# Single-truck Shay



## Larry Green (Jan 2, 2008)

Check out Jerry Barnes' single-cylinder, single truck Shay in the modelmaking forum. Hmm??

Larry


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## Eric M. (Jan 3, 2008)

It's cute. I remember the build. For the steam engine to work it would need a flywheel though since it is only one cylinder. It may be possible to have a solid brass flywheel in the drive line itself. The question would be, can you install a big enough flywheel to make it work but still have enough clearance for switch throws or other track side obstacles?

In the build thread I'm pretty sure I suggested adding a small solid flywheel in the drive line just to lend a bit more credibility from an engineering standpoint. But it seems as though Jerry wasn't going for mechanical feasibility.


Regards,


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Larry. Nah, just made it for fun Eric. You could do a live steam version, sort of like the Cricket was, it was a single oscillator. Be a small boiler though.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's a few more pix of the single truck shay. It is on bachman empty truck cut in half. One cylinder from the 3 cylinder shay engine. Uses a VCR motor with Delriln chain/sprocket to the drive shaft. 








I replaced the belt drive from the VCR with a Delrin Sprocket/chain. Belt drive slipped.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Cant find the thread..went back 4 pages and several months in the model making forum.. 
don't see it.. 

to make things much easier, when discussing another thread, you could always..oh I dont know..post a link to it?  

Scot


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## Nutz-n-Bolts (Aug 12, 2010)

Here is the link Scot:Here is the link Scot:

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/8/aft/124553/afv/topic/Default.aspx

I have to admit when I saw Jerry's thread, I was very taken by the single cylinder shay too. My mind immediately went to work. A candidate for a Graham Industries engine with a modified base? I think Eric is right about the fly wheel too. A fly wheel could be hidden or housed inside and driven by a chain of the shaft. Very intriguing...


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## Eric M. (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Jerry. I want to make sure that I clarify that I am in no way trying to disparage your model making efforts. Like I said, it is very cute and almost looks as though it "could have been" and you did a fine job on it and a beautiful job in the boot-boilered 2-banger too. Please don't hold it against me that I'm always asking myself "now how could this have worked?" Like you said, a variant of a Berkeley Cricket could be made to resemble this, but the Cricket really has an entirely different type of drive than a Shay does.

Doing a locomotive that has the look and most of the function of yours would be an interesting challenge though. One possibility would be to do a gear reduction like the Regner Shay has ABOVE the drive line so you could mount a flywheel a little bit higher for better clearance.


Regards,


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Glad you like it Eric. Doing it in live steam was never my intention, if it inspires someone to do so, that would be great. This does work. Old video here shows it using a 9.6v battery pack, I have since used a 7.2v which moves it around about right.


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