I have yet to build anything of this magnitude. I am in the process of building and gathering the tooling to start my venture into the live steam hobby. Before I tackle this project I need to get some machine time and building experience under my belt. That's why I'm going to build an electric loco first and then the Clishay. As I get experienced I'll probably work on this project in conjunction with the Clishay. It'll be a while before any real progress is made on this engine, so stop back once in a while to check if any progress has been made.
While working on this part of the web site and gathering the materials to build a set of trucks I came to the conclusion of building a class "D" Shay. Not much has ever been written in the model press of these behemoths. I did find a source in "Outdoor Railroader", a magazine for large scale models. It was a 5 part article on Shays. The series was written by Robert A.M. Stephens. It was a very interesting article describing how the 4 truck class "D" Shay came about. The C & O was a major buyer of these large 165 to 180 ton engines. They were mainly used to haul coal up steep grades on the C & O. Since I've never seen a class "D" Shay in model form, let alone in 1.5" scale, I decided that this is what I wanted to build. All that it entails is lengthening the tender frame for an extra set of trucks. No modification to the engine is necessary. Below is a drawing of what the Ken Schoerder Shay would possibly look like as a 4 truck Shay. It represents a Shay of about 110 tons. Disregard the balloon stack and cow catcher.
These pictures are of Ken Schoerder's 3 truck Shay. Ken offers the 3 cylinder engine castings, truck castings and miscellaneous castings for this engine. See his web site at www.shaylocomotive.com for further information about these beautiful castings and how to get them. Ken also offers a set of plans for all the parts needed to build one of these beautiful engines.
The site that inspired me to purchase Ken's castings can be found here at Nelson's Locomotive Works. This site is well worth taking a look at even if your not building one of these engines. Nelson Riedel is doing a fabulous job at building both the web site and the engine.
Below are some of Ken's pictures that he provides with the drawing set.
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These are the beautiful engine castings that Ken Schoerder provides. For a larger view click on the picture. |
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