Smoke amount and Time

Its working as it should. I never get more than that amount of time before more smoke fluid needs to be added. That goes for my lionchief plus trains and MTH. As far as what you can do different I cannot help with. Maybe one of the more seasoned folks here can chime in and give you some ideas on mods you can do that will supply less power to the smoke unit so the fluid will last longer. Of course that will result in less smoke output.

Brad

Or you can just turn the smoke off if you are worried about burning the wick up

15 minutes is pretty good for a smoke fill, you're shooting for the moon if you think you're going to get longer run times without adding smoke fluid.

Great thread and the above recommendations are very helpful. Arnold

If your using JT mega steam which is what I use it will not last as long as a thicker fluid like the lionel fluid. I have to say, I was not expecting the lionchief plus engines to smoke as well as they do. I just purchased a RS3 diesel and a 0-4-0 A5 and have always heard they do not smoke near as well as MTH engines so I was not expecting much but I was very impressed with the smoke output. Very similar to my MTH engines. Maybe it is the JT mega steam being a game changer for the smoke world but I've also heard the LC+ engines in recent years smoke much better than they used too.

Also, its always nice to be part of a forum topic with gunrunnerjohn and Arnold C. Marty too. I enjoy reading your posts and comments.

Brad

We all know that 20 drops is a starting point for Lionel smoke units. Most go to 30 or 40 drops as recommended from the forum. I’d like to see Lionel change their instructions to say 20-40 drops and inform that 15-20 minutes of smoke output to be expected. May just save a lot of returns for low smoke output. We all know who pays for the cost all of the returns.

I don't see that happening, I get a lot of Lionel and MTH stuff soaked in fluid, so obviously people are already pushing the limit in a lot of cases.

In my MTH models after they sit awhile, I do 20 drops. Wait a few minutes. Then do 10 more drops and run after a couple minutes of soaking. After the smoke starts to diminish I do 10 more drops after a period of cool down time. My lionchief plus models I just received I just did 20 drops and waited a few minutes and ran them. They smoked great but was afraid to use the same amount of fluid in them that I do with the MTH engines. Are the reservoirs the same size on fan driven smoke units? Ive read that legacy models are larger than LC+ but havent received my first Legacy model yet. Its on preorder. Does anyone have a comparison of reservoir sizes between MTH Imperial Railking, LC+ and Legacy? I have yet to need to open any up.

Thanks,

Brad

The LC+ smoke unit reservoir is a bit smaller than most Legacy or MTH smoke units.  I typically use at least 20 drops to start an LC+ LC+ 2.0 smoke unit and then 10-15 drops when they slow down significantly.

Most of the MTH RK or Premier smoke units have the same size reservoir, they are the same smoke unit.  The difference between diesel and steam are the length of the mounting posts.  For some small locomotives, MTH does have a small single resistor smoke unit, that one has a much smaller reservoir and you need to be more mindful of overfilling it.

There are a handful of smaller smoke units in various Lionel offerings as well, I know the TMCC Mogul is one such locomotive with a small smoke unit.

The bottom line here is probably that you need to be somewhat aware of the characteristics of your specific locomotive and the size of the smoke unit.

Great advice. Thank you gunrunnerjohn.

On a normal fill of a fan driven smoke unit (20-40 drops, depending on what the smoke unit capacity is) 15 minutes is a decent run time. If operating on the max setting 10 minutes is usually all I get out of a smoke fill.

Thanks everyone for your input.  As a relative newcomer to trains I appreciate responses that are welcoming.

Guess I'll keep the stepstool nearby and keep adding smoke juice.  It's one of my favorite things about running trains.

I didn’t know I was supposed to put that many drops in my lionchief plus engine. I guess I should’ve read the instructions 🤣🤣 I did it yesterday to try it out and what a difference! So much better

I watched that video waiting for it to go up on the elevation but it never got there, LOL.

@Aaron G. posted:

I watched that video waiting for it to go up on the elevation but it never got there, LOL.

My video? Sorry the elevated part is a separate loop.

Good smoke output Corey.

I especially liked your track plan on the video with the changing of direction for the train without messing around with switches.  Nice work.

How about rigging up a powered IV drip that would let you set a whole bottle in the cab?

I  could see an automatic motorcycle  chain oiler doing an excellent job without a large reservoir .  😉

USARV ( DONG HA  1969 )

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Good smoke output Corey.

I especially liked your track plan on the video with the changing of direction for the train without messing around with switches.  Nice work.

Thank you

I know this isn't much help, but maybe someone should bring back the pellet smokers. I have yet to add a pellet to my Lionel 2026. It does need a little time to warm up. Just when I think it's done it starts puffing away like a, well, a steam engine!

How many cc is a drop? I bought a package of industrial syringes, because I over filled a locomotive by the drop method. When your eyesight isn't that good, you can't see the drops. IMO, measuring by drops is -----------

Not sure about cc but ive come to the conclusion that a half mil (.5) is 10 drops. 1 mil being 20 drops. I use mils. Maybe you can Google a comparison of cc vs mils and see the equivalent if it helps.

Brad

@B rad posted:

Not sure about cc but ive come to the conclusion that a half mil (.5) is 10 drops. 1 mil being 20 drops. I use mils. Maybe you can Google a comparison of cc vs mils and see the equivalent if it helps.

Brad

Thanks, my syringes are probably in mil. FWIW 1 cc = 1 mil.