I recently purchased a legacy 9-44cw, and have found a smoke grease type substance on top of the control panel, which is under the horn extremely close to the smoke unit. I am pretty positive that I haven’t exceeded 10-20 drops. I guess what I’m asking is; is smoke fluid Residue near the control panel a sign of flooding ?
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Train smoke is vaporized mineral oil. It seeps and migrates everywhere, pretty much unavoidable.
This is why scale modelers with weathered locomotives are usually not fans of smoke.
As long as you don't have "puddles" of fluid your o.k.
Pretty normal, like Rick says, puddles are bad, a tiny bit of coating is pretty normal.
https://ogrforum.com/...8#143608301481642918 I have found a puddle like substance under the rear truck and on top of rear step ladders. Not quite too sure if smoke fluid could seep through there, but your input would indeed help!!
Smoke fluid can seep almost anywhere, wipe it up and see if it comes back. 
You'd be amazed at the amount of smoke fluid I mop up when I do repairs and upgrades. 
https://ogrforum.com/...4#143749050029626414 I find that it continually seeps through an un-tightened screw and puddles up atop the rear truck. I also saw smoke coming out of the cab window when shut down. I’m not sure if the seeping through the screw is from overfill or what, but I’m pretty paranoid about it. This is a brand new engine that I am in love with by the way.
Generally smoke units have a bowl construction and the fluid does not leak out based on a loose screw. Having said that, there is an air intake, through the fan, across the resistor / fluid / batting, and out the stack. There is a gasket that seals these components for leaks. Hard to imagine puddles getting very far.
Smoke from the cab may be the clue. Have you taken a straw and blown down the stack? Do it multiple times and while running. Straws with the bend feature are best.
When you add fluid, do it gradually and use the funnel if one was provided. Blow also after adding.
Can you show the loose screw?
According to the Lionel Replacement Parts diagram, this model has a standard Legacy smoke unit with a plastic bowl/reservoir and a gasket and funnel assembly that look like this:
If you are getting smoke and fluid away from the output on the body shell, it would be a good idea to see if the funnel and the output are aligned properly as otherwise there could be a discharge inside the shell that could account for what you are seeing in the cab area and elsewhere. The gaskets also have a tendency to slip out of place and once saturated with smoke fluid residue from ordinary running are more prone to that than when new.
These units are also a little on the small side compared with older metal bowl ones and so it is possible that you have overfilled it or (just as likely) on filling it through the body shell output some fluid has leaked around the sides of the join with the funnel.
https://ogrforum.com/...0#143749050045400330 it has seemed to cover the engine completely with film on the interior.
https://ogrforum.com/...4#143749050045740554 Yup, a leaky seal led me to a refund. I exchanged it for a different road number
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