Thanks for you interest and for viewing the video. All the volunteers either worked on the simulator or used it during Space Shuttle operations. We were glad for the opportunity to re-unite with the simulator and fix it up. I guess we just couldn't get enough...

You're right, there isn't one. With the space I was building in, there just wasn't room for either a wye or a turntable, either. It's a very linear railroad. Yep, the locomotives always face the same way, sometimes running in reverse. But with switchbacks, that would happen anyway, even if turning facilities were available. So I don't miss the turning capability.

I suppose I went that way because the car card system was designed that way. But it works for me and I think it must be something like a real railroad would work. Most of the time when one of my industries needs a car to load, the car needs to come onto the layout via the interchange track (there's almost no car storage space on the layout except at the industries), i.e. moving the empty car is a real incoming movement even though there's no load (and no waybill). So the empty car request card governs the movement of the empty car, like a waybill. Then once the car is loaded the empty car request is simply flipped over and then becomes a waybill for the shipment of the loaded car. Once in a while the movements work out so that an empty is ready for pickup at "industry A" at the same time that "industry B" is calling for an empty car. When that happens I note it when preparing for the ops session and simply plan to shift the empty from A to B without having to bring in a car from the interchange. So that's how it works for me. Hope that helped.

@@CarlBrainerd Thank You Carl for your response. Your answers help me to see how it might be possible to use this in my layout. Thank You again Carl

I found the all-metal Kadee car kits I used to be a great kit that produced a good-looking model that has enough heft that I don't have any problems with them on the track. The one "gotcha" with the Kadee cars was that the truck swing on sharp curves tended to put the wheels into contact with the skeleton/frame, leading to short circuits. I had to files notches in the frame to give good clearance with the wheels. I also had to pay attention to polarity of the wheels and the cars themselves due to the all-metal construction combined with the metal trucks and metal couplers. I think the cars are electrically "charged", so they all have to be carefully oriented to put all the non-insulated wheels on the same side of the train. Good luck with your build!

Hi, Phil, and thanks for the kind words. Yeah, who isn't a John Allen fan? With respect to trees, I tried the caspia fern branches glued into a balsa wood trunk on a previous layout. While they looked nice, they took a lot of time. The evergreen trees you see on my layout today were made from a material kit from Coastman Scenic Products. Their stuff is, I think, similar in concept to the furnace filter technique (though I haven't tried it), only using their unique product that is presumably better than furnace filter material. They go together faster than the caspia fern method, but still take a little time. They provide pre-made tapered real cedar trunks plus sheets of the green stuff. You tear the green stuff into the size and shape you need and slip them down on the trunk from the pointy end, then follow up with green foam flocking secured with hair spray. I think the result is good for the amount of effort involved. Naturally, there is some expense involved. I have about 200 trees on my layout, but have forgotten how much they cost. You might check out their website at www.coastmans.com. Regards. Carl

@@CarlBrainerd Thanks Carl for your reply. I will definitely check your link out as well. I haven't started making my Colorado type evergreen trees yet other than about 10 that I may about 5 years ago as a test. I see some videos where people mass produce the twisted wire type and I guess with some kind of jig (to twist the wire easily as I've seen some people use) it might be doable on a large scale. Your trees look very good so I am interested in checking your link as well. I really like your buildings and how you fit them into the various scenes. I have made many scratch built bridges to scale, (I made about 25 of them...John Allen inspired), but have done very little to making buildings. (Other then some RTV molds I made of old Magnuson kits and cast my own wall sections in resin.) I want to make more wooden type buildings as to me they have a lot more personality. If only there were more hours in the day. It seems there is never enough time to do all the projects one wants to build!. Thanks for your input. I appreciated your response. Phil

Sadly, the simulator is not operational. It is a static display only. The museum had no space for the computer complex and it would have taken an estimated 50,000 labor hours to reassemble it and run the miles of cables involved and to install the motion system hardware. Then it would have taken a large staff to keep it running (like it had when it was operational operational). So, basically really impractical. In addition, the museum had a requirement that the display be moveable, so we put wheels under it. But moveability would not have been possible with the entire complex hooked up. The images on the cockpit displays are hard copies taken from videos recorded when the last Shuttle crew was training (see the videos elsewhere on this channel). The hard copies were printed on photo paper and are stuck to the face of the displays with double-stick tape, and came out looking pretty good all considered. The original videos play on a video monitor in the rear of the cockpit and also on a display outside the cockpit, and the audio is piped into the cockpit using the original aural cue speakers. I wish we could display the videos "live" on the displays, but that would have required replacing the displays with non-prototypical LED monitors and considerable effort to engineer a system to drive the displays with multiple time-synchronized video feeds. Once again, beyond the capability of the museum.

Thanks so much for the kind words. I think "functional" is the key. The railroad has an obvious purpose and is able to operate in a realistic way, i.e. to "function". No going in circles around a spaghetti bowl...... I still find it interesting that although the railroad is actually small by any normal measure, the cab ride doesn't seem so small (of course slow speeds help with that). Anyway, I am pleased with the outcome.

John, the loading crane was part of a Sun Coast Models kit. It had a little "power house" shed structure where the cables terminated, but there's nothing inside and the instructions did not address what might be in there. Since my crane sits near the back of the layout I didn't worry much about such details. The base of the crane has a round turntable-like device that the cables from the shed wrap around. It appears that it rotates based on pulling on one side or the other of the cables wrapping around that turntable thing. So that's two cables going from the crane to the shed. There are two more cables going back there, one for raising and lowering the boom and another for raising and lowering the hook. Sorry there doesn't seem to be any way to put a photo in these replies. I hope that helps a little bit. Carl

Lynn, the engine house near the sawmill is from Micro-Scale Models, and the one in the logging camp is from Master Creations. I thought both were pretty neat and just right for the railroad.

That’s Scott Wire & Cable from Precision Lasercraft (hope I got that name right as the box is long gone)

Thanks for the kind words!

Dennis, thanks so much for the kind words!

Mike, no, I bought the replacement gear set some years ago, most likely on eBay. I wish I'd bought 2 or 3 sets now, but at the time I only had one Shay so one set seemed like enough. Now, like you, I cannot find any more. I check eBay every now and then but so far without any success. I'm guessing that most, if not all, of them have been installed in broken Shays by now and NWSL is no longer making them. Good luck to all of us!

@@CarlBrainerd , thanks Carl. I thought that might be the case…wishful thinking. I did send NWSL an email to see if they were going to make another run. Best wishes, Mike

@@CarlBrainerd Carl, I did reach out to NWSL yesterday, and got a reply back…They said the Shay Gears should be available in 3-4 weeks…YEA!

@@michaell.maloney4026 Good news! There must be a lot of pent-up demand out there. I'll be watching!

Thanks for the sharp eyes. I will be looking closely at the tender trucks sometime soon because I think the whole tender body is sitting too low and possibly shorting out between the rear steps and the track. Once, so far, I have actually seen a spark there. So a new look at the tender is coming as this long drawn-out saga continues.

Great! Glad we can benefit from the "crossover"!

The structures are all kit-built. They came from various manufacturers. The primary ones were Micro-Scale Models and Master Creations for all the "large" buildings, i.e. the sawmill, engine houses, and industries.. Others were JV Models, Precision Lasercraft, Evergreen Hill, plus one from Fine Scale Miniatures.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

Thanks for your note. Yeah, I'm done with Bachmann, too, unless they start using metal gears, and even then I'd be wary. My next big project may be an MDC Shay with can motor replacement and NWSL replacement gears. I have all the parts on the shelf (for the last 30 years, ha!). Just a matter of getting to it. That darn geared locomotive bug bit me, too. Not an easy road......

Yeah, it seems pretty likely. I have started watching eBay for anybody selling the regear kits, but so far there don't seem to be any out there for sale.

@@CarlBrainerd contact NWSL and ask if they are making more. I did last night, they said it’s being considered but no eta. If more people ask though, more likely I’d bet. They have a contact section on their website

@@tcepilotGood idea! I also sent them a note and told them every Shay Bachmann ever made probably needs this kit. I also suggested they make the hole in the gears a little larger....

Two of my three Shays were also essentially NIB, too, with minimal running time. I got them at an estate sale. You may find those old gears already split out of the box. I hope not, though, so you can enjoy a little running time before they fail.

While temperature does indeed affect size of metal parts, my gut feel is that the difference here is a lot greater than such a temperature difference could deal with. But I didn't even think of trying it.....

No, the universal joint function is not affected by gluing the joint "fixed" end onto the shafts. The little square rod that sticks out still articulates freely, and that is where the universal joint function happens. So the joints between trucks still operate normally, i.e. they slide in and out as needed for going around curves. Each truck can still be removed individually.

Geat! Appreciate the quick response! Scott H.

Hi, Louie. Thanks for commenting. I was 69 when I started building the railroad (77 now). You can do it! I don't have a book, so my videos on the my KZbin channel will have to do. You might want to check out the one about building the railroad. I used Micro Engineering code 70 #6 turnouts. My flex track is code 70, whatever I had on hand (I think mostly Shinohara/Walthers). I used Blue Point turnout controllers connected directly to knobs on the fascia via dowel rods. For the "pine" trees I used material kits from Coastmans Scenic Products. They probably cost more than using Caspia fern branches from the craft store, but I think they went together a lot faster. Good luck on building yours.