[rotorwrench]

The operating solenoid is at full power for kick in until the driver lets off the throttle so it can shift. This shouldn't really tax the system too much unless there is a problem with high resistance in the system that will make it draw more current than it's supposed to. FoMoCo initially used the rail cut out switch to kill the power in the system while the overdrive is locked out. Since folks didn't drive the cars all that much with the overdrive locked out, the switch was deleted (sometime in 1951). The only bad thing about this is that the system is hot at any speed above governor on speed whether the system is locked out or not. FoMoCo just didn't think this was an issue and normally it won't be unless further electrical accessories like driving lamps are installed and the car is driven long distances at night with the heater and the radio playing. These old cars generally only had a 35 amp system so there are limitations to what can be done in that respect.