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I am rather  disappointed in my new Lionel Legacy Shay (6-11295 - Elk River, 2011 Vol II catalog).  

 

It appeared to be perfect out of the box.

 

Took two hours of checking and wondering this afternoon when it just would not behave right. 

 

In spite of what the catalog says (rated O-31) this particular Shay does not like O-36 curves at least not when its cylinders and drive shaft are on the inside of the curve.  

 

It runs very sweetly - very slow yet very smooth, on all my loops that have only 84, 72, 60 or 48 inch Fastrack curves.  But on the 36" mountain/logging loop I bought it for, with cruise control turned on it randomly stalls completely.  With it turned off, every once it a while it stutters badly (abruptly slows a lot, then seems to recover its composure again).  Either way its not doing this always at the same locations.  But it never stalls on straights -- only when well inside 36" curves, and only when the drive mechanism is on the inside of the curve.

 

I'm not saying all Lionel two-truck Shays do this - maybe its just mine.  I'm convinced it has a drive mechanism that occasionally almost locks up in curves.  

 

I'm not going to try to find or fix the problem either -- I can't see or feel any problems with the drive when I look and I have a feeling trying to fix it would be an exercise in frustration -- even to try.  

 

And its certainly not going to be a shelf queen - this is one uuuggglllyyyy locomotive.  

 

So its into the (thankfully rather small) box I keep under the layout, labeled "Mistakes I've made." 

 

I put a WBB Baldwin 10-wheeler in its place and ran trains all afternoon to ease the frustration.  The Baldwin has no cruise, but its gearing means it runs nearly as slow as the Shay and also that it doesn't really jackrabbit that much going down steep slopes.  Great little engines - I have three.  As I watched this one chugging away I was thinking all three of my Baldwins cost less than that . . . ah . . . mistake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original Post

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The problem here is that the drive shafts are binding which is a problem for all model Shay's regardless of scale. In the real world, Shay's can handle much tighter curves than rod-equipped locomotives. However, in our model worlds, the curves are much tighter and a Shay will likely need a curve greater than most of the rod-equipped ones which will look odd as we would have large curves for the mainline and tight curves for the logging lines. Personally, because of this issue, you would be better off with a Climax or a Heisler as those are still gear-driven but don't have the drive-shaft bind problem.

 

Peter

Originally Posted by SantaFe158:
Originally Posted by audi:

Lee, If the engine does not do what it advertised to do, think about taking or sending it back. As I am fond of saying, yeah, they are just toy trains, but it is not toy money we buy them with. Fred

 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/d...ent/5512461176534420

 

Oops... 

I can't send it back.  This is the one I posted pictures about two weeks ago, just before, during, and after I cut it's height by 5/16 inch, so it would clear the tunnel height on my mountain/logging loop.  I cut shortened the cab, the two sand domes, and the stack by 1/4 inch by running in through a bandsaw (look at the posting before you decide I'm crazy).  

 

I'm certain my work did nothing to make it run poorly - I take precautions and I'm careful and I've done much more delicate surgery on locos in the past, but I can see the manufacturer having every right to say no return in this case.  My problem was I could not test it on 36 curves before cutting it down (the only ones I have are on loops with low clearance) and so I never found out it binds.  

 

And its okay, I've never returned a loco and rarely send them back for repairs if I can't fix them.  Live and learn . . . 

My G scale shay has the same issue with tight curves.  If the drive shaft is on the outside, the flexible sleeves slide right off the drive shaft.  On the inside it'll bind up if too tight.  I want to say I run it on my grandpa's 5' curves, but I'm not sure if that's the exact diameter.  Could be 6' too and I usually put a straight section on each end of the oval.

 

Not sure if you can do this on your layout, but is it possible to put some straight sections between curves?

Post

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