"Guess I missed that whole "Radius vs Diameter" notation...dam, it'd sure be nice to have one of these on my layout but Kevins was right the first time, Sorry Kev, sorry guys.

5' RADIUS means 10 foot diameter, so even if they make it 8 foot diameter thats still tighter than proto.. So I guess theres less than zero chance this will be anywhere remotely R1 capable...POOH!"

Vic, one way you could get around the R1 issue is to do a switching layout, using wide radius switches. A Mallet might seem a bit extreme as a switcher, but you could always say you're switching carloads of iron or lead ore (or maybe even depleted uranium!  ) that requires a loco with LOTS of tractive effort!                   

Looking forward to getting one of these myself!    (Mr. B., will it be out in time for Christmas ).                                            Tom

GREAT news!   (Just what I need as a switcher for my mine complex! ).  Going on the "shopping list" for sure.   I'd also second some other comments - this would make a GREAT starter-set locomotive!   (Should look right at home pulling or pushing a string of either the wood or V-dump 4-wheel tip cars!).                                                                       Tom

Hi Mr. B!
   Don't know if you'd remember, but I happened to mention that at the Springfield, MA show back in January that I picked up a used Large-Scale Climax (the Pardee & Curtain #6 version) there at a VERY GOOD price! 

Tried it quickly when I got back home, it ran when I applied power; since I had other "irons in the fire" & hadn't converted it to DCC yet, it sat quietly on a shelf.

Earlier today I did a bit of work on the garden railway (on vacation most of this week); we just had the roof re-shingled on our house over the last several days, so I had to strip ALL the structures off the railroad in the "drop zone" nearby.  After putting them back, I did a little trackwork on ironing out some trouble spots.  I ran a quick test train with a 2-truck Shay earlier, & all looked well.

Late at night (remember I'm a "second shift" guy ), I noticed the Climax sitting kind of "forlornly" on the shelf & decided to give it a more extensive track test.  Put it upside down in a work cradle to lube it, found a good amount of fresh grease in the gearboxes when I removed the lube plugs, so I just lubed the valve gear & put conductive lube on the pickups.  Didn't have a DC power pack immediately handy (remember I run DCC), so I grabbed a small 12 V. gel-cell battery & brought it out to the garden railroad.

When I hooked up the battery to the rails, I found out I got a REALLY good buy! - It just glided off down the track smooth & silky!   The smoke unit & all the lighting (including the "firebox flicker") worked great as well.

Since it had the original Bachmann couplers on it (& all my other rolling stock is either Kadee or Accucraft couplers), I looked for something for it to pull; noticed a couple of brand-new 4-wheel wood dump cars I had never really run earlier.  Brought them out & coupled them to the Climax, & let the short train run quietly around the railroad for about an hour.

Watching it run prompted some thinking; I know the emphasis lately has been on bigger locos the last couple of years (i.e., the 3-truck Shay, the K-27), but some really small locos would be nice too, both for those with limited layout space, & as small tight-space switchers on larger layouts.  (My original Climax now serves as a dedicated "mine switcher" on my mining branch.  ).

Accordingly, here's a few suggestions -

Do a new, "up-to-date" run of the Climax (DCC / RC-battery ready, metal gearboxes).

Produce some of the smaller prototypes from the ON30 product line in 1:20.3.    I think the little T-boiler Shay would a major hit (I know I'd go for one! ).  The tiny 0-4-0 & 0-4-2 Porters & the little 4-wheel, side-rod Davenport diesel I think would be major hits as well.

OK, lets see how many others chime in on this....    Tom

ALL SET, FINALLY! - The parts arrived Monday, just before I went to work!

It seems the "magic bullet" in getting this resolved was using the SERVICE / PARTS e-mail link, referencing this post.   I sent out the e-mail on Thursday of last week; Friday morning my cell went off just as I was waking up (working 2nd shift, I am definetly a "night person") ; at first I was wondering if the number I saw on the cell's caller ID display was a wrong number, but my curiosity got the better of me & I answered it.  It was Irv, & talking with him, we finally figured out what happened with this order.  Turns out someone else had placed a similar parts order but never got back to him with all the information - hence the confusion with my order.   Just one of those "stuff happens" things.  At any rate, I've got the parts to get both Shays running again now.  (Over the weekend I suddenly realized I had forgotten about the retainers in the middle of the Shay driveline that were still on my laid-up Pardee & Curtain #11 - they were quickly "scoffed" & trasferred to the 3-truck Shay, which was back "mashing tonnage" on the garden railway this past weekend.  Now with the new parts I should be able to get P & C #11 back up & running by next weekend.  Thanks for your help on this, Mr. B.!

                                                                                                  Tom

Still no parts or news - I've left several messages on customer service answering machines - with no replies.   Could you contact me via e-mail regarding this???                    Tom

Mr. B., any further word on this   It's been another full week, & I've $1000 worth of Shay's sitting idle for $ parts.    Tom

Thanks!  Appreciate it!   Tom

 Mr Bach-man, wonder if you could do me a favor...

A bit over 2 weeks ago, I placed (or tried to place) an order for some Large-Scale Shay parts.  If you remember the video I had posted on the 3-truck Shay shortly after it became available, a few weeks after that (about Feb. 12, 2007), the 3-truck Shay developed a serious  valve gear jam (it actually locked up the entire drive train solid! ).  I finally traced it down to a couple of small plastic parts that hold the Stephenson links against the driveline eccentrics; they had fractured & one had  gotten itself tangled in the U-joint at the front end of the engine assembly.    I had posted a detailed description of the problem on Mylargescale.com at the time, here's some pictures from it:

This first one shows the engine cylinder assembly removed from the Shay:



The second is a close-up of the broken part (I'm calling it a Stephenson link retainer); this shot is viewed from the backside of the driveshaft:


I had my oldest Shay (Pardee & Curtain #11) laid up on the bench at the time waiting for me to replace a bad DCC decoder, so the parts were 'borrowed" from it.  This restored the 3-trucker to operation; with a LOT of projects in the fire all the time, I basically forgot bout replacing the parts on the 2-trucker.

THEN, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed THIS at the end of a day of running outdoors -



Those darn little retainers (& the tiny Phillips head screws that secure them) had fallen out AGAIN!   (Although at least this time the valve gear didn't jam up).

My normal work schedule makes it a bit difficult to contact Bachmann parts dept.; but on April 18th, I had a vacation day from work, & tried calling parts to get enough of these to restore BOTH Shays back to operation.  When I first called, I was told that your large-scale Shay parts expert (I believe his name was Irv, if I remember correctly) was on another call & would get back to me.  (He did - but when he called me I was 1/2 way through a 33-mile bike ride).

I obviously DIDN'T have the part numbers with me while I was out riding - but after about 15 minutes on my cell phone at the side of the bike trail, finally got across to Irv what I needed, & that he'd send them out the following Tuesday (which should have been April 22nd).

They haven't shown up here yet    (& Massachusetts isn't THAT far from Philly! ).

I'm wondering if you could double-check for me if that order actually went out   The part #'s I got off the Shay mechanical drawings were: G811X-0YE01 for the Stephenson link retainers (my term for them)
and SCREW-10635; I had ordered at least a dozen of each, to get both Shays running again & give me a few "spares".                 Tom

 I have the DCC-&-Sound-On-Board version of the 3-Truck Shay myself; CV 128 is the master volume control. I have it set to it's maximum value (I think 256, if I remember correctly). It's NOT as loud as my Phoenix 2K2 & P5 sound boards, but loud enough that I consider it acceptable; I live in a very densely-populated neighborhood, am on good terms with the neighbors (they LOVE watching the trains!), so I try NOT to emulate the teenagers with the 130 db. "boom cars"!

If your DCC system has "program on the main" capability, you do NOT need a special "programming booster" to adjust this CV.

As the System comes, the exhaust rate is way to slow for a Shay, so you may also want to adjust CV116 (Auto Exhaust rate) to it's maximum value of 255. This will give a believable fast Shay exhaust rate.

Here's a video of mine in action...(running on DCC - which is why the smoke is so great as well!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9m0LUCJ0g

                                                                                                    Tom

Here's the conversion information direct from the Kadee website...

http://www.kadee.com/conv/b460bh.htm

You can use either the #791 (G-scale) or #1791 (#1-scale); the only difference is the physical size of the coupler knuckle.  The #1 coupler is slightly smaller, & a little closer to true scale; BUT the smaller size may make it more likely to "slip by" if you have any vertical grade transisitions, causing unwanted uncoupling.   The "G-scale" size (which is what I use) is larger & MUCH better  in that regard, IMHO!

I have a couple of "YouTube" videos online giving demonstrations of Kadee use in Large Scale; my "Part 2" video specifically shows using Kadees to double-head an Annie (in my case, with a Bachmann Spectrum "Centennial" Mogul").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j4JCtZ_XM8

& here's Part 2, which includes the "Annie"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYgHRMKdBU

Enjoy!                                                                                      Tom

PS - One caution is that the standard heights for Kadee's are HIGHER than the stock Bachmann couplers on the "Big Hauler" series (such as the "Annies"); a "work-around" for this is to convert ONE end of a car to Kadee, & leave the stock Bachmann coupler on the other end.  This would permit you to still pull stock "Big Hauler" equipment.   The newer "Spectrum" 1:20.3 cars (such as the 2 Bachmann hopper cars I'm using in the switching demo) have the Bachmann couplers already AT standard Kadee height, & a Kadee #830 is a straight "drop-in" installation into the Bachmann draft gear box.  On these cars, the Bachmann couplers WILL mate with the Kadees without modification.

Here's a couple of photos of the one I'm building...







These were taken shortly after I had finished basic construction last year; some of it is "subject to change"   (I may be moving the location of the water tower for instance).  Ballasting is planned for this spring, soon as I can find a suitable source of crusher fines or decomposed granite.  I may also enlarge it a bit, as the stub tracks will currently hold only my SMALLEST  engines!
                                                                                                        Tom

Actually, Jim, I'm surprised the idea didn't occur to me earlier either.  Over the years, if I needed multi-pin connectors for a project, I usually "defaulted" to Molex connectors; inexpensive, available in a wide variety of configurations, & polarized, and readily available at the nearest Radio Shack.  (I've had at least a couple of RC planes flying for years using the Molex plugs & sockets as multiple-servo connectors on wings, where I'm typically dealing with 2 ~ 4 servos; they've been VERY reliable!). 

Unfortunately, they're isn't that much room to play with in the Shay, and most of the Molex plugs are way too big to be easily used here. Also, Radio Shack is becoming next to useless as a parts source (they're not even carrying small parts any longer in mall stores! ) - they're pretty much just catering to the MP3-player & cell-phone (perhaps "SELL-phone" would be a more appropriate description! ) market these days....

I had also looked at a lot of electronic parts vendors online; most of what I was finding on connectors was of questionable usefulness, & / or didn't meet one or more of my "specs".

Having been a ham radio operator & electronic tinkerer for decades , I've got a substancial electronic parts stash, & started raiding that for ideas.  I had gone as far as salvaging an 8-pin header & short wiring harness out of a scrapped disk drive, but the header WASN'T polarized, & the wires seemed a bit stiff for this application.  The phone wires & sockets I used were actually the cut-off ends of 2 phone extension wire sets - I think I may have paid something like $1 EACH for them at an electronics flea market years ago!

I should warn anyone thinking of trying this that soldering to that Bachmann printed circuit board is NOT for the inexperienced!   - I used to do this sort of thing all day at work, but my current job has me handing off anything I troubleshoot to a separate department (for the actual soldering - a lot of the current techniques are becoming VERY specialized!), so even I'm a bit rusty.   (Mid-50's eyesight isn't helping either  - I used to have close-up vision sharp as a laser, now I use a pair of cheap reading glasses to help whenever I work on something like this!).  Took me the better part of a day to document the original wiring fully, make up a chart corresponding the color codes of the phone wires to the original Bachmann harness, then do the actual rewire.  I also Dremeled a larger rectangular opening in the tender floor to accomodate  the new jacks; they're hot-glued to the inside of the tender floor.

                                                                                                            Tom

 I've LOVED the pulling power of my Bachmann 3-Truck Shay!

-but HATED  that miserably-fragile that miserably-fragile loco-tender wiring harness from almost "Day 1"!

-Within a week of when I got it, one of the wires going from the loco to the tender connector broke loose from it's header pin.  I had (VERY carefully!) removed the tiny female pin from the header, pulled a little extra "slack" out from the Bachmann printed-circuit board in the loco , & resoldered it.

-For several months, all was OK, until I went to use the 3-trucker for snow-plowing this past winter; bringing it out from the house, I found that SAME wire broken again, & 2 others ready to let go as well!

-At that point, I decided I'd had it with the original header, & decided to see if I could come up with something more reliable, since I have to disconnect the loco & tender to carry them out to garden railroad or back into the house.

-I did have a few "specs" I wanted the new connector to meet:
-easy to insert & remove...
-gold-plated contacts for reliable connections...
-solid "clamping" of the cable jacket (to prevent MORE broken wires!)...
-readily available & inexpensive

Here's what I came up with - conventional modular telephone plugs & jacks!







The new wires were soldered directly to the Bachmann PCB in the fuel bunker section of the loco...



And since the white jacket on the wires didn't look too realistic, I got busy with a black "Marks-A-Lot" marker...









I ran it outdoors last weekend; no problems, & now it's EASY to separate the loco & tender!  We'll see how well it holds up long term (has to be better than that original header)!   (Hint, hint, Bach-man!)

                                                                                                         Tom

DUH! I just had second thoughts on that!  - Just realized that rather than OPPOSITELY polarized LED's, they would be polarized in the SAME direction!  Greg's right - if it's that style, "you CANT get here from there"!  (Must've been having a "senior" (tech) moment! ).            Tom

QuoteWrong type! You want one with 2 diodes hooked in parallel in opposite polarities, total of 2 leads.

You have ones with a common cathode (or anode).

You basically "cannot get there from here".

Actually, Greg, there may be a way for him to "get there from here" with a 3-lead LED. 

Assuming that the common lead is EITHER anode or cathode, if the OUTER 2 leads are tied together, that would effectively give him a "bipolar" LED (just in a slightly less convienient package!).  

You'll still need a dropping resistor, as Greg recommended.  If you have a "spec sheet" on the LED showing it's maximum recommended current drain, & know what the maximum voltage output of your power pack is (a digital voltmeter - "DVM" - is the most accurate way to determine that), you can use Ohm's law to calculate the value of the dropping resistor.  Subtract 1.2 volts (the typical voltage drop through an LED) from your maximum power supply voltage, then divide that voltage number by the LED's max current rating in Amps (it's probably rated in milliamps - "ma."   so that would probably be in the order of a milliamp or so -".001 amp").  That will give you a "ballpark" value for your dropping resistor in Ohms.  If the figure is over 1000 ohms, that would be "Kilo Ohms" (K).  Using 12 VDC as an example there, subtract 1.2 v. = 10.8 V.  Divide that by your LED's max current rating (let's use 1 ma - .001 amp - as an example). That gives us a resistor value of 10,800 ohms, or 10.8 K.  Use that calculated value as a "starting point" for your dropping resistor, with the closest common value you could find (probably 10K).  Go up or down slightly in value from there if you want a brighter or dimmer LED, just try to stay within the max current limits or you will have a VERY bright LED for a VERY short time!

                                                                                                       Tom