# 2026 Smoker Conversion How To



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

After doing a lot of digging around, I just couldn't find any detailed photos of what it takes to do the smoker conversion. I've been really looking forward to getting it done, so decided to do my own photos as I did the job and post them here.

I picked up the engine a couple of weeks ago, and it ran well but the old smoker just didn't work. I ordered the conversion kit from Jeff at http://www.ttender.com, and he sent it along with some nice instructions.

Using his instructions, the job was pretty easy. Here's how it went:

Step 1: Take the engine apart and pull out the guts. This isn't too bad, just make sure you have a small blade screwdriver for some of the finer screws. This is what you'll end up with:










Step 2: Take out the single screw holding the smoker unit in place, and cut the wire going to the element in the unit. Here's a closeup of the unit with the old felt gasket, and another that shows the wire going to it. This wire and the headlight wire are both soldered to the same point on the e-unit.


















Step 3: With a screwdriver, pull the metal cover off the smoker. I just put the blade in the center whole and the kept working around the inside, pulling up. It came apart pretty easily. When it comes apart, you'll find a world of old residue in there. You can discard this metal lid and the element inside.


















Step 4: Clean up everything. Get all of that residue out of the pot, and make sure that little air hole is clear. When the train is pumping, you want to be sure every bit of air gets through that hole. This is a good time to just clean everything. I cleaned the smoker, my headlight, inside the body, pretty much everything I could reach with some towel and Qtips.


























Step 5: Now comes the fun of putting it all back together! Break out the brand new conversion kit and marvel at just how clean and pretty all those new parts look. 










Step 6: Slide the white fiberglass cover over the resistor / heating element, and then slide the supplied heatshrink over one of the legs. It doesn't matter which leg. When this is done, use a heat gun or some heat source to shrink the heatshrink. 










Step 7: Bend the legs of the resistor at 90dg to the body, and slip them through the holes in the new cap. Couple of notes here: a. You'll want to bend them as close to the element as possible or it won't fit correctly in the smoke pot. & b. make sure the leg with the heatshrink goes through the larger hole in the cap.










Step 8: Place the supplied felt in the smoke pot you just cleaned.










Step 9: Slide the cap with the resistor into the smoke pot. You'll want to make sure you have the leads where you want them. In the next step you'll be running the lead with the heatshrink back to a power source, and the other lead to a ground. Just be sure they're oriented the way you want.










Step 10: Run a power wire to the lead with the heatshrink. You might be able to get away with using the wire that was originally run, or you could splice into the headlight wire. I didn't like the condition of the original wire, so I remove it and ran a new piece from the e-unit to the smoker. 

I then ran a wire from the ground lead to the smoker unit mounting screw on the chassis. 

Of course I totally forgot to take pictures of this part, but it's pretty simple.

Step 11: This is a great opportunity to get everything cleaned and lubed. I even fixed a problem with my e-unit. It wouldn't turn off, and with some cleaning and a little adjustment it now works great.

Go ahead an mount the smoker unit back to the driving gear. Note: Before you go sliding that back into the body you need to put your new felt gasket in place! I learned this from experience. 

Step 12: Add a few drops of smoke fluid and have fun!


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Erkenbrand,

EXCELLENT how-to thread! I hope you don't mind, but I used my super-Mod powers to embed your pics into the post, for easy viewing.

And just to clarify for others reading this thread, by "Conversion", you mean adapting the old pellet-burning smoke chamber to run on newer smoke fluid.

Well done!

TJ


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. It looks better with the pictures embedded as well. 

One thing I forgot to mention - in the kit from Jeff is a return spring for the air pump. That's a new piece that wasn't part of the original equipment. It makes a huge difference in the train. All the clackety-clack from the pump is gone, and now it's a lot quieter to run.


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

What drives the air pump? I'm assuming a wheel crank? Can we see that in one of the photos above, and where the spring would go?

TJ


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Bravo!:appl::appl:

TJ if you look at the first photo the plunger unit is to the left. The rods push it for the puff effect.

That unit was badly messed up.


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

T-Man said:


> TJ if you look at the first photo the plunger unit is to the left. The rods push it for the puff effect.


Thanks, T-Man ... got it. I've never seen one of these pellet smoke generators "up close" before. I've only recently had the opportunity to play with the 1960's version on my Scout 233. On that one, the drive rods push a little flapper to work the air plunger, too.

Cheers,

TJ


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

I'll get a couple of photos of the pump and spring location tonight. I was in such a hurry to see it smoke last night that I got a bit ahead of myself. 

Now our basement smells like Arctic Mint . . . according to the smoke bottle. My wife doesn't mind it too much. I'm glad I didn't get the Classic Coal scent.


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Are you using Lionel-brand smoke fluid? I couldn't find any (much to my surprise) at a MA train show a couple of weeks ago. I bought some other brand, instead. It's yielding pretty whimpy puffs in my 233 loco. (Though I honestly don't know if that's a result of the fluid itself, or rather the power of the '60's style smoke generator.)

TJ


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

No, I'm using some other stuff I found at a show here in Rochester a few weeks ago. After I bought two bottles of it, I found one guy who was selling the Lionel liquid. I just couldn't justify spending the extra money . . . I was spending that on the 2026 engine. 

This stuff seems to be OK. I'll need to get some cars hooked up so I can start driving some amps through the engine to really see. I was getting some smoke last night, but that was only after the 'hard' pull on the hill.


----------



## Buster77 (Dec 7, 2010)

erkenbrand said:


> No, I'm using some other stuff I found at a show here in Rochester a few weeks ago. After I bought two bottles of it, I found one guy who was selling the Lionel liquid. I just couldn't justify spending the extra money . . . I was spending that on the 2026 engine.
> 
> This stuff seems to be OK. I'll need to get some cars hooked up so I can start driving some amps through the engine to really see. I was getting some smoke last night, but that was only after the 'hard' pull on the hill.


I'm assuming you're referring to the RIT show, which I also attended.
Did you happen to buy the set from the guy who wanted $125 for it?


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

That's the one! I wanted that O gauge diesel set as well, but just couldn't bring myself to drop the $75 on it after buying the 2026. 

I also picked up another transformer and box of track from him.


----------



## Buster77 (Dec 7, 2010)

erkenbrand said:


> That's the one! I wanted that O gauge diesel set as well, but just couldn't bring myself to drop the $75 on it after buying the 2026.
> 
> I also picked up another transformer and box of track from him.


I've been reading your other thread on your set up in the basement & wondering if you were the guy that bought that set.
I was the one looking at it first & decided to pass it to you. Small world, huh? 
I did buy a set from another guy a few rows over. Not as good a deal as yours, but I'm happy with it. 
I had a 2026 set as a kid in the '50's & always wanted to get another set some day. Still have the locomotive, but it needs some serious cleaning.


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

I'm glad you found another set. Did you pick up another O gauge set?

I've had HO sets for years, but I'm liking O more in some ways. My HO set is going to go on a shelf that I'm going to build in 'my' room in the house. My wife isn't receptive to my suggestions that I run that rail around and through all of the bedrooms.


----------



## Buster77 (Dec 7, 2010)

Yup, wanted to stick with O gauge, since that's what I had. It's a nice set & had the original boxes. The loco is 2056.
That was a pretty neat show & plan to go more in the future. I can see I'm going to get hooked on this & may go into a smaller gauge at some point....maybe N or HO. For now though, I'll stick with O. I do have a lot to learn & why I joined here. Seems like the forum to be on for model trains.
That's a nice set-up in your basement...have fun.


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Have fun with your layout! I'll keep an eye out for what you're building in the 'Layout' portion of the forum.

Have fun!


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Finally! I got some pics of the pump and the added return spring:

The pump is located beneath the front gear, and the cam is driven by the wheels.



















Here's the pump:




























Here's where to place the new return spring:










That completes all the photos for the conversion.


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Erkenbrand,

EXCELLENT pictures ... very clear and revealing.

You did a GREAT job with this how-to thread. Really detailed and easy to follow descriptions. I hope you'll continue on along this path ... it makes for fantastic reference material for future forum members.

Along those lines, I'm gonna stick a few tag words here for future Searches:

Lionel postwar smoke generator
smoke pump
smoke unit
smoker unit
smoke conversion

Thanks!

TJ


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Nice job and great pictures. :thumbsup:


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks! I'm happy to help. I'll try to do the same with the eunit repair, but it's hard to top the thread that already exists.


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

For anyone reading this thread, check out Erk's 2055 Smoke Conversion thread, too ...

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=15477

TJ


----------



## Wabashbud (Jun 25, 2010)

I hope nobody objects to me resurrecting this post, but I've used it twice now to install smoke kits and I thought perhaps someone else would also find it useful.

Bud


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Happy to hear you found it useful.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Eric, haven't seen you around lately, welcome back.


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks! It's been one heck of a busy summer. Between traveling for work, continuing home improvements and keeping my better half happy, I haven't had much time to hop on the forum.  

The bathroom remodel is about 1 day from being complete which means I'm free to get back to the basement remodel for my new train room. I've gutted about 1/2 of the old paneling so far. Once it's all out I need to Drylock the walls, rewire the place, hang new lights and then decide whether or not I want to drywall everything or just leave it and get my train table built.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Clearly, you work on the train table, how could you be confused about the priorities?


----------



## GeraldNuss (Dec 31, 2013)

How much smoke liquid do you put in. I have a 2055 which has smoked since the 60's when we got it used. Never put any fluid in it, yet after being stored for 50 years it still smoked. I recently got a post war 2056 and it smokes too. So when I buy liquid smoke how much and how often do I put it?


----------



## Kwikster (Feb 22, 2012)

Start with around 10-12 drops. Run and note how long it takes to slow/stop smoking. One piece of advice, add fluid and wait 2-3 minutes before running, it allows the fluid to flow to the chamber. I have a few with the pill smokers and that helps a lot. My 2026's smoker has never been apart, likely has residue in the bottom. My 2025 has a new pill unit, I added the packing to it which needs some time to absorb the fluid, it came with the kit. Typically, with around 12-15 drops I see around a half hour of smoke.

Carl


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

With the new liquid conversion kit, I start with 4 or 5 drops. That allows it to smoke a good while. I found that if you add too much, the liquid smoker won't function well. Whatever you do make sure you don't run it dry.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

It surprised me when I clean up some old engines with the pill smokers and they still smoke.


----------



## erkenbrand (Dec 6, 2010)

I think I'm going to try to stick with the pill smokers in my next engines. I'll probably pull them apart and give them a good cleaning, and then pick up a bottle of pills and give it a spin. I'd like to compare them. Maybe I'll find a good deal on another 2026 and run it side by side with my converted one and see what happens.


----------



## Kwikster (Feb 22, 2012)

When you do this, try comparing fluid to pills in the same unit. You'll be pleasantly surprised, I know I was. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the conversions. You made an excellent thread, I liked it very much. I simply think the pill burners are being short changed in their capabilities. Another thing overlooked, if it's not smoking well at lower voltages, unwind one wrap of wire, it'll smoke better. 

Carl


----------

