The smallest design of the Shay, referred to as class A, was available in different sizes between 6 and 24 tons. One of the oldest locomotives had the serial number 131 and was built in 1885 for the logging company T.L. Hackney in Texas. It had a service weight of nine short tons and was built for a gauge of three feet. The boiler was still arranged vertically and instead of a driver's cab there was only a large roof without side panels. After its service life at T.L. Hackney it came to the Rusk Iron Works, also in Texas.