MDC Shay Handbook

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Theredcaboose

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Dec 4, 2006
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Does anyone have an idea where this book can be found? I doesn't seem to be available at Barnes and Noble or any fo the places that I tried.
 
Theredcaboose said:
Does anyone have an idea where this book can be found? I doesn't seem to be available at Barnes and Noble or any fo the places that I tried.
Click to expand...

I have seen them once in a while on eBay, and at Amazon as used books. The book has been out of print for a while. Another source worth trying is hobby shops that buy and sell used MR and railroading books. I got mine along with a 3 truck Shay kit when my father was forced to give up model railroading. I had originally given him the book as a gift when he bought the kit.

hope this helps
 
There is a running tutorial on assembly of an MDC Shay at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mdcroundhouse/. You have to join the group (it's free), but the info is worthwhile. The critical steps, such as getting the gear teeth really clean, are going to be repeated. Might be an alternative to an expensive and hard to find book, and the author puts in a few tips he has learned since the book was published.

Hope this helps
 
I queried Oso and got the following interesting response. Not good news for someone
really wanting this book.:cry:

"Hello Cid; sorry, we won't be reprinting that book. Try www.abebooks.com and
see if a copy is available somewhere. Sorry we couldn't be of more help.

Lynda Rygmyr
Oso Publishing Company
Mailing address: P. O. Box 1349
Shipping address: 292 Grantsdale Cem. Rd.
Hamilton, MT 59840 USA
Email: lyndary@osorail.com
Phone: 800-337-3547
Fax: 406-375-7559
www.osorail.com "
 
I've often wondered how many of those Roundhouse Shay kits actually got completed and operational? Seems like a lot of people still have them on a shelf or in a box, waiting to be put together. One of our club members has one on his module, assembled but not operational.
 
Are you looking for the book that shows how to assemble the shay. Let me know if you are interested and I will get the exact name of the book.
 
newbie and from yUK..so be patient....but I have, stored away somewhere, the MDC shay handbook......didn't realise it had reached rarity status!

I used to buy up Roundhouse H0n3 shays from UK importers at NMRA British region meets.....H0n3 didn't really sell all that well here.....anyway, I would buy them for what would be the equivalent of $15.....they were around £50 new, in H0 gauge, over here.....then using brass rod of the right diameter, I would re-gauge them...Roundhouse would send me a box full of truck sides without the moulded spacers, for a dollar or two (imaging me trotting into my local bank, to 'purchase' a couple of dollar bills?)......cleaning up the 'bull' gears had good results.....sometimes I would deliberately 'strip' one bevel gear for the external driveshft, to cure a 'bind'....the results seemed to impress...to the extent I found myself getting 'presented' with 'proper' MDC shays to build, for others!

WHo obviously thought I had more time on my hands than was good for me.

when I accidentally damaged someone's motor, I donated one of mine....and managed to squeeze in a Mashima of considerable girth, using silicon to stick it down, and some cobbled-up UJ's and shafts to reach the MDC gearbox.
Needless to say, that particular 2 truck shay suddenly found itself running as an oil burner.....the motor needed disguising as something...an oil tank seemed appropriate!

I have a couple of boxes containing the slightly incomplete remains of a couple of 3 truckers....needing re-gauging to 16.5mm.....they will remain boxed as they have been since 1994.....I lose enough sleep as it is!
(along with a MDC Atlantic!)
 
thank you......

at the moment, the only question I might ask is......why?

[do I have loads of logging books, bits of stock,etc.....yet prefer to build a Scottish harbour layout?
what went wrong?]
 
I admit to joining years ago......although I struggled to 'deal' with the US-born idea of 'career progression' which seemed to permeate that august body......smacked a bit of the Boy Scouts and their badges?
Never entered a contest, couldn't see the point....striving for 'excellence' isn't my thing.
Getting the darned things to run slowly is more important to me!

However, slightly off-thread, I did find the UK region's HO modular thing an excellent idea...probably more so than it would be in the US...since it allowed 'local' groups to get together at a single convenient venue (church halls usually) for a natter, and the modules brought along so we could also play trains, with more of a continuous run than we as individuals were ever likely to have been able to set up.
(As ever, in the Yuk, domestic 'space' is at a premium..basements almost non-existant..and the shelf layout probably rules)
I also guess that brit modellers go in for more 'exibitionism'?
 
When the hobby shop was still in business, I had access to a magazine called "Continental Modeller". I suspect, from what I saw there, that the UK is not the only place where "domestic space" is at a premium. The benefit, for want of a better word, is the quality, and quantity of detail invested in the smaller "displays". This is is something seen in the military dioramas. The time is spent, not in filling a basement, but in creating highly detailed, and historicly accurate scenes.
For the model railroader, modules, compatible with others, makes possible operation on a large "layout", while not taking up excessive space at home. I have the benefit of membership in the Lake County Model Railroad club, and being part of the Lake County Society of Modular Engineers. I have a permanent layout, and the modular layout, to run long trains on, and my living space is "uncluttered".




uncluttered; adj. Amer. Eng.; Describing a space, through which one may pass with relatively few injuries, or minimal damage. :-D
 
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