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The Lionel tech, John, is a really nice
guy. When I needed a replacement shell for my Vanderbilt, I emailed tech
to see if they had one. The answer was “no”, they hadn’t
had any in stock for a long time. Three days later, John emailed me and
said he did a physical check and located some shells. Then he sold me a
complete shell with all attachments for the same price as the stripped
shell. I’ve been happier emailing Tech
support than phone calls, although both had always been productive. -Mike From:
ttat-members-owner@aoot.com [mailto:ttat-members-owner@aoot.com] On Behalf Of Bill Lohman Steve, As the "King of Blown Smoke Units" -- four this year in
modern Lionel locomotives, -- the only way I found to be successful in this is
just to have the courage and tenacity to call Lionel and go on hold for a
Service Tech. I have usually been on hold for an average of about 30
minutes. Once I get through, the both of the technicians are great (they only
have two) and will help you get the correct parts and will take a credit card
and order them for you. They have fairly restricted hours. Maybe some good news is that the resistor in modern smoke
units is attached with nuts and bolts and is
replaceable. Since, I've blown so many smoke units I ordered 6
spare resistors for penny's each along with two new smoke units.
You're welcome to try one of my resistors in your smoke unit if
the Lionel tech verifies that the resistor in your earlier smoke unit has
the same ohms value as the resistor in a Legacy Smoke Unit. Be aware. The newer Lionel locomotives with the really productive
smoke units receive their power from a voltage regulator board also located in
the locomotive. If the VR board is defective the replacement smoke unit
will immediately fail. So, when you inspect the current smoke unit in the
locomotive, check to see if it's really burned, really cooked. Stains on the
board. If so, the volatage regulator board may, just may be defective. John, one of the Lionel techs told be that he's actually seen fire
shoot out of a Legacy loco when the voltage regulator board failed. This
may be limited to Legacy, I dunno. Good luck. Bill On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 11:20 AM, Steve Wise <swise@aoot.com> wrote: Hey tinplaters, |