"HOn3 ROUNDHOUSE 2-TRUCK 3-CYLINDER SHAY QUESTION"

[nambo]

Hi, does anyone know if the HOn3 2 truck 3 cylinder shay made by Roundhouse Models, has any cab interior detail (if so what is it), is the motor located in the boiler of the locomotive or in the tender (if motor is in tender does the drive shaft go straight across the loco's cab floor in towards the boiler or is the drive shaft concealed under the cab floor out of sight), does ALL of the gearing on the shay work and is this locomotive a smooth and quiet runner?

Also, if anyone has any photos of one of these HOn3 Roundhouse shays I would very much like to see them especially close up detail shots of cab, motor and gearing.

Thanks guys!

[cjcrescent]

The geartower sticks up into the cab. As does some of the motor. I have seen a partial interior done in a standard gauge MDC shay, but most of it was "suggested" as there is very little room for those kind of details.

Most model shays, with a few exceptions, are anything but quiet. The MDC can be made into an extremely smooth runner, (full re-gear set from NWSL), but I have never seen or been able to build a quiet one.

[tomikawaTT]

Prototype shays were not quiet! If the gears had worn even a little bit, they clattered even when well smeared with grease. Add in the exhaust if the engine was working, and you could hear them coming for half a kilometer.

Got a really close-up look at the gears of a 28 ton, 30 inch gauge shay at one of the switchbacks on the Alishan Forestry Railway on Taiwan. Lots of grease, and still sounded like a kid dragging a stick along a picket fence.

Chuck

[cjcrescent]

Chuck ;
What I like is to be out of sight of one, hear it coming and it sounds like a steamer moving at 50 or 60mph, and when it does finally come into view, you can walk faster than its rolling.

[Medina1128]

Yeah, I've heard that the prototype was only good for 10 mph, tops! So, I can only imagine what a model one sounds like. Even without sound, they STILL make scaled down noise.

[nambo]

I have just received an e-mail from a guy who is selling that MDC HOn3 shay and he says.....

"The motor is located in the tender but then moves through into the cab also, the drive shaft is located underneath the loco and just took it for a run and its a bit in between with the noise levels"

So cjcrescent, you said..... "The geartower sticks up into the cab. As does some of the motor"......so do different releases of this model have the motor in the boiler (I'am getting confused with where the motor is here), or is the motor in some releases in the tender.

So, which release has the motor sticking up into the cab? (I'am so confused now!)

[Anonymous]

I have one of the original HO two truck Shays, and it is NOISY! I assumed at first it was the motor making the noise, but when I took it apart for some reason and disconnected the motor from the drivetrain, it was quiet. So its all of those plastic gears that transmit the power to the trucks that are making the noise. I also have a Bachmann HO 3-truck Shay, and it is really quiet. The side gears on it actually drive the model, so there's no large gearing to make the noise.

You get what you pay for.

Bob Boudreau

[cjcrescent]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nambo

I have just received an e-mail from a guy who is selling that MDC HOn3 shay and he says.....

"The motor is located in the tender but then moves through into the cab also, the drive shaft is located underneath the loco and just took it for a run and its a bit in between with the noise levels"

So cjcrescent, you said..... "The geartower sticks up into the cab. As does some of the motor"......so do different releases of this model have the motor in the boiler (I'am getting confused with where the motor is here), or is the motor in some releases in the tender.

So, which release has the motor sticking up into the cab? (I'am so confused now!)

Nambo;

Most of the IS located in the tender. The gear tower to the center drive shafts are located in the cab area, which in a shay even the prototype, is relatively small. The drive that MDC uses in the shay consists of a motor with a gear onit connected to a large gear, called a bull gear. This gear then connects to drive shafts that are connected to the trucks. The external gearing on the MDC is simply along for the ride.