Category Archives: 16mm

Rebuilding the Shay (part 10) – running on air

Sorry for the loooong pause between posts. In the year since the last post, a lot has happened. Whilst other-parts-of-life (mostly good) have taken priority, there has been some progress on the Shay: I have fired up the Shay a … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 9) – setting things on fire again

More work on my Steamlines Shay locomotive. At the weekend, I took it to the outdoor line at Brambleton model railway club, and it attracted a lot of interest. With much assistance from David Jones, we managed to get a … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 8) – bogies

It’s been a few months since I did anything with the Shay – life is like that. I believe that the wheels of this locomotive were originally designed for G-scale. I say this with reasonable confidence because the flanges are … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 7) – setting things on fire

If you have been following my previous posts, you will know that the boiler and gas tank are both sound. A friend from my local model engineering society encouraged me to try lighting the loco to see if it will … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 6) – fiddly bits

In my previous post, I described getting the boiler and gas tank tested, and promised to start putting the loco together. This has proved to be quite fiddly. The first fiddly bit relates to the bolts in the bottom of … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 5) – boiler and gas tank

Since the last update, I have had the boiler tested by the helpful people in my local model engineering society. They also had a look at the gas tank.  Garden-gauge steam locomotives, particularly those with commercially-made boilers, don’t normally need … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 4) – variations

I have been discussing the Steamlines Shay with various other owners of this kit in the 16mm Association. The kit was sold by Tom Cooper in the 1990s under his “Merlin” or “Steamlines” brands. The contents of this kit varied … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 3) – The instructions

The Shay kit that was sold by Steamlines in the 1990s was accompanied by a VHS cassette showing how to build it. There are also paper instructions – mostly on A3 – with some guidance, but a lot is left … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 2) – Linkages

One of the great things about a Shay locomotive is the unique drive train – a flexible axle running along one side of the locomotive from the power unit (crankshaft) to the bogie trucks. This Wikipedia page has more information … Continue reading

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Rebuilding the Shay (part 1 of many)

April 2022 Progress on rebuilding the Steamlines Shay kit Continue reading

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