Mine would come to a dead stop, then resume a short while later. I assumed it was a brief short, it seemed to happen at the same places on the layout.
Then I realized I had the drawbar set for the closest distance between the cab and tender. I moved the drawbar back to the middle hole and everything runs fine now.
I have other brass engines that give me problems with this and I will use Kapton tape or a tiny dab of clear nail polish to try to alleviate the short.
Good Luck, Ed
Yes, i can see too close of a setting on drawbar (with min radius curves) may cause a short. The shorts I encountered were definitely related to the front hoses next to coupler touching rail and perhaps the bottom of the whole front “cowcatcher” when loco is coming down a slight slope to flat land. It is only slightly above rails on flat track; tight clearance.
There’s a good example of where a strip of Kapton tape would help. Just stick it onto the bottom of the pilot, cowcatcher, and trim off the excess. It should last quite a while before it wears through, then just reapply it.
I hope you get things running smoothly…
Ed