Mickey,

Since you have both the new trucks and the old trucks is there any way you can tell the difference between the old style and new style???  I know the new metal ones have the lube plugs, but did the old ones?? 

Bill

H wraujr,

Back in the day the street price for the 36 ton 2 truck Shay was $398.  I have seen some on Evilbay for $350 that look fairly good, but say nothing about truck replacement. I would not hesitate to ask the seller if the trucks were replaced.  You might get lucky and the trucks were replaced but the seller does not know it.  I you bought at $350 and added replacement trucks at $235, I would say $535 total price would not be out of line.

But ..... Be darn careful, and if there are missing parts that are critical make sure replacement parts are available. I have made some mistakes in the past and even tho there were many pictures missed some missing parts.  Never be afraid of asking the seller for additional photos.

Take Care

Bill

HI Guys,

36 Ton Shay
81198  Ely-Thomas      Catalog 1996-1998 1st Bachmann Spectrum locomotive
81199  Undecorated      Catalog 1997-1998
81196  Pardee & Curtin  Catalog 1998-1998 updated with more detail early
81197  Undecorated      Catalog 1998-1998
The 36 ton Shays were out of the catalog by 1999. When Bachmann took a product out of the catalog it meant the item had sold out and were no longer available at the Bachmann Warehouse.  Some were still at retail dealers but you generally had to hunt down what you wanted.
 
Bachmann was battered by the crumbling truck problem with these locomotives and did not rerun any of them.

38 Ton Shay Bachmann
These locomotives first appeared in the 2004 with much fanfare and the new all metal power trucks were on all of these.  2004 was also when the all metal power truck became available as a separate item.

82194 West Side           Catalog 2004-2005 
82195 Ritter lumber       Catalog 2004-2007
82196 Oregon Lumber       Catalog 2004-2007
82197 Ely-Thomas          Catalog 2004-2006
82198 Unlettered Red cab  Catalog 2004-2007  modern version as opposed to 81196 and 81197
82199 Unlettered Black    Catalog 2004-2007  modern version as opposed to 81196 and 81197

1996 to 2011 were heady days and clearly he golden years of 1:20.3 locomotives and rolling stock at Bachmann. The Heislers, Climax, and Davenport locomotives were all released by then. Three truck shays were coming out along with the K-27 2-6-6-2 Mallet. 

I could not keep up with things financially and envied those who could buy one of just about everything.

The bottom line How many were made. Dang if I know because Bachmann never kept records or would not release them to me. This by the way is why in some cases Product numbers were reused or out of sequence.  All you will get is my SWAG.

So here we gooooo!

36 Ton Shay  My SWAG is 8000-9000 made. While widely popular with us foamers it was a disaster financially for Bachmann. The faulty truck problem impacted sales of the follow on 81196 and 81197. When you check on Ebay for shays you will find a lot of 36 Ton Shays on offer so you have to be sure one you want has the replacement power trucks. Replacement Power trucks seem to go from $200-250. 

38 Ton Shay   My SWAG here is 10000-12000.  The 38 ton shays were never re-run so when they were gone that was it. The 82194 sold out the first year, and the Ely-Thomas was next to sell out.  They were no longer in the catalog and Bachmann closed out whatever was left to some of their favorite retailers, who did offer them at bargain prices.  BTW based on a quick look at Ebay I could not find a single 38 ton Shay for sale, just loads of 36 tonners. 

Have fun with your trains!!

Cheers and Beers!!!!!!

Old Loco Bill

Hi Mickey, 

I will pull up my database and see what I can extrapolate from it.  Maybe the Bachman can help us out with the question?

Whatever I provide will be an estimate. 

Bill

Hi Mike,

The motor itself does not require lubing, only the gears.  I believe all the Lyn's have the lubrication port on the bottom. You just need to pry up the rubber dime sized cover and it will expose the gears.

That is one great locomotive.  I used mine on an automated back an forth mine track setup on an old layout I had.  It was always on and the slow speed was great.  It ran forever, I lubed it with teflon white grease maybe once or twice a year back then. Never had a problem with it and still have it.

Bill

Hi j,

Seems a little low to me, but if it ain't broke don't fix it is my recommendation.  The original controller for that locomotive was rated at  1 AMP. If you railroad is relatively flat and you don't add too many cars to the consist it should be fine.  If you have steep grades those older 1 amp controllers would overheat and blow the thermal circuit breaker.

Bill

Hi Mark,

The original Crest Revo Transmitter with the plastic keys that I have seems to work fine with all my Crest and Precision RC Receivers. The TX's with the rubber keys are up-gradable but the ones with the plastic keys are not. Upgrading does require hardware from the new manufacturer tho.

Bill

Congratulations Al,  Nice going!  If you get a chance could you post pictures of the stock car?

All the best, Bill

Hi Al,  Nice job on that conversion!  Thanks for sharing the video.  Good Luck.  Bill

Mark,

Thanks for the pictures, the layout looks great!  If you speed up the GG1 or put the Dash 9 to  work, post some pictures for us please!!!   Those eggliners are a hit everywhere I go. Years ago a good friend got sick prior to our club open house and could not get his layout in shape in time. He ended up running six eggliners all at once.  He had bought an eggliner for each of his grandkids and thought why not run something. It was a huge hit and the eggliners ran perfectly on his unprepared track, it was fun watching them chase each other around his beautiful layout.

All the Best, Bill

 

Count me in as well, that was a great commercial! Thanks for sharing Mike.

Bill

Mickey,

My dark side dismal that I would love to see is the Alco RSD15  I love the brutish look of this monster for its day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_RSD-15

Keep on playing with Trains!

Cheers & Beers,

Bill

Good to hear from you Joe!  We model railroaders indeed can make our own rules. Sometimes I think the real railroads are jealous of us. 

You need more locos, I know I do

All the best!

Bill

Hi James,

I could not agree with you more about having more engines than you should, I certainly do especially in my wife's opinion.  I still like every one that I have and have a wife that supports me fully in spite of her opinion.  I am 83 years old now and still have engines I bought when I was 7 years old.  They are in HO scale tho. Bachmann hooked me when they first came out with the 4-6-0 Big Hauler, and USA Trains hooked me with their GP-7.

Cheers, Bill

Hi Ted,
Thanks for your post, I tend to agree with you with respect to Ebay, seems especially true with steam.  Swap meets and members of local clubs are the best source, but all too often have very little for sale in our scale. I have seen some nice layouts in the Las Vegas area!

Cheers, Bill