Bachmann Shay 80-ton HOn3 Conversion Kit

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I just received an email from Dave at NWSL. He has modified one and has it running and doing test.

This is a project for ADVANCED modelers. Again, this is for ADVANCED modelers. He does not offer help. You have to know what you are doing. Dave is quite busy running his company which is more than just NWSL.

http://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=2065&categoryId=188

No doubt there will be one or two who will complain becasue they require hand holding.

Rich

2

Forgot to mention, Dave included photos of the one he converted and it looks quite nice. I would rather not post the complete message with photos. I would not be surprised to see a article in MRR magazine in the near future.

Rich

3

Personally, I think an 80-ton 3 foot gauge Shay would look kind of ridiculous…but I suppose I could see it working in some settings.

4

There are some locos that look ridiculous but some want their “own” railroad.

I have a 0-6-0T converted into a Cab Forward oil burner 2-6-0 with a small Vanderbilt oil tender based on a circa 1900 Narrow Gauge Cab Forward oil burning 4-4-0. The prototype really looks ridiculous.

Rich

5

Cool!!! the NWSL folks are awesome!

Ridiculous? How about a 100Ton Shay? The Hassinger… She is a tank! This one is HOn3…

I never really considered the Bachmann Shay, as I was not sure of it proportions. I have a United 2 truck shay in HOn3 that is overly massive! (Was going to convert it to STD gauge someday). Now I wouldn’t mind looking into the Bachmann, as I have not seen one close up…

6

Rich, you’re right - I know the locomotive you’re talking about, and it is an odd-looking one to say the least.

Chad, that is a HUGE narrow gauge locomotive - is that based on a 3’ gauge prototype? I guess I don’t know my prototype giant Shays all that well.

7

SPV,

From the ‘very limited’ research I did on it, (meaning I could be wrong), the prototype was a STD Gauge unit. I guess in modeling we don’t have to thnk about rail limits & weight loading, as in real life. Although my photo base is Dual gauge, it still looks pretty big on on both types of track. Once you look for diffenent classes of Shays, there are a bunch. I’ve seen ones that resemble this one in 2 & 3 truck versions as well.