11-08-2013, 09:08 PM
Is it shorting because of a connection to the tender? Many of these older locos had the power pickup from one rail in the loco, and the other through the tender. From the look of the diagram on the last page here <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/L-1%20Ref%20Pages.pdf">http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/L-1 ... 0Pages.pdf</a><!-- m --> it appears this may be the case. The reason I think this is because there is the characteristic open frame motor with only one wire. The other is actually the electricity being conducted through the loco's frame.
EDIT: This assembly manual confirms it <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/100820.pdf">http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/100820.pdf</a><!-- m -->. The very first instruction is about installing the insulated wheels of the drivers all one side. So even if you've put plastic in the pilot and trailing truck, if you haven't modified the drivers, frame, motor mount, and/or tender wheels, you will get shorts. Best bet would be to isolate the motor from the frame so the current from the loco doesn't reach the motor direct.
One other thought occurs if you have done all the above with your decoder install. Is one set of trucks on the tender reversed?
Andrew
EDIT: This assembly manual confirms it <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/100820.pdf">http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/100820.pdf</a><!-- m -->. The very first instruction is about installing the insulated wheels of the drivers all one side. So even if you've put plastic in the pilot and trailing truck, if you haven't modified the drivers, frame, motor mount, and/or tender wheels, you will get shorts. Best bet would be to isolate the motor from the frame so the current from the loco doesn't reach the motor direct.
One other thought occurs if you have done all the above with your decoder install. Is one set of trucks on the tender reversed?
Andrew