More Gears!

About ten years ago or so, MTH released their Premier line model of a Climax steam locomotive.  The prototype was a small geared steamer that was used primarily on logging railroads.  As with the Shay, the Climax had the pistons turning a drive shaft that was geared directly to the small drivers, giving this locomotive the ability to climb very steep grades, albeit quite slowly.  Unlike the Shay, the Climax has the pistons on the diagonal rather than vertically and the geared driveshaft is underneath the locomotive, between the drivers, rather than on the outside.  As you'll see in this video, the model, though tiny, is extremely well detailed, looks great, sounds fantastic, and runs very well.  In the final segment of the video, there's a close-up of the drivetrain, which you can compare to that of the Shay.