I was converting an Athearn PA2 today to get it ready for DCC. I took the shell off, then stripped the loco down to the frame, motor, trucks, shafts, everything. I then turned the motor over, snapped off the two pieces that contact the frame, then carefully soldered a thin wire to it. I then put a strip of electrical tape across the bottom of the motor just to make sure the contact would not touch the frame. I put the motor back in it's cradle mounts and reinserted it into the frame. Very carefully, I reattached the trucks and mounted the drive shafts, then soldered the other end of the wire to the ground pickup on the front truck. Since both trucks contact the frame, this is all I had to do, as far as grounding was concerned. I put the locomotive on the track and put power to it. ZIP! ZILCH! DANADA! BOP KISS! Nothing happened. I checked my power wires from the power pack (once in a while I accidentally rip one off), no joy there, so then I check to make sure that part of the track has power. It does. The meter says 15.3 volts. What is going on, I wonder! So I look carefully at the locomotive and see what the problem is. I then solder two wires, one each from the positive pickups on the trucks to the positive strip on the top of the motor. Put power to the locomotive again. It runs fine. I'm thinking, I've been in this hobby for over 30 years and I missed something that simple and obvious.
SOMEBODY GET ME A DUNCE CAP!
SOMEBODY GET ME A DUNCE CAP!