Lionel Blue Comet 6-8801 or Southern Crescent 6-8702 - Smoke Units

Don't expect too much from them, they are really anemic smokers. There is a gap between the piston and cylinder and they fit loose, and don't smoke like a postwar equivalent 2046. Replacing the piston assembly is not a option because of the Sound of steam contact. You can get a little more smoke by replacing the Lionel heater resistor with a MTH version. But it still won't puff the smoke barely out of the stack. It is just the nature of the beast with them. A thin smoke fluid like MTH's will help some. Also remove the stack gasket if there is one and see if that helps.

@Chuck Sartor posted:

Don't expect too much from them, they are really anemic smokers. There is a gap between the piston and cylinder and they fit loose, and don't smoke like a postwar equivalent 2046. Replacing the piston assembly is not a option because of the Sound of steam contact. You can get a little more smoke by replacing the Lionel heater resistor with a MTH version. But it still won't puff the smoke barely out of the stack. It is just the nature of the beast with them. A thin smoke fluid like MTH's will help some. Also remove the stack gasket if there is one and see if that helps.

Thats what I was afraid of. I removed the sound of steam contact as my SOS board was bad on both engines/tenders. I moved that wire that connects to the tender to a permanent positive wire within the locomotive and it now powers the new soundboard I have installed into the tender. The contacts are still on the smoke stack but they just go along for the ride.

I was just hoping for a little more "puff". Now the smoke stack is like a boiling witches cauldron. Lots of smoke but hardly any puff.

Check to see if the inlet hole in the smoke chamber is clear and not blocked with padding. And also the crosshead has the tang to return the piston.

I did the same with my southern crescent and it smokes the same. Kinda just boils out lightly. I used a 27 ohm smoke element, new wick material and use mega steam. Same results. It seems to get slightly better every time I run it. I've used the same element and materials in postwar and LTI steamers and those will smoke you out of the basement. I just concluded it's just the way those smoke units are. Not sure if you can swap it for a postwar style or not. Mine doesn't have sos either. Currently trying to find a decently priced sound board for it.

As much as I love the MPC era stuff. The smoke output isn't the best. I have had a few that did smoke decent but that wasn't the rule. I find it even more annoying on certain models because they did the steam chest smoke also. Why have more places for smoke to not come out of? HAHA.

Now you haven't seen a locomotive smoke until you get a Marx steamer going. Those will smoke you out of the house and maybe even the neighborhood.

Haha. I had a few of those little Marx monsters. Really impressive for a little 3\16th scale steamer. The 666 literally smoked like the devil!

All the early MPC Lionel copies were poor smokers. The new smaller set engines were not too bad but the larger ones? Naw.

I have a Hershey engine from a set and it puffs like crazy. I just bought its smoke parts from Lionel and going to see if I can tinker and get it in the blue comet or southern and see how it does. The only thing the Hershey smoke unit doesn't have is a spot for the front light.

worse comes to worse I simply put the original smoke unit back in and leave it alone.