I have a feeling this is a dumb dumb question; however I received my first electric train last christmas at the age of 69.
Today, I received a wonderful 70th birthday present from my wife - a Spectrum HO Shay with DCC Sound. I'm absolutely delighted with the loco but what the hell is the see-thru packet of what looks like powdered graphite that came with it? Is it special lubricant for the gear-work? Is it to make the coal tender look more realistic? Neither answer seems very plausible to me.
By the way, is there any special lubrication that should be done for the Shay gear-work?
Thanks
Coal would be exactly correct,Its meant to be sprinkled on the deck/apron between engine and fuel bunker.
As for lubing the shay most defintely!! they tend to have delicate drivelines that need attention, be sure to have a bottle of Labelles no.108 light plastice compatiable oil on hand also a tube of 106 light grease for the gears.
Be aware that both Bachmann's Shays and and early Climax logging locomotives had problems with the beveled gears cracking....
P.s Theres no such thing in this hobby as a dumb question.....And Welcome aboard!!
Thanks for the surprising answer (that's a real flair for detail on Bachmann's part). I have a follow-up question. How much do I have to remove to be able to grease the gears; it is not intuitively obvious to me when looking at the parts expansion diagram. I wish Bachmann (and others) would supply some sort of guideline for maintenance disassembly for the varioud types of locomotives. I did manage to get the body off a Bachmann Royal Scot to lube the gears but that was an easy one.