Lionel RS-27, Exhaust

Very strange, Lionel got the tooling from MTH and it seems to be the same location

Tom, I once owned the MTH demonstrator version but don't remember the smoke generator having being placed forward but it was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.  Lionel re-engineered the model to the extent of replacing the MTH electronics with Legacy.  If located forward, it would have been a relatively simple matter to move the smoke unit aft.

Oh, well.  PLATE C Model Prototypes offers an appropriate exhaust stack and one is on order.

RTH, can we see a photo of your model showing the issue?

LV, The "port" for the smoke unit is located between the air horns and the engine access hatch on the Fireman's side:

Tom, Thanks to your suggestion, I looked on eBay for MTH RS-27s and there are a lot of them but, interestingly, none have smoke.  However, there is a little "divot" or indentation in the roof of the carbody in this same general area, presumably to imitate an exhaust stack.

Further research, using the MTH product finder, indicates that they did not offer smoke in their RS-27 until the Proto 3.0 version came out, circa 2015.  Here is a video of one such unit clearly showing the inappropriate stack/smoke-unit location:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bsTlgDd-sc

I stressed out watching the video because I fully expected the CNW unit to go on the ground and that would have been quite a tumble.  Ouch!

The deeper I dig into the matter, the more I am amazed that it should be an issue at all.  Here's a video of a MTH unit to which the guy added a smoke unit in the correct location:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjecJOk0lgw&t=7s

Why neither MTH nor Lionel could get it right is a puzzlement.  In a prototype, placing the prime mover and it's exhaust next to the cab and the generator, plus all control circuitry, next to the air compressor/radiator at the other end would make absolutely no sense at all.