Murdoch17 Posted May 22, 2018 (edited) This type of geared type loco is called a "Shay" (specifically a type "A", which means two pistons and two trucks) and were named after their original inventor of the type, Ephraim Shay. These loco's could only go about 20 miles per hour (or about 32 Kilometers per hour, if that's your thing) at top speed, and were very steady on rough track, hauling logging and mining trains up grades that would easily stall conventional steamer types. You can read more about Shay geared steam locomotive's at Wikipedia. Please NOTE: The design of the original Shay I redid into my version was by Stephan Pakbaz over on Flickr, as seen below. (His LDD file allowed me to build my version) as seen here. The 1 x 1 tiles on either side of the coal bunker are supposed to be printed with the number "4" The Shay type only has pistons on one side, with the other side being kinda sparsely decorated. Usually, their would be various accessories and such on this side, but i liked it better devoid of any clutter. The Shay geared steam loco bends in a odd way... but at least it works. NOTE: The angle shown is quite a bit more severe curve than the loco will ever have to handle.... but it looks pretty cool! This raw ore car was modeled after a custom Brick Link item by @wildchicken13 except mine is narrower and uses two wheels for a Wild West flair. You can see the original item that inspired me here. The caboose follows my standard pattern for my Western trains, with only a few color swaps and a missing cupola on top to set it apart from the others. Here we see the mining train consisting of four silver ore cars and a caboose, without the Shay. This is my latest (and most likely last) Western styled train, and it will join my other four steamers and their trains in my Wild West collection sometime later in 2018. (The reason I say "last" is that I've run out of railroad-related ideas for my Wild Western layout and am planning on focusing on the updated Native American camp, revised Fort Legoredo and the remaining frontier town buildings after this.) As you may have suspected, the ore the mining train holds comes from my well-protected silver mine, which can be seen in it's own topic. ...and as usual, comments, questions, complaints and suggestions are always welcome! Edited June 5, 2018 by Murdoch17 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JEB314 (James) Posted May 22, 2018 Love it, great model! Must say the loco, hopper wagons and caboose look wonderful! Great to get the shay's gearing so well done in 6 wide, presents more of a challenge than wider scales. Look forward to seeing the finished model in brick form, sure it'll look as brilliant in the flesh as the others you've built! Might just have to look at building some hopper wagons like that, tho I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of a 6 wide, shortened wheelbase version of the BMR Hopper! Should present quite a task! Thanks for sharing your creations, your flickr page over the years has presented rather a lot of inspiration for me, before I even came to Eurobricks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrispyBassist Posted May 23, 2018 I can't tell from these pics, but is the boiler centered on the loco? Another defining feature of a Shay was the offset boiler to accommodate the pistons. You might be able to use jumper tiles to get it slightly offset, though that might complicate the piston assembly and frame... Looks good though, the geared drive on the side is eye-catching. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColletArrow Posted May 23, 2018 Good work! I believe the originals were narrow-gauge, but building one of these for 4-wide track is tricky (I've tried, it didn't get very far), so I'm not going to complain! I think I quite like the simplified design of the loco. However, the boiler should be off-centered to counter the weight of the cylinder block, as @CrispyBassist said and as Stephen's original is. I think, given the 4-stud wide boiler on a 6-stud wide chassis just moving it over 1 stud would be fine, but I reckon Crispy's jumper plate suggestion would be fine too if you don't want to move it all the way over. A neat job overall, the hopper wagons look good together and the caboose tails it off nicely. Well done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Murdoch17 Posted May 24, 2018 On 5/22/2018 at 5:49 PM, JEB314 (James) said: Love it, great model! Must say the loco, hopper wagons and caboose look wonderful! Great to get the shay's gearing so well done in 6 wide, presents more of a challenge than wider scales. Look forward to seeing the finished model in brick form, sure it'll look as brilliant in the flesh as the others you've built! Might just have to look at building some hopper wagons like that, tho I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of a 6 wide, shortened wheelbase version of the BMR Hopper! Should present quite a task! Thanks for sharing your creations, your flickr page over the years has presented rather a lot of inspiration for me, before I even came to Eurobricks! Thanks @JEB314 (James), I really appreciate thew feedback. On 5/23/2018 at 7:18 AM, CrispyBassist said: I can't tell from these pics, but is the boiler centered on the loco? Another defining feature of a Shay was the offset boiler to accommodate the pistons. You might be able to use jumper tiles to get it slightly offset, though that might complicate the piston assembly and frame... Looks good though, the geared drive on the side is eye-catching. 22 hours ago, ColletArrow said: Good work! I believe the originals were narrow-gauge, but building one of these for 4-wide track is tricky (I've tried, it didn't get very far), so I'm not going to complain! I think I quite like the simplified design of the loco. However, the boiler should be off-centered to counter the weight of the cylinder block, as @CrispyBassist said and as Stephen's original is. I think, given the 4-stud wide boiler on a 6-stud wide chassis just moving it over 1 stud would be fine, but I reckon Crispy's jumper plate suggestion would be fine too if you don't want to move it all the way over. A neat job overall, the hopper wagons look good together and the caboose tails it off nicely. Well done. @CrispyBassist @ColletArrow I moved the boiler over one stud to the far side as you suggested, and I think it looks a lot better! I also added some mechanical details just in front of the pistons. Thanks for you help getting this model to perfection! Oh, and I think I'm gonna use Big Ben Bricks small flanged wheels for this loco, as without the friction bands it *should* ride smoother and get stuck less. I think they are slightly thinner though, so does anyone have a comparison shot of the two types (on-edge)? If anyone does have both types, I would really appreciate a picture or two! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paperinik77pk Posted May 24, 2018 This is great!!! I like the idea of moving the bogies' pivot point over the articulated joint - this is a perfect transmission. Now that you moved the boiler aside, it is a perfect shay!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freezingvettes99 Posted June 1, 2018 Looks like it would be a fun build! Nice work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Murdoch17 Posted June 5, 2018 (edited) First post edited with the new pictures of the shay that I forgot to add last time. On 5/24/2018 at 4:22 PM, Paperinik77pk said: This is great!!! I like the idea of moving the bogies' pivot point over the articulated joint - this is a perfect transmission. Now that you moved the boiler aside, it is a perfect shay!!! Thanks, but I didn't do the wheel design... I only did everything from the base up, plus the couplers and cowcatcher. On 6/1/2018 at 2:25 PM, Freezingvettes99 said: Looks like it would be a fun build! Nice work! Thanks! Ok, I been mulling this over and I'm gonna use Big Ben Bricks small flanged wheels for this loco, as without the friction bands it *should* ride smoother and get stuck less. I think they are slightly thinner though, so does anyone have a comparison shot of the two types (on-edge)? If anyone does have both types, I would really appreciate a picture or two, please! Edited June 5, 2018 by Murdoch17 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roadmonkeytj Posted June 26, 2018 Very impressive redesign ... I seen that you offset the boiler ... This was to keep the loco centered as all the valving was on the one side. My other "gripe" is the cow catcher ... While It looks sharp it would be promptly ripped of by any logging outfit and a coupling fitted. (something I intend to rework from his original file). Many logging spurs were just that tracks into nowhere with a dead end. Alot of times they would run the engine in reverse to get the cars there or sometimes you would have to push your other loco over the hill with the front. Other companys kept a flat car coupled out front for crew and tools Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
