HO and On30 shay

[bigalber]

I have a Bachman On30 2 truck shay, and recently saw the Bachman HO 3 truck shay in a shop.  They appear to be the same physical size.  Can they On30 and HO shays be used interchangeably with the same rolling stock, or in tandem?  Do the couplers line up?

[Tomcat]

bigalber, the coupler heights do match, though. But take a closer look at the Cab of the HO Scale Shay: A "O-Scale Engineer" would never be able to take place at the throttle of this engine, the cab is far too small.

There are kits (Banta Models) on the market to convert the HO Scale Shay to an On30 Model, by using this cab, adding bigger Domes and a bigger Stack. Have done this conversion myself, well, there were some smaller 2ft. Shays looking similar, but they all were 2-Truck Locos.

But the conversion is a nice chance to get something apart from the 2-Truck T-Boilers we have. Some of us keep pestering Bachmann for a more modern Shay... ...or a Heisler....

Kind regards, Tom

[The Old Fardt]

Did someone say a Heisler ?

Now is the time as it is FAR overdue...

Cheers,  TOF