Some of the early Rivarossi models had a small spring wire on the tender drawbar that served as the electrical connection between the loco and tender. If this spring wire was not properly touching the screw at the rear of the locomotive it would not run. Check to make sure this spring wire is touching the screw if your locomotive has that type of electrical transfer between the tender and loco proper.
Depending on the era, Rivarossi used two different pickup methods for electrical pickup. One was the traditional "loco picks up from one rail, tender picks up from the other," and the other, loco picks up from both rails, usually wired that one engine (group of 6 drivers) picks up from one rail, other group picks up from the other rail. The easiest way to determine which you have is to place the loco upside down in a cradle and using leads from a power pack, connect one lead to the drawbar and touch the other lead to each driver in turn to see if it runs (Rivarossi liked to use a wireless drawbar). If it is a wireless drawbar, when you turn it upside down, you'll see a wire coming from the screw that mounts the drawbar and running inside the loco. If this doesn't work, touch the two power pack leads to drivers on opposite sides of the loco to try to get it to run.
This is also your best method of troubleshooting a pickup problem.
on the track it does not move. from the back looking forward i placed a wire on the right side and touched the motor the engine move forward. need help repairing electrical system on this engine
any help would great new to model railroading fixing engine for my girlfreinds son. plan to give it for his birthday.
george