Corsaman124

I am having problems with an old split chassis Mainline Collett Goods loco which appears to be 'dead'. I have stripped it down to the bare chassis and removed the faceplate by removing the brush retaining plates. I have applied power directly to the commutator and the motor runs fine . But when I refit the faceplate (without the screws and brush assemblies) and simply insert the power leads through the holes in the faceplate (where the brushes should be) and these make contact with the commutator the overload/short circuit button on the controller is activated. I have checked that the commutator will rotate freely in the bearing in the faceplate by removing both from the chassis. Any suggestions would be welcomed.