seeing that it's impossible to leave the valley to get supplies, I've been thinkin. Bachman makes an On30 shay and climax. I was thinking if I find a cupple of them, and some power trucks, I can disassemble them and mount all that on a custom flat, or a bach. 20' flat, to make like an eight ton shay or climax, like this.
Or this.
I think the Bachmann drives might be a little too big for something around the 8-10ton Climax type. I'm not very familiar with the size of the On30 Climax so I cant say how well it would translate in appearence onto a 20' flatcar, but the loco in your pic has a tiny boiler so maybe it will work. But the 20' flatcar is a good starting point.
My 2nd mini-Heisler was built on one from a junker Bachmann 2-4-2 reusing the boiler (which is much larger that on the On30), cab moved forward about an inch, and tender parts, and using a pair of Aristocraft Centercab drives, but you can see that these relatively small drives take up quite alot of area under the flat, and I know the Bachmann Shay drives are a bit bigger, so space considerations are needed if this is to be a 45mm gauge engine.
Have fun with your trains
Do it and prove all the unbelievers wrong. That is what I say. But, if you want small, why not make a 2 Ton Shay........um..................hum.............um..........maybe too small.
Na, i'd be great as a plant switcher. Especally if it had an eight percent grade inside!
Reminder shays are not at there best on flat track.
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