Dave632
I agree, I have converted all my older locos to liquid including my 736 Berkshire. Works better and leaves less residue. If the element is heating up it should produce smoke. It seems like the piston is not working properly or the air hole is clogged. I would re check those without the body on to see if all is functioning. My 746 N & W had a jammed piston which surely stopped the smoke.
I agree with Dave632, My 2026 was my present from Santa in 1951, and was my first restoration project when I started getting back into postwar Lionel years later. The wick -- or padding, or whatever it's officially called -- was caked solid from years of smoke pellets. It was more like a disk of solid wax than anything you'd recognize as fabric.
The solidified smoke-pellet crud had also clogged the air intake (I cleared it out with a toothpick and wire), and the overflow had jammed the piston as well. Not surprisigly, the heat element had long ago overheated and burned out.
I carefully cleaned out the residue (there seemed to be tons of the stuff), then replaced the pad and the heater element with new ones. I've tried the cylindrical resistor types, but found them unsatisfactory, so I used a wire-would unit, like the original postwar types. Smokes like a champ, now. That was when I swore off smoke pellets and changed exclusively to liquid. I use Lionel Premium Smoke Fluid these days, and I have nothing bad to say about it -- except possibly the smell.
Since then, I've cleaned out many more smoke units as my postwar collection grew. I never saw any as totally clogged as the one in my 2026, but they've mostly been pellet-saturated to one degree or another. I give them the same overhaul I gave the 2026, and they're all great smokers, now.
