After sitting in its box for a while, I decided to take out my spectrum Shay. When I put it in the box about 3 months ago it worked perfectly fine, but when I put it on the tracks yesterday, the motor shorted out instantly and started smoking. I have an MRC 1650 decoder installed running on a Digitrax Zephyr system.
I completely disassembled the shay last night and poked around with a volt meter, and I confirmed that the motor is shorted out. The decoder and light board work fine, just the motor that has problems. I know I can't order parts directly from Bachmann, so where would i be able to get a motor for this? (besides ebay, nothing there). Would Bachmann fix or more likely replace it if I sent it to them? It's a beautiful model and I don't want it to just sit on the shelf looking pretty- I bought it to use it.
Contact the service department about the motor. Below will be easier.
The last I knew, you can return the loco with a check for $20.00 and get a replacement DCC ready.
I returned an older two motor 44 ton diesel with a check for $10.00 and received a single motor 44 ton DCC ready.
I follwed the instructions in this page.
Oh I feel your pain.. as my BLI TTT 6 just let out it's magic smoke the other day. Similar circumstances. Stored for 2-3 month in its box, taken out and poof.... Fortunately mine is under warranty so off it goes to be looked at by the pros.