My On30 Shay

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred_M
  • Start date Start date
For those of you would like to modify/paint their Shay with out having to destroy all that plumbing - here's how I removed my bodywork in one piece with out destroying the look.......
Actually the removal is quite simple.
Use a scalpel or thin blade to dislodge both the seats.
Now turn the loco over - in front of the round firebox/motor housing is a screw
holding the boiler - remove this and wiggle the boiler to dislodge it.
Undo the two screws holding the firebox/motor housing and drop it out of the
way.
Now find the small screw under the cab on the main frame - this should be on
the left as you look at the frame and approximately where the engineers seat
was - remove this screw. The screw held down a plastic wedge - remove this
wedge.
Now I snipped the wires leading to the headlamp - hindsight says it would have
been better to unsolder them from the small cct board.
Turn the loco right side up and firmly push the cab to the fireman's side of the frame.
The cab should now lift up. As you do so you will see two plastic pipes on each
side of the cab coming up from the floor - pull the cab up so these are
slightly stretched and cut them off at floor level - do the same for the other
side of the cab.
The whole superstructure should now come off in one piece.
Now you can safely replace the firebox/motor housing.