For those desiring a 3 truck shay

[Kevin S.]

Backwoods Miniatures has released what looks like a fairly straightforward kit to convert a standard 2-truck Bachmann On30 Shay into a 3-truck shay.

For those interested, here is a link to the page depicting a 3-truck shay:

http://www.backwoodsminiatures.com/0n3kits.htm#SHAY_TENDER_KIT

[Skarloey Railway]

BWM are clever blighters but I do wonder if there were any 3 truck T boiler shays. The last T boiler was 1891 and the first 3 truck shay 1885 so there is a 6 year overlap but a brief search on google has found nothing and http://shaylocomotives.com is none too search friendly.

Mind you, I couldn't find any 30" camelbacks either

[Kevin S.]

Keith Wiseman makes a very nice replacement boiler kit for the On30 shay, eliminating the T-boiler.

http://www.locopainter.com/store/product.php?id=777

[Ken Clark]

  Checkout SN  117 & 119, sure looks like a T-boiler SHAY. mind you 119 with Standard Gauge Trucks under it, looks weird<G>.  SHAY Locomotives,com

  Ken Clark
   GWN

[Skarloey Railway]

Aha. Thanks Ken. So there were two 2 cyclinder, 3 truck T boiler shays and, reading the note, only two, 2 cyclinder 3 truck shays built.

Well, that's 2 more prototypes than a narrow gauge camelback (I think) and two more than the 2-4-4-2 mallet!

[Ken Clark]

   In Brazil 2 80Ton SHAYS were rebuilt to 4-6-2 Pacific's and the Third one was rebuilt into a 2-6-0+0-6-2T
SHAY-Kitson Meyer. One of the Pacific's is in a Museum there. Photo of the 2-6-0+0-6-2T is in
Narrow Gauge off the Beaten Path

    Ken Clark
      GWN

[Skarloey Railway]

I had found the shay/kitson meyer and I could see it  made sense to 'just' jack the shay up and replace the trucks with the steam bogies and plumb in new steam and exhaust pipes (though I did wonder how they counterbalanced the shay's offset boiler).

But a shay into a pacific is plain weird. At what point does a shay rebuilt into a pacific become a pacific rebuilt with a shay boiler? Also, where on earth does the shay's firebox/ashpan go?

[Ken Clark]

   The boiler length was extended, which allowed the firebox to sit over the trailing truck. The 3 photos are all 3/4 views, but the extra length is easy to make out. The cab was shortened front and rear, with door closed
and a window installed.  An Oil Tender replaced the orginal SHAY bunker and Tender.

   Ken

[#94]

The last T-Boiler shay built was CN 1516 in 1905. There were the CN 117 & CN119 that were 3 truck but only one tender. What BVM does is offer us On30er's a simple 3 truck version that goes along with On30 rules; Do what you want and have fun.

[Skarloey Railway]

True, but I want the restriction of staying close to prototype practise!

[Kevin S.]

Change boilers using a Wiseman boiler kit, buy a 3 cylinder engine (I have seen some available as brass parts) on ebay and kitbash away!

[maxxi]

....Well, that's 2 more prototypes than a narrow gauge camelback (I think) and two more than the 2-4-4-2 mallet!....

Have a look here :
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/pop_printer_friendly.asp?TOPIC_ID=28116
regards
Roand

[Skarloey Railway]

Aha. Thanks Roand. Intriguing. From a quick google, it seems the Lackawana and Western also went in for camel backs so perhaps the steel company got the idea from them. Admittedly, the 0-4-0 looks like someone sneezed when 'glueing' the cab on, but the 0-8-0 looks a fair match for the camelback mogul.

The Torch lake camelback doesn't really count imho as 4'1" is scarcely 'narrow gauge'