Smoke Issues - Bachmann 660 HO Santa Fe #3781 Northern 4-8-4 Steam Locomotive

[reggfx]

Hi All
Need some advise,
I purchased a really beautiful never opened sealed Bachmann 660 HO Santa Fe #3781 Northern 4-8-4 Steam Locomotive with Smoke from Ebay. Its in excellent condition but the Smoke drops do not activate the Smoke Unit. I even let it run for an hour and still NO SMOKE. The Locomotive had been sealed for many years never opened.

QUESTION TO THE FORUM: Any suggestions to get the smoke unit to work? Could the Smoke Fluid be too old even if sealed for many years? Do I try more recent Smoke Fluid Purchased from Bauchmann which is Bauchmann Item No. 00251 ? Please addvise? Thx

RT

[ACY]

The locomotive either has a broken or burnt out smoke unit.
If you run the locomotive at (literally) full speed for a hour and it doesn't work then your only option is to replace the smoke unit.
The smoke fluid I think is polypropylene glycol and as far as I know it can't really go bad, unless it somehow got mixed with water and the fluid became segregated.
My personal advice is to for go the smoke as it leaves and oily residue on the track that affects conductivity and operation and will require frequent track cleaning.
Good luck whatever you decide

[RAM]

Is there an off/on switch?

[Trainman203]

A number of us here think that smoke from a model locomotive is not only not realistic , it creates a mess by settling oils onto everything in the room.  If the engine works fine otherwise, I'd consider it a blessing to find this out early, and enjoy the engine without the mess.

[reggfx]

Thanks everyone. After much debate we decided to keep the Steamer. Even though the smoke unit doesn't work, It just looked too good on our layout. And yes, other Steamers with smoke Units are great for kids watch ooh-ing and ahhh-ing but for the Railroad Modeler, IT DOES MAKE AN OILY MESS

Here's a Twitter Link:
https://t.co/VW92oRhfYV

YouTube Link:
https://youtu.be/xn_wkUDl-OA

Thanks again everyone.

[ACY]

Nice photos, as an aside that is not a blue bonnet

This is a Blue Bonnet, and they have been made in HO scale too. There is also a yellow and gold bonnet in the same general scheme.

[Terry Toenges]

Is the one in the link called a"yellow bonnet"?

[ACY]

Is the one in the link called a"yelow bonnet"?

This is a yellow bonnet, the loco in the link is not a yellow bonnet. Technically speaking it is a "freight bonnet". So freight locomotives with red and silver would still technically be war bonnet, while those using blue and yellow would be  freight bonnet while the red and yellow would be Kodachrome (but SP never merged and most were repainted).


While this is a gold bonnet

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks. I guess I've never seen a gold bonnet one.

[jward]

Nice photos, as an aside that is not a blue bonnet

This is a Blue Bonnet, and they have been made in HO scale too. There is also a yellow and gold bonnet in the same general scheme.

I'd call the one you pictured a blue bonnet. The freight bonnet was a rare creature but they did exist. They were painted in the blue and yellow freight colours similar to a hood type unit. There was no silver on a freight bonnet



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4420612

[RAM]

I think this was a quick way to get them out of the passenger pool when Amtrak took over.  I am sure that Santa fe took the best ones.

[jward]

as far as I know, Santa Fe kept all their f units. Amtrak got some from SOuthern Pacific but none from Santa Fe.

[Len]

War Bonnet:


Yellow Bonnet:


Blue Bonnet:


Freight Bonnet:


Early Freight Schemes:




Len

[plas man]

big question to all you war bonnet fans - do the smoke unit work  

that apart - thanks for sharing the pictures - I also learnt a lot .

plas man