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Latest Railroading Updates (click the date to jump to the related page)

May 30, 2004

Added photos of the mountains I painted on the backdrop at the engine terminal.

April 25, 2004

Added photos of the newly primed backdrop behind the engine terminal.

April 25, 2004

Added photos of the newly painted lighting valence above the engine terminal.

April 21, 2004

Added information on the Cascade Section House.

April 21, 2004

Added information on the Thurmont Freight House.

Prototype Locomotive Manufacturer	Lima
Model Manufacturer	Bachmann Industries
Model Run	Undecorated. DCC Ready.
Scale	HO
Date Acquired	August 2002

What can I say?  The shay engine is one of the cooler steam engines.  Unlike Rod engines such as the decapod, the shay geared engines have all drivers driven by gears attached to a single drive shaft.  Shay locomotives were commonly used by logging and coal mining railroads where sharp curves and steep grades made traditional motive power simply unusable.

Except in brass, there are no HO-scale version Western Maryland Shay prototypes.  The shay here is undecorated, and will stand in as my only Western Maryland shay until I acquire a more prototypical unit.  It is close to Shay #4, but what I really want are Shays #5 and #6.

The particular Bachmann shay I got is noisy as anything.  Honestly, it sounds like a little electric razer.  In August, I sent it back to Bachmann to have it repaired.  After a while (Bachmann lost my original unit and order - good thing I didn't do any custom work on it), I was sent back a brand new shay, lubed up and ready to go.  The new unit is much smoother and quieter than the old.

That all being said, the mechanism on the Bachmann shay is great.  This little guy is actually driven in the same manner as the prototype, with gears at the end of each driver, and a drive shaft between the wheel sets.

Here's a of the mechanism on a real shay. This picture was taken in the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum.

Here's a photo of the model before any work was done on it.

More photos coming once I start the conversion of this locomotive.