I have two, new from dealer. 44 tonners with DCC.  They both have the open bottom gear covers, ( 5 gears ).  Of the 8 axles involved, 6 were split on arrival.  Gear portion of axle was fine in all cases.  Only clue was wheel gage would widen out, causing derailments after awhile.  Sent letter to Bachmann advising of problem.  No response, 3 mos. 

Solution.  As gears were fine, and locos ran great, I figured if I could keep axles in place, and in gage, no problem.
                I used a Loctite product, in small blue tube from Ace hardware.  The product does not cure rock hard, and
                allows it to be pulled apart with some slight force.  It has held the axles in place perfectly.

These locos ran exceptionally smooth right from the factory. I have since upgraded them with Tsunami2 DCC & sound.
Freakin" awsome!  I installed TSU1100 w/dual Catipillar engines, Current Keeper, and RailMaster sugar cube speaker.  Motor control is phenominal (?), sound accuracy and fidelity will blow you away.  These are now first class locos!

Don't give up on them, especially if they are newer production run.

Another item to check for is the universal ring and cross yoke.  The ring will sometimes elongate, or crack at one of the holes (90 degrees from each other). This lets the slip shaft move laterally, allowing it to fall out of the receiving shaft very easily. The neoprene ring collar is very delicate. It can be hard to see, but check to make sure all four pins of the yoke are seated in their respective holes in the ring collar.  Dave

B'mann support stated the 2md page of EZ Command instructions contains listing of "supported CVs".  I don't know if this a simplistic listing for any board not listed separately or not.  I will be testing CVs to see if there are "hidden CVs" not shown on listing but that actually function.

My 2 brand new 44s have 5 gears.  Very quiet.  Extreme slow speed capable, less than 1 MPH !!  They top out at about 30 MPH, just slightly higher than prototype.  They have DCC motor boards factory installed. Don't stall on my
Peco insulfrog either.  Hurrah!

Does anyone have the listing of CVs for the 2016 release of GE44Ton switcher.
I checked Bachmann site, Soundtraxx site, several forums, no luck.
In fact, the Bachmann and Soundtraxx sites do not even show these units.
They are brand new, from LHS, with all documentation, etc. 
No CV listings.  Great running engines, I bought 2.

Mkepler - here is a link to a terrific set of dis-assembly photos for the Shay.  http://gearedsteam.blogspot.ca/2012/06/bachmann-spectrum-shay-disassembly.html.

The dcc board will go inside the articulated tender, the sugar cube speaker will go in the main tender, facing forward.  This puts most of the sound closer to the "source", as you will be observing this unit close-up a lot.

If this unit was not ready for dcc, you have your work cut out for you.  My unit had facrory dcc installed,  and it is
not an easy unit to work on. 

With the sound installed,  these engines are a thing of beauty!   Good lluck,  Dave

I have two Mogul types, 2-6-0.  One of them had a Bachmann DCC/Sound board that had the same outputs as you describe.  They are indeed to drive a "smoke" unit.  My Moguls did not have a smoke unit.  The space for it was taken up with the boiler weight from the factory.  I am assuming the board was a "generic" to be used across several products.  I have seen some 0-6-0 locos with DCC & smoke, as a train set.  What was even stranger, the Mogul actually had all the wiring up to the front of the boiler, as if a smoke unit was there!  These were original, factory new units.  Go figure.  Dave

Hello John,  The Shay is indeed a great model.  
1-When you say "new", do you mean new as from factory, or new to you?  
2-If the later, how old do you think it is?
3- Also, the top speeds for the prototype were in the 10 to 12mph range.  This is about 20 secs per 5 ft of HO track. Does it make a whine at those kinds of speed?  
5-The gear set is a compound reduction, the secondary set turns at a very slow rpm.  Can't see as this would cause a "whine".  
6-That only leaves the motor, as was suggested earlier.  
7-To get to the motor, the boiler and cab must come off.  Been there, done that.  Not pleasant!  
8-The screw "in the hole" should have been a Phillips type.  Looks like someone was in there before.  
9-I found the gear set-to-ashpan clearance was too tight, causing very slight growl.  I used .005" shims on the cylinder side of the ashpan only, to relieve this.  Much better. The ashpan provides the other half of the bearing for the secondary gears.
If the whine is not too bothersome at the protoype speeds,  and unless you enjoy working on watches,  I'd leave it alone for now.  If the whine gets worse,  then you'll have to bite the bullet and dive in.  If you have to dis-assemble it, post again and I'll post my notes on my dis-assembly.  Good Luck, Dave

203 - Thank you for the video link.  Pic and music terrific.  I'm happy to inform you, you are stuck in the romance of the past, just like a lot of us.  See you around.  Dave

Hope they mfgr enough full truck spares so everyone with the plastic gears can change over quickly.  It would also be nice if the newer trucks were a straight swap.  I think a MSRP around $25-$30 would not be unreasonable.  Mr. Yardmaster, can you pass this along to the people in charge of these kind of things?  Thanks.

Kslrr - this from my post earlier in 2015: Personal Message (Online)    
   
70Ton 3 truck Shay gears
« on: January 13, 2015, 01:21:47 AM »    Reply with quote Modify message Remove message
Just replaced broken gears on my Shay, early production w/factory DCC&Sound.  Received parts on the morning of the 3rd business day!  Impressed.  What a value for the dollar.  The "parts" I ordered were side frames, gears, shafting - or so I thought.  What I got for $10 each, was a fully assembled side frame ready to screw onto the truck bolster.  It even had the correct slip joints and universals already installed.  Just a point of information, my Shay gave no evidence of cracked gears, it ran flawlessly.  After reading another posting, I got curious, and sure enough, 4 out of 6 gears were cracked.  I bought 3 sets, I don't think I'll be around for the change over of the third set!  Anyone with these Shays and cracked gears, don't hesitate to get the B'mann side frames.
As I noted in a post on another forum, same user name, the trucks are v-e-r-y finicky when being put back together. 
You must make sure the flexible universal rings have not been dislodged from the shaft universal pins.  Very difficult to see this.
I also just tighten  the frame side screws very gently, just enough to hold the frame, and then put a bit of Walthers
goo to make sure it does not come loose.  The frame can actually find it's own position to run smoothly.
The new gears appear to have more beef to the hub area so they may resist cracking.  Time will tell.  Good luck.

My 1 year old S4 switcher was loosing 60% of it's original traction in one direction, and about 40% loss in the other direction.  Still ran smooth as silk.  My track is absolutely clean, as are all my loco wheels.  I was looking for a cause that would be dependent on direction.  It also only manifested itself when pulling several cars vs. only a couple.  Disassembled loco.  Couplings, shafting, worm gear all perfect & tight.  Gears all seemed OK.  Put a screw driver blade against teeth on first gear (next to worm), and pushed truck along.  I noticed the second gear down from the worm was jumping teeth.  Rotating wheels (with worm disconnected), all gears appeared perfect. No cracks, no damaged teeth, no dirt).  I did noticed one of the "pin" type gear shafts was not even with the outside of the truck's gear case.  Out about 1/32". Pushed the shaft in so both ends were flush with outside of gear case.  Problem solved.  These shafts are only retained by "force fit" into the gear case. Upon running the loco again, I noticed the very slight gear grumble the loco always had, one direction only, was now gone.  The sound system was masking this clue.

Apparently the wall thickness of the gear case does not allow for any movement of the gear pin axles before it causes problems with gear mesh.

This problem would apply to S2 and S4 models as they share same truck assembly.  Just thought this might be useful to others with these engines. 

They are real smooth running models.

Marty - I have the same model Shay, and have replaced driveline kits several times.  One thing I have not seen mentioned is the "neoprene" like universal ring(s).  These are where all the action takes place as the trucks swivel.  They are extremely delicate.  It is very easy to have one of the pins on a u joint slip out of it's hole in the ring.  This can be very difficult to see.  Even harder is to get it back into the hole, and stay there.  If this condition exists. the Shay will perform fine on straight track, and even OK on some curves.  On other curves not so good.  This will also cause binding, and I have seen it lift a truck off the rail, without stopping the engine.  I have since replaced all the rings with new ones, which seen to be a little more firm and slightly beefed up.  Check it out.  Good Luck,  Dave

I think the problem with speed is the perception of speed at a distance.  Ever looked at a train about 1 mile away?  It seems as if it was crawling, yet it actually was going 45 mph.  It's worse on a model railroad.  The smaller the scale, the worse the effect. 
Another pet peeve I have is with not allowing time for the essentials to take place.
 
Example, who was magically in position ahead of the train, ( doing 30 mph in the yard), to throw that turnout?  Real life, hopefully brakeman was on the lead car, train slows and stops well clear of turnout,  brakeman walks to turnout, unlocks and throws bar, train restarts slowly, brakeman climbs on.  Train accelerates to desired speed.  This all takes time.

Dropping a car.  Train slows and stops.  Brakeman demounts and walks to coupling.  Maybe has to have loco push in slack.  If any doubt of car rolling away, he has to climb aboard car and set handbrake.  Oh yeah, handbrake is at far end of car.  Then he has to get back to loco/car that will depart.  This all takes time. 

Picking up a car at factory.  Brakeman must find responsible person to make sure car is ready to leave, especially tankers, hoppers.  This can take a lot of time. Then usual procedures take place. 

Brakeman was at one end of train to do work.  Train traveling away from that work needs a turnout thrown.  He has to walk all the way from far end of train to the area he is needed at.  More time.

Just how long does it take to fill up the tender with water?  15 seconds?  I doubt it.

Just when was the last time the sand domes/boxes were filled?  Coal?  Fuel oil?   And so it goes . . .

My small layout actually seems quite large because I allow for all these events to take place.  Yes, it gives me a chance to sip coffee/beer (yeah I know, against regs), check paper work, plan my next move, etc.  Just like on the real railroad. 

Sometimes I get impatient, deal with it.

UP4014, Matt - I operated a marina for several years and we had "pole buildings" for storing boats.  If any item is not "hermetically" sealed,  the moisture in the spring was guaranteed to start mold/mildew, especially if it had a concrete floor.  A more climate controlled area would be best.

PS. I'm sending an email to you on the personal matter.  I'll subject as "pole building"