Converting a live steam Shay to electric!

[gregh]

My mate Keith has always had a few live steamers but is getting tired of all the preparation needed to run them. He has sold a few off and kept only his Darjeeling.

However he could not part with his live steam Shay so decided to convert it to electric operation. He found a motor block replacement for the LS. He ripped out as much of the 'burner stuff' in the boiler as he could and the pipework etc in the cab. The LS cab is not a model of the prototype because of the need for the LS stuff. So he rebuilt the cab and bunker to be prototypical, fitted radio control and MLS sound in the bunker and now he can run it whenever he likes!


Short video of its first run here. He needs to increase the volume!



I await the heretical response from live steamers.

[philipy]

Can't speak for Livesteamers, but that looks very good to me.

[ge_rik]

I know we sometimes talk about live steam enthusiasts being drawn to the Dark Side when they buy a battery loco, but this is the equivalent of actually becoming Darth Vader. Has Keith started breathing heavily and wearing a helmet?

Rik
PS It does look and sound great!

[Peter Butler]

A vast improvement IMO. Even the fireman is taking a rest from all that coal shovelling!

[Old Man Aaron]

I once would've considered that to be sacrilege.
These days, I've come to prefer the simple reliability of a battery loco.

I've 2 live steamers, starting on a third now and have a fourth waiting in the cupboard. But I don't plan on any more after that.
On the other hand, I have 9 battery locos with another 3+ planned. I'd love a WD Hunslet, but if I didn't scratchbuild an electric model, I'd have no qualms about gutting an Accy live steam version if I saw one cheap enough.

I don't blame him for converting an Accucraft loco in particular. No more POS burner. No more (lacking) post-sale parts support.
Just a loco that looks right and works when you want it to. Good on him!

[Lonsdaler]

Well, as a 'live steamer', I think that is brilliant. It looks and sounds like a Shay, especially with the lifelike cab interior instead of the oversized gubbins needed for live steam . A job very well done.

[ge_rik]

..... No more POS burner.......

Point of Sale?

Rik

[gregh]

A vast improvement IMO. Even the fireman is taking a rest from all that coal shovelling!

It's amazing how you never see the 'problems' like a dead driver until you look at the video.

[Keith S]

I wouldn’t even bother with model trains if they weren’t steam-driven. To me this is the equivalent of taxidermy-ing your dog and installing a hoover in its gullet so you don’t have to walk it anymore. Can’t imagine being “tired” of live steam.. at least not without getting tired of trains altogether.

However, it’s his and he can do what he likes. I will admit that an electric model does make a better platform for static scale details. As a steam man however, if it was my model the lack of scale valve-gear, which is a compromise on the steam-driven model, would annoy me if it was on an electric one.

I apologize for being negative but such is the nature of social media. At least we’ve gotten the heretical response you were waiting for out of the way!

If he hasn’t done so already, I think he should open the cylinders and remove the pistons or at least the o-rings. Otherwise the lack of lubrication in there could cause the o-rings to deteriorate and seize up the works.

On the bright side, he can now have a lot of fun with details. May I suggest an American company, Ozark Miniatures, sells full backhead details like regulator and reverse handles, steam turrets and gauges, water level glasses and valve cocks, fire doors, turbine generators, water fill hatches, injectors, whistles, turbine generators, bells, air hoses, glad hands and angle cocks, and Buddha knows what else, all in brass and white metal.