steam engine

[brian p]

have a bachmann 2-6-2 engine that smokes fine in reverse, but does not smoke in forward untill you stop engine. engine is new, just bought it. any information would be greatly appreciated. thanks brian.

[ABC]

I'll start off by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with your locomotive. The smoke machine usually requires you to operate the locomotive at full speed for a while to get it started and then for it to continue working, you have to keep running it at full speed. And then your track gets coated with a film from the smoke, then your loco slows down due to the film and stops smoking as a result. The bottom line is that the smoke machine does more harm than good and I would advise you to just leave it alone and pretend its not there or even better yet replace it with lead weights.

[Doneldon]

What ABC said.  Amen.

          --D

[Jim Banner]

brian,
I don't like smoke either for the reasons stated but also because I find it affects my lungs.  However, if you like it and are willing to do the extra cleanup required, then by all means enjoy it.

The fact that you are getting smoke while running in reverse shows that the smoke unit is actually working and that you can run your locomotive fast enough for it to make smoke.  The fact that it does not work in the forward direction means there is definitely something wrong with your locomotive, at least in the smoke department.  My guess is that there is not a good enough of a seal between the smoke unit and the chimney (smoke stack) on the locomotive.  This means that in reverse, air inside the locomotive is leaking upward between the smoke unit and the chimney.  This is no problem as it just takes the smoke upwards with it.  But in forward motion, air is leaking downward between the chimney and the smoke unit, carrying the smoke downward into the locomotive where it is condensing on everything in sight before the air escapes through the many little gaps and spaces between the body and frame and so forth.  A smoke unit installed at an angle or one with a pin hole in its casting can do the same thing.

If this is the basis of your "no smoke in forward" problem, then you either need to fix the leakage or have it fixed or else quit using smoke before the condensed oil gums up the inside of your locomotive.  The choice is yours.

Jim   

[ABC]

An alternate possibility is that the loco travels faster in reverse, and as a result is able to produce smoke, but does not travel fast enough in the forward direction to produce smoke.

[bobwrgt]

I don't know why Bachmann doesn't just give up the smoke design they have. Never had one that worked well.
They would be better off if they just left a space for us to install a Seauth unit or additional weight.
At lease 5 other makers of Model trains have done this long ago.

Bob

[jbsmith]

I have two of these.
When they were new, they make smoke for a few minutes then seemingly stop.
When i stopped the train then the smoke would rise up out of the stack.
Maybe the stack is too high?
On my Overland 4-8-4 the "stack" is barely there, more of raised rim than a stack and gets decent amounts of smoke when i do put smoke fluid in. I think they both use the same smoke generator.
I do not run them with smoke all of the time, just once every now and then when the mood strikes me.
The smoke units in these locos are not very large, a thimble from a Monopoly set is larger.
The wires appear to be even thinner than a human hair and are very delicate.

The smoke unit is more of a novelty feature than it is a serious feature in the modern Bachmann locos that do have them.

The smoke they do put out is not much in the way of great volumes like you see in photos of the real steamers, even then the real ones usually do that for the camera.
A real loco will produce very little smoke once up to speed and running efficiently.
The models smoke is normaly thin and wispy, not much at all really, a burning stick of incense will make more and
it is almost nothing compared to the amount of smoke a Lionel steamer will put out.

Parting Shots
IF you do use the fluid, use no more than four drops, add more when there is NO more smoke coming out.
Clean the tracks and loco wheels often when running smoke.
Have a shop rag handy for spills and for anything it spits out of the stack, which does happen now and then.

[Jim Banner]

An alternate possibility is that the loco travels faster in reverse, and as a result is able to produce smoke, but does not travel fast enough in the forward direction to produce smoke.

Actually, smoke production is not a product of locomotive speed.  What matters is the voltage at the terminals of the smoke unit.  With dc, more voltage means more smoke and more speed.  They both result from the higher voltage, not one from the other.  You can see this with DCC where smoke production is about equal at all speeds.  If you look carefully, there is actually a bit less smoke produced at higher speed because the air movement tends to cool off the smoke unit.  So if your dc locomotive is dragging when going forward, and you have to apply more voltage to get it up to speed, then it will produce more, not less, smoke.

The old Lionel steam locomotives used to put out lots of smoke.  Unfortunately, they did so by heating pellets of ammonium chloride.  This was lots of fun until your eyes started to sting and you started to cough.  Nowadays, with MSDS available, we know why.  http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/A5724.htm

If smoke is the primary reason for running a locomotive, then I would suggest going to large scale.  In large scale, there is room for bigger, better smoke units, voltage regulators to allow full output at low speeds, and even fans to blow the smoke up the chimney.  Best of all, you can run them outdoors where the smoke won't hurt anything, including you.

Jim

[Doneldon]

I can't think of any reason why loco speed should significantly affect smoke output.  That should be a function of voltage delivered to the smoker and only that.  Aaaannnndd, I still say, "Down with smoke."  It looks phoney, is phoney and causes headaches which, IMHO, just aren't worth looking at the puny, fake smoke column. 

          --D

[OldTimer]

There's always live steam indoors or out, but the price makes more smoke come out my ears than comes out the stack!!!
Old Timer

[Clear Block]

These engines also have a problem with the smoke stack melting or bending out of shape. The type of plastic used in these models is not up to grade for the head produced by the smoke unit installed in these units.
Continuous operation wet/dry will eventually cause the smoke stack plastic to soften when it will either bend it self or melt all the way through.
If you do have one of these engines REMOVE THE SMOKE UNIT you will be happy you did.