Shay Question

[Trains Again]

Can the Bachmann Large Scale 2 Truck and 3 Truck Shay take any radius?

[Matthew (OV)]

I have two of the original two truck Shays.  They ran without complaint on ~2.5 foot radius (The LGB R-2) curves for quite some time.  They have been known to negotiate 2 foot radius curves (LGB R-1) though they're not entirely happy doing so, and depending on whether the curve is to the left or the right, there's a risk of something in the driveline binding or catching sometimes, on some engines.

This is a picture of SCRY #4 on the old railroad, coming out of a 2.5 foot radius curve.  Notice the angle that the rear truck has with respect to the chassis.


My railroad now has a 5+ foot minimum radius, and the Shay is much happier, and looks a great deal better.

[Trains Again]

So your saying that it may not work very well on R-1 Curves?

[Steve Stockham]

It certainly won't look great on R1 curves (what does?) but it does navigate them. Now, your question was about Shays and you didn't specify whether you were talking about the two-truck or three-truck versions. There is a caveat: If you have a three-truck Shay and you want to run on R1 curves (again, not very good looking IMHO) then you must not try and run it close coupled. If you do you could damage the engine.
  If you aren't sure what I'm referring to then check out some of the other threads about the three truck Shay on this forum. Suffice to say that if you want to run tight curves then you will need to couple as far away as the drawbar will allow.

[Trains Again]

I was thinking more in terms of the 2 Truck Shay.

[Tom Lapointe]

If you're talking just the 2-truck Shay, using truck mounted couplers (the way it comes), no problem operating on R1 (24" radius, 4" diameter) curves.   As Steve mentioned, though, it looks better on larger.                 Tom