MDC Roundhouse 2 truck shay = junk?

I assume these were both the ready-to-run version........The MDC Shay CAN run well but needs to be set up VERY well to do so, and it really needs the NorthWestShortLine re-gear sets to do it. There is a book (The MDC Shay Handbook) that is GREAT. But, yeah, for what these cost they should come with better gears. I have a stock RTR that I rarely run but it seems OK, if a bit noisy. Find and buy that book. And MDC has a good service dept. Contact them and they will make good on it.

-John

They were the RTR version. I'll have to check into the re-gear sets. Thanks for the tips

Even if you get a good one that runs, it sounds like a coffee grinder - even under DCC!

With that I agree. I have seen the MDC Shays LOOK and run VERY well, but they always make a racket no matter how smooth they run. Careful work, and NWSL gears, can quiet them down a bit, but I've never seen (heard) one that doesn't make at least twice the noise of a run-of-the-mill Bachmann Shay. For the record, the PFM brass Shays are not especially quiet either!

The Bachmann Shay is altogether a better model ... but it is a model of a very different Shay than the MDC versions. If you like Shays, and can't afford brass, you'll probably want both. Maybe a few of each, with modifications.

In many ways the MDC Shay is more typical than the Bachmann Shay. The Bachmann Shay is a big 80 ton 3-trucker (Cass #5) , but a very early one. It has a strange long lanky appearance and the early style engine with the three piece bed (almost three separate one-cylinder engines coupled together on a common crankshaft). when #5 was built the design of the Shay as we (mostly) know it had not yet finalized. It was developmental, not a perfected design (yet).

Dan Mitchell ==========

Frank Eva wrote:

Only if it's a 70 ton coffee grinder! :-)

But, yes, they do make a lot of clatter (gear gnash, drive line clanking, etc.) in addition to all the usual steam loco noises. This is especially apparent when going DOWN hill, when there's slack in the driveline.

Dan Mitchell ==========

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You know, I consider myself an accomplished model builder but those MDC Shays are quite a piece of work. I did see a three trucker running quite nicely one time so I won't say it can't be done, but man, they are a challenge. I have one that I spent a great deal of time on and did the NWSL regear thing as well. I even built chassis to truck bumpers to reduce the rocking effect. After all was said and done, I bought a PFM United B3 Shay off Ebay and repowered the thing with a can motor and flywheel(s). I sure wish I had done that a lot sooner. I probably have less money in the brass version and certainly WAY less time. The brass Shay runs like a top and the MDC unit now sits on the shelf. Every now and then I get it down and give it a spin just to remind myself why I stopped fooling around with plastic locomotives and started buying brass. In my opinion, nothing runs finer than repowered early brass locos and the current prices of early brass is comparable to today's plastic offerings. Doug