I know several here that own this locomotive say that it is a good one. A large online vendor has the 3 truck 80 ton with DCC, light and sound for $322 and I’m wondering if this is a good fair price…
As nearly as I can tell the price of a locomotive and then a dcc decoder plus speakers etc would run more than this, but I’m not sure.
Any advice appreciated.
Jarrell
The HO shay is very good. Great puller and excellent detail. Their Climax is just a good maybe better.
froogle.google.com shows you can get the 3 truck shay as low as $139.90 and the soundtraxx decoder for $149.00 . thats a total of $288.90 . basically the store is charging $33.10 for installation . i’d say that’s a pretty good deal when you also consider that you’d have to order the engine and decoder from different stores to get those prices and therefore pay seperate shipping charges which would reduce the difference
While the Bachmann HO scale Shay is a wonderful model, I would be leary of the DCC sound and control system. More than likely the chip they are using is the DSD100LC series, which is a low cost version and has terrible (read poor speed control and noisy) motor control and limited sound effects. You would be better off just purchasing the model and then having a third party install a DSX sound decoder and high quality motor decoder instead.
Just my two cents worth… [;)]
Train World, $119
SoundTrax makes a decoder especially for it, that I heard is pretty good. Figuring you could put in the decoder $250 total.
I have 3 Bachmann 3-truck Shays with the SoundTraxx DSD decoder installed, which is the only one that will fit into the Shay. They run excellently but the sound is weak because the speaker is too small. For the Shay, you have to use a 3/4-inch round speaker and there’s no room for a baffle behind it. Whether this dealer has done ohterwise is unknown, but I know of no other sound system and speaker that will fit.
I got two Bachmann shays off ebay for an average of $93.00 including shipping, I’ve located a website that has the sound decoder for cheaper.
http://www.sodigi.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=Shay_Bach&preadd=action.
http://cgi.ebay.com/BACHMANN-SPECTRUM-HO-CASS-SCENIC-RAILWAY-3-TRUCK-SHAY_W0QQitemZ5987258931QQcategoryZ19132QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
The auction on ebay could go either way, it could end for less than $100.00 or over. If you’re gonna give it a try I would suggest wait until last minute then drop the maximum that you’re willing to pay for it then cross your fingures and toes. Don’t put too much though because even if you’re not successful this time another will come around.
Good luck man.
Soundtraxx DSX series sound decoder and Digitrax DZ143 motor/lighting decoder fits quite nicely (I have four of them done this way). Although a 3/4" round speaker would fit, I prefer the sound quality of the 1/2" X 1" mini oval variety. The round speakers are more sensitive to enclosures than the ovals are for some reason, and you seem to get better SPL out of the ovals IMO.
While the plug and play DSD series decoder from Soundtraxx for this model is ok, the motor drive circuit is junk (no matter what you do you will hear the PWM from this decoder) and you only have 4 sound effects: Chuff, whistle, bell and air pumps. The added sound effects of the DSX sound only decoder and a high quality BEMF silent motor drive decoder make all the difference in the Shay.
I don’t know about the sound, but the Bachmann Shay is an impressive locomotive. It has great detail, and excellent prototypical speed. I was looking at one myself, because these locomotives are just that good. But, I have converted to N scale.
I recently got one off Ebay for 131. I probably could have found it cheaper, but I had fun bidding on it. I also purchased the Soundtraxx all in one decoder specifically made for it for 116. I installed it myself, and it is very nice. I never thought I could do small tedious work like that, but the instructions are very clear, and is a very easy job. So for 247 bucks, I have a Shay that is DCC with sound, and every bit as good as any other. No, since you can do just like I did and do the decoder install yourself, that ain’t a fair price. There are plenty of good folks right here who can help you if you get in a tight spot, including me.