I’ve just got a video tape on Cass Scenic Railway, I’m amaze how quiet shays are.
Anyway what was the largest shay ever built, and are their any photos of it?
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Dale;
I know that the Western Maryland Big Six (now at Cass) was the last Shay built but was it also the “largest”? I guess the answer probably depends on how you define “size” – driver wheel diameter; number of axles; weight; length; etc.
Poppyl
If you think the Shays are quiet based on a video tape, your volume is WAAAY too low.
The numbers I have for Western Maryland 6 is 150 ton 3 truck model with 59,740 pounds of TE, 66’ 1" long and weighing 162 tons, including coal and water, although these numbers may be wrong.
It was built from the plans of Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk River 12, built during 1921. 150 ton model, 152 tons, 59,740 lbs TE. GC&E 12 was rebuilt with Lima’s help during 1937 into a 4 truck shay with a running weight of 203 tons, and TE of 68,000 lbs. Scrapped at Cass 1956.
Here are some strange looking NYC shays-
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/nyc1896.jpg
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/nyc1899.jpg
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/nyc7188.jpg
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/nyc7189.jpg
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/nyc1900.jpg
Yes, KCS 900 was the largest shay ever outshopped by Lima. Yes, the GC&E 12 was rebuilt to a class D shay to become the largest shay that ever existed. However, where did you here that the KCS 900 was rebuilt to a class D in response to GC&E 12’s rebuilding? Seems highly unlikely, since the KCS put 900 up for sale in 1925, and the engine was reported scrapped by 1928 (Source: shay section at gearedsteam.com). GC&E 12 wasn’t rebuilt until 1933.
I rode on the Kettle Valley RR where they had [have] a shay. It is loud trust me 
Turn the volume up and when you have to shout a little to be heard that is about right:D
Having ridden and railfanned both Cass and Alishan (Taiwan) shays, I have found them to be very quiet - when stopped, with the brakes locked, the compressors and blowers off and the fires banked. At all other times they make all the noises common to steam locos and a few that are peculiar to shays (moving downgrade, the gears clatter like kids dragging sticks along a picket fence.) Upgrade with a load, even an 18 ton shay can be heard for miles!
I believe that Western Maryland #6 was the heaviest and most powerful shay that ever left the Lima erection floor and remained unmodified. #6 was slightly heavier than the GC&E 3-trucker that was modified into a 4-truck loco, the largest and heaviest shay ever. #6 was in operation at Cass when I visited there a few years ago; on loan from the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. Note that the KCS roster linked above gives the KCS shay (as a three-trucker)120 tons adhesive weight - 32 tons less than #6.
Funniest locomotive sight I’ve ever seen was Alishan #14 (18 ton 2 cylinder 2 truck shay) with her boiler drained. She was laying over to the machinery side like a sailboat beating to windward in a stiff breeze.
Chuck (who loves shays and mountain goats, both for the same reason)
I agree with you. I was mistaken.
You know, it’s really hard to say which was the larger of the shays, WM 6 or KCS 900, for a couple of reasons. On the official Lima builders card for #6, the “average weight in working order” for the engine is listed as 324,000, or 162 tons. Now what is the “average weight in working order”? Dry weight? It wouldn’t seem so, since locomotives aren’t in working order at their dry weight, without coal and water. On gearedsteam.com, the 6’s weight is listed as 269,960, about 135 tons. Add nine tons of coal (144 tons)+6,000 gallons of water (don’t know how to compute that weight!) and you probably get the listed 162 ton figure. Dry weight of KCS 900, as listed on gearedsteam.com is 286,700 (143 tons), a larger dry weight than #6. She also had the largest cylinders ever on a shay at 18x20". WM 6 has 17x18". I must conclude the 900 to be the larger locomotive. Though I take nothing away from #6. Spent a lot of time at Cass as a youngster and #6 is an amazing engine. She was at her best pulling the short-lived Greenbrier River trains from Cass up to Durbin on the remains of the old Greenbrier Sub, before the flood came and washed the line away. Certainly the fasted shay I ever rode behind; can make 20mph easily on level track.
Can someone refresh my memory as to where WM #6 was in service? Harding/Belington area seems to stick in my mind for some reason.
Poppyl
#6 was used on the Chaffee Branch of the WM, Chaffee WV to Vindex MD. Hard to say if it was used north of Elkins WV in the area you are thinking of, but it’s certainly possible.
Best site for shay info is http://www.shaylocomotives.com