Another possibility is you put the two pin plug from the loco in backwards. That would be difficult to do. The short would only show up when both are connected and on the track. The below link shows the Specrum Decopod. I have been told some Spectrum steamers have different wiring configurations. Some tenders pickup on one rail with the front truck and the opposite rail on the rear truck. My Spectrum 4-4-0 is like that. If I was to reverse one truck and plug in the loco, a short would occur when put on the track.
I think some tenders pickup only one rail with both trucks. Not sure.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H817X-IS001.PDF
Hope this helps. You might pickup a inexpensive voltmeter at Rat Shack, Home Depot or Lowes. The meters have a resistance scale. Anyone using DCC should never be without a voltmeter. To me that is like going out around town with no wallet.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Walschaerts wrote:Well I unplugged the engine and tender and neither of then shorted the track and other engines ran just fine on the same track. I plugged the engine and tender back together and now it not only shorts it doesn't want to move backwards or forwards.
Was the unplugged loco and unplugged tender still sitting on the tracks?
You removed the DCC jumper block (what you refer to as the DCC cover).. Double check that no pin on the jumper block is broken or that the jumper block is not out of alligned with the 8 pin socket. Apart from that double check you're 2 connectors (engine to tender) are installed and oriented properly. The DCC jumper block does not have a specific orientation, but go by the diagram included.
So the other night I was inspecting my Bachman decapod making sure it had the necessary plug in play components for the DCC system we are looking at buying. So anyway I found that every thing was in order and reattached the shell and the wires to the locomotive. Now the engine runs in reverse, but when in forward motion it only moves forward a little bit and stops. It will not start up in either direction once it stops. When it stops the motor and the head light both shut off. Also all the other engines on the track at the same time also stop. But once i remove the decapod from the test track all the other engines move over the track without stalling. The only thing I can think of as being wrong is I did remove the cover, covering the DCC plugs. I made sure to reinstall it before I reattached the shell, could that have caused a problem?