I received my shay from Wig-Wag last week and finally this evening was able to test it out on the club 40'x40' layout. It made it halfway around one lap and suddenly it sounded as though the trucks were derailed and the flanges were running in ballast. It sounded like it had thrown a rod. Gues what, IT DID through a rod. The pushrod on the center cylinder popped off the crankshaft and wedged into something ?? The stuff is so small to mess with, I guess it is going back to Atlas. I sure hope they will do something about it.
A shay is not supposed to be run faster than 15MPH scale speed. Even the real ones would come apart if run faster. Remember that crankshaft is really flying at 10 MPH, and up around 15MPH is the red line. My guess is someone forgot to fill the oil cups before starting out, so the bearings over heated and froze up. Try to find the rod cap and optical screws to replace the cap. Shame on the roundhouse crew for giving you a dry engine!
We have been in touch withh Carl & with Wayne @ Atlas and Wayne clearly requested the unit be returned to Atlas for them to resolve the issue. Carl's e-mail was received @ 0836. We forwarded it on directly to Wayne and heard back @ 1419.
