Well, I have to say that I too have had issues with Lionmaster smoke units but nothing that I couldn't fix myself and believe me, I'm no expert, but perseverance pays off. The two issues I had were with two separate engines but the fix worked equally well for both. I retained the original Lionel factory smoke unit, however, I removed and repacked the "batting material" and replaced the heating element with new parts purchased directly from the Lionel parts department. I believe what happens is the batting, as well as the heating element get carbon build-up as a result of not having enough "smoke" fluid or running out of same. They have a Singed appearance similar to what a wick on a kerosene lantern looks like which will not allow the smoke fluid which is soaked into the batting to efficiently combust (not catch fire but smolder) while in contact with the heating element which has the same Singed condition as the batting. As far as the MTH Smoke units go, I'm not sure if trying to adapt them to the Lionel engines is worth the trouble because if they are not cared for and operated properly, the result will most probably be similar. Just my 2 cents. Hope this helped. BTW, I love both my Legacy Conrail SD80 MAC and my Legacy Lionmaster Pennsy T1.
Chief Bob (Retired)
