Hello! I 've had a Bachmann three truck 80 ton Shay in HO in quite a few years now.
The original:
The Shay has experienced quite a few revisions, among other things, the exchange of the cracked plastic gears with metal gears from NWSL . The largest revision was when I had gotten tired of the lousy tracking of the middle truck. That was when I rebuilt it to a two truck version:
Now I've always wanted a narrow gauge Shay. Luckily I found a conversion kit made by NWSL . They are really a big help for us tinkers!
The kit included new axles , bolsters , brake beams, shims and installation tools for the axels. I disassembled the original trucks in a flash, and in another flash the new parts were fitted. The hardest thing was to push the wheels on to the new axles.
How it looks now :
A small film from the first test drive : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h
Throughout a fun conversion that gives a super Shay in HOn3!
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
Graff,
Nice work! I heard that NWSL had the kit. Makes a great gear noise like a Shay should.
I just wish it wasn't so big, otherwise I'd be sorely tempted.
Oh yeah, hope this link works, as the original one is broken.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_4LS1ZGyIA
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Fabulous conversion. I actually have a three truck Bachmann Shay and am now solely HOn3 after years in HO.
Like Mike noted, the finished product is just too big, but I still might give it a shot if time permits down the road. Thanks for showing the results of this major effort. I have to get a line on that conversion and find out what it costs.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
Thanks!
I don't know if it really is too big?!? As 80 ton Shays was built for narrow gauge as well.
A comparison between the Shay and a K-27
And if we look at a pic comparing a 25 ton ng Shay with a bachmann Shay:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/ThunderMountainRR/IMG_1700ed.jpg
I guess a 80 ton would be much bigger..
Yosemite Sugar Pine Railroad's 3-truck ex-Westside #10 is reportedly the biggest NG Shay at 70 tons.
http://ymsprr.com/about-us/
So it is a plausible loco, but just at the upper limit of what Lima built. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing dainty about her either. Bet she can pull some serious grades.
"Shays number 8, number 9 and number 10 were by far the most "modern", being constructed between 1923 and 1928; And tipping the scales at between 154,400 and 163,200 pounds, they were also the heaviest."
Weren't those also 3' NG? And tipping the scales @ 80 short tonnes? I'm not really all that familiar with the imperial measurements. :-)
I agree that it must be on the upper level of what is plausible.
I tried the climbing abilities of it, and it goes up a 10% grade on its own..... I couldn't try anything steeper though.
Yeah, those dang English... I can live with the feet and inches, but am sure glad we don't count out money/change like they do. 70 tons? 80 tons? Not such a big deal, especially once you take the tender out of the equation, I suppose.
I remember extensive discussion on a narrowgauge modeling list about this sometime back, probably when Bachmann released the model. It's apparently physically bigger than any actual NG Shay, regardless of the weight issues. Some folks were really down on it for that. For me, it's more like "Why not? Lima/Shay would've built one if someone asked for it."
I guess I've been a little more sensitive to the issue since the Brazilians started putting SD40-T Tunnel Motors on narrowgauge trucks. Those darn things loom over everything. I can't imagine doing that, as I have Tunnel Motors on my layout and there's no way they're going up the narrowgauge, just isn't enough clearance. Your Shay isn't near so extreme, in fact it's plausible, just at the edge of the envelope.
GraffenIt is like my South African GMAM Garratt! Those were used on meter gauge!
Just to pick a nit, SAR ran those on their 3 1/2 ft narrow gauge network, that´s 1,067 mm.
Sir Madog
My reaction when seeing my mistake: