range of smells to choose from.
Bill
Bill, the 681 ALREADY HAS a smoke heating element and chamber. The engine the OP has, only has a dimpled light bulb. Completely different mounting.
Jon
Sold my 2020 but I used a few drops of fluid and that worked. Never thought of adding some wadding but it's a good idea.
Morning, guys. Been reading this old thread in preparation for my 1946 671 arrival. Changed the smoke bulb out and cleaned the old residue out of the unit, and I took someone's advice from here and placed a pac-man insulation piece under the bulb. I sprinkled some postwar crushed SP pellets onto the bulb, and it smokes great! I'm hoping the residue just drops down onto the insulation and when it heats up again, the smoke continues to work the way it did last night, which was amazing. So here's a question....the flapper seems to be moving but there looks like there's two small springs that give it that up/down motion to create the puffs; is there a way to lubricate the flapper so it moves smoothly? Or is there supposed to be very limited movement on it?
@James B posted:...is there a way to lubricate the flapper so it moves smoothly? Or is there supposed to be very limited movement on it?
The flapper stamping is simply pushed up by an eccentric nub on the inside of the front driver, and it does wear. This would be the lube point.
Ok great, I can get to that easily later today. Is that lubricated with oil or light grease? Usually on moving parts like that (aside from the worm gears) I use light oil.
Follow up question: I am replacing the original boiler front with the TCA Special boiler front. The die cast pins on that boiler front are slightly wider than the holes on the engine's diecast frame. What's the best way to get them to fit? File the pins down? Carefully drill out the holes so they fit?
Interesting thread on the 1946 bulb smoke units. Reminds me when I first took my fathers original 671 and converted the bulb unit to a traditional heater element smoke unit by replacing the bulb and cast chamber with a traditional smoke unit then replaced the boiler light lens with a cylindrical light bulb that fit perfectly inside the original boiler front. I kept the original smoke flapper and just placed the smoke piston on it. It works beautifully and you get the added bonus of the clank, clank sound the flapper and smoke piston makes. This modification doesn't permanently alter the locomotive in any way and it can easily be converted back to the original smoke bulb.
@ADCX Rob posted:The flapper stamping is simply pushed up by an eccentric nub on the inside of the front driver, and it does wear. This would be the lube point.
Thanks Rob. Would you know about drilling out the holes for the boiler front? I don't want to screw up the engine by doing something I haven't done before, and I don't want to ruin the TCA boiler front either. What's my best option to open the holes/shrink the pins?
Well, it's up to you, but the engine casting is very common, the boilerfront not so, but if they are for your enjoyment and not an investment, I would go with whatever way provides the best seal for the light... which may require adjustments on both parts.
