steamers

[teekaho]

I have three steamers from the bachmann spectrum series. a 2-10-2, 2-6-6-2, 2-10-2 all of them came with smoke powder but I yet to find where to put it or how I should use it. I would love to have the realism of smoke to go along with that great sound. Could anyone help?

[ACY]

You do not have smoke powder, your locos do not have smoke machines in them, generally speaking the accumulation from smoke is very detrimental to your layout causing poor conductivity due to the film that will cover the rails. The powder is for weathering your loco/ adding it for more detail.

[Doneldon]

tee-

That is NOT smoke powder. It's like soot or coal dust which you can apply to the molded coal in your tenders or around the stack to make it look like the loco has been running for a while.

I'm unaware of any smoke powder from any manufacturer; everything I've ever heard of is liquid, generally mineral oil. Be careful if you use it. The mineral oil condenses after it goes up your stack and can make a mess on your track and the top of your locomotives. It will attract dirt which will impair electrical conductivity between the track and your locos' wheels. You will burn the smoke unit out if you don't turn it off as soon as the smoker runs out of the oil. And, as if all of that weren't enough problems, you really won't get much smoke in the first place unless you run your locos at high speeds which can lead to derailments and that long tragic plunge off of the edge of the traintable cliff to the concrete floor of the valley below. In short, the smoke is a potential problem for little benefit. Oh, it's fine to show the kids once in a while but keep your expectations low and your smoke bottle mostly closed.
                                                                                                                      -- D

[richg]

No where does Bachmann say those locos have smoke. Go look at the Product page.
Also, the smoke will not be realistic.
Bachmann sells some locos with smoke to please little children which is OK. It gets them interested in model trains. It will be a few years before they realize it is not realistic and it is messy.

Rich

[teekaho]

Well thank you all very much. You see you can teach old dogs new tricks after all...lol.
but seriously guys thanks I really didn't know.

[CNE Runner]

Ah...I remember a basement full of Lionel locomotives - pulling long lines of brightly colored rolling stock, 'crashing through' turnouts at F-16 speeds (God bless Magna-traction) and spewing veritable clouds of smoke. The smell of ozone, the unbelievable noise of steel wheels on [hollow] steel rail, and the stench...those were the days (before secondhand smoke damage to ones lungs). 'Remember the little tablets you used to drop into the smokestack?

Ray

[Woody Elmore]

Ray - you forgot some of the other Lionel features - like the hobo being chased around a flat car by a RR cop. There was the silly giraffe car and the goldfish car. My uncle had the operating milk car that expelled milk cans at about 20 mph!

My GG-1 had a great horn and it pulled just about anything I put behind it.

Lionel smoke was great to look at but awful to smell! 

Kids today don't know what they're missing.

[GRZ]

boy talk about timing I just got off the land line with bushman, that bag of graphite had me wondering too,the lady said to do just that with it, rub your coal pile with it..I got the Richmond 440 ma&pa, Ive been railroading over 60 years and this is the first loco under 200.00 that works without class 3 repares,I,m very pleased and thinking of another one as soon as the pettycoat govt gives the OK..GRZ

[Doneldon]

CNE-

You sound like my age. And you have my condolences.

Do you also remember setting the Lionel up around the Christmas tree
(that took a lot of persuading in my home) and then making it
change directions by shorting it with little pieces of the lead tinsel?

                                                                    -- D

[CNE Runner]

Hey Don...yep, 'just turned 66. I would assume many of us are near the same age (I missed the Baby Boomer generation by one year). Ah, yes the tinsel. How about the heavy paper houses that were festooned with sparkles and all sporting colored cellophane windows? Dad would only let us turn on the layout village lights for a short period of time due to the fire danger of those houses.

Do you remember making tunnels out of the gifts? How about trying to back up your #224E...that old E-switch required turning off the power a couple of times so the engine would cycle through 'neutral' than 'reverse'. Carpet running was required because the noise of those wheels (not to mention the incessant blowing of the whistle) would cause bedlam on wood floors. My father had to clean out all the carpet fibers before putting the trains away for another year.

I had the milk car; and you are correct: better to be the guy (in the car) that 'pitched' the cans onto the platform - rather than the one that had to catch them. We also had a dumping log car...used more frequently to dump toy cars than logs.

Ray

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Ray - you forgot some of the other Lionel features - like the hobo being chased around a flat car by a RR cop. There was the silly giraffe car and the goldfish car. My uncle had the operating milk car that expelled milk cans at about 20 mph!

When I was a kid we had a neighbor, about ten years older than me, who had a "Super O" "General" with the sheriff and outlaw car. That was fun to watch. 

Kids today don't know what they're missing.

You can say that twice and mean it!