WSLCo in N-sacle - the first three cars.

My WSLCo in N-scale

Hello,

I've finished my first three cars for my WSLCo in N-scale.
The model are running on std.-gauge.

WSLCo.jpg


Some more pichtures are on my website at

Gerd
 
Good morning over there...

The shown skeleton is now the secound version, but not the best. I'm actually working on a verion 3.1, with new logbunks out of self-etched brass. I hope this will work.

Gerd
 

pgandw

Active Member
Beautiful logging train, looks pretty accurate modelling of the Westside rolling stock.

Question #1: Some of my HOn3 buddies say the MT 1015/1016 couplers are much better at automatic coupling of light cars than the MT 1023 series. Have you seen any difference?

Question #2: does the Atlas Shay have a center drive shaft underneath geared to the truck axles, or does it use the line shafts to drive everything?

I ask becuase I am building an HOn3 Shay using the Keystone kit. One of the problems with this kit (and the MDC Shay) is binding caused by the line shafts being geared to the axles at both trucks as well as the center drive shaft. A way has to be found to somehow eliminate the lineshaft linkage to both trucks to avoid the binding. Curious as to how Atlas resolved this problem.

yours in sah-shaying
 
Hello Fred,

I think this picture will answer your questions about the drive mechanisem.

15Nn3_1.jpg


The trucks are powerd like trucks on diesel-engines for example.
There is no secound line shaft as MDC-Shay has.

But notice, that only one bevelgear on each truck is modeld, to drive the line shaft. The other one is missing, but you don't see them.

Gerd
 

pgandw

Active Member
Gerd

Thanks so much for posting the photo. It's a big help to me in building the Shay kits. However, unless one of the sliding line shafts is allowed to "slip" inside its mate, then the Atlas system still has a mechanical "closed loop". Both trucks are locked mechanically to the motor and each other through the motor/worm drive shaft. Both trucks are also locked mechanically to each other through the line shaft system as well, although as you point out, only to one axle of each truck. In the HOn3 models, this closed loop causes binding when gear tolerances allow the two drives shafts to get slightly out of synchronization with each other.

My guess is that the Atlas N worm gear drive has much more "slop" than the HO systems (which have universals to keep the worm aligned with the worm gear as the truck turns), and that this provides sufficient tolerance for the inherent "slop" in the line shaft gearing.

In any case, thanks again. I appreciate both your modeling and the pictures.

yours in Sah Shaying
 
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