Video: Three Truck Shay @ Hesston Steam Museum
Image by contemplative imaging - Shay steam locomotive The only place I know where one can see an actual Shay steam locomotive in operation in the American midwest is at the Hesston Steam Museum in LaPorte County, Indiana. In this video, I'm standing near the cylinders of the Shay as it gets ready to move. But before it can go anywhere, the engineer has to open the cylinder cocks to remove any water that might have accumulated in the cylinders. There is no louder noise on this planet than a steam locomotive clearing out it's cylinders. A jet engine is a lullaby by comparison. The automatic metering on my camcorder had its hands full for this event. Notice how even though the bell is ringing throughout the video, it's almost impossible to hear above the noise of the steam.