Hello Brainel--
Yep, I get that no smoke will be produced if the light is out. My problem is that I'm not a repair person, and diagnosing what caused the bulb to burn out is above my pay grade. (I tried putting in another GE 55 bulb but that one didn't work either, so the problem is elsewhere.) No train repair shops in my area.
I suppose I will either look for a working one of these with broken steps where I can swap the chassis with mine, or I will start over and purchase another nice one.