I think that indicates it doesn't see the locomotive.

Also, there is a timeout function. In other words  how long was the remote on before you applied track power to the engine or vise versa? We see this daily at the local train shop because the small window display track is only run when customers are present. So what happens is, the remote is left on, the track is turned off, so then the remote will not pair back to the engine when the track is suddenly turned on. Turn on the engine, wait for it to light up and either make the chirp/beep saying it's not connected to the remote and then turn the remote on and it should then pair after a few seconds. Some engines like the early non-bluetooth enabled do not chirp when disconnected from the remote and given your symptoms, I believe that is the version you then have.

6-81395

It's not impossible to have a bad Lionchief board or remote- I see plenty through the shop, however, it's far more likely you just had the remote on or the engine on too long without them talking to each other and timed out.

Another mechanical electrical problem I've seen specific to this series of board is the radio daughter card breaking the fragile solder joints. They only glue the one edge of that daughter card and i have seen the plastic board mount or wiring or some other detail of mounting then more or less bend and or rip off that radio daughter card.

Since this doesn't appear to be a bluetooth set (please confirm the product number) you cannot just use the Lionchief bluetooth phone app to test and run the engine so yes, a universal remote is one possible answer, the other answer could be the Lionchief board is damaged at the radio board. That's the thing with this series, the board will make sounds because that is the blob chip on the main board so the radio board damaged or not working just prevents controlling the engine. Also again, these did not have the warning beep/chirp of the disconnected sound.

Again, both the remote and the engine use the exact same radio board, they get programmed each boot by the onboard function blob chip. Just an interesting fact that you can swap that radio board between models and also the remote. It's just a generic radio transceiver. I've had to reflow solder my fair share of these.

FWIW, the Lionchief remote if this is the correct engine is only $12

If the engine board was bad, it's $45

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ief-Remote-Set-0-8-0

All that to say a universal remote is roughly $45-60 depending on where you find it. That's why when it was suggested, yes, that is one option and if you have multiple Lionchief or new Legacy with Bluetooth, not a bad thing to have handy, but wanted to ensure you knew full perspective what the parts costs was in comparison.

In other words, find a friend, a trainshop, a train club that has a universal and check the engine, and if that doesn't work, then we begin to suspect the engine side of this.

Thanks for all that information.  I am away from my train layout so it will be a few days before I can check some of the things you recommended.  I don't have any connections to other people to try out a universal remote but I am leaning toward the engine board.  This train set does not have Bluetooth capabilities.  Is the train board difficult to remove? 

Thanks again

The 0-8-0 series is a 4 screw engine to remove the boiler shell and access the board. The plugs are all color coded, so I consider it easy, your mileage could be different. Flip the engine upside down. There are 2 screws at the back near the drawbar, 2 more screws near the front in pockets of the steam cylinders. Best to use a small Phillips that is magnetized. The shell lifts right off the frame revealing the board.

This is a slightly newer Bluetooth version but they are identical as to how to access the board.

This one needs a board because the owner somehow managed to burn up the motor driver chips. You cannot imagine how bad this smells of burnt electronics.

This probably looked like a volcano spewing hot silicon went it blew for sure and then that is all over the inside of the engine.

Those pictures are truly worth a thousand words.  Thank you