What did you discover? What did you change to get it to run? Only one axle needs to touch the track if power is picked up from each wheel on that axle.
Your Shay is not wired as it was from the factory. Somebody has altered the wiring.
Hey Guys
Not sure what I did. It ran back and forth on my track then started balking. sparks are coming from the rear truck now. The wire from the front truck came loose from the motor and I left it that way. Simon you said to flip it over over and there should be a tab to solder a wire to the motor but I am not seeing any tab. If I knew where to hook up wire I would disconnect the rear wiper. You also said connect another wire to frame, I assume the third wire that I connected to the frame would serve that purpose?
Ok, so here is a view of the rear truck. The truck is isolated by a plastic bolster, and power is routed by a wire, that is visible on the right side of the screw that holds the truck:
shay back on Flickr
Here is the view of the front truck. You can see that there is the same tab: it looks like a little ring on the right side of the truck, next to the screw that holds the truck. So, you can solder a wire there, or anywhere else on the frame.
shay front on Flickr
Simon
Simon
My trucks aren’t like yours. The screw that holds the truck in place is on one side of the bracket and the wipers are held in place by a screw on the other side of the bracket. There is no tab on mine like on yours. I look at the wipers and wonder if they were homemade. Will try to figure out how to change my trucks to be like yours
Bruce
Wipers are definitely something you want, and trying to change your trucks to match the ones on mine might not be a good idea. Can you post a picture?
Simon
That’s wired correctly for power direct to the motor on one side (rail) and indirect through the frame on the other side (rail). Your front truck powers the motor through the frame and motor mount. Your rear truck powers with a wire from the insulated truck direct to the motor. There should be no other wires.
The tab on the front truck is only there because the trucks are identical for ease of manufacture. If you insulated that in the same fashion as the rear truck you could then power the motor with a wire from that tab direct to the motor, just as the rear truck already does but to no advantage.
There is a way to have all eight wheels provide power pickup but let’s get the loco running first.
Can you post a photo of the top side which will show where that black wire ends up? I’m curious how the power gets to the other pole of the motor. From the factory the motor mount is brass and one motor pole is directly connected to that motor mount. The other motor pole is isolated by a white plastic piece that separates the brass motor mount from the power wire coming from that rear truck.
These photos may help:
SNJROY and Lastspikemike
I’m going to put this aside until next week sometime. I’ve been obsessing over this for several days now and I need to get away for awhile. Thanks for sticking with me and helping me out with your info. I’ll go back to it later on next week.
Bruce
Fair enough. I think you made good progress.
Simon
Update on my shay-It is running and runs very well now. My next issue I need help on is it running thru turnouts. I have a small switching layout it will run on and as it enters a turnout it stalls as it goes through. I have to nudge it and it will continue on. However it seems to be able to back out of the siding with more success. I have Atlas code 100 track with the standard snap turnouts. Do I need to do something with them or change them out and if so what brand. Or possibly is this a constant problem with brass shays?
Thanks
Bruce
Well, nice that it is running well. But why are you keeping what you fixed a secret?
actually I didn’t fix it, I took it to my LHS where their fix it person was familiar with brass locos. The front truck had a short fixed I understand by a nylon screw and washer did the trick
I have a PFM HOn3 Shay. I managed to tune it up so it ran rather well, however it still would often stall over tunrouts because it’s a light-footed little beast. I’d converted it to DCC, so added a keep-alive and that fixed things so it generally will barge on through now.
I’m glad you got your Shay working again. I’m a bit intrigued by the fix, I must admit. In its original state, I doubt there were any nylon screws. But I’m not well positioned to criticize, I have a ton of “work-arounds” on my layout… Mike’s solution (keep-alive decoder) is an interesting option. In fact, I might just do that for one of my Shays [:)].
Simon
I’m finding if the front truck goes into the turnout it tends to stall while going thru. If I back it in with the rear truck it tends not to stall and either front or rear truck going full blast it does not stall. Since I finally have the loco running I don’t want to fiddle with it so I am still wondering if there is something I can do with the turnouts?
Add power, in DC you can do it with a toggle switch.
Just to be clear rrebell, are you referring to the points in the turnout?
Simon
I don’t use Atlas turnouts anymore, but if memory serves, the points get power through physical contact against the rail it is pressed against. You need to keep these contact points clean. I would check the voltage on each part of the turnout to make sure it makes good contact with the rest of the layout.
If you are using a long turnout, the longer frog does create problems with shorter locos, or locos with limited power pickup.
As for the loco, I find it strange that the loco stalls with the front truck on the frog given that the LHS staff isolated that truck. Or did I get that wrong?
Simon
Simon
As the loco goes front forward into the siding, with the rear trucks over or just starting to clear the frog, it will stall out. If the loco backs into the siding I have no issue. I hope that makes sense.
Bruce
It does. The only thing missing from the picture is whether the wipers are functional. I suspect they are on your rear trucks.
I believe the awipers are functional on both trucks. If I lift the rear truck off the track the front truck is still picking up power and vice versa