~ Monday, October 22, 2007 ~

This is one of the first shays "out of the hatch", as created by your friend and mine, Jimmy Booth for yr fthfl svt. This time photographed against a nice sky backdrop. That dry looking grass bespeaks California's long summers. She a beauty, isn't she ?

Click Here to see a Super Sized view of this great model, one that will fill yer screen ! ( Yeah, you could click on the photo and get the same result. 'Just checkin' to see if yer payin' attention. . . )


Here's "Bills #5", glidin' down the high iron. The West Side kept their Shays lookin' pretty good. Aside from the fact that they'd spend 3-4 months out of the year sidelined, (Because of WINTER in the Sierras. ), these shays were "Oil Burners", which were a whole lot cleaner burning than coal burners.
And too, "normal" road engines kicked up a lot of dust and grime due to their speed. Shays, on the other hand, with their leisurely 16-18 miles per hour top speeds, were less inclined to kick up dust.
A kinda "long way around" to explain why the #6 you see here isn't heavily weathered. But them's the facts. ( You'll see this story on the #6 Shay page too. Hey, this writer's only got so much "stuff", y'know. )


The prototype for this low slung beauty was built for the West Side Lumber Co. in 1902, being completed in August of that year. She bore Lima's Construction Number 730, and remained in and around Tuolumne, California her whole life. Unfortunately, the #5 and #6 suffered from "bad press", but heck, look at what kind of trackage they had to run on ! It wasn't exactly "Class 1 Mainline" you know. . .

According to The Shay Web Site Number 5 was scrapped in August of 1950, after spending some 48 years working in the woods. Reason enough to immortalize her in model form, we thinks.

These models are available finished as our "conventional" P-B-L FOREGROUND MODELS® - P-B-L Sound Equipped; and as P-B-L FOREGROUND MODELS - Tsunami® Equipped.

Production was limited to 35 pieces, each constructed in Lifetime, Investment Quality Brass. They are history now.

Wanna see what her "sister", the Number 6 looked like ? Click on the photo opposite to be magically transported to a page featuring Shay #6...

How about a look at our "Catalog" or "Generic" Two Trucker ? Click on the photo opposite some some shots of the 55 Ton "Catalog Shays". Great Photos on this page too !

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