Steam & Excursion > Western Maryland #6 Dimensions

I have scoured the internet and I've come up empty.  Does anyoune know of a site that contains specifications for this giant shay?  I am particularly interest in its height and total length.  Thanks in advance.

http://www.locogear.com/index_files/Page369.htm

 While the GC&E 12 and WM 6 had lots on common, there were some big differences, especially in the frame.  #12 was built with an old style I-beam frame with truss rods, whereas the #6 has a girder frame.  It is thought the 12 was built this way because the I-beam frame has more "give" to it on marginal track.  This weaker frame proved to be #12 Achilles heal,  She was hit head-on by a WM 2-8-0 over in Spruce which badly bent the frame over the front truck bolster.  It was never repaired.

#12's cylinders were attached to the the boiler as per traditional Shay construction, whereas #6 has its cylinders attached to the frame like the later Pacific Coast model.  #6 was the only non-PC model to have this feature.  There are some references out there to the WM#6 being as "150-PC" model to signify this feature.

The reason #12 got the 4th truck was not for extra pulling power, but for added water capacity.  The West Virginia Pulp & Paper lines on the Cheat River side of the range were sold to the Western Maryland and the WM ran their own trains intermixed with the WP&P/GC&E log trains.  With its small water capacity. #12 took a long time to get over the road, making mulitple water stops.  This delayed the WM's own trains too.  By adding a bigger tank and a 4th truck, they could highball most the water stops and get over the road faster.

Earlk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  While the GC&E 12 and WM 6 had lots on common,
> there were some big differences, especially in the
> frame.  #12 was built with an old style I-beam
> frame with truss rods, whereas the #6 has a girder
> frame.  It is thought the 12 was built this way
> because the I-beam frame has more "give" to it on
> marginal track.  This weaker frame proved to be
> #12 Achilles heal,  She was hit head-on by a WM
> 2-8-0 over in Spruce which badly bent the frame
> over the front truck bolster.  It was never
> repaired.
>
> #12's cylinders were attached to the the boiler as
> per traditional Shay construction, whereas #6 has
> its cylinders attached to the frame like the later
> Pacific Coast model.  #6 was the only non-PC
> model to have this feature.  There are some
> references out there to the WM#6 being as "150-PC"
> model to signify this feature.
>
> The reason #12 got the 4th truck was not for extra
> pulling power, but for added water capacity.  The
> West Virginia Pulp & Paper lines on the Cheat
> River side of the range were sold to the Western
> Maryland and the WM ran their own trains
> intermixed with the WP&P/GC&E log trains.  With
> its small water capacity. #12 took a long time to
> get over the road, making mulitple water stops. 
> This delayed the WM's own trains too.  By adding
> a bigger tank and a 4th truck, they could highball
> most the water stops and get over the road faster.


WM 6 was built 24 years after GC&E 12 and was built as a special order long after regular shay construction had ended at Lima. 1921 vs 1945.
So yeah, they may have made a few design and construction improvements when they built WM 6.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/23 08:54 by PHall.

Thank you so much for this link.  I have run into tons of dead ends trying to find this info.  Also, thanks for the additional info on the #12.  Have a great holiday weekend. 

Over all length is 66'  You should be able to get rest from the plan.  Note that Lima had no problems in design of the use of the universals for the 1.5" difference of height of drive shaft in engine 25.5"and height of drive shaft in the trucks 24". That flex can work same for gage change in the trucks and just let the universal handle the miss-alignment.   When the engine rounds a curve, the universals do more service of turning wheels.  A horizonal miss-allignment is no differrent than a vertical miss-allignment.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/23 13:33 by PlyWoody.

---