Howie’s Shay In 1983 PBL made this WSLC Shay #12. Since the real #12 was both standard and narrow gauge PBL made both versions as well. My model #12 is standard gauge. In an email from PBL on 7-1-20 Jimmy Booth replied that maybe 10-15 models have been made as standard gauge, making it a rather rare model. The Shay would not be much use to me other than a shelf model if it was narrow gauge. I have no plans to add narrow gauge track to the layout. My intention is all of my trains should be in running condition. My friend the late Howie Waelder was not an S Scaler but bought it anyway because the side rod action intrigued him. Howie had no S Scale layout at that time, just a single piece of S Scale flex track. He ran it for a literal 3 feet when it spilt a gear disabling it for many years. Howie was referred to the Central Jersey S Scalers club from the hobby shop and the rest is history. The friendships made and the good times had for over 25 years simply cannot be measured.

The late Bill Daiker eventually got the Shay running. I did see Howie run the Shay once - very briefly.

It runs amazingly well but occasionally sputters on dirty track because the Shay travels so slowly.

This is the locomotives that got Howie interested in S Scale, and eventually lead to us meeting. A relatively small purchase was directly responsible for impacting and enriching so many lives.

When Howie passed his trains were dispersed to his children to keep or sell. In November 2007 I had a very unexpected opportunity to buy this engine that was of great sentimental value to Howie and now me as well.

It is an honor for me to now own this engine.

Just for a goof I posed #12 next to the giant PRR J1

Posed with the Bobber Caboose I made to go with the logging train.

Added 8-16-16

This loco remains as my all time most difficult and most annoying DCC installation - EVER. In August 2016, as a part of my program to update all locos to LED headlights and better decoders, I took out the NCE N Scale N12SR decoder that ran reasonable well but sputtered at times and installed a TCS KAT22 with a Keep Alive capacitor bank built in. The NCE N Scale decoder was very small, but still STUFFED in with the motor. There is NO spare space in this loco. I don’t know how or where there is room for a sound decoder and speaker like some others have installed. I had to move the TSC decoder into the tender requiring 6 wires going between the loco and tender. I hated doing that but I had no choice. I had to mill about 1/8” off the tender weight to fit the decoder on top. I also hate having plugs and wires go between the loco and tender. The 4 pin plug is for the motor and front headlight. The 2 pin plug is for power pick up from the loco trucks.

The hole behind the stack for the headlight wire was already there when I got it. I would have routed it up from the bottom if the boiler, but that needed to be done before painting. I just had to slightly hole enlarge the to get the LED in place. The back of the headlight is filled with Nitro-Stan body filler to stop light leaks.

In spite of my best efforts the loco had a short. I tried 3 times to fix it before it went back in the box for another day.

Added 6-20-20

In the spring of 2020 I was working on a lot of long term projects like completing PRR steam locos but I was annoyed with myself that the Shay was not running - for what turned out to be 4 years. There was new decoders available and a 4 years later me for another try. It was time for something new. On 6-19-20 I got the Shay out of the box and ripped everything out. There were too many wires and plugs going in between the loco and tender. The tender was not tracking correctly. This loco already is very difficult to get on the track correctly as it is with the driveshafts. The plugs were just too much. It all had to go. I found the Train Control Systems N Scale 1424 M1-KA decoder that was very small but I still could wire a large Keep Alive to it. That is just what I have been looking for.

I decided to use the original KAT22 decoder in the tender just to run the backup headlight. I have done this before with other steam loco tenders. There is a resistor across the orange and gray wires to simulate motor load. I program this decoder to #12, the same address as the loco. I wired the LED to blue and yellow like a regular backup headlight. It all works well.

Since the only purpose and draw of this decoder is the headlight it stays bright for OVER 2 minutes with the layout power turned off. Because I have a large Keep Alive in the loco I am now not depending on the tender for additional power pick up. I just eliminated all wires and plugs between the loco and tender, a giant win. The tender is now truly standalone for some extra traction and the backup headlight.

Added 7-27-20

Finally really DONE!!!

As previously mentioned this loco remains as my all time most difficult and annoying DCC installation. A bad Miniatronics plug kept killing decoders. That made having 8 decoders total in it since I bought it. If someone else has installed a sound unit in this same loco I would like to see how it was done. They had to either use spaces like the oil bunker I did not which would require significant cutting, or they used the tender which I tried and it did not work for me. I can’t stress enough how little space there is in this loco. This is the final layout of where everything fit. The loco front is at left. I removed cross braces and modified a bracket that covers the motor and gearbox to get more space. This is a TCS M1-KA and a TSC KA-4 Keep Alive. There are 2 pin plugs going to the motor and headlight.

It has taken almost 13 years but I finally have it running like I want. The performance is beyond amazing especially for a 37 year old locomotive.

I have 2 bobber cabooses made for this train. My 3D printed logging caboose is finally running with the Shay I made it for. The Shay was in the box and not running when I made it.

YouTube Videos

These clips show the amazing running capabilities this loco has. It will remain as my slowest running loco ever. The first clip is #12 taking 8 real minutes to move 10 real inches. Robert Carter - fellow member of the Facebook S Scale group, and has much better math skills than I do explained: Scale speed is 6 2/3 ft per min, 400 ft per hour, or 5/66 mph = about 0.076 mph!

Updated 7-27-20

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