Cylinder Steam Smoke Effect

I thought that Lionel had problems with that "effect", and wasn't going to offer it any more.

 

I have the Milwaukee S3. Great affect.  However. The shared reservoir had one short coming:
You could not fill one side of it very well. Thus many burned out batting before you could enjoy the feature.

For one thing, all for cylinder cocks are not supposed to blow out steam at once.

 

Great image.

It would be a really cool effect with it alternating front and rear on the cylinders in sync with the sound.

There was a lot of information and comment about the cylinder steam effect posted on the Forum when the Milwaukee Road S3 came out. Some owners reported that the plastic hoses carrying smoke to the outlets were kinked on their units, resulting in no smoke. This was an assembly error that was not hard to correct once the engine was apart, but that engine is said to be hard to take apart. 

 

The smoke fluid takes quite a while to percolate into the lower smoke chamber when it i added to the stack. Similarly, it takes a little while for the element to heat up and the cylinder steam often doesn't work well when the locomotive is fired up from cold. 

 

Mine didn't work very well when I first got it, but now it works well. The smoke can be hard to see, depending on lighting conditions. It is a neat effect when it works and when the light is right so you can actually see it, but I doubt it is really worth the expense and trouble. If I had a choice of that or whistle smoke, I'd take whistle smoke. 

 

Hot Water is, of course, correct about the cylinder cocks, but to make them work in sequence would require an elaborate internal valve mechanism that would be expensive to build and likely add to the warranty hassles. I'm OK with the compromise. 

Yeah, that would be an expensive add-on. An actual double-acting piston in each cylinder with ball-checks in two lines, front and rear, from a smoke reservoir would give a close effect maybe, but you still need the effect shut-off once the engine is rolling. Would smoke oil do a good job of gumming the system up?

 

not that hard...

But it would be expensive to do in 1:48, and the slightest manufacturing problem could lead to an expensive warranty issue. We are talking about a company that has had chronic problems with something as simple as a smoke unit fan motor - what are the odds? 

With the way they are criticized, I'm surprise they try to innovate at all.

That's what happens when you play in the middle of the road.

 

Toy or Scale?

According to others, it was indeed an "operational" issue, and nothing to do with prototypical correctness.

 

"Hot Water is, of course, correct about the cylinder cocks, but to make them work in sequence would require an elaborate internal valve mechanism that would be expensive to build and likely add to the warranty hassles. I'm OK with the compromise. "

 

I thought it it was an MTH patent that stopped this. 

 

I have an S3 and it works great. I do power the engine up for a couple of minutes before getting under way. 

Nice! Now if we could pressurize the smoky air enough to actually drive the pistons and then...............  That's it, I'm starting a live steam forum........

I'm just asking a question, and like Gunny says, "the easiest job, is the one you think someone else can do"!

Could it alternated off the chuff switch, or chuff electronics from the flywheel tape, or use an optical switch, like Gunny is devising now working on 4 chuffs per rev.

 

Just asking, as you guys have forgotten more than I'll ever know!.........Brandy  

 

 

 

 

Yeah, you are probably right on that one Marty! I think from what I read on the forum here, some of the Lionel Engines have, I believe it's 3 smoke units/fans. Smoke stack/whistle/boiler blow down.

 

Hey Gunney are you awake?, My money is on you, to make this happen! "The easiest job is, the one that I think Gunney can do for us"     ..................Brandy!

 

I mean come on now, his first video of his super chuffer/smoker, the fireman was sticking his head out of the cab window, so how hard would alternating steam chest steam be for him to do?

To do this right, it would be a very complicated problem, both plumbing and electrical.  Fitting all of it in would be a challenge as well.

 

I mean come on now, his first video of his super chuffer/smoker, the fireman was sticking his head out of the cab window, so how hard would alternating steam chest steam be for him to do?

 

Harder than you might imagine.

I liked the function. Whistle steam is cool. But I miss the swinging bell and the steam chest. I hope Lionel brings them both back.

My S3 worked great. The last time I ran it at the club, the steam cylinder smoke stopped and I got the 3 blinking cab lights. I took it apart and found the fan had melted on the side for the steam chest effect. I just snipped off the melted part, replaced the batting with the white rope style and it works better than ever.

The only bad part that I can see, as stated above, theres no way to fill it seperate. So you have to fill it slowly and give it some time to absorb the fluid for both sides. Because of that, its very easy to burn the batting for the steam chest smoke.

I agree. I wish someone would develop this and bring it back. Nothing more realistic than a chuffing, smoking, steam cylinder emitting model steam locomotive breathing it's way through some beautiful model scenery!

Yes as far as the "chuffing and smoking" part, but the open cylinder cocks are generally used ONLY when starting to move. Thus, "breathing it's way through some beautiful model scenery" with the cylinder cocks blown steam (smoke) all the time, really wouldn't be correct. Not to mention blown smoke oil residue all over the scenery.

 

 

 

Yea, that's kinda what I meant, guess I just didn't say it correctly. But still, an awesome sight, a model steam locomotive pulling out of a small rural station, smoking, hissing, chuffing it's way out of town amongst some realistic model scenery. Wishful thinking perhaps?

 

Thanks Marty..

Had the S3 engine 3 years now and didn't know that was possible.. 

Joe

I dunno, if Lionel's intent was going to simulate the cylinder cocks blowing out steam, then that's an attempt to replicate what you see happening on the real ones (in other words, put in a visual affect that mimics reality), so the effect of them blowing off simultaneously seems a bit like a partial circumcision to me.  Either do the effect so that the cylinder cocks are blowing out alternately or just not bother with it.

 

Lionel, just like any other company, can design anything to operate reliably.  It's a matter of how much they determine to in making it so.

 

Doesn't change the fact that it's still not an accurate effect. 

 

I love it, accurate or not. It appears there are a lot of others who like it too.

And that doesn't change the fact that it's not accurate either. 

 

What's that old saying about bologna and no matter how you slice it?

 

That's only because it is a Lionel product. If it was an MTH, Sunset/3rd Rail, Atlas, or Weaver I personally doubt you would be so accepting of such "incorrect features".