Our museum will be hosting a Halloween light show for a few weekends and the same set up will be used for a Christmas show in December. Amazing the color variety via LED lighting and with 30 on site structures, it should be spectacular. I have been asked to install a smoke machine in SP 0-6-0#1215 along with a skeleton in the cab - which will become an elf in December. The locomotive will be outlined with LED lighting.

My thinking is some machine placed in the stack with a cover consolidating the release of smoke via a small hole. I went to a Halloween superstore and was disappointed in their offering of small indoor fog units.

What is your experience with smoke machines? Any recommendations?

Ken Middlebrook
Curator of Collections
History San Jose

Can you achieve what you're looking for with some dry ice and a fan?

https://www.continentalcarbonic.com/dry-ice-fog.html

It's simple and probably effective for what you're trying to accomplish.

So you will most likely want a “fog” machine. (Not a haze machine).
Look for one that comes with a remote that has a timer so you can set it and it will cycle automatically. You’ll have to see what works best and experiment a little.

I’ve worked a lot with fog and haze machines, and I’ve worked a lot around trains but never the 2 together.

So at the American Heritage Museum (I volunteer there when I have spare time), when the exhibits for the Clash of Steel (the Panther exhibit) were set up an electric steam boiler of some sort was set up in the empty engine compartment of the T34-85 and piped up to the commander's hatch. Valve opens on a timer in relation to the presentation, and a jet of steam comes out. Lights in the turret give the display an orange glow, like there's an internal fire.

With the basic idea prefaced, why can't this be applied to a static locomotive? Now there are maintenance requirements for such a setup, but it might have some benefit to a static display. Little bit of creativity and you could probably run hidden lines to points on the locomotive that steam would come from as well. Drain cocks, generator exhausts, etc. You just need power, water and the regular checkups. Gives it more of an appearance of something happening with a static display piece. And unlike the T34, you don't have a turret that can turn at the press of a button as part of the show...

The fog machine is the way to go. However, why stop at just ONE skeleton ?? At least have a brakeman skeleton or two on the footboards with flickering lanterns (missing a few fingers, for the sharp eyed). In December, dress the engineer as St Nick and the brakemen as (creepy looking) elves... after all, everybody's heard of a SKELETON CREW.

Boo! Get off the stage! You're a hack!

(Said with an eye roll and a big smile, Sammy!)

Rosco makes foggers that have remote controls and blow smoke in a specific direction - contact a stage equipment rental company to check them out.

If you’re looking for specific brands... American DJ and Chauvet are good to search for.

In your case you might not want a big one, since you’re not trying to fill a stage with fog for lighting effects.

B&H Photo carries them. Or Guitar Center.

Maybe a few of these?

"You're gonna need a bigger boat..."

Show me the way to go home.....

A bigger boat and maybe about 100 ZWs?

Sammy's pun/joke was much better than mine. Plus he can provide his own percussion when he hits his punch line.

We did pretty much what you're looking to do with our 0-6-0 at Greenfield Village for our Halloween event last year and are gearing up to do it again this year. I did some experimenting as I set things up and figured out a couple of things.

First off, we simply used a fairly inexpensive fog machine placed on the bottom of the smokebox aimed towards the tube sheet (the baffle panels aren't currently installed in the smokebox). A wood block aimed it slightly upwards towards the stack opening but isn't totally necessary. The machine is connected to one of the fog machine timer boxes (wires extended and fed through one of the boiler tubes for easy adjustment in the cab) that can be turned on and left on. It has controls for fog duration as well as intervals which can be set based on how much fluid you prefer to go through in an evening. Once you build up a fog cloud in the smokebox it acts as sort of a reservoir and generally wafts out of the stack for quite awhile, even when the machine isn't constantly cycling. We didn't restrict the stack opening in any way.

A line from an air compressor hooked up to the blower line drain valve just ever so slightly cracked open gives it a bit of draft action which makes it look less staged. Without this the fog rises out quite slowly and doesn't get much loft over the stack. This isn't totally necessary, but we have a shop air standpipe nearby which makes it easy in our case. An electric fan in the smokebox would probably give it a similar effect.

We have a series of color changing LED lights rigged up inside the smokestack which gives the cloud a bit of a sci-fi sort of look.

A second fog machine placed under the cylinder saddle and aimed outward simulated a "cylinder cock" effect.



Also a brief video clip taken by a visitor from the viewpoint of our train ride passing the locomotive. We also shoot fire out of the smokestack of our 0-6-0 as the train passes it, which was inspired by the Tweetsie Railroad's Ghost train decor. They're pyrotechnic effects typically used at concerts and such.

Our staff acted as a live "skeleton crew" to operate everything and to reload the effects as necessary. The whistle was also hooked up to our shop air.

https://youtu.be/xh-HIGEsaBA?t=574

You know, maybe this isn't really a joking matter, after all. I know that some museums have Halloween events, maybe more of them should. A safe place to trick or treat surely ought to be a draw. And, if you don't have a steam locomotive, maybe paint up a refrigerator car for Dahmer's Meats....

A caution I received back-channel from someone involved in the stage entertainment industry:

The fog machine is definitely the way to go; however, long-term usage in the same location tends to produce residue accumulations near the machine. I don't know specifically what's in the fluid, and neither does my performer friend (a quick online search suggests glycerols), but it's probably something you don't want remaining on your smokestack, cylinders, or whatever long-term.

My friend says there's a major difference between the inferior stuff sold at WalMart, "dollar stores," etc. for one-off Halloween use and the professional stuff used for repeated Vegas shows, magicians, etc.

https://looksolutionsusa.com/are-fog-machines-safe/

The differences are not in cheap vs. professional fluid as much as the type of fluid. There is water based and oil based machines. Oil based machines will leave more residue but look better.

The more professional grade oil based haze machines are actually the worst. The cheap fog magchines wont be too bad.