Have a first run. Its just quite the machine. I had driveshafts drop off the rear universals twice, requiring some extensive tinkering to repair. In that process I discovered one of the basic design problems of driving through the truck gears AND driving across the shafts, if your gear spacing gets off against the driveshaft the thing will just fight itself to death. That's an obvious, and unique, design problem. It's either right or it isn't, and if you drop the trucks out yourself don't say we didn't warn you. It's the only mechanism I've seen that has the torque itself to damage its own drive system while running if not in near-perfect alignment. I think it is hands-down the fussiest and most fragile mechanism in N. It is also the coolest to watch. Mine runs wonderfully, and scares me to death. I bought lots of repair parts from the auction site. One of the things I see on YouTube is people running these things like a GP7 at 25-35mph. The TOP SPEED OF A SHAY is roughly 8mph! Slow it down! It puts a lot less stress on everything spinning and physics are not your friend here. I also think, because it is simply a Shay, that Atlas probably has had more grief and warranty returns with this one product than probably all of their others combined. It's a wonder that they are doing it again at all, ever. And if Atlas has put all the heat on the manufacturer that they've got from warranty returns, its a wonder the manufacturer wants to do it either! I've studied it, I couldn't do it any better, and I've been known to critique about every mechanism design out there. It's an N Shay people, and its a miracle it exists at all.
Couldn't agree more! I've run mine (2nd run) just a little, and I'm amazed that Atlas had the courage to tackle something this detailed, and I'm impressed that they pulled it off. Mine runs like a Swiss watch and like Randy says, it is a thing of beauty to watch in action.
