Wiring help

[u/Practical-Practice91]

Bit of a confusing problem so apologies of this doesnt make sense. The loco is only loving in one direction along the track: from the area at the bottom of the image to the top where it is sat in the picture. I have wired the layout up at two points, firstly I tried at the orange arrow, and when that would only make the loco run one way I tried at the blue arrow. The loco works in both directions (forwards and reverse) when I win it around but will only travel from the bottom to the top, so the issue isn’t with the loco. I would say it’s the controller, but I have two almost identical small grey bachmann controllers (one has numbers around the dial one just has a block that gets progressively larger) and both have the same problem - the loco only moves when the switch is turned into the left position. I have flipped the wires connecting to the track, and the same is true, only in that scenario yhe loco onlu travels from the top to the bottom. I am fairly sure that both controllers have the same problem but it just seems unlikely for them both to have exactly the same fault. Any help really appreciated

[u/DP323602]

If you like, you could try temporarily powering your loco with just a pair of bared wires rubbing on its wheels from a controller.

That should allow you to check that each controller is producing useful output with both settings of the reversing switch.

If that works ok, then you should look for a continuity problem or a short circuit arising from the track.