Lionel 6-17607 Reading steelside caboose

I was wondering if this can be used on constant 18 volts ?

No, the smoke unit will overheat and warp the side and roof.  Conventional operation only.

Thanks, Chuck

@Chuck Sartor posted:

No, the smoke unit will overheat and warp the side and roof.  Conventional operation only.

How has this overheating/warping problem been addressed in the design of TMCC/Legacy compatible cabeese? Thanks, Pat B.

The newer cabooses have a totally different smoke unit. They have a 5 volt power regulated Seuthe generator. In the era before that  caboose smoke units had a resistor sitting in a tube with some wicking. Those used a large 62 ohm resistor in the tube or bowl.  The first series of smoking cabooses like your Reading and several others like NYC and Walbash for example used a small locomotive liquid smoke generator. They were meant for 12-14 track voltage, And with a mechanical smoke piston assembly to make it 'puff' to eject smoke from the stack. The smoke unit is mounted right next to the plastic body. At constant 18 volts these 12 volt units quickly overheat, and sometimes the piston would stick inside the cylinder there would be no air flowing to dissipate the heat would become very hot and wapr the side and around the chimney. Later models had a on/off switch for the smoke unit.

Chuck, Thanks for the info. Pat B.

Need some help. With the info on this string, I now know why my smoke unit in this model is melted. Good information, however, now opening the smoke unit will be an "adventure" as the top is slightly melted on. Before I go through that, does anyone fix these things and/or have any idea where I might find a replacement. The switch to disable the function also seems to be tied to the red blinking tail light. Is that the way it is supposed to be?

@MartyR posted:

Need some help. With the info on this string, I now know why my smoke unit in this model is melted.

The reason the smoke unit melted could be twofold.  Either you ran it with command voltages and simply put more power into the smoke unit than it was designed to dissipate or you didn't have enough fluid in it to dissipate the heat.

You're lucky it didn't melt the side or roof of the caboose!

@MartyR posted:

Good information, however, now opening the smoke unit will be an "adventure" as the top is slightly melted on. Before I go through that, does anyone fix these things and/or have any idea where I might find a replacement. The switch to disable the function also seems to be tied to the red blinking tail light. Is that the way it is supposed to be?

The only "fix" I can visualize is replacement.  FWIW, I've done a few smoking caboose upgrades using the MTH HO fan driven smoke unit, it can be "tuned" to put out a nice steam of smoke, but not so much as it looks like a locomotive.

You are absolutely correct. I ran it with command voltages. Kicked out a **** of a lot smoke ... until it didin't.

Learned something new today on smoke units. At least the rear light still blinks. eBay has these for about $50.00, no sense killing myself over it. THANK YOU.

Sure would’ve liked to see pro hobby’s finished project.

From service manual:

They have that eccentric style cam lobe on the axle that makes the smoke puff out in spurts and I was wondering if it could be modified to remove that and add a small fan unit/board in it's place , keeping the smoke unit but repiping the  the same port as the original air intake ? Like what is on the jet snow blowers that can run 18v?  Or is the fan unit part of the smoke and cannot be used independantly from it?

@Wolfie11 posted:

They have that eccentric style cam lobe on the axle that makes the smoke puff out in spurts and I was wondering if it could be modified to remove that and add a small fan unit/board in it's place , keeping the smoke unit but repiping the  the same port as the original air intake ? Like what is on the jet snow blowers that can run 18v?  Or is the fan unit part of the smoke and cannot be used independantly from it?

I guess just replacing the entire smoke unit with a MTH or comparable one would be easier ?

Mars light? On a caboose?

Thanks guys:

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement smoke unit for this caboose or have the replacement part number???