I have an opportunity to purchase a Lionel 671 steam turbine locomotive at a very good price. It is the old original type made in 1946 and with a smoke bulb instead of the more common smoke pellet type of unit. The engine is in great shape, both cosmetically and mechanically. My question is about the smoke bulb unit since all of the searching I’ve done on whether to stay with the original smoke bulb, convert to pellet unit or convert to liquid unit has produced a lot of quite confusing results. It seems that I can find just as many people saying that it should be converted it to pellet as there are saying that it should be converted to liquid. Still others say to leave it as it is and use it as a smoke bulb unit (even though replacement smoke bulbs are difficult to find anymore). They say doing this is best because converting the smoke unit on this engine involves fairly complex modifications such as drilling, reaming and filing etc. So…I guess my questions are: If I convert the unit to a liquid smoke type, do I first have to convert it to a pellet type and THEN convert from pellet to liquid type? Or can I just convert it directly from the smoke bulb type to liquid type? Is there any significant advantage to just converting it to a pellet type smoker and leaving it as such? The disadvantages I see for a pellet type is that the locomotive has to be run at fairly high speed in order to create smoke and also that the pellets can eventually clog up the smoke unit. Furthermore, the pellets are now apparently harder to find than the liquid and also, the smoke bulb to pellet conversion units are now difficult to find (and expensive if you can find one at all) and require modifications to the locomotive structure. Or, am I better off converting it all the way to liquid? The disadvantages I see to doing that are that liquids can be a fire hazard and that they also don’t produce the smoke “puffs” the way a pellet unit does. Furthermore, if I do go to liquid and it requires conversion to a pellet unit first, then I still have to first go through all of the limitations of the pellet unit conversion mentioned in previous paragraphs. Also, does the fact that it is a steam turbine locomotive and not the ordinary steam drive with pistons locomotive mean that it will not produce a “chuff chuff chuff” sound with smoke puffs the way the standard type of steam locomotives would? Does the smoke bulb on this model also provide the light for the locomotive headlamp (i.e. would removing the smoke bulb remove the light in the headlamp as well)? Finally, am I better off just leaving it as a smoke bulb unit with all of its limitations and running it as such? Am I better off just passing this particular locomotive up and looking for a different locomotive altogether (either a newer 721, 821 etc or a Lionel standard type of steam locomotive)? I like the steam turbine locomotive because it has a PRR logo on it, something I have been unable to find on any other Lionel steam locomotive. Thanks for any help.
It has been a lot of years since I worked on an early bulb smoker. My personal experience was when you open them up, the corrosion is terrible if they've been used. As in, not much salvageable. First one was an early 726, and that was in...mid-1960's, and it was shot then. The whole smokebox front mounts differently, if I recall. How do you plan on mounting a smoke unit to it? If I recall, there was no hole provided for mounting, as it was all in the bulb, which mounted much further aft. Going to take careful planing and drilling. Liquid or pellets. Since I cut all the smoke units fully out of all my locos almost 30 years ago, all I can tell you is the pellets we used to have made a mess. Middle of the stack, around the stack, down the sides of the smokebox. I've cleaned up more than my share. Seems to me I recall they went to a different stack once they got away from the bulb...heat and paint issues? Early units were neat with the jackshaft drive to 1 and 4, if I recall, dead horizontal motor, BUT: No e-unit slot. They had horizontal e-units, spring loaded, not gravity, odd operating characteristics. It would start to move, then overcome the spring, and shift to neutral. Wire and plug on back of motor to isolate the e-unit solenoid, instead of the later lever. I have one of those chassis.....different e-unit, hogged into something else. Dave
Seemed to me that every loco I came across, which had seen any reasonable amount of use, had the corrosion mess ongoing. But it was great fun to watch, when working properly, and there was such a distinctive odor. The old style smoke pellets and liquids are probably illegal now, as it would cause our ears to fall off or whatever nonsense is popular today.
A belated thanks for the responses. I went ahead and bought the locomotive and now have it here. The real thing looks even better than the pictures I had of it. It looks practically brand new, not bad for a locomotive made in 1946. The lubrication on the motor drive gears and the “E” unit piston is a little gummy so those will have to be cleaned out and re-lubricated. As far as I can see, that’s about the only thing that needs done with it. The smoke chamber and smoke bulb look as if they have never been used. I have discovered that replacement smoke bulbs are around $50 if you can find them at all so if I want it to smoke, I am going to have to convert it to a standard heater unit. Furthermore, I have discovered that the smoke bulb units really aren’t nearly as effective as the more conventional heater units. There are apparently safe liquids now available for Lionel steam engine heater smoke units so that part shouldn’t be a problem once the conversion is made. Interestingly enough, I discovered that the “Collector’s Guide to Postwar Lionel Trains” indicates that the smoke bulb version of this locomotive is slightly more valuable than the same locomotive that Lionel built with a heater smoke unit.
