Just curious about smoke and why it’s so important!

Hard habit to kick I like smoke. My post war steamers are old enough to smoke so I let them.I don't smoke I want to live to be as old as my trains that do.

I've never seen any soot from my smokers.

As far as the smell, get some NADA from Megasteam. No problems.

LOL, Nobody in my house smokes either and although I used to smoke a pipe and cigars, I can’t take it anymore. I don’t even go to Las Vegas anymore because the smell makes me ill. Train smoke is definitely not the same as cigarette smoke, or at least as far as I remember and it’s been a lot of years since I’ve smelled it.

Well it’s been a long time and maybe I’m not saying it correctly. That black smoke has got to be settling on to my white snow on my winter wonder land and turn everything dirty, I would think.

I used to enjoy model train smoke when I was younger, but personally don't care for it anymore.  I don't like the residue being deposited on the top of my locomotives and cleaning it off.

I will verify the smoke units work, then shut them off if there's a switch.  I might use them occasionally for "ceremonial" purposes, but that's pretty rare nowadays.

Rusty

For the 500th time. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Some people like smoke some people do not. This forum is not the end all of the be all.

Run your trains and stop worrying about the small stuff.

Aw, residue is probably what I should be saying thanks.

Not really worrying about it. I was just curious as to why so many are so concerned about it. I might use some today just to check it out, but I usually check to see if the heater is off as soon as I take a train out of the box.

Smoke is just a fun thing to see coming from a stack. Seeing a steam engine running without smoking is not nearly as interesting. I like to get the best output from my steamers. I enjoy watching the smoke, monitoring the output, and adding fluid when need be. It's a huge part of what toy trains are to me.

When it comes to steamers, a lot of people do expect to see smoke.  When I am running at home and by myself, I usually turn off the smoke, as I don't need to see it to enjoy my trains.  Nothing wrong with that, IMHO.

When I do run with smoke, I usually (but not always) use one of the scented Mega-Steam fluids (I have never tried the unscented NADA Mega-Steam that Doc Davis mentioned, so can offer no opinion on it).  Some of their scents are actually quite pleasant, but I think which ones are considered pleasant will be very dependent on the individual (I personally don't like anything that is vanilla scented except real vanilla and foods made with real vanilla).

Over the past two months, I have gone through two and a half bottles (so far) of Hot Chocolate Mega-Steam at public shows and have had dozens of complements on how much it smells like hot chocolate (people recognize it right off the bat).

BTW, I'm not sure what you mean by soot.  Smoke fluid doesn't actually produce real smoke (nothing is burning) - it is actually a vapor, and its operation is similar to Glade Plug-Ins, except that the Plug-Ins heat the scented oils at a much slower rate, so you can't see it working.  If used a lot, the vapor may eventually condense on objects in the room, like track, which will require a little cleaning (but track should be periodically cleaned regardless of smoke usage or no smoke usage).

When I get around to building a permanent layout, I plan on installing a simple vent system to pull the smoke outside should I feel the need to really smoke up the train room.

Andy

JohnnyB, I am not sure where you are in your model trains. I agree with you on the old smoke stuff. Though many love the nostalgia from the odor that is left, it was never a pleasant scent in my opinion. It was one of those "take it or leave it" type of things. But, modern engines, especially steam locomotives, smoke more realistically and the scents that you now have as an option is almost endless. As mentioned above, you can even purchase a "nada" scent which has no odor and the smoke dissipates quickly. My layout has a lot of mountains and "nature" scenery so I prefer Megasteam's Field and Stream scent. 

I am 65, I been running O gauge most of my life. All I can tell you is that as a kid, watching an engine "smoke" was like watching the real thing.

It seems smoke then was the DCS, TMCC or whistles of our day. To hear a toy train make a train whistle by having a motor turn an fan to blow air past a reeded box to make a train noise.......now that was high class technology!!

I can only state what I think. If my old man was alive, I would ask him his opinion, but knowing him like I did, he probably thought the same thing. After all, he was the guy who dissected the tender, took the whistle out and mounted it under the board so that he could wire to a transformer and switch so he could blow it when he wanted to and not rob the engine of power. He put the log loader, coal loader, working gateman and crossing gate on a layout that he put up Christmas eve after I went to bed! Nice of Santa.

If I have guests over today, hit the smoke button on the DCS and get the PA steamer to smoke, the little ones (and the big ones) love it...especially the smoke rings. What can I say?

Yep, smoke is what it is. Real steamers smoked. Why not the toy ones also?

Greg

I was just looking at that NADA Mega-Steam that Doc Davis mentioned and I’m going to by some. I don’t think I would like the vanilla either.

My wife buys those plug-in air fresheners and I can’t stand those things, so I am definitely going to get the non-scent, but I’m wondering about that Christmas Pine since I don’t have a real Christmas tree.

I seem to remember my dad’s trains having smoke, but everybody smoked back then and the house was always filled with smoke anyways.

OK, for the 501st time. Whats old to so many people on the forum,is new to the newer folks, or maybe just interesting. Please don't discourage people, there are plenty of topics for everyone to enjoy or ignore.

Like you, we run steamless, because of allergies and my wife and daughters overly developed sense of smell.

The good news is you can turn smoke on and off, so if you wanted to switch from the rough smelling Lionel stuff to NADA (purported to be odor free, but that doesn't mean the particulates won't bother someone with sensitive lungs), you could run the steamer in your garage, to burn off the remaining Lionel and switch to NADA, or a scent you like. then you could turn on the smoke, for a bit. Folks that use steam alot say the residue doesn't go far, but I've always been concerned that I'd have the residue on the walls near the track.

As to your friends first question. We expect smoke from toy steamers. I imagine the question is just conversational. Kinda like the topic

Hi Johnny,

I use Jt's Megasteam exclusively and Christmas Pine is one of my favorites.It has a very pleasant "Fresh Christmas tree" scent that's not overpowering. I also like the Christmas Berry,Cinnamon Bun and my absolute favorite-Cranberry woods.

Highly recommended!

Happy New Year!

Ricky

Next topic:  Poor chinese QC.

I think it is important to many people because it is both something toy trains (at least O gauge) have done for decades, and because it is a nice feature that mirrors the real world.  So I do see why it is fun and appealing to some people. 

But I'm with you.  My wife and I both displike the odor and the haze smoke can make - my wife particularly hates the odor and says it is the only thing about toy trains she does not like.  And to be frank, I don't think smoke from any loco I have ever seen looks at all realistic: to be prototypical it would have to be pouring forth thick volumes of inky black smoke heavy with particulates - yuck! 

So I never run smoke.  I've never even checked if the smoke on some of my locos, such as my 3751 Northern, actually works: I turn smoke off, most times, as I first take the loco out of the box.  Whistle steam - the same.  I forgot recently with my new D&RG 0-4-0 because I was setting it up around the tree and it wasn't the usualy drill.  I was a surprise when it started smoking - luckily I got it turned off before my wife noticed. 

As a result, I so seldom think about smoke

thanks Ricky, I'm glad to hear about Christmas Pine. I didn't notice the Cranberry woods, but maybe I'll try that too

One word Vanilla.

I was never a big fan of smoking engines until they synchronized the puffing with the steam sounds. Now it's a big part of the "steam" experience for me. 

Just about any 'flavor" is OK except the coal smoke. There's a fine line between coal smoke and burning tires. Mega-Steam Christmas pine seems to be popular among most visitors.

Jim

That's the sign of a poor firing.  Black smoke means incomplete combustion and you're basically shooting fuel out the stack.

Ideally, you should see a light haze coming out of the stack or a billowing water vapor on cold days.

Rusty

My American Flyer trains had synchronized smoke in 1951!

Pete

I didn’t know that was possible, what steamers have that function? Now that would make a big difference in my view of smoke.

I found the Cranberry woods for $4.5, but no Christmas Pine. The shipping was $8.30 so I guess I’ll just buy it through Mega-steam for $5 shipping

Johnny,

MTH synchronized the smoke with all Proto-2 and later engines. I'm not sure exactly when Lionel adopted this feature, but I know all Lionel Legacy engines have this feature.

Pete,

That and two rail track were reasons why I was fascinated by AF back in the 50s in my youth! My father always told me that we were a Lionel family though, and that was that!!!

Jim

When I was a kid I liked smoke and became addicted to the smell of AF smoke fluid as others have attested to. Sort of a incense of childhood.

I don't use smoke now and the novelty sort of wore off. I miss the smell of AF smoke..

But Marx and Flyer as Pete said, really had the smoke synchronized with internal air cylinders  rather than a lazy drift coming off a rubbish fire. Actual stack smoke is not white, it's black so if you really want realism, you have the sort of steam that came from the end of steam heated cars or condensation blow down from the cylinders coming out of the stack. Sort of a mixed up image.

Not that I want black smoke..or that oily residue or breathing that stuff into my lungs. For guests I will abide for a time...as for me, a clean stack is a sign of good firing 

I recently cleaned out and replaced the wicks in all my smoke units and switched them all off. I've realized I can live without it. I quite like no more oily splatters and residues.

Postwar steamers still get the pill though, those are fine.

 not really a new invention...

 Am Flyer - 1954

all coal is not created equal!  high sulfur content can be really offensive, but a good hard Pennsylvania or Welsh coal is far more pleasant to me than the smell of oil burners.

 Wait a minute! Was that a shot at Jim!!!

Smoke rules in my house. I like it and my guests like it!! Seeing those steamers chuffing is "it" for me. I actually started looking closer at 3rd rail after seeing a video w/ the latest tmcc installed with puffing smoke. To me, it added the realism that made the difference.

 To many, they don't need that or maybe don't want it?

I guess since I've never really been interested in smoke I never payed any attention to it. So now I guess I need to check my trains and see if I already have it.

Not really important to me.  On nearly all of my engines, the smoke feature is turned off except when I have visitors.  I will occasionally fire-up the smoke on a steamer I'm running just because steam locomotives look more "natural" with smoke.  I never operate the smoke units on any of my diesels--I usually turn the feature off right out of the box.

After 50+ years of HO, rediscovering postwar Lionel trains with puffing smoke was a big novelty. It's fun and something I remember from friends' trains in the 1960's. Now, I also have an MTH Big Boy with fan-drive smoke which is actually too much smoke volume, and it doesn't puff, so I turn it off. And I don't want smoke from diesels or every train.

My 2026 can puff smoke rings.

Rusty is correct.  On the Pennsy, such a dirty smoke cloud would get someone reprimanded.

As for smoke - around the Christmas tree this year we exclusively ran (for the first time in my memory) a Christmas Beep diesel. 

But, I too have found the smell too much and have gone to NADA (unscented) smoke fluid on the Panhandle.  I have 6 locomotives and a steel mill (2 industrial stacks) contributing to the air pollution!  And I really like the look of steamers putting out smoke.  The excellent photograph was taken by Mike Mattei in January 2011.

George

Smoke is important because if it escapes from the fancy electronics board(s) in your locomotives, they probably will cease to function.

Pete

Just curious about smoke and why it’s so important!

Wow, a thread title doesn't get much more clear about the topic  than that( I wish MORE, were that clear).

 What I am Curious about is, WHY even bother opening the thread, if you have no interest in it? Why WASTE your time replying to a topic that you feel this way about?

For crying out loud, it takes more effort to open, read and REPLY to athread than it does to just go right on by on the thread list and find something that you are interested in. There are so many threads on the forum that I have no interest in, that I would probably spend hours each day, if I replied like that to each one of them. Just because YOU, have no interest in the thread, that doesn't mean that it will have no value to anyone.

BTW,

"Run your trains and stop worrying about the small stuff."

Sounds like GREAT advice to me, Practice what you Preach.

Doug

That's why i always keep my smoke units in tip-top condition and fully filled with fluid. So that if any of the Magic Smoke ever escapes, I can quickly replace it. 

I'm not partial to completely "smoking out" my train room into a haze, but I do like the effect you get to go along with steam engines. And it's invariably one of those things most noticed by visitors ("Wow, look at the smoke!").

And I use Mega Steam all the way.

Smoke them if you got them!!..That what make them look so real to us..Id made my S1 really smoke now..

I read somewhere maybe in one of the Lionel videos, I can’t remember for sure that to keep the heater wet with fluid even if not using it. I assumed that was because of the chance it might accidentally come on which was the case with me. One year I noticed smoke right after I set up my Christmas layout and found the switch somehow switched on.

Thanks Doug, my feelings exactly.

JohnnyB, You're Welcome. The beating a deadhorse replies are a personal pet peeve of mine.

Doug