I have a new 1045 Flagman that works great....as long as it's not mounted to the red metal base.   It mounts to the base with the same bolt/washer/nut combo that acts as the contacts for the solenoid. 

As soon as I mount it, it stops working and instead just shorts the transformer, so I'm pretty sure that the connectors are touching the metal base and causing a short.

I'm not sure why they designed it that way in the first place (and I can't believe it ever worked, with metal contacts going directly through a metal base!) but I've tried electrical tape and such around the base mounting holes, contacts, etc, but it still shorts.

Has anyone else seen this issue and found a solution?  I'm next thinking of getting some plastic bushings that fit tightly over the contacts as they pass through the base, and hoping that keeps it from shorting, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any suggestions that worked for them.  Thanks for any ideas!

TrainLarry,

Thanks so much for the link to the detailed pics and the info on the insulating washers!  That turned out to be the problem:  they were missing.  I substituted some of my own and now the flagman is no longer shorting out.  I did get it on eBay, so a previous owner must have "had some parts left over" at some point in its life. 

Now that it's working, I have one other question.  When the train runs over the 1045C contactor, the flagman's arm barely waves, because it's not getting much voltage (it's on a straightaway, so the transformer speed control is set pretty low at that point).  I'd like to give the flagman full accessory power so that the arm raises well up when the train hits the switch, but obviously I can't just mix in the accessory power with the normal locomotive power....I'd think that would mess things up in the transformer pretty badly.

Is there a preferred way with O-27 track and a 1045C contactor to get accessory power to the flagman but leave the normal track power alone?  I read a brief post elsewhere that talked about doing it with an insulated track segment, but then someone else said that wasn't necessary and you could wire it up without that special track.

Thanks for any insight on how to best wire it up!

John

P.S. This site is way cool and full of great info, so I donated tonight, thanks again for this great resource!

Welcome to the Forum, John 

Thanks for the donation.  Helps us keep the lights on!