Status of my parts order

[Tom Lapointe]

 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

[the Bach-man]

Hi, Tom-
I'll see what I can find out...
Best,
the Bach-man

[Tom Lapointe]

Thanks!  Appreciate it!   Tom

[Tom Lapointe]

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

[the Bach-man]

Hi Tom-
I'll try again Monday...
the Bach-man

[Tom Lapointe]

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

[the Bach-man]

Hi, Tom-
I thought this was done- I'll be in touch.
the B

[Tom Lapointe]

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

[the Bach-man]

Dear Tom,
Outstanding!
the Bach-man