# Smoke production for Lionel Hogwarts Express



## cook_jeffro (Jan 1, 2014)

Hello all--first post on here but hopefully will ferret out some useful information for myself and maybe some others looking for help on this issue.

I bought my daughters the Hogwarts Express O gauge set for Christmas, and we were all disappointed that the smoke unit did not work. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the problem--really all that I could find online (here and other sources) or from local hobby shop were comments like "don't add too much smoke fluid" or "pack some extra fiberglass insulation in there" or "those smoke units just don't work very well". After taking the engine apart, I finally realized that the problem was with the bellows unit--kept getting stuck. I managed to free the little plunger and lubed with some silicone spray and that got it to work (nice smoke rings and everything!), but only for a short while before the plunger got stuck again and no more smoke production.

Has anyone on here had similar experience?? Or, hopefully, does anyone know what I can do for a permanent solution? Can you purchase a higher quality smoke unit to fit into this train? Thanks so much for any advice!!


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Hi, and welcome to the forum. 

First off, don't lube the plunger, but rather clean both the plunger and the cylinder with alcohol and leave them dry. Second, get a Lionel smoke unit piston return spring and stick it on top of the plunger, I've included a picture below.

One other enhancement you can do is reduce the value of the smoke resistor. Normally, the conventional Hogwarts smoke unit has a 27 ohm resistor as I recall. I've had good luck putting a 20 ohm wirewound resistor in as a replacement, makes a big difference in smoke production.

I buy this 3W 20 ohm Wirewound Resistor, and I use the Dremel wire wheel to remove the ceramic coating. It works great, and doesn't damage the nichrome wire under it, creates the perfect replacement smoke resistor.

Here's the piston return spring I spoke of.


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## cook_jeffro (Jan 1, 2014)

Thank you so much! I will definitely try both suggestions.


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