New to the board, but haven't been able to find anything about the capability of the On30 Shay models to climb. Some books record some Shays as climbing 10 percent or better slopes. I think that would make an interesting model, especially with zig-zag like at Cass or Roaring Camp in Felton, CA, but the model would have to be able to handle the grade. Any info?
As a long time user of bachmann Shays I can telllyou they will work on gradients far in excess of the'Real' thing
Sugesst you may want to try a shay on a plank of wood with some track laid on it and gradually increase the gradient... you may be pleasantly surprised.
Just one word of caution regarding Shays and slopes. They go UP the grades beautifully, but they get a bit herky-jerky on the downslope due to the backlash in the drivetrains. If you keep the speed up, it doesn't look bad. However, if I wanted to highball around a layout I would have bought a diesel....or just a Lionel. ::)
This jerky motion on the downslopes is one reason I was so keen on the Heisler. It exhibits none of that.
I might point out that the backlash issue is not limited to the Shays. I've seen a lot of regular rod engine models from different manufacturers that exhibit the same problem In the case of steam locos with "conventional" drives (motor with worm attached or into a gearbox) the issue can usually be corrrected by inserting thrust washers to elminiate the back-and-forth movement of the motor/gear shaft.
The above mentioned downward performance issue can be corrected by adjustment of some CVs, I will check what these are and post later, unless someone has the info to hand?