Hogwart's Locomotive Issue

It sounds to me as though there is an electrical problem in the smoke system. Perhaps a loose or damaged wire that is shorting when the locomotive moves in a forward direction?

Would that also explain a little sparking I saw under the locomotive?

Dangerous question, for me being a novice at this, do I just carefully take apart and look for a loose connection?

yes. and only take it aprt if you know what you are doing.  if it is new send it to Lionel have them fix it.

Thanks for the responses.  I took it apart and there was nothing obvious, at least to my eye.  So, I'll leave the smoke switch off for now.  There's a hobby shop with a repair person available, but it's quite aways from where I'm at.  He's supposed to be really good, so I'll take the locomotive along the next time I'm down that way, and see if he can fix, or have them send it to Lionel for me.

Thanks again.  I've gotten a lot of good information just reading posts on here from time to time, glad I could get some help.