Lionel: brand new out of the box,smoke unit does not work. Used but mint condition, smoke unit does not work.
25 yrs old collector owned never run, out of the box, smoke unit does not work. Smoke unit works...two days later smoke unit quits. Take it to Lionel dealer, pick it up, take it home, smoke unit does not work.
Ready to give up. I can't be alone.
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Yeah, join the club. This sort of thing gets intensively annoying and you think, "I haven't got space for any more trains anyway." Then a new catalog comes out and you start thinking, "Must have that [fill in the blank]."
In any event, you don't state which models you are talking about. A DOA new model is a warranty issue; anything else you can probably fix yourself with a little time. There's a lot of diagnosis and guidance on this forum.
How can it be used & in mint condition? It's either one or the other.
A 25 year old Lionel shouldn't be that hard to get a smoke unit working. That would preclude command, so it's a conventional locomotive.
I agree with Eddie, the new one is a warranty issue.
can't help much not know what we are talking about.
Sounds like you have been smoked out. 
The warranty item should present no problem in getting it fixed.
Does the older Lionel smoke unit have a smoke unit that looks somewhat modern or does it have the smoking light bulb style? The light bulb style is really an older unit right after WW2 if I am correct, it needs pellets.
Most other Lionel smoke units need smoke fluid.
Lee Fritz
The bulb type smoke unit was only used on three locomotives in 1946, which were the 2020 and 671 turbines, and the 726 Berkshire. By 1947 Lionel had developed their first heater type smoke unit. The bulb type smoke units used a different pellet that was corrosive and generally dangerous.
If I obtained a new, old stock sample of one of those engines, I'd be delighted.
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