Adding Smoke and DCC sound to Spectrum N&W J8

[JoeX]

HI all, just bought a Spectrum J8 603. It is DCC ready, but no smoke. We would like to add a smoke generator and a sound board. Any help would be appreciated.. This is a nice loco but would really be the cat's meow with smoke and sound.

[ACY]

Simply put: forget the smoke or buy one (a Bachmann Plus version) that already has smoke, those are the only two good options.

[Doneldon]

Joe-

I must agree with ACY. Don't putz with putting smoke into your J-3. That's a nice loco and you don't need to turn it into a mess with smoke oil. If you have to have smoke, buy a cheaper loco with smoke already installed and mess that one up.

                                                                                                            -- D

[ebtbob]

Joe,

      Listen to the others.....forget having smoke.   The use of smoke engines will only increase the amount of time you will have to spend cleaning your track.   The best smoke unit I ever saw looked like a cigarette smoldering in an ashtray.

Bob Rule, Jr.

[jbsmith]

And now : To ACTUALLY answer the question!

You would need a Seuthe Smoke unit, and a sound chipset and speaker of your choice.
The DCC sound and speaker will be inside the tender.
Seuthe smoke units CAN be added to Bachmann products.
Be sure to have a track cleaning car somewhere in the consist.

Here are some videos showing the results you can expect.

Berkshire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qktk4yWEU8g

N&W Class J
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DcBuW3GPg

4-8-4 Daylight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYABQg8Tatg

[SmokeyNSteamer]

Might I suggest synchronizing the Seuthe Unit to one of Soundtraxx's exhaust cams to get a convincing puffing effect?

http://www.soundtraxx.com/access/wiring.php

[NWsteam]

A few things...

1. For the record its a J, not a J8.

2. Smoke is kind of cool when its paired with a chuff fan. See post above

3. Even with said fan, it still makes a mess. Be prepared to clean your track twice as much if not more.

4. Even with said fan, its still not fantastic. If you've ever stood next to the real thing you will know what I mean.

Pro's and con's but in the end, smoke is doesn't make the cut. BUT...It's your railroad, do as you please!