Best Of The Overland/Wiseman brass Western Maryland Shay thread

[u18b]

Just as an FYI, the Nano comes with a new connector that is smaller and thinner than the Next18.  It's non-standard, meaning it has no NEM number or NMRA equivalent that I'm aware of. ESU calls it the e24 since it has 24 conductors.  There is a post in the Nano thread in DCC & Electonics that has the molex source.

Here's the link:  Re: Loksound 5 Nano

Thanks John.
I was going by what some retailers are calling it.
But, yes,  you can see the E24 label on the board.

[peteski]

E24 is a ESU-specific connector.  They use the E24 based V5 nano as a "brains" for multiple "motherboards" or adapters, and sell those assemblies as complete decoders.  The wire adapter is just one such example.  Seems that ESU did not want to design multiple versions of complete v5 decoders, and instead they use their mother/daughter board design.  As far as minimizing the decoder's footprint, even if one buys a bare E24 connector, the pin pitch is so fine that I don't see being able to manually soldering (magnet) wires to the pins.  At least I don't think I would succeed, and I'm pretty handy with soldering and have some precision soldering equipment.  But maybe someone else could do it.

[u18b]

OMI  brass WM Shay Version 1

We shift gears now.   I obtained a version 1 original unmodified (stock) Shay that missed the recall.



I bought this for research purposes for the benefit of this reference thread.   Having owned one in the past and having one more to briefly test, I knew this version is not as good as version 2.  I also knew that derailments were a constant problem- and I REALLY wanted a crack at trying to see if I could improve one.

In the end- I hit success.  So buckle up.   There is a LOT of info coming.

I want to begin by thanking Chris Schmuck who found this Shay at a train show.  We spoke, he bought and shipped, and I paid him back.  Thanks Chris.  This is a great community of modelers.

It came in original box- which was a plus.



I took a chance on this buying sight unseen (except for a photo).



It was in horrible shape and DOA.  There was a dead short somewhere- I assumed the motor might be burned up because the mechanism was locked up.  I mean nothing would move.   I was beginning to think that I had almost wasted my money (though I comforted myself that I could possibly at least re-use the trucks if this truly stayed dead.



As I studied it and made a survey- it was awful.

You can see in this shot that the rear cab wheelset is not even touching.  Something is bent.





The tender looks OK so far- but WOW!  The paint is so THICK.   I think someone used a rattle can of red primer and then a rattle can of grimy black.













It leans to the right.





And what the heck is this!!!!!  Someone used an awl and peened the journal that holds the driveshaft???  This is awful.



Pipe not soldered properly.  Also, you can see that this loco has the older and more fragile cast lineshafts.

[u18b]

Sorry for all the photos, but I want to fully document a stock Shay because it will partially not look like this when I finish with it.

Just look at the running/pooling excess paint.









On closer inspection, I notice the tender is not touching evenly on the rails.  The nose of the tender needs to come up.




Rats.  That is not a stock OMI screw- it is a self-tapping MT screw!  I’ll want to replace this.
Also notice that the underside of the truck bolster is painted (orange arrow).  I’m thinking the paint will hinder electrical transference through the frame (which proved correct).



The infamous gear arrangement that causes derailments.



The main draveshaft is locked up.



The front truck under bolster is not painted- good.

[u18b]

A heavier gauge wiper is on the main drive truck.







Cheap underpowered small Sagami motor.




The motor mount is bent down in back left.  Angle of the motor is purple.  Angle of the worm is green.  If this even ran, it would cause noise.
 

[u18b]

The worm and transfer gear are hidden under the weight.  With that weight in place, it is VERY hard to get to these internals.



The plastic bearing is not tight.  This will allow worm wobble and thus noise.




I was shocked when I removed the tender.  There was ZERO electricity coming through this tender.  Almost everything is painted.  The common rail electricity is supposed to flow from the wheels, to the sideframes, to the bolster and screw, and through the tongue on the tender drawbar where it mounts to the cab frame.

Almost everything is painted, including the washer.  Yikes.

[Chris333]

Love the way you sugar coat it... I remember thinking all the red paint was rust 

[u18b]

Love the way you sugar coat it... I remember thinking all the red paint was rust 

Well, I thought the same thing.    But it is clearly primer.

[u18b]

I removed the motor by pulling the two screws.  There are fiber washers underneath for noise reduction.



Well, well.   I directly powered the motor and it ran.  Which means the short is somewhere else.



The drive truck power wire goes through the lead and firebox wall.



Here, you can see the wire exits the firebox and runs to the pick-up between axles.



This shot shows the leaning.  Something is not right.   Green line is the frame of the trucks.  Purple line is the bumper.



Here is the top side of the front truck.  The pivot pad on the bolster is filthy with paint and corrosion.  I can’t imagine any electricity flowing through there.



Here is the bottom side.  The jumper wire is about to break.

[u18b]

Ready to get to work.

I removed the front truck.   I managed to loosen that set screw on that hat-shaped gear.



I then pulled the main gear down and out.  Notice there is a nylon washer present.



I can now examine the main drive truck.



The main drive gear is filthy- and even has paint clogging it.



Wait a minute- I found the short!
The support tab on the insulated side was not trimmed properly.  It is shorting on the insulated wheel.   That tab will have to be trimmed.

[u18b]

The opposite side support tab could be trimmed as well after disassembly.



Here is the underside of the main drive truck with the main gear removed.



The jumper wire is hanging by one thread.   Also, one half of the pick-up is not even touching the back of a wheel.



Here is the main frame bolster where the truck interfaces.



I’m still in shock that someone peened the right journal cover.   This is ruined.



You can see that the main gear shaft goes through the truck, through the frame, and all the way to the top under the weight.

[u18b]

I decided that weight was just in the way.   It is too hard to remove the upper gear hidden under the weight.   The weight is “soldered” to the frame on the left side.



I used my motor tool and cut slots in a #11 blade.   This created a razor saw so I could cut on the joint holding the weight.  Took some work to get it free.




Of course I had to clean all this up.




With the weight out of the way, I now have easy access to all these parts.

[u18b]

With the trucks removed, I could just barely move the drive shaft.  Maybe it is only paint clogging this up.



OK.  This is a surprise.  There are holes in the top of the cylinders.  This is for the piston rods which actually move up and down in this model.



The T shaped piece is the main driveshaft bearing.  I discovered two things.  The cross brace where it is mounted has a slight bend to it.  This will contribute to the right lean I observed.    Second, that bearing can be adjusted (once clean).  The right side with the solder might be tight.   But if I squeeze with my resistance soldering tweezers on the left side of the bearing, it will shift and become tight on that side.   This would change the angle of the truck.

By the way, notice the solder holding the screws.   The single screw will need to be removed in order to disassemble the truck so I can work on the shorting protrusion.



With the screw removed, I could break the solder joint holding the sideframe.  Oh- there’s a tiny washer in there to adjust the height.  Don’t lose it.



Now I can get to those brace edges that need trimming.


I fully disassembled everything and soaked it in lacquer thinner to get the old paint off.  This was after the first try.  More tries eventually got ALL of the paint off.





When I got the model, I thought the uncoupling bar was soldered together.  Actually it was clogged with paint!  Parts move now- though more paint still needs to be removed.

[u18b]

In all that cleaning and handling, the cylinders broke off.    This is a weak spot in this model.

In fact, when I look back at the original ad for this model in 1989, I see that their sample model has the cylinders pushed inward.  That’s a sign that the base plate has broken loose.



With the cylinders broken off, I noticed a couple of things.

First, the base plate is inadequately soldered.   There are only three tacking joints.



Flipping it over, you can see some problems.  Poor soldering at pink arrow.  Worse- look at all the corrosion at the yellow arrows.  This is why the joint failed.



Well, since this is all apart, this is a good time to more closely examine the cylinder assembly.  I made a short video.  You can see a couple of things.   It is still a bit stiff- a lot more paint to remove!

But also, much to my surprise, the piston connecting rods are jointed (2 pieces).  I never knew that before now.  THAT is why the holes were drilled up top- so the connecting rod can move up and down.

This movement is VERY hard to see on the model, but is a cool effect.   I believe this assembly is NOT present on the 2nd version Shays (and definitely not present on the Wiseman version).

[u18b]

Here is a close up of the crankshaft and the bottom of the cylinder assembly.
We are looking at the back side.  Notice the four solder spots on the upper cylinder housing.

It’s hard to tell in this shot, but there is a slot and lip on the four lower fingers of the cylinder assembly.  The tips of the mounting plate goes into that slot.



It’s hard to know whether to leave the base plate on the loco and then solder the cylinder assembly to it… or remove the base plate, solder it to the cylinder assembly, and the solder the entire unit to the locomotive.  Obviously here, I removed the plate.



Here is my first attempt.  (I will repeat a couple more times before the project is finished).