Model Railroading Aromas

[Doug G.]

I'm pretty sure everybody knows the aroma of ozone produced by operating electric motors and how wonderful it smells, although it seems modern locomotives don't produce as much as older ones. Not as much sparking or motors more enclosed by the frame, I guess.

Does anybody have any other smells they particularly remember? Like, I remember the smell of Atlas/Rivarossi passenger cars when they were new. It was actually kind of a stinky smell (It must have been the paint) but you knew the car was brand new from it. I have some that have been in their plastic cases for all these years and still have a trace of that aroma.

I also remember exactly how it smelled when, years ago, I mixed dry casein glue with ballast, laid it down on the track, and then sprayed it with water instead of the newer way of doing it with liquid adhesive. The new way has its own, pleasant smell too, however. That wet ballast.

Doug

[peteski]

Some motors, beside the ozone smell, will also emit a smell of burnt lubricant from the commutator (if the oil got on it). It is also a distinct smell.

Then there is the overall odor of the lubricants new-in-the-box models have. And The Chinese-made models have different small than the German-made older models.

Of course, if your model has it, there is the odor of smoke from the smoke unit.

[coosvalley]

IN a related note, in the 80s I remember there was a company that made "model railroad scents", such as burning coal, fresh cut wood, diesel exhaust etc...

I like the ozone smell.

[DKS]

My first "serious" layout, the White River and Northern (the first), was a tiny layout I began in the early 70s, and I scratchbuilt almost everything. I'd read somewhere eons ago that instant coffee, if mixed with just a little water, made a half-decent wood stain. Most of the structures on the layout were wood, so they were all stained with concentrated coffee.

Consequently, on warm humid days, the layout smelled rather delicious...

[Dave V]

Floquil Dio-sol.

[Doug G.]

David, did it smell like a grade school cafeteria? I have never liked coffee but that aroma was heavenly.

Speaking of smoke units, my neighbor friend, back in the early sixties, had a Marx train set with a smoker and I still remember exactly what that fluid/smoke smelled like. I currently have an HO Tyco smoker and got a couple of vials of original fluid for that too and it smells exactly like a bottle of cedar-scented fluid I got from eBay too.

Oh yeah, Diosol. How could I forget that wonderful aroma (to those of us who like those kinds of chemical smells, anyway).

Doug

[DKS]

David, did it smell like a grade school cafeteria?

???

No, it smelled like fresh coffee brewing. Lovely smell.

[DKS]

Floquil Dio-sol.

Worse: Dullcote.

[learmoia]

Of course the usual paints and glues.. but more specific to modeling.. Micro-Sol which I think smells sorta like vinegar..

And the smell of fried DCC decoders.. 

Now the aromas of (some) Model Railroad'ers'.. that's another story.. nothing good there..

Ian

[Doug G.]

???

No, it smelled like fresh coffee brewing. Lovely smell.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. The cafeteria in my grade school always smelled like fresh-brewed coffee. I guess the teachers drank a lot of it.

Doug

[Dave V]

Worse: Dullcote.

My wife hates the smell of Dullcote.

[peteski]

I think my favorite paint smell is Scalcoat, but I like Floquil too.  Testors and Pactra (small square bottles) smell rather nice too.   Dullcote is nasty but bearable.  So is the smell of the Tamiya spray paints.

[C855B]

Midwest cork roadbed. One whiff and immediately it takes me back to when I was seven and would ride my 1-speed Schwinn across the big field to the American Flyer dealer.

Also, Pliobond cement and Walther's Goo.

[mark dance]

the smell of burnt hair and/or skin from not being careful enough with soldering irons!

md

[tehachapifan]

Midwest cork roadbed....

Yep! Was going to say that too!