Hi guys! I'm new to railroading, mostly because of my moms interest in it which has caused me to get into it. I live across the country from her now (I'm 29, moved from Philly to Oregon), but it's something we still share together. We are both relatively new, so please excuse me until I get the basics down

I recently bought a vintage 2-8-0 in excellent condition, but I don't have it in my hands yet and I can't find a manual online for it. I've read horror stories about smoke units burning out if they aren't loaded with smoke fluid, and that there might be a switch to turn that feature off if I don't have fluid in it. Can someone shed some light on it? My model is the 53002. I just want to prevent damage to it if I can!

Thank you guys!