Any road name is fine; new or gently used. My grandson has taken an interest in model railroading and I want to get him a really nice locomotive (I might run it too).
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DAVIDR,
IMO the Legacy 2 Truck Shay is not an engine I would purchase for my young children. In reality this Shay engines is best run at slow speeds, say 44 and under, just like the real Engines. I have a Legacy Shay (Meadow River Lumber Company) never abused and run at slow speeds, Lionel fixed it under warranty twice for me, before it ran absolutely perfectly. I love my Legacy Shay however with all the moving parts, which look really really cool, small children seen to want to run them at speeds the Engine was never intended to run. IMO it's not a good starter type Engine for young children.
IMO for the kids and your self to constantly run & play with, purchase a Scale TMCC JLC GG1, if you have enough room to run one. These GG1's with all the cool sounds, and powerful beyond belief, are a kids dream come true, and they pull as many big heavy cars as the kids want to run.
I own and run them both, all the time.
PCRR/Dave
The Legacy 2 Truck Shay Engine.
The Scale TMCC JLC GG1pulling lots of Tin Plate Rolling Stock, on the Ceiling Shelf FT Layout.
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Thank you for the reply. Chris is 15, so not really a young child.
You had to send it in for repair twice? Do the shays tend to break often? That would be more of a concern to me.
DAVIDR,
The running drive unit with all the moving parts needed adjusted (fine tuned if you will) on mine, and it took a good Lionel Technician 2 times to make her run perfect. Mine was jarred around in shipment by UPS. As long as Chris is a disciplined young man, who will run the Legacy Shay at the proper speeds, you should have little problem with a Legacy Shay Engine. If he wants to see an engine that runs at high speeds, a Legacy Shay is not that kind Engine. As I indicated I do not run mine any faster than 42 - 44 MPH, which is topped end for the real Shay Logging Engine. Like the real Shay Engine the running gears are built for power not speed.
PCRR/Dave
Notice the difference in the number of Cars I pull when using the Legacy Shay Engine, about 1/2 the rolling stock I pull with the big TMCC JLC GG1, at about 1/4 the speed. The Legacy Shay does the job it was really intended to do, however most younger operators like to run much faster.
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I ended up with a K-Line 2 truck shay. We have problems with it stalling at low speeds, especially through Fastrack O-36 switches. This makes it impossible to use as a switch engine.
Has anybody who owns one found an effective way to improve electrical pickup at low speed?