Based on the string, Euler beam, and Timoshenko beam theories, the transfer functions of axially translating web system to predict the lateral tracking are introduced in this paper. In addition, total transfer function of a multi-span web handling system is developed by the combination of the transfer functions of each single span. Experiments and computations are carried out and the results obtained for the Timoshenko beam model are compared with those of other models. The comparison indicates that the predictions from the Timoshenko and Euler beam models are quite different from that of the classical string model in both the gain and phase response. The results are expected to help in the development of high fidelity models of web tracking systems within a general computational framework.