I have a new bachmann 3-truck shay from e-bay, it goes very slow what can I
do? Also how can I tell if Bachmann made this or if its a fake?
Shays are supposed to go slow - I suspect that your shay has a top speed of maybe 45 mph. A typical shay ran at 5 -10 mph. As one wag commented; ‘if the ride smooths out, we probably are off the track!’ And yes, Bachmann did make the plastic 3 truck shay…
Jim Bernier
Perhaps you could join the Shay Racing Team and soup up your Shay? [:D]
Bob Boudreau
You can join my Proto 2000 and my Rivarossi Heisler. We’re going to run a race called the 100-yard Mosey.
Just how slow is your Shay? If you can, measure the scale speed, and if it is less than ,say, 30mph, you may have a problem. Check the track voltage and also check the Shay for binding. You could also measure the current draw and compare it with other locos.
HTH,
Bruce in the Peg
I can get my unmodified MDC 3-truck to 70 scale MPH forward and 40 MPH reverse. now wait till i regear it and we’ll see.
And bachmann still makes shay’s.
If its new, it probably came in the original box and packaging; this isn’t an item that somebody would go to such trouble to counterfeit. BUt you could also go to the Bachmann site and compare their images with your model.
As others say, shays were meant to go slowly and the Bachmann model (I have one, I’d say it would top out at around 30 scale mph although I haven’t run it at full throttle) faithfully re-creates the gearing which is the reason it goes so slowly.
But you’ll also find that your model shay will out-pull any conventional model steamer of similar size.
A real Shay had a top speed of 12 miles per hour, and the Bachmann Spectrum model is properly geared to run at that scale speed. The Shay, Heisler, and Climax engines were made to operate on logging and mining railroads where there were steep grades, sharp curves, and very rough track, so they all ran very slowly.
And when they were running at about 10-12 mph they sounded like something going 100mph. Loudest engine I have ever heard, esp. sitting in a gondola directly behind one climbing a steep grade; an HO version deserves a proper sound system to capture the mystique of these rugged engines.
An Oregon museum and the North Carolina Museum Transportation Railway had shays at Railfair '99 in Sacramento. The NC shay was shipped west for the show and was fresh off a rebuild. Two shays of similiar power and size. There was a challenge… There was race. There were t-shirts. NC went home with the trophy. Check this site for pictures.
http://www.daylightimages.com/trackside/fair1.html
Top speed was 18 miles per hour.