Piko BR 55 and electrical shorts

So....you've got a Piko BR 55 and it doesn't run, in fact the red light on you transformer comes on anytime you try to apply power to it...

This is the model we're talking about:

This thing is a bowl of spaghetti when it comes to electrical.  If you fix anything on it you will cause a short in the main pickup underneath.

I've just recently repaired a number of these locomotives and have found them to be advanced projects.  Getting the linkage right after quartering requires a hell of a lot of patience.  There is only one way it can be done, then you have to rotate the wheels to do the same thing on the other side.  Once you do that the previous side needs be done all over again.

Next, if you touch the linkage at all after you're done, you will be starting over, only this time you will notice that a couple bushings have come out forcing you to start again. Each time you get back together another bushing will come out.  Once you reach maximum frustration you will glue them all back in place permanently.

Finally you get it all together and then test it only to discover it shorts.  This short will be the toughest thing to troubleshoot.  And guess what? The first thing you have to do is disassemble everything.

After finally isolating the short, fixing it and putting it all back together - you will find that there is another short.  The last short is the toughest to cure.  You could hard wire everything, but that creates a problem with tolerances.  You can also insulate everything and that has its own problems.

Finally you choose a method of fixing the short and it works.  However all the linkage is hanging down and you back to step 1.

Have fun with this one...