The
Spring Creek Railroad G
Scale Model Railway Conductor Jerry Barnes Engineer Jerry Barnes
Jerry's New One Cylinder Shay's
History: Shays were geared locomotives, mainly used in logging
and mining. They could climb steep slopes and negotiate tight curves. They
were usually narrow gauge, with 30" between the rails. You
can read about they here: http://www.gearedsteam.com/ . You will also find
the other two types of geared locomotives there, the Climax and Heisler.
Jerry had made a Shay before, in live steam (seen on
this page). He had since acquired a Bachaman Shay shell that he rebuilt, it needed a tender/roof/smokestack/new
power trucks. It is battery powered.
It was a 3 cylinder shay, but he liked the looks of
the two cylinder shays better.
Early ones had the T boiler shape also. There were
some articles in modeling magazines about cutting the motor down to two
cylinders, so he looked them up. He acquired a 3 cylinder shay motor and
cut it down to two cylinders.
He was just planning on a two cylinder shay, but the
one cylinder he took off struck a train(no pun intended!) of thought of
making a one cylinder shay also. He scanned in some shay plans and shortened
it up on his computer.
Shays had two power trucks and Jerry had tried, in
the past, to get some castings made of his trucks in brass.
That never worked out, but he had some that were cast in pot metal. He
took some of these and chopped them up to make a separated, one journal
trucks.
At first he was thinking of making it in live steam,
like his other shay, so, he used a frame of 1/4" brass and some zinc
sheets for the floor and running boards. He has since decided to use an
electric motor from a VCR, it has a belt drive and the pulleys that he
took out of an old one.
He tried out the pvc T boiler shape here, with the
one cylinder.
Jerry made the headlight out of a 1/2" copper cap,
and added the shade in thin brass, some of the leftover white metal truck
pieces was used for the headlight base. An LED will be put in later.
Jerry got the gear/motor alignment figured out so everything
will mesh and line up fine. The electric motor will be in the
boiler, a small belt will run out to a small pully on the driveshaft.
The trucks got their final assembly with Loctite. They turn fine, are a bit loose for adjusting to the
track.
Jerry decided to plank the deck, also trial fitting
the boiler.
The motor from a VCR fits up inside the boiler. Tight
fit! You can see the pullys for the V belt. A plastic piece
will cover the bottom of the T, just the small pully will stick
out.
The one cylinder gets a bearing. The white plastic
holds it and strengthens the mount and matches the other side. It will
be sanded to size and painted.
Here you can see the collars attached to the crankshaft.
In this detail shot you can see the collars attached
to the brass channel with J&B Weld-an epoxy. The collars have
set screws to attach the brass drive shaft to the crankshaft
on the motor.
The plastic crank remnant on the one cylinder just
would not hold up to the attachments for the drive shaft and it was wobbly.
So Jerry turned some new parts on his old Unimat lathe and cut some brass
for the other parts of the crank and glued them together with super glue.
The black plastic piece is off the old crank, it governs the motion of
the valve mechanism and it was easier to turn the shaft down, drill out
the plastic and mount it to the crank. The holes at the end of the crank
will get brass tubing to attach the u-joints to(see illustration).
He is making some u-joints as he did for his live steam
shay, this is the illustration he did for his article about it in
Steam in the Garden magazine. It utilizes brass tubing and some
sewing pins that he grinds flat on one side and slides together for an tight interference fit. They have held on his live steam shay for 12 years
now. Easy way to do u-joints.
Jerry used thin plywood as the base for the cab pieces. He layered over trim boards made of wood stir sticks. Then the roof curve was sanded on two pieces of wood
and he curved the thin plywood roof over them. Super glue
gel was used for all assembly.
At this angle you can see the boiler front that was
made from the seal to a milk carton. The stack is obviously
brass and copper plumbing pieces. Thick solder was used for the curved
piece at the base of the stack. Ozark Miniatures castings are on the
front bumper. More will be used on the boiler. www.ozarkminiatures.com
On this closeup you can see the drive shafts and u-joints. The one cylinder motor is attached, you can also see
the belt and pullys that will provide the motive power. He hopes!
Jerry made more progress on his one cylinder shay. Here it is getting some copper foil that he embossed
with a pounce wheel and a sharp tool to get some rivet
detail. He has used this on several train models and finds
it useful. It is 'Safer Snail & Slug Copper Barrier Tape' Sold in garden catalogs, online
and on ebay.
Here you can see the boiler front that Jerry glued
a piece of plastic seal on for the smokebox front-it came from
a soy milkcarton. The light is made from a 1/2" copper end
cap. He used an LED out of a cheap key chain light, a battery box is in the boiler. The lens is from a R/C car headlight. All the boiler and stack parts are plumbing parts
in copper or plastic.
In this detail shot of the stack you can see the rivet
patterns, Jerry used a piece of plumbing solder for the collar
around the stack.
OneCYlShTrks--Jerry had to discard his homemade Shay
trucks, the pot metal just would not hold up to the stresses. He obtained a stock Bachman Shay Truck and cut it
in half. He hoped to use the Bachman motor, but it was too
large, so he stayed with the VCR belt drive as described
before. He may put on Delrin Chain and Gears. The wheel sets
are rigidily mounted, with the short wheelbase there is no reason for them
to pivot.
Jerry got everything all hooked up and the castings/parts
glued on. Sprayed it with flat black and while that was wet
fogged on some spray for the rust color. The wood is yet untreated.
Here you can see the wood was treated with india ink/alcohol
washes, then dusted with chalks made for weathering rains/models. This
was it's first trial run and it did okay, but the drive belt seemed to
be slipping. It did do better with a battery car hooked to it,
getting more power, but Jerry wants it to run with just onboard batteries.
He ordered some plastic chain and sprockets to hook to the motor, always
something to do when you are making it yourself! Retirees......:-)
More of a front view. The light was made by Jerry
and has a LED from a cheap keychain light. He used a flat battery and holder
he cut off from an old camera. It is stored in one of the boxes that holds
the front wheels.
Jerry added some rails above the tender so it could
hold more wood. A fake wood pile will be installed to cover up the batteries
below (4 AA's).
The DPDT switch can be seen by the rear beam,
behind the wheels. It is a switch you can wire so it runs in reverse or
forward, center position is off. Jerry will put tools in the
gray tool box soon. The air pump in front of the tool box was also made
by him, since he did not have a casting onhand.
Jerry added some final details to the one cylinder
shay. Ozark castings of tools, so jacks, lantern, oil cans and shovels.
Also some chain on the front deck.
He also put some split wood in the tender. Note the
safety gauge and the lantern hanging on the side of the cab.
The 'other' side with the tool box and air pump that
I made. He also 'glassed' in all the windows with some thin plastic. Note
the tool artfully scattered around and in the tool box.
And a comparison of the size of the 3 cylinder and
1 cylinder shays.
A short Vidoe Clip of the running of the One Cylinder
Shay
Union
Pacific Railroads This web site has information on their two
live steamers they still run and where they are going to on excursions.
You can follow them on line.
