May 12, 2003..
She is basically complete!
Only a few minor tweaks yet to do..
I need to permantely attach the dome and the bell, (in these photos they are sitting loose
on the boiler..they might be a bit crooked in my pictures! that will be fixed..)
also, I need to make a new cab roof..the current roof is the second one, and its still
not right..it warped a bit while the glue was drying. 3rd time will hopefully be the charm..
But she is ready to steam!
I did a test-steam a few weeks ago, without the lubricator, when I had the whole drivetrain complete
but before the cab, tender, and horizontal boiler were built..
She runs well!..I do need a bit more pressure though,
She isnt totally happy on curves..needs a bit more power..but I made a new boiler jacket, with more holes,
and the addition of the lubricator should give a bit more power...so we shall see!
Like I said before, if the curves should prove to be too much of a problem, I will simply disconnect
the chain to the front truck, and modify the front truck so it will pivot..
but im confident there are ways to increase the pressure enough to make the whole thing work..
Also, im seriously considering looking into converting her to an alcohol burner, instead of Sterno..
lots of possible future mods!
(I have the series of articles about mods to the Bagrs Basic, that ran in Steam in the Garden magazine awhile back..)

So right now, She is about 98% done..
done enough to make her debut!
Mechanically She is 100% done..just some minor asthetic tweaks still to go.
And I suspect She will be contiunally modified and improved as time goes by...
 

I originally had a piece of decking/running board to go along the right side of the boiler..
same place a real Shay would have one, but because my boiler is SO far offset to the left,
the running board ended up being quite wide, and it covered up all the interesting framing!
it just didnt "look right"..so I left it off! I think it looks much better this way..
I like the visible open framework..
 
 

oh yeah, another thing to be changed..
that brass tube extending into the boiler muct be re-done..I need a much more precise
curve to that pipe! (just for looks..its fully functional as-is..it just looks bad to me..)

Here you can see how far offset the boiler is!
That was just a necessity of the design..but I like it!
 

Here you can really see the warp in the roof...the whole roof will be replaced.
 
 

Here is the "wrong" side! (as opposed to the right side)
The flash on the stack and the the big burr on the dome still
needs to be smoothed out..and those boiler bands will also be replaced..
like I said, She is only 98% done! still some refining to be done..
 
 
 
 

Here is the view of the actual steam engine and it's piping..with the cab removed.
the steam comes out the boiler, through the lubricator, and into the engine.
then the exaust steam leaves the engine, through the pipe into the dummy horizontal boiler,
and out the stack!

The whole engine can be taken apart into 6 major subcomponents.
the frame, (with trucks)
the tender,
the cab,
the cab/tender deck, (engine is bolted to this deck)
the whole horizontal boiler.
and the midwest vertical boiler.
None of these 6 pieces are permantely attached to each other.
 
 

Parts:
The whole engine is essentially mahagony and brass!

The powerplant is the "Midwest Heritage" Steam engine kit.
The vertical boiler and the actual engine.

The smokebox, stack and sand dome are from DJB Engineering.
I was worried I wouldnt be able to find a suitable stack for this project,
I really wanted that style from the original Shay drawing!
Finally, after searching all over the internet, I came across the
DJB Enginnering live steam Shay.
That stack was perfect! (and the smokebox and dome were perfect too!)
David from DJB Engineering was very helpful in getting these parts, from England!

The drivetrain, including the gears, chain and wheelsets, are from Sulpher Springs Steam Models.
It is thier "KIT-BPE", specially designed for the BAGRS Basic project loco.
(it also includes the roundhouse lubricator)
In addition to the KIT-BPE,
I also ordered 4 extra gears and more chain for this particular project.

The headlight, headlight brackets, numberplate (on the smokebox front) and the bell are from Trackside Details.

The coupler pockets, bolts on the pilot, axel journals, and cab steps are from Ozark Miniatures.

The frame, trucks, cab, tender, and horizontal boiler were all scratchbuilt.
 
 
 

Well thats it! (for now!)
She will make her maiden run as a complete locomotive at the May 31st. steamup of the Upstate Steamers.

As mods and changes are made, I will update this page..
Hope you enjoyed this look at the creation of a steam locomotive!

She's Alive! 

Scot
 
 

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