Shay speed

[siemer]

Is there any way to increase the speed of my Bachmann On30 Shay?  It's brand new and it's a great little chugger and I know it's not supposed to be a highballer.  But still, it could use a few more mph if there's any way to do that.  Not talking speed steps here but just out and out velocity.  Thanks.

[Tomcat]

Siemer,

give it a bit of time to break in. Give it a good lubrication - and allow some time.
But please keep in mind, Shays were never racehorses...

Cheers, Tom

[steinked]

Siemer,

Ephraim Shay developed the geared engine we know by his name to allow the use of railroad technology for all year logging transport on steep gradients, narrow curves, roughly laid track with high tractive power. Speed has never been on demand. As the Bachman model Shays have a genuine Shay drive, they follow the prototypical specifications. With their slow runing ability, they are perfect for shunting, logging or mining purposes. Be happy that they are not running fast. There are other models like the Forney, the Americans or the new Ten Wheeler, which are much more suitable for fast services.

Kind Regards Dieter

[vroc3349]

If you want to see Shays running at close to top speed, there are plenty of film clips available on youtube.  15 MPH was close to top end.

vroc3349

[Jim Banner]

Fifteen miles per hour in 1/48 scale.  I make that about 5.5 real inches per second or about 27 smph in H0.  I just ran my 0n30 Shay past an H0 speedometer at 27 H0 smph and it looked like the engineer had over imbibed as was in a hurry to get to a pit stop.

Last time I rode behind a Shay it took over an hour to travel 11 miles at what seemed a comfortable pace.  Call it 3.5 inches per second in 0n30.  It wasn't that the young lady at the throttle was afraid to go faster.  She was just being a responsible hogger and taking it easy on the old lady in her charge.

I suspect that in times gone by, running a Shay on poorly laid, unballasted track even a 10 mph was excessive.

Jim

[Hamish K]

In Queensland, Australia the 2 foot gauge Mapleton Tramway operated 2 small Shays on its mixed passenger and freight services. The timetable allowed one and half hours for the downhill run and two and a quarter hours for the uphill journey. The distance was eleven miles each way.

Also in Queensland, Australia the 30 inch gauge Buderim Tramway had a Shay as well as a German 0-6-2 tank loco. Both were used on its mixed services. The distance was just over seven miles and the journey took 50 minutes.

This gives some idea of the speed of Shays in service. Note that as these were scheduled mixed (passenger and freight) services they are likely to have been faster than Shays in mining or timber service. To my mind the Bachmann Shay is quite fast enough!

Hamish

[Jim Banner]

You might want to consider having some spare parts on hand before running your Shay at 20 volts - perhaps everything below the ring on the top of the smoke stack would be enough.

I have speculated elsewhere that the problems with gears in H0 Shays might be from running them at rod locomotive speeds.  The gears in the 0n30 Shay are more robust but I still wouldn't want to punish them with excessive speeds.

Jim

[El Loco]

Absolutely dont over load the shay!    The gears are not designed to take harsh abuse as weight & torque are concerned!