Accucraft 3cylinder Shay

Gordon,

I have an extra stock 3 cylinder Shay gas tank if you are interested. I converted my Shay to use an Accucraft Mogul gas tank mounted in the tender bath. Yes, one must be very careful with low water, and use the hand pump at a set time into the run. With the massive ram on the stock pump it takes only a short amount of strokes to fill the boiler, and then the wait for the boiler pressure to recover!!

Anyone thought of mounting and axel pump in the ashpan area, modifing one of the piston eccentrics to also run the axel pump?

I asked Norm Saley to install a large tank in the "tender" area of my 3 cylinder shay - the reworked loco gives almost 2 hours run time. Such a large fuel tank eliminated the tender pump.

As noted, it is a voracious consumer of water. It uses between 7 and 10 ml of water per minute depending on the load and fire. I routinely add water every 5 minutes through a goodall valve. This frequency is a bit distracting but if I wait 10 minutes to add 100 ml, then I will kill the steam pressure. Generally adding 40 - 50 ml every 5 minutes has a limited effect on steam pressure.

Since my usage of the loco is mainly during operating sessions and confined to switching, the frequent fills of water are not too big of a hassle. I would imagine that the more typical live steamer running in a circle would want a smaller tank and perhaps automatic water addition.

Regards ... Doug