different versions of 80 ton shay

[billgiannelli]

I see 80 ton shays available on eBay.
some say "wooden cab" others "steel cab".
are these emulating different real life shay versions? is this just a matter of taste? or is one more "desirable" than the other?
thanks
Bill

[WoundedBear]

IIRC.....the wooden cab model was a coal burner and the steel cab version came with an oil bunker. Steel cab had a straight stack as well. Other than that, the models were the same.

Sid

[electrical whiz kid]

Sid; didn't coal burners pretty much all come through with straight stacks?

Rich C.

[WoundedBear]

Not on the Bachmann models Rich. Don't know about the real ones.

Sid

[J3a-614]

Shay engines, like a lot of other stock or industrial engines, came in many variations.  Some coal burners had straight stacks, some came with the diamond stack.  Oil burners had straight stacks, obviously, but might also have an auxiliary spark arrestor as well.  Any could have wood or steel cabs, depending on the era and what the purchaser would order.

I might mention that the prototype for the Bachmann model, which was Greebriar, Cheat & Elk No. 5 (now Cass Scenic No. 5) was built with a wood cab, but now has a steel one, added by GC&E in the late 1920s or so; I think it may have actually come off another Shay that was retired. 

GC&E's original No. 4 was a twin or near twin to No. 5, but was sold in the 1920s.   

Other variations included straight or trussed frames, or a deep girder frame, arch bar or cast trucks, a one-piece cast crank bearing set, different spark arresting stacks (such as Radley-Hunter and the "cabbage head" design), and superheating.  Most of these features would appear on engines built later than the Bachmann prototype, which dates from 1905, and even then a lot of them, such as superheating and the steel cab, would be options ordered by the purchaser.

Western Maryland No. 6, the last Shay built (and also at Cass) has all these improvements--the cast truck frames, the deep girder frame, the steel cab, the one-piece crank bearing, superheating (indicated by the steam pipe from the smokebox to the cylinders, vs. a pipe from the boiler or the dome), and of course has a straight stack.  It's also a very large Shay at 165 tons, twice as large as No. 5 built 40 years earlier

http://limalocomotiveworks.com/WM_Shay_6-RS.JPG

http://www.sinfin.net/railways/world/usa/touristus/wvc/shay.jpg

This photo of No. 6 from the boiler side reveals the deep girder frame:

http://www.trainweb.org/jlsrr/pictures/full-scale/cass-scenic-railway/cass-may2002/cass2002-1/full-pictures/cass-may02-2-web.jpg

[J3a-614]

Here is New Mexico Lumber No. 7, the last narrow gauge Shay (1929), which is, like No. 6, a Shay with all the improvements that would become standard features on the Pacific Coast model.  This engine is also still around in a museum in the midwest.

http://limalocomotiveworks.com/shay7.jpg

Piqua Handle & Manufacturing No. 1 is a two truck Shay (1917) with a Radley-Hunter stack, one-piece crank bearing, but arch bar trucks, wooden cab, and saturated steam:

http://limalocomotiveworks.com/PH_M_Shay.JPG

Closeup of a one-piece crank bearing:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/ShayLocomotiveEngine3320.JPG

[J3a-614]

Geared drive steam locomotives have their own strong fan base, and a tremendous number of variations!  Have fun exploring this site:

http://www.gearedsteam.com/index.html

We should also keep in mind that the appearance of a locomotive might change over time.  Mayo Lumber No. 2, a standard Pacific Coast Shay, was built as a woodburner with a diamond stack, but was soon converted to oil firing, with a straight stack.  This was how it would also run at Cass Scenic for a number of years, until it was converted to coal, and got a standard Lima diamond stack.  This is the only Pacific Coast Shay known to have run on all three major types of locomotive fuel:

http://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/lima3354/sn-3320.htm

http://www.cassrailroad.com/shay2.html

http://www.cassrailroad.com/images/num_2g.jpg

http://www.cassrailroad.com/images/num_2i.jpg

http://www.cassrailroad.com/images/num_2c.jpg

[WoundedBear]

Good info...........thanks.

Sid