hello, I'm a complete novice to this. I was given a Norfolk Western 611 locomotive last year and it didn't smoke from when I got it. The smoker has two tubes on either side that go down to the pistons. The light bulb attached to it works.
Could you please let me know where I can get a replacement?
Is this a good opportunity to upgrade the smoker? If so, do you have recommendaitons?
Thanks!!
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check to see that the piston moves,sometimes it will stick due to lack of use,then check to see that the electrical connections are good....good luck...joe I'am assuming it's the 8100 MPC model
The smoke unit is part #8100-060 and is available here:
http://www.sandwparts.com/Parts%20List/6-XXXX-XXX.pdf (page 171)
The tubes direct smoke to the cylinders.
Larry
Thank you so much. I'm going to check the piston as well. I've found this upgrade that looks pretty impressive...
A fan driven smoke unit is clearly a major upgrade from the puffer unit. I'm in the middle of adding one to the 2-8-0 Lionel Consolidation, it'll get the full treatment, the fan driven smoke, the Super-Chuffer II , and the Chuff-Generator.
gunrunnerjohn posted:A fan driven smoke unit is clearly a major upgrade from the puffer unit. I'm in the middle of adding one to the 2-8-0 Lionel Consolidation, it'll get the full treatment, the fan driven smoke, the Super-Chuffer II , and the Chuff-Generator.
Thank you all for your guidance. I've confirmed the piston is running smooth so that's not it.
Gunrunner - I saw THIS thread from several years ago. It looks like you've been down this path before. I looked for the rectifiers you suggested, but it looks like they're not offered anymore. Additionally, my locomotive is older I think. It doesn't have any circuit boards. Photo below...
I assume technology has changed a bit since 2015 from the previous thread. If I were to upgrade, what are your suggestions?
Well, with what you have, I'd probably try to get that smoke unit working. Upgrading to a fan driven unit has all sorts of wrinkles, and will not be cheap. I'll probably post some shots of a recent upgrade soon, but it's for a TMCC locomotive.
The smoke unit you have I believe is the same as postwar 746 sealed units, with the addition of the smoke tubes for steam chest smoke. Even though it is a factory sealed unit it is easy to carefully cut/scrape away the sealant, in order to replace the element. First disconnect and check resistance to verify. Even if element is good you can improve smoke output by adding a small amount of batting beside the element. I think the factory element is about 47 ohms. It is not 27 ohms like most puffer units used. I replaced it with a 35 ohm 3 watt wirewound resistor, from Mouser. Before sealing unit, you can test by just wrapping a small wire around outside of unit, so you can make sure you have correct placement of batting. I just used plain contact cement to reseal unit. A small application on each part, let sit 15 min then press together and use the wire to wrap around unit until dry. The resistor will need to have ceramic coating removed as described in other threads by Gunrunnerjohn. Use high temp silicon to seal where resistor exits unit.
Good luck,
Chris
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