Building the 2.5" Scale Shay

[Sparticusrye]

Tristan,

Your Shay is looking good. I've been working on painting my loco as well. It can be a time consuming process but well worth the effort. I'd be interested in how the insulation has affected/improved steaming. While I have the cladding off my boiler I will need to replace the insulation and I've been looking for a decent product. Mine was insulated with cork but its a copper boiler as the loco is in 3/4" scale so no corrosion issues.

Keep up the good work. I'm enjoying the thread.

James

[Soot n' Cinders]

James, the insulation has made an amazing difference! I use noticeably less coal while running, and the biggest change is how long it takes to cool down now. Used to only take 2-3 hours, now it’s closer to 6-7 hours. I definitely recommend the insulation I used

[Berkman]

Curious how thick the insulation is on your boiler? I saw you used 1/8 thick material but assume you likely made a few wraps around with it.

[Soot n' Cinders]

Correct. I did 2 layers so there’s 1/4in of insulation under the jacket. 1/8in May be more appropriate for a 3/4in scale locomotive, but I bet it would make quite a difference on a copper boiler

[Benjamin Maggi]

Any idea how many of these Shays are operating right now? There is of course John's, and your's. Anybody else? Just wondering. Seems like a neat engine.

[Soot n' Cinders]

Any idea how many of these Shays are operating right now? There is of course John's, and your's. Anybody else? Just wondering. Seems like a neat engine.

Greg Glos at midsouth has one operating too. There’s several others that are close as well. Another year or two and there will be a whole gaggle of them running around the southeast

[Benjamin Maggi]

Cool!

[Bill Hanks]

There are at least four of these Shay builds underway in Australia.
Bill.

[Soot n' Cinders]

Been a while since the last update, had other projects in the shop plus the shay has been getting some running time in with the nice weather we’ve been having here. Got more parts on the way in though, this time for the Radley & Hunter stack. All of the sheet metal parts have been laser cut and now just need forming. The center cone is a 3D printing and is a scale model from the Lima drawings. Still plenty of other parts to fabricate too, plus could use some recommendations on the size screen to use in the upper portion as the final filter to catch any sparks.

[NP317]

Wow! Nice parts.
But I do have to comment on "Life with a Radley & Hunter Stack."

After rebuilding the Hillcrest Climax #10 for use on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway, we installed the rebuilt R&H stack.
And we hated it! It ruined the draft of the firebox (an oil burner as built) and caused the fireman endless stress trying to keep any useable boiler pressure.
Granted, we were running on grades up to 4%.
We replaced the R&H with the also-factory-original shotgun stack and the locomotive became a completely different docile and powerful beast
Just our experience.
RussN.

[Soot n' Cinders]

Wow! Nice parts.
But I do have to comment on "Life with a Radley & Hunter Stack."

After rebuilding the Hillcrest Climax #10 for use on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway, we installed the rebuilt R&H stack.
And we hated it! It ruined the draft of the firebox (an oil burner as built) and caused the fireman endless stress trying to keep any useable boiler pressure.
Granted, we were running on grades up to 4%.
We replaced the R&H with the also-factory-original shotgun stack and the locomotive became a completely different docile and powerful beast
Just our experience.
RussN.

Yeah, I've heard they can mess with draft some, we'll see what happens in miniature. Granted, I imagine the effects were more noticeable on an oil burner since draft, fuel, and atomization require much more careful balancing compared to coal or wood. Plus,I dont know how much good an R-H stack would really do for an oil burner, they dont throw that much debris compared to coal or wood. And my shay definitely throws the sparks, so I have to implement some sort of spark arresting technique before I manage to set the woods on fire.

[Glenn Brooks]

I burn coal hence was worried about sparks out the stack and crowning fires in the trees, here in the PNW (we have 35 tall firs and spruce in the back yard). So called the local Fire Dept. the battalion chief said their biggest worry wasn’t tree fires. rather most wild fires start in dried kindling on the ground - brown needles and dried pine cones. Flames can spread to branches and up the tree, but ground cover along the ROW is by far the greatest hazard. Probably a better fire mitigation project than spark arrestor for the stack, would be to fit an ash pan to trap burning embers falling through the grates.

Glenn