Smoke Unit 6101434210 for Legacy ES44AC

Nothing you've described suggests you can't rebuild that smoke unit, the only part that's somewhat in doubt is the thermistor, my suggestion was an educated guess based on some stuff that Lionel has said in the past.  The motor, resistor, and wick are easily replaced.

If you check the back of your owners manual.

2 "blinks of death" is an element problem

3" blinks of death" is the fan motor

I'm not sure if 1.5v is enough for the fan,and once the loco starts blinking its shuts down the whole unit until you either reset it up to 3 times or remove power and start all over.

Heres the parts listing if you haven't seen it already:

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...f5-bb69-81d83ab1fd53

Good luck with the phone call, plan on sitting on hold awhile. Some folks get through, others don't. I've never gotten through with multiple attempts, too bad for me I guess.

I sure miss the old Lionel service in Canfield Ohio.

The element problem is doubtless the thermistor allowing the resistor to overheat.  As far as the fan, if the smoke motor won't run on 1.5V, in my experience, it's almost always bad.

@RickO posted:

Good luck with the phone call, plan on sitting on hold awhile. Some folks get through, others don't. I've never gotten through with multiple attempts, too bad for me I guess.

I called three times last week.  After a long hold with the very annoying hold music, the transferred me to "voice mail" which promptly told me the mailbox was full and they're taking no messages.  Then there was a click, that was Lionel hanging up on me!

RickO - yes - I know. 2 blinks is the element - and checking the element, the glaring issue was the broken thermistor wire - hence what GRJ says above...my assumption was broken thermistor trips the 2 blink logic before it gets to the fan check....so a manual check of the fan with 1.5V battery indicates the old fan no longer spins.  I've had the 3 blinks (fan) on a different engine, and to minimize shipping, bought 2 fans - so I had a spare one.  The brand-new Lionel fan spins fine with 1.5V battery.  The old fan doesn't spin with the 1.5V....Hence why I think I need, at a minimum, the thermistor, and the fan, and might as well replace the element (and and obviously batting) while I'm in there.  That's $14 (from someplace that lets you order via website) vs. $55 and a roll-of-the-dice on whether Lionel will answer their phone...

FWIW, MTH Midge answers the phone and gets me my parts fine, and they are closing... while Lionel may be the only game left in town, and they don't even answer their phone, their voicemail is full, can't leave message, and can't order online.....pretty sad testiment to customer service these days....