Jon, thanks a million for your explanations above. They certainly bring to light your engineering technology and thought that went into the smoke unit and even the rest of the design of the components of the VL Big Boy. At this point, in my use of the stack smoke units, I think I am the 500 pound gorilla that kicks around Samsonite luggage in that commercial totally ignorant of what it took to create that marvel. I have always been too conservative in feeding my smoke units fearful of overflowing and ruining circuitry and then drowning others - the aforementioned gorilla.
I am only using Lionel smoke fluid now and glad to know it will not harm circuitry.
Also, this needs to be said, due to my mistreatment of smoke production, Mike R. rebuilt all the smoke units in my engine and replaced the RCMC located way rearward of the stacks (I drowned that by overfilling blow down way back). His repairs were first rate; he did them so that you can't even tell the original fixtures were touched and still look like factory; very neat and precise. But, enter the aforementioned gorilla again.
However, I have noticed that the whistle unit shows no charring and the resistor looks clean - yet another clue.
I have no electrical/mechanical skills and would not know how to use a meter; but, really want to get the BB stacks going again - only the forward stack failed; the rear one was still functioning. To that end, I have ordered all available components from Lionel parts for the dual stack smoke unit including reservoir, both fan motors and fan blades, divider, wicking, and the complete board with funnel, resistors, thermistors. I do not plan to assemble it myself; am hoping for the skills of someone on the forum - anyone care to help?
Two questions: You mentioned that the new RCMC located way rearward may have been damaged due to the front stack failure; didn't know that could be a result? In some previous threads, you mentioned that the thermistor should be located 1.6 mm from the resistor, is that true for the stacks?
Thanks immensely for your help!
