Do Legacy smoke units just "consume" smoke fluid??

Well, it seems to me that all smoke units end up "consuming" smoke fluid when they're operating, or we wouldn't have to fill them!

 

I only get a few laps around our modestly sized layout before having to refil with another 20 drops. I can go through a bottle of fluid pretty quickly but I love the smoke set to high!

The more smoke it makes, the more smoke fluid it will consume.

Well actually, they don't "consume" smoke but rather the fluid is vaporized into tiny droplets that appear to be smoke.... John , you of all people should know

What would we all do without the "well actually"guys.

I don't really consume my food either Rick, it's just converted into...  well you get the idea.

 

With all of my Lionel engines - and most of them are Legacy - I have never gotten more than 10-15 minutes of smoke out of them when it was set on high.  Ah, but the joy of it! I am partial to the hot chocolate smell as well, and so are most of my visitors to the layout, particularly my grand kids.

I've toyed with the idea of some kind of reservoir to extend the time between fills, it would be a cool option.

 

Doesn't lionel have an accessory that fills your smoke fluid? Seems like I saw that somewhere.

Funny you should mention that John. I've been thinking about that project myself. Some engines have ample room to play with. I tried wicking to a resevoir but it can't pull the fluid up fast enough especially with the newer SMU's on high.

I have accumulated a variety of smoke units on ebay and shows. My next attempt will be to butcher two units and put together ending in a larger "bowl" for fluid.

Probably nothing, but folks like John who help others understand/repair the electronic "whizz-bang" stuff in our trains are a huge asset to this forum.

 

I was just poking a little fun at that fact, I think he got it.

Excellent idea especially for steamers...Auxiliary water tank car like this:

Car actually holds smoke fluid reservoir inside.

On board pump activated by a Legacy command (don't ask me how...I'm making this up as I go) pumps fluid directly to smoke unit via installed prototypical tubing at the press of a button.

Way, way ,way, waaaaay beyond my capabilities but to the Legacy- kit-bash -heavy thinkers would make an interesting engineering challenge!

Mark

 

Yep, but it's not exactly a practical way if you want to continue to run.  You have to stop and carefully align the spout and then dispense the fluid.  Looks cool, but I don't think that's the solution I was looking for.

 

 

I was actually thinking of just grafting a small reservoir with a tube to the main smoke unit, it might be a bit more flexible in mounting.  Harry Henning made a stationary smoke unit with a large plastic reservoir, the thing looked like it could run all day!

john I like to see it...was thinking on making some for my smoke units in my trains..banjoflyer I also like your idea too..

The water tank is a bit "over the top", but it sure would be a cool project.

my only concern is how to make it pump the fluid into the smoke unit..because it sit lower then the smoke unit...if you put a samll tank .say back by the cab before the whistle area..the fluid would on into the smoke unit by gravity..gravity feed smoke unit..tell you what john if these ideas take off..you know mth and lionel will be paying attention to these threads...in time they would incorprate them in there trains.

That's more along the lines of my idea.  I'd put a small spout that was about 1/8" to 3/16" at the bottom of the smoke chamber and then feed it from the aux tank.  That would prevent it from overfilling.

 

When you have the smoke on high it looks like the engine sucked it's turbo. Medium is a pretty bad engine. Low seems about right to me. The EPA probably would still fine us on low today. just my two cents, charlie criss

 

 

 

You know guys these are diesel not wood or coal burning locomotives . You guys are making the engines look the they are shot and ready for the salvage yards. 

 

think you got me and gunnerjohn wrong..I like the idea for steamers...but do see some heavy smoking diesels too..Over in USSR there diesel are bad...

I have three diesels that have exhaust smoke, but I rarely turn them on. I've never even tried the smoke unit on my newest engine, the Lionel BN SD40-2. You hardly ever see exhaust smoke pouring out of actual diesels (it's usually pretty clear), and I, too, have been frustrated at how quickly my engine's smoke units need refilled. I do think that a smoke unit auxiliary tender is a great idea for steam engines. 

I don't believe this accessory has been produced yet. Last I heard was it's due out in may 2014.

I think this thread brings to light the fact that we would all like to see an improved smoke system offered by today's manufacturers. Rather than coming up with the solutions, maybe we would be better off agreeing on what we would like the improved system to offer. I would start by asking the question - How long do you want the engine to smoke for before needing to be refilled? My answer would be at least 1 hour. Right now I get 10 to 15 minutes. I would also like to be able to see how much fluid is in the system instead of guessing. Having the system shut off automatically when it runs out of fluid would be another feature I would like to see.

 

Other thoughts?

In many locomotives, it would be pretty easy to simply have a larger smoke chamber as a stock item.  I think the reasoning against it is simply that the manufacturers want to have one standard smoke unit for all seasons.

 

I agree that steamers is where I like lots of smoke, on my diesels I normally turn it down to low on PS/2 or Legacy.  My TMCC diesels don't get any special mods to increase smoke, I just let them alone.  TMCC steamers, OTOH, get a lower value smoke resistor and better breathing for the smoke units.

 

Oh I don't know...this shot shows why ALCO Diesel Locomotives were often referred to as "Honorary Steam Locomotives":

Mark

Well the project would be fun to try and would take a lot of head-scratching but one way to pump the fluid from the water tanker reservoir to the smoke unit via a hose would be to use a small 12V electric fuel pump like this:

Mark

 

I like the idea of a passive system that wouldn't require pumps and the like.  I'm also wondering if I couldn't just hack the bowl of the smoke unit and make it deeper.  If you wind the wick around the resistor like MTH does, it would be able to wick up the fluid to the heater.  That was Jeff's idea, and maybe that's the simple method.  Looking at several engines I have apart on the bench, there seems to be space for it.

 

 

Bingo!!!! Thats what I was thinking!!..but it could be a problem..to deep on a steamer might not fit well...might be do able in a Diesel ...

Where we really need it is on the steamers.