Mike, this makes sense for two reasons: 1) there are 8 Lionel operating tracks on my layout, the MTH cars behave the same on all of them; 2) 95% of my rolling stock is Lionel, no problems running over the operating track sections. FWIW: this is the first batch of MTH rolling stock added to my collection, had not bumped into this issue before now. I too would like to hear from others that might have solved this riddle.
Al