I posted an article, Issue with engine or ESU decoder? back on August 11th, 2021 and finally have solved the problem! The decoder (Loksound 5.0) was fine but evidently suffered some heat damage ("wrapper" was shriveled). I replaced it (micro 5.0) with a 21 pin decoder, using a Decoder Buddy. The issue with the engine stopping and the amps going up to .8 amp continued. So, I finally ordered a new motor from Atlas and installed it. After many hours of running, the engine is fine and really is a excellent runner with good sound. Maybe this can be of help to someone who may experience a similar issue.
Excellent! - Thanks for the update, John!
Yea, sometimes you can have a bad motor. I had one in a brass PSC 0-8-0 that was binding internally and caused it to operate erratically. It would vascillate between 0.28A and 0.9A @ speed step 030, with occasional spiking above 1A. As soon as I replaced it with a coreless motor, it was ran rock solid at 0.03-0.04A and smooth as glass.
[Edit: Sorry, John. I think I already shared the above in your previous post on the topic. ]
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.