Railking PS2 F-3 shorting/reset issues

Did you try rotating the each motor in the reverse direction for a full rev of the wheels on the trucks to see if there's any indication of binding in the reverse direction?

Wheels and pickups clean?  Pickup wire screws tight?  Might try cleaning motors with electric motor cleaner.   G

Everything looked very clean with no binding, but I'll check again.  I had it going forward and reverse around the layout a couple times without issue, but only after "rocking".  When it was going around, all the sudden minor sparks would fly out of the front wheels where they touch the rails, but only for an instant, and the engine kept running.  The sparks were somewhat disturbing.

I thought all screws were tight, especially after I re-assembled and the symptoms didn't change.

The part that is perplexing is at idle, with the light bulb burning and sounds going, when I put a finger on the front motor and push it gently towards the rear, it "rocks" a couple degrees, and the light and sounds shut down.  If I rock back forward, everything comes back on.  Behaves like something must be loose.

I'd say you are close to the issue.  Have you checked the motor mounting screw on the bottom of the truck?  It should be tight.  If the motor still moves AT ALL in relation to the truck, then maybe the two screws that hold the motor to the motor mount are loose. 

If either of these are true, it can cause it not to want to run in one direction as the torque changes the engagement of the worm.

Or the pickup wire is loose or damaged and the movement shorts it.  Sparks under the trucks usually are pickup wires or a PV short from damaged wire, either motor, coupler or a light wire running near it.  G

George check your email

Alan

You guys were right.  I took a more detailed look.  The front motor mounting screws were cross threaded and that was where the "rocking" was coming from.  After un-cross threading, I also noted that this motor would hang-up slightly.  Added some lube to the gears and it helped, but I still think the motor should probably be cleaned, too, just in case.  Not 100% sure it fixed everything, but I ran forward and backward about 20 times and there was no power-down.  Thanks, Dave

Sounds right, I've seen that a few times, and when you were moving the motor and having the issue, I figured it was a good bet.