My 2000-vintage Lionel Long Island (#6-38036) 2-8-0's smoke unit piston has shown an annoying tendency to get "hung up" and not push out the smoke. This has been going on pretty much ever since I got it; it'll run fine for a while, then the smoke will just hang inside the stack and not get pushed up and out.
I have repeatedly taken it down and cleaned it; after removing the body, I un-solder the ground, pop off the cap, pull out the wick (at which time I soak up any excess) clean and dry out the bowl, shoot some contact cleaner down onto the top of the piston, (I also spray some around the body of it), make sure everything else is okay (like the piston arm), re-assemble and test before the body goes back on, finish re-assembly, test it on the track and wait until it happens again...which sometimes is only a few minutes. I don't believe there are any burrs on the piston that would be causing it to hang up; I figured it might be excessive smoke fluid, but after repeated cleanings, I don't think that's it, either. (I should add here that this has also happened on the bench, without the body, so I know that has nothing to do with it.)
I have not pulled the entire smoke unit, because it looks like the mounting screw is tucked up behind the left-hand cylinder, and I'm not confident I can drop that whole assembly and be able to re-assemble it correctly.
I am including a couple of pictures: as you can see, it's just a typical smoke unit of that era, I guess...
Has anyone else had an issue like this, and if so, what was your solution? Thanks!
Mark in Oregon
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, this time I was able to completely remove the smoke unit from the frame; there are actually (3) screws: the third being for either the center-rail or ground wire which is also attached to that unit's base.