Lionel Smoke Unit Tune-up

Gotta love those high performance tune ups. I had a guy tell me at the club, "there is no way that is a Lionel smoke unit because they don't smoke like that!"

You can get a small black to run with the big dogs, it just takes a little tuning

John ,it sures is smoking up a storm ,but what got my attention was what looks like a lamp on your workbench,i am looking for something that i can use for close up work, not that i do a lot of repairs ,but with the few i do i always have a light problem ,mostly trying to see those small parts, anyway i was looking for is a lamp of some kind ,i assume an led lamp that i can just sit on my workbench ,or table ,not the ones you clamp on to the side of the workbench ,i need one i can move around to where i need the light most ,is yours an led lamp ?, any recommendations ? ,i like to have plenty of light when i am doing things.     Thanks ,  Jerry  M.

Thanks John. I just did most of that to my TMCC New York Central F3 units from the early 2000's. The only thing left would be the resistor. Do you have a part number or are they easy to find?

Mike

They just need a little coaxing, right Doug?

Gerald Marafioti posted:

John ,it sures is smoking up a storm ,but what got my attention was what looks like a lamp on your workbench,

It's a Luxo Magnifier, here's a page of them.  Luxo Magnifier Lamps

ezmike posted:

Thanks John. I just did most of that to my TMCC New York Central F3 units from the early 2000's. The only thing left would be the resistor. Do you have a part number or are they easy to find?

Sure, they're the stock MTH part: AI-0000018 Heating Element

So your using the 16 ohms resistors now.    G

I wanted lots of smoke.  I still normally use the 20 ohm resistors.  I did run this for about 20 minutes on the bench and the triac was at 60C, so I guess it can take it.

Holy smokes, I'm glad I got my Luxo at Wheaton for $40

Matt, I was given the one that I have, so it was $40 cheaper than yours.

I just installed that MTH resistor in my Lionel M1a.  Makes a significant difference.  Smokes  really great now.

What vintage Lionel engines does this apply too? Most of my older engines smoke ok but I have the early Legacy FEF that is a little anemic. What ohm  resistor do the Lionel engines have?

Bob Shaw posted:

What vintage Lionel engines does this apply too? Most of my older engines smoke ok but I have the early Legacy FEF that is a little anemic. What ohm  resistor do the Lionel engines have?

These modifications are as GRJ says for TMCC smoke units, not Legacy. The early Legacy FEF3 should smoke like the dickens - more than any other Lionel steamer I have seen. If it isn't doing that the wicking probably needs to be replaced (or possibly the screws holding the resistor in place have worked loose). This engine uses a 6 ohm resistor, which I think you can still get from Lionel although the entire smoke unit assembly is no longer available. Other Lionel engines use a variety of resistors and you need to check the Lionelsupport.com archive to see which one. I think most older TMCC engines used 27 ohm resistors while most later Legacy engines use 8 ohm ones.

Like stated, do NOT try this with a Legacy smoke unit.  They all have smoke regulators and you need to replace them with the same resistor value.