Funny you should mention dirty wheels.  I was reattaching the part that hangs behind the front coupler.  Similar to a bumper on a car.  Anyway I turned the shay over to glue it back on and I noticed a large amount of hair on the running gear.  I cleaned everything with a camel's hair brush.  If that doesn't help, it sure won't hurt.  I keep my shay lubed, but I never thought about keeping it clean.

Jim

My three-truck shay is running pretty well, but the jerking motion is noticeable on a 6.25% grade.  Any easy fixes?  The problem isn't bad enough to warrant any major disassembly.

Quote from: EL PARRo on May 31, 2008, 01:43:31 AM
I've got a section of track on my layout with a 15" radius. My Spectrum 0-6-0T handles it well, but my 3-truck Shay derails. I think a 18" radius would be suitable for the Shay. My Rivarossi 2-truck Heisler handles it like a champ, though. The rest of my layout has 24" radius curves, so I can run pretty much whatever I want, though my biggest locomotive at the moment is a Spectrum Light Mountain.

You have the same locos as me, except my 0-6-0T is an MDC.  My shay handles an 18-inch radius, but if I were making a new layout, I'd use 22-inch.