# Lionel 2026 postwar smoking upgrade



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Today, I decided to take a break from wiring the layout to play with my old 2026. This was the engine that got me back into model railroading, and is my workhorse. When I picked it up I did the liquid smoke conversion, rebuild the e-unit and generally cleaned everything up. Now, I decided to upgrade it again to improve the smoke performance.

I know there are lots of threads and questions around this, so I decided to go all out. Big thanks to all of Gunrunnerjohn's information on this. 

To accomplish better smoking I decided to replace both the heating resistor and add diodes to reduce the current going to the motor. Boy, did it work. 

Here are some photos of the project. I have before and after videos as well, and will add links once they're done uploading.

Motor assembly:



















New resistor (30ohm / 3W DigiKey part: PC3D20.0CT-ND):










As Gunrunnerjohn mentioned, he took off the ceramic coating with a dremel and wire wheel. I did the same:


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

I simply replaced the resistor in the smoker. Nothing complicated.

Then, I put together the diodes. As you can see there's surprisingly enough room to fit the chains in:










The diodes are 1N5401 (Mouser part: 512-1N5401). After creating the two chains, I used heat shrink to keep them protected from any metal:










Then, some zip ties to keep it all neat:


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

It was easy enough to splice this into the power lead to the motor. It took a little finagling to fit it into the chassis once done, but still pretty easy.



















When all done it made a huge difference. Incredibly so - I now have to use a fan in the train room so the smoke doesn't force me out.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

How fast does it guzzle up the liquid?

Are you adding every time the train come around now?


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Oh, it drinks up the liquid now. No more of this puny 2 or 3 drops at a time. Now, it's all about pouring it on. It's definitely worth it.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice project, Erk ... excellent stepwise photos, too.

So, with the diodes, what's the speed drop on the loco for a given throttle setting? Just curious.

Looking forward to your vids.

Cheers,

TJ


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

It's a pretty decent speed drop. I should have measured that. I'm going to do the same thing to my 2055 and 2018. I'll get some shots of the settings on the ZW before / after and eyeball the speed.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks, Erk.

I always enjoy your threads ... packed with helpful, fun info!

TJ


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks, TJ! I have a lot of fun putting these together. Some day I'm going to get a real macro lens for my camera so I can get better photos. At least, photos that don't have me doing aerobics to find the focus point.


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Here are the videos. I'm running on my GarGraves loop. As you'll see I still need to add cork roadbed to get the track height to match the O22 switches. I'll get to that later. 

Before upgrade - with just the liquid smoker:

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After the upgrade . . . and my supervisor cat making sure it's running right:







And a low quality video from my camera phone (after upgrade):


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

TJ - in the videos you can see the position of the handle on the ZW. That will give you some representation of the speed drop.


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## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

I appreciate your efforts, but to be honest I can't see the smoke all that well. Probably because the locomotive is always 'head-on'.

Got any shots from the side?hwell:


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Looks great! I think the cat likes it!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks, Erk. Big improvement in the smoke. Not as much throttle differential as I would have guessed. Nice!!!

TJ


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I like it, huge boost. If you like even more smoke, try making that resistor a 24 ohm one, you'll need a vent fan!


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Bob - I'll try to get some shots from the side and post those. I really enjoy the head on shots, and can get caught up in those. 

John - thanks! But any more and I won't be able to use the room.  Especially when I get three or four engines smoking like that. It's too cold to open windows and air it out.


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Bob - here's a new video that better shows what's going on. 

I also decided to take the red lights for a spin.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

As usual, nice job Ryan.. Don't forget, I still have that 2026 for you.. Maybe you can update that one as well.. Again, nice!!!!


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## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

Thanks for the video. I was really tryin' to compare your smoke to mine. I install new liquid smoke elements in all my locomotives and produce a fair amount of smoke (27 ohm element).

I'm a little hesitant to add the diodes though. Running everything at a higher voltage doesn't seem like a good long term action. Plus it requires using more smoke fluid to prevent burnout.

I've been using Model Power smoke fluid which works well and is far cheaper than Mega-smoke. Guess I'll have to buy some Mega-smoke for comparison.


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Yours seems to be smoking pretty well. 

My 2026 was pretty anemic, even with the liquid conversion. I could have gone in stages - resistor then diodes, but I just decided to go all the way since I had the parts. There shouldn't be any negative affects from the diodes to operation in the long term. You just wouldn't want to run operating accessories with that constant higher current, but I'm running all of mine from a separate transformer so I don't need to worry about them.


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## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

My video may be slightly deceptive.

With no load on the rollers I'm running faster (higher voltage) than I normally would.

It's in neutral in the first frame that's why you get a sudden burst of smoke that peters out later.

Overall I'm just appreciative that a 68 year old loco still gets it on! 

Diodes would give me a stronger whistle :stroke:though...


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

That's a good point. I should throw a whistle tender on and take it for a spin and see how the whistle sounds . . . 

Video to come.


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Loren - I haven't forgotten about that 2026. I'm probably going to modify the one I have so I can do a 2026 lash up. After upgrading the smoker on the one I'm getting from you. 

That should really smoke the room out. Time for a window fan!


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## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Here's the test video with a whistle tender. It's too bad my camera doesn't do a better job of picking up the sound. It's so much louder now that there's so much more current.


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## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

Sounds good to me!:smilie_daumenpos:


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Again, nice job Ryan.. I'm jealous!!:appl:


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