Don't overlook that ANY Shay will work better travelling around the track clockwise - that way the drive shafts are not tempted to pull out.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: the Bach-man on January 27, 2015, 10:40:31 PM
Love it!
the Bach-man

Thank you, Sir!  Of course, without the Bachmann car it likely wouldnt have happened, but I lucked in on the three-car deal for a great price and couldn't say no.

Hmmmm, means I still have two spare..................what next, I wonder?

And where did I put those coffee stirrers?

Best to all 

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

mrs tac gave me a couple of hundred Starbucks coffee stirrers from the last coffee morning she helped run in town, so I thought I'd build something that doesn't exist in model form in this scale - a Fn3 MoW van based on a stake-sided flatcar.

http://youtu.be/H0SnLjqoEqM

Wojja think?

The dirty bit happens later this week if the Creek don't rise etc.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: Yardmaster on December 23, 2014, 07:04:24 PM
There are no plans to rerun the K-27 at this time.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Beautiful job, Jerry.  Good to see you over here, too!

Best

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: armorsmith on December 22, 2014, 12:31:28 AM
TAC,
Please re-read my post, I did not recommend any 'BRAND' of dual rail bender, simply the purchase of one if tight curves were to be accomplished with flex track.
Bob C.

Point taken, thank you.  I can't find prices right now, but even the defunct [?] Aristocraft version was around the two-hundred dollar mark, when it was readily available.

tac

Quote from: armorsmith on December 19, 2014, 01:13:30 PM
As best I can tell, your brass options are:

USA Trains makes 5 foot diameter and 8 foot diameter circles and flex track

Train-Li markets flex track

Piko makes  5 foot diameter

Bachman does 5 foot diameter and 8 foot diameter

Flex track is somewhat of a misnomer in that for large radius it can be bent just like the prototype, push it over and secure it to the sub roadbed. For tighter curves, in the range you are looking to achieve, you will need to purchase a rail bender (highly recommend a dual rail bender, where both rails are bend at the same time).

Hope this helps.

Bob C.

Hmmm.  Two little problems with recommending flexi-track:

1.  It has to be cut and joined, not just bent.

2.  The Train-li dual track bender that you recommend prolly costs a deal more than the trainset.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: Yardmaster on December 17, 2014, 09:26:28 AM
Bachmann's ties are similar in color and are a bit more "refined" than the Aristo ties. They are a bit more "American" than the European Narrow Gauge look of LGB/Aristo. When you connect them the difference is not very noticeable.

LGB track is deliberately made to look like narrow-gauge track - rough-grained rail ties, and wider spacing than that usually seen on standard-gauge track.  AristoCraft made TWO different tie spacing trackbed pieces - one closely-spaced to replicate standard gauge in 1/29th scale, and the other to replicate the wider European spacing - suitable for most any other scale except the British 2ft stuff, although it doesn't look too bad...

Since I've not seen any of the Bachmann brass track here in UK, I can't make any comment about it.

tac

Quote from: dave2-8-0 on December 10, 2014, 10:21:07 PM
I will also suggest that you goto www.Largescalecentral.com and do some learning,  reading, asking and tap into the knowledge  base of those that will freely share. 

Definitely a site worth joining - I should know. 

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
www.largescalecentral.com

Quote from: Tom Lapointe on December 06, 2014, 11:01:29 PM
I'd like to see the little On30 T-boiler Shay done in 1:20.3.  Since it's based on a smaller prototype than the "36" & "38" ton Shays, would be nice for switching in tight places.     I have a live-steam one - the Accucraft Mich-Cal #2, which is a beautiful running live steamer  - but unfortunately, it doesn't have insulated wheelsets like my 3-cylinder Accucraft Shay, so it doesn't "play nice"  with the Bachmann "sparkies". 

                                                                                                                                                                                    Tom

This.

tac
OVGRS.org

Leopold and all the K5 railroad guns ran on standard gauge track - 4ft 8.5in.  The nearest gauge/scale to that is Gauge 1, which is 1/32nd scale, and runs on 45mm gauge track.

So if you have any 45mm gauge track, as commonly called 'G Scale' then the model will run on it, providing that you widen the distance between the wheels to make it so.

However, having built the model about three years ago, it's going to be VERY hard to do it unless you have the use and skillset to operate a small lathe and remake the axles, as well as widening the many trucks of the model to accommodate them.

Sorry.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: aspoz on December 03, 2014, 06:50:33 PMAs indicated above, most of us do not leave our locos outside in anything more than a very light shower although they will run OK in quite heavy rain, but then need the cleaning noted above.  

About ten years ago, one of my non-Bachmann locos, a diesel, was accidentally energised, run out of its covered siding onto the mainlne via a spring-loaded switch, and ran, along with its little five-car and caboose trains, for 24 days without being noticed [this is UK, right?].

When we got back, my wife asked me how I'd managed to have a 'welcoming train' running around before we'd even gotten through the front door.

It was covered with birdie poo and assorted air-carried grime and so on, but a dismantling and vigourous cleaning session had it looking just like new.  I had to replace the two traction tires [disappeared] and the pick-up slides [worn through], and that was it.

Still runs as sweet as a sweet-running thing, too.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

...and get a decent-sized power supply, too.  10A should do you fine, but the unit you get with a train set is really only just enough for the included track.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: mickeykelley on November 28, 2014, 03:28:51 PM
Kevin, over past year or so I've been looking ahold pics, etc of various logging enterprises and seems to me like I've seen 2 truck Shays with more logging cars than 10-12. Same for minning cars. Not that I can remember the pic but seems like a fare number more. Now I'm curious and will be more observant on it in future as a matter of curiosity.

Couple of things to bear in mind here - ALL geared locos, be they Shay, Climax or Heisler - have ALL those little wheels driven by a VERY high revving geared drive.  Typical Shay drive ratios are in the order of 3 to 3.5 to 1.  That is to say, three revolutions of the crankshaft moves the wheels just one revolution.  Plus those wheels are typically very small by comparison with a rod-driven engine with its 1 to 1 power stroke, even given that there are two cylinders working 90 degrees out of phase.

Some Shays were built to work in conditions that were a real trial even for a Shay, and Lima/Portland Iron and Steel who built them, used to fix that little problem in two ways -

1.  Add another driven truck - or even, in the case of the Western Maryland Shays - TWO trucks, and

2,  Increased the gear ratio to 4 - 4.5 to 1.

Rod-driven locomotives went a way to fixing the traction problem by making their drive wheels smaller, and increasing the stroke and cylinder dimensions as much as possible within engineering limits.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

Quote from: TrainRok on November 27, 2014, 01:52:04 PM
My wife just gave me permission to install large scale track hanging from the ceiling around the first floor of our house. This would be several hundred feet of track and quite a bit of some kind of elevated or hanging track support. Can you recommend books or other resources that will help me figure out power requirements, tips and tricks, where to get custom track ceiling hangers, and so forth?

'Several hundred feet'?   

Be rich.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS