Smoke Unit question

Nick, I assume you are asking about a Gilbert engine.  If the engine was made in 1948 or after you will see a red plastic or metal insert in the smoke stack that goes into the smoke unit right below the smoke stack.  If you can see nothing below the smokestack a smoke unit is not installed.  

If the engine is pre 1948 there will be a knob on the front of the tender to loosen to put in smoke fluid in because it is a smoke-in-tender engine.  There would also be a rubber hose between the tender and locomotive to sent the smoke to the smokestack. 

I hope this helps.

Thank you Bill.  It did help, there is an insert in the stack so that answers my question.  It is a 312 PRR locomotive.

Thanks again,

NIck

Nick,  The numbers on the Gilbert engines is an indicator of what it had inside.  When the last number is a 2 it means it has smoke and ChoCho. (Your 312) A few engines had a 1 which means it had just Cho Cho.  A 0 meant it had neither.  310 is a Pacific Penn K5  like yours without smoke or Cho Cho.

Have fun with Gilbert trains.

What about the number 290???  It has smoke and choo-choo sound....

Marty

Well, the system was not perfectly attended to by Gilbert.  Lots of engines later didn't follow the system. 

In the KC area, the last numbers were also "signs" a 3 or 2 = Smoke & Choo Choo, 7 was "plain jane" (no S&CC, sometime note even a headlight!) 5 or 6 = S&CC and whistle, 4 was airchime whistle (only used on the 314). 1= Choo Choo only. Of course, in all the years that have gone by, boiler shells could have been changed, so looking down the stack is the sure way to check!

That was supposed to be "era" not "area"!!

traindavid posted:

In the KC area, the last numbers were also "signs" a 3 or 2 = Smoke & Choo Choo, 7 was "plain jane" (no S&CC, sometime note even a headlight!) 5 or 6 = S&CC and whistle, 4 was airchime whistle (only used on the 314). 1= Choo Choo only. Of course, in all the years that have gone by, boiler shells could have been changed, so looking down the stack is the sure way to check!

It got even more complicated than that. As mentioned, the original plan from the 1940s was "2" meant smoke/choo-choo, "1" meant choo-choo only, and "0" meant no features. The "2" designation was followed pretty closely, but early locomotives with a "1" (pretty much just the 321) all had smoke and choo-choo as did a whole lot of 320s. The 301 Atlantic was about the only fit for the original choo-choo only plan and it didn't appear until 1953.

The "4" covers the 314 (true air whistle) and the 324AC and 334DC with electronic whistles. A "3" typically differentiates from its brothers with a "2" by adding pull-mor traction tires, and knuckle couplers (302/303, 342/343, and 282/283 are examples). A "5" typically designates smoke, choo-choo and air chime whistle, while a "6" designates the same features plus pull-mor traction tires and knuckles. The models from the 3-digit era that ended on a "6" are typically considered the "full-featured" locomotives.

Of course, there are exception and one-offs. The 290 has been mentioned (why wasn't it a 292?). The 308 with choo-choo only, pull-mor, and knuckles. The 289 with a whistle but no smoke or choo-choo. Probably more oddities that I've missed (someone will correct me). The more I think I understand, the more I find to wonder about! Some fun.

With the transition to 5-digit numbering starting in 1957, all bets were off.

Any updates or corrections to my memory are welcome.

 

Adding more engines to Craig's writeup, the 1948 release of the Royal Blue follows the Gilbert guidelines numbered as 350 with just a headlight. Same for the 1950 version with cast in handrails. However in 1950 Gilbert painted the casting red for the Circus set and numbered it 353. In 1953 the plastic Silver Bullet was released with headlight, smoke and choo choo. A logical number would have been 352 but it was numbered 356. Then in 1954 a knuckle coupler version was made. Again the logical number would have been 353, but that number was already used for the Circus engine so it was released as the 354.