Re: EARLY Class "A" Shays

Dave,
On the contrary, those "newer" T-boiler shays may be just what I need.
With the little bit of time I've been able to look into it, the engine mounting system, truss design and trucks used on those early wood frame Class-A engines is roughly 80% the same as found on Class-A engines built at least up through 1885 (CN# 131, a vertical boiler engine w/ "I" Beam frame). The only major difference being the transition from wood beams to "I"-Beams.
I'm starting to feel really good about there being enough information around to thoroughly research the designs of these early Shays.
Now that I know the designs didn't change very much over the first years I need to go back to the CSRM Library and look through their Lima Drawing list again. There may yet await answers to be found there.
The real key is going to be getting a hold of all the historical societies with photos of these engines and acquiring high quality copies for my scanner to look at.
A trip to Michigan-California #2 may be in order as well.
Cheers,
Curtis F.