The 36431 is starting delivery.

36431 Manual - >DOWNLOAD PDF<

Please note - 'The cold steam unit should not be turned on when the locomotive is being run on M Track (risk of corrosion!).' page 9.

Interesting. Has anyone on the forum actually seen this smoke unit in operation yet? I wonder if the effect even looks good enough to deal with spraying water on your layout.

It will be interesting to see if these Piezo mister type smoke units work out, or if they are just an evolutionary dead end. I guess either way that might make this model worth having, even if you didn't end up using the smoke function very often.

Edited by user 03 January 2018 13:46:34(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The smoke generator looks rather big on the explosion diagram, so maybe no option for #30000 and other small tank locos.

Maybe the tanks on the tank engines will become useful?

I seen some on ebay for 450 Euro, It may sell well.

List price is €280.
Some who did not pre-order in time are now paying desperate prices to get one.


We had a 36431 at the club meeting last night. We filled water in, but did not get any "smoke" out of it. It will go back to the dealer.
We also had a TVT 39774. The platform needed a helping finger to get back to the straight position, so this item will also go back to the dealer.

A video of a 36431 with operational "smoke" unit:

Anyone been using their Tiger with the piezo vaporizer lately?
The thread on Stummi indicates some users are finding their piezo vaporizer stops working after some weeks, and its not yet clear why. I'm curious if any folks here have similar experiences - mine is yet to arrive from Germany as the box won't get mailed till more stuff shows up at the dealer.

The piezo technology uses vibration to create the vapor, so in addition to the need to get power to the peizo element, the system is dependent on the ability of the element to oscillate withing the right frequency range, as far as I know. Some things that make the element oscillate at a different frequency would affect things - from deposits, to the thing binding up.

It certainly reads like there is some design or construction issue in the locomotive for the vapor generator. I was mainly interested in the loco for the yellow service loco aspect, so the water based smoke generator is an add-on feature that's not critical to me, but I'd certainly like to use it off and on - so getting a working design is of interest. Märklin's service group must be getting inundated with these locomotives lately.

They do require distilled, and the claims of the users on Stummi is they are using distilled water (or deionized water down under, as I found out).
Indeed it could well work more or less depending on the atmospheric conditions as well, but I'd expect them to work in the 15-25c and 40-80% relh range most folks live in.

Some of the Märklin instructions:

• Only distilled water should be used for the cold steam
unit. This type of water is not included with the locomotive.
• The steam slot on the cold steam unit may not be covered
when the unit is in operation.
• During operation, an air bubble may form at the steam
opening, which will hinder the production of steam.
This can be prevented by blowing lightly into the steam
opening. In most cases, the air bubble will dissolve on its
own after a short time.
• If possible, operate the cold steam unit only when the
locomotive is running. Otherwise, too much moisture can
fall in one place. When the locomotive is at a stop, the
cold steam unit shuts off automatically after 60 seconds.
When the locomotive starts going again, the cold steam
unit is activated again.
• Pour distilled water only in the correct roof opening (see
under Item 5). The roof opening for the tank is closed
with a rubber cork. This rubber cork must be removed
when filling the tank and after that put back in the opening.

So there are certainly a number of ways a user could mess things up :
1) Not use distilled water where they have hard water that results in mineral build up.
2) Putting the plug in back into the wrong slot
3) Forgetting to put the plug in
4) The loco sat still and auto-shut off?
5) there is an air bubble on top of the piezo element that prevents contact with the water that needs to be blown loose (what are you doing to your train there honey?!)

I am almost starting to be glad that I was not able to get the Tiger loco after all.

Like Minok I mostly wanted it for the yellow service livery but the piezo atomizer is interesting. I also know that cutting edge tech can be an issue from working on developing some experimental electronics in my job.

All of the qualifications on the use of that unit may make it more of a curiosity in the long run than a replacement for the old tried and true smoke units. I guess only time will tell.

I really love this line in the manual:

If the cold steam unit chirps like a bird, the water tank is empty.

I can't wait for the first post, in a few years time, that starts with, "I keep hearing this sound like a bird chirping. It's driving my cat crazy."

Fair enough. Common practice then. So nothing surprising. No problem with it from my side, heck I'll possibly model a connection that didn't exist in the era I model. Artistic license. Some folks on stummi were bothered by it and I'd not noticed and was curious how common this was.