A LOOK AT LIONEL'S CAB FORWARD INSIDE THE BOILER//PICTURES

Alex, I started taking things apart when I was about 5 years old.  I still do it most of the time.  Have you taken anything apart recently, besides trains, that was disappointing.

Hi guy's ,

I would just like to say, this Cab forward is one of the nicest engines I've ever purchased from Lionel. If anybody is looking to purchase this engine I wouldn't hesitate for one second. It's a home run, This engine was built with care and quality. She a great runner and it glides on the rails so smooth, the sound and whistle are fantastic.

Thanks,

Alex

Indeed she is Alex.  I'm a huge SP fan and therefore also a huge cab forward fan by default.  Whenever I travel up north to visit family I always try to fit in a side trip to go see #4294 in her final resting place at the CSRM in Sacramento whenever possible.  I was born long after she and her sisters were retired, but my father always told me about how he used to see them blow by though town virtually every day when he was a kid.  Glad you like your model of it, and I'm glad both Lionel, MTH, and 3rd Rail have offered these unique engines in O gauge/scale.

The resistor stays heated when the fan is not spinning. I can't see that this would be a problem with the main stack fan because that is running most of the time the engine is under power. I suppose that if this particular smoke unit is a good smoker it's not necessary to leave it on the high setting all the time. 

The unit looks to be a different design from other dual chamber units I've seen. I can't recall another report of this kind of damage to a Lionel whistle smoke unit.

Alex

Thanks for the great review. I also have a cab forward on order at RO.

I wonder if I should treat the smoke unit in my Lionel  UP H7 2 -8 -8 - 2 the same way. It is a great smoker, but it sure drinks it up fast.

Also, I do not remember seeing Whistle Smoke listed in the catolog description of the

SP Cab Forward. maybe I just read over it. This will be my first Lionel engine with this feature. I am really looking forward to getting this engine.

Thanks,

Richard

Thanks Alex for the inside look and the quick review of the smoke unit. Looking forward to your next inside look!

Rich in NH

Hi Alex,  very informative!  If George Brown decides to hang up writing engine reviews in OGR,  you would be a natural to step in and fill those big shoes since many of his reviews look under the hood as well. I struggle some times just taking off the lids covering the engine switches....

All the best, dave 

The Whistle stack stays heated - but at a reduced temperature.  The impeller should not melt.  I would get a replacement part Alex, the imbalance of the impeller will damage the fan motor from being out of balance.

Good advice Jon. Maybe I have missed something but I don't see a Lionel replacement parts page/diagram for these Legacy engines yet. I assume however that the impeller is a standard size.

I'd be interested to know what you find when you do. If there's some defect in these SMUs of the kind that Alex identified earlier (the impeller being melted as referred to above) then it's going to need to be addressed in a whole lot of AC-12s that have just shipped - especially mine!

Even though I don't own any big steamers, this was fascinating. Thank you Alex.

Paul

Hi Guys

Thanks for the kind words, I enjoy opening up engine's and seeing what new inside

Alex

Before I even open it up, I'm going to guess that lack of smoke fluid has caused some damage. It smoked like crazy when it was new (I've had it several months now) and then it just kind of petered out. Now it barely smokes at all, and the whistle smoke hardly ever gets ANY smoke.

Well, it obviously hasn't got a burned-out AC regulator because then you'd be getting nothing in the way of smoke at all except of course from damaged components and the scent of that is pretty unmistakable.

I'm inclined to agree that it's probably charred wicking but of course to get to that you have to take the boiler shell off and the SMU apart. The shell itself should not be difficult to remove as it's substantially the same as Lionel's 2005 cab forward and has either 3 or 4 mounting screws. 

On the other hand if the impellers have been damaged that's not as easy to rectify but I look forward to confirmation that you have NOT got such a problem.

Hi Doug

Here's the mounting screws i remember taking out.

The politically correct engine crew is a hoot !..yellow overalls !!  really ?

First, thanks for posting this - it's nice to see that Lionel did a good job of organizing the wiring.

Second, I'm with Jon Z on replacing that smoke impeller. The first thing I thought when I  saw the picture was that the fan is out of balance, the motor spins fast, and the imbalance will eventually wipe out the motor bearings. I wonder if the impeller might not have been defective in the first place, rather than being damaged by heat after delivery. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to go back and clip the vane opposite the one that was removed - that would put the impeller much closer to balance than the way it is now. 

I agree, seems like the smoke unit would have to get awful **** hot to melt the impeller thats located in a different housing away from the element.

I would think the impeller would have to be in direct contact with the resistor to melt, that obviously couldn't have happened.

When you take the shells off Lionels newer Legacy engines you need to be VERY Careful with the 2 wire antenna plug.  That goes into the Receiver and it can pull out of the main board.  It has 3 + 4 header pins that are almost exactly like PS-2 3V header pins.  You can pull that board out and snap the pins.

Also that batting under the divider is also a main method to wicking fluid over to the whistle steam side.  Fluid has to travel down the main stack and batting (easy), but than over and up to the whistle steam element (harder).  Hence the need to extra fluid, or a good priming when disassembled.

Nice pictures Alex.   G