Shay, what is that thing?

Keystone shay/NWSL retrofit

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Image Copyright (c) 2005 Tim Warris

Here is a project I did over 10 years ago, a teeny, tiny shay. This started life as a Keystone shay white metal static model kit, and I am sure when this kit was designed they had no intention of it ever being made to run.

North West Short Line developed a retrofit kit to power this model. To call it a challenging build would be an honest statement!

The kit includes all the necessary goodies to make it run, including new wheel sets (the original ones are castings) gears, pickups and a small motor.

Click on the picture for larger view…

Image Copyright (c) 2005 Tim Warris

Its been over 10 years since I built this model, so I don’t recall exactly the process involved in building it, but I do recall a few things. One improvement I made was to solder everything together. This takes a bit of patience! The soft metal melts almost instantly, so great care must be taken not to dissolve the entire part you are trying to solder. I used a liquid solder paste, that I applied with a toothpick. A quick bit of heat and the parts are permanently joined.

The wheel sets have pinion gears on the sides, that drive the side shafts. All the wheels have the gears, but I ground down two of the four sets, as it just would not mesh properly and jumped all over the place when run. Once I removed two it made a big difference.

The biggest improvement was to replace the teeny tiny motor that comes with the NWSL kit. It was just too small to make it run the way I wanted.

Click on the picture for larger view…

Image Copyright (c) 2005 Tim Warris

Shown in the picture above is the new Kato motor I opted for. This motor is about 3 times the size of the one that is included in the kit, and because it is much more powerful, the engine runs smoothly. It will crawl down the track very slowly.

Fitting this motor in was a bit of a challenge though. I had to grind out most of the inside of the tender casting, then hide the top of it with a pile of wood.

Click on the picture for larger view…

Image Copyright (c) 2005 Tim Warris

Kadee couplers were simply glued in place on the bottom, they don’t need to swivel as the engine is so short it isn’t necessary. Lots of little details were also added, including cab curtains that were made of tissue paper stained with the goop in the bottom of my brush cleaner jar.

Believe it or not this engine runs excellent! Sadly though, I have completely wore out the gears on the side shafts, and it is in need of an overhaul. It doesn’t get run anymore, but still looks good.

Click on the picture for larger view…

Image Copyright (c) 2005 Tim Warris

Posted by: | 12-11-2005 | 11:12 AM
Posted in: Uncategorized