Menards locomotive drive motor issue

Sounds like the motor is simply shot. Hopefully you can get a replacement motor from Menards. The worm on the motor may not be removable.

Magic smoke is never a good sign.  If it's dual motored I would pull it until a replacement can be located.

@Ted S posted:

The motor could indeed be shot.  I believe these locos come with their own remote.  Are you powering your track with an AC transformer?  If so, perhaps somehow the on-board circuitry is leaking AC voltage to the front motor (which is a big no-no because can motors take only DC!)  If one or more of the rectifier diodes, transistors, capacitors, etc. on the circuit board, isn't working right it could cook a new motor in short order.

What happens if you swap the wires between the two motors?  (I'm assuming that the motors are wired in parallel from the factory.)  Does the rear one start smoking also, or does it run normally?  That's one way I can think of to determine whether the problem is caused by faulty electronics, or the motor itself.  Good luck, and please post back with what you find.

Thanks to all for the thoughts and they appear to be right on target.  I am in communication with Menards now about whether a spare motor is available and will update the results.  The loco is officially semi retired at this point.

@Ted S, the engine is with my friend and we will check to see how simple it is to explore the switch you mention.  I may simply disconnect the suspect motor and try powering it with a dc power supply so we don't do any damage to the main board if that is still intact.