The slap-together locomotive that was actually really good - Shay Locomotives

Have you ever needed a steam

locomotive

for your railroad so much that you simply put a boiler and some cylinders on a spare flatcar only to accidentally create one of the most versatile steam

locomotive

s in history because that's what this one did? guy born in 1839, Ephraim Shea worked? as a teacher, clerk and civil servant before you say shit, this office job, I'm going to become a lumberjack, he founded his own lumber company around the 1860s and wanted a better way to move his logs to the sawmill since he could only use snow sleds. meaning he could only move logs in winter, he built a narrow gauge tramway in 1875 to transport the trees, allowing him to cut logs all year round.

Finally, Shea needed some type of locomotive to run the line, as there was no way to purchase one. engines to run on narrow gauge rails at that time he took a flatcar that was used to transport logs and simply mounted a boiler on it. He then installed two cylinders in the boiler that would drive a set of wheels on the rear bogie of the platform. The drive wheels of the design underwent several changes and chains and belts were used to drive the wheels. Instead the final design saw two cylinders mounted on the right side of the frame pointing downwards, these were connected to a drive shaft which drove the wheels with bevel gears.

The drive shaft was also flexible allowing the bogies to be moved. articulated, which meant they could negotiate tight curves much better due to the position of the cylinders, the boiler had to be placed slightly to the left to counteract the weight of the cylinder, giving the overall locomotive a unique profile after obtaining the design. patented, the Lima Locomotive of Ohio built a prototype shear engine in 1880. The engine was well equipped for the job and could pull wooden cars with ease. The design was later improved and a newer B class type was built in 1884. which was fitted with a third cylinder.

In 1885 a C class type was built which had three cylinders and an additional set of bogeys attached to the frame giving it a stronger effort. more attractive and the D class was made with four sets of bogeys the screen design was very successful and was used throughout the United States in quarries, factories, railroads and even plantation work. Its ability to accelerate quickly with heavy loads and run over steep, uneven tracks meant that there was very little heavy lifting that the engine could not do with all its wheels being driven and with weight on all of them the engine had a very high tractive effort although The small wheels and the way they were driven meant that the engine did not have a very high top speed after Shea's patent on the Willamette locomotive design expired.

Iron and steel workers began building their own

locomotives

. casing that were essentially copies of Shae's original design. They were called Willamette

locomotives

for legal reasons, but most still referred to them as shadows. Other nicknames for the locomotives were signed winders or stem winders due to their unusualness. Side mounted driveshafts, many were exported to around 30 different countries where they continued to show their usefulness and some were sent to Australia and other countries with booming timber businesses, although they were not the fastest or sleekest looking engines, the Curtains were powerful for their size and did the trick. Well, 118 Shea locomotives have been preserved for many years and many of them still operate on preserved lines.

This shows how far improvisation can take you. Subscribe to get more information.