NYC J3a Water Scoop Effect

It could be the transformer. I was using a 125W LW and it was barely enough. Switching to a Z4000 it performed as advertised. Also if you are using a Cab2 make sure you are hitting the right button. The blowdown icon makes a similar noise but does not trigger the water scoop smoke unit.

Pete

Thanks Pete for the information - I thinking it’s time to upgrade my power supply. Thanks also about the button - I saw that in a few threads before I even opened the box.

Since you spent over a grand on the locomotive, I think it's time to upgrade your transformer.   If you run strictly command, you could consider the Lionel PowerHouse 180 brick(s).

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Since you spent over a grand on the locomotive, I think it's time to upgrade your transformer.   If you run strictly command, you could consider the Lionel PowerHouse 180 brick(s).

I agree - its time. It’s also time to uograde the wiring too - not my favorite part of the hobby but a necessary evil. I run both legacy and I also like to keep a line open for conventional operations of older Lionel or MTH/Williams. From what I’ve read online, it looks as if that is easily done with a ZW-L. I have four loops on my layout - so a perfect fit. 

Thanks for your input!

I am sure there's another thread on what is in practical terms the very same problem - CW-80 not having enough oomph (non-technical term) to drive the VL Niagara water scoop effect. I can personally attest that it works nicely with with a ZW-L. However, my family is not convinced that the exhaust ports are really NYC booster rockets:

I've discovered with mine that you can pretty easily overfill the smoke unit reservoir and then it takes some minutes of frequent operation to heat and start generating smoke. But that's no different than most Legacy smoke units.

P.S. I agree with GRJ that the 180W bricks are another good solution instead of the much more expensive ZW-L.