smoke units

[jherrera]

can the standard stem engines item # 50201 or 50302 still be ordered with smoke units if not can they be installed by kit?

[SteamGene]

You really don't want smoke units.  The smoke is not realistic to begin with.  It's made from heated oil which condenses and falls back on the layout.  This leaves a residue which makes scenery tacky, but more important messes up your track.   Even the inventor of the MNP smoke unit didn't use it on the club layout.
Gene

[Summertrainz]

ive heard that befor i dont know if it contributed to the oxidation of some pieces of track
but that may be because of content of glycerine
which is the common ingreidient
mostly glycerine and water in different dilutions
thats what i was told
im not sure if its more water or more glycerine that does it
that leads me to another question
i was told i could make my own smoke liquid like this.
is this so?

[NickelPlate759]

The smoke units in Bachmann steamers are particularly messy. They percolate the fluid through a steel tube with a heater coil wrapped around it, and spit the fluid as often as they create smoke. The engine has to be run near full throttle to produce anything visible, and it doesn't last very long. If you store the loco on its side, the remaining fluid will pour out into the shell. I don't know about Bachmann's fluid, but I've seen old plastic locos with smoke units whose boilers have turned brittle from exposure to smoke oil.

On balance, not a great idea.

Nelson