Working steam model

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Found this today at my mum's house, it was built by my stepdad years ago and I remember him showing it working, it was some kind of kit he built, he loved tinkering with engineering stuff, I can't find anything about it here, does anyone here recognize it?

Ps. Just done some research and it isn't a kit, it's part of a set, I will have to source the missing bits.

 

Edited March 9 by Gabhal Luimnigh
Research

[Galteemore]

11 minutes ago, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

Found this today at my mum's house, it was built by my stepdad years ago and I remember him showing it working, it was some kind of kit he built, he loved tinkering with engineering stuff, I can't find anything about it here, does anyone here recognize it?

 

Well known UK steam brand still on the go. Having had one, the locos were difficult to fire and control as they used solid fuel tablets and a very crude regulator valve. A gas burner mod improved things a bit, but there was a cottage industry of ‘taming Mamods’ and you could make them relatively serviceable machines. https://www.mamod.co.uk/

Edited March 9 by Galteemore

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Thanks for that, I will have a good look at it once I get it home and see if I can get it fired up.

[Galteemore]

14 minutes ago, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

Thanks for that, I will have a good look at it once I get it home and see if I can get it fired up.

Good luck. Have a good look around and see if there is any special oil with it. Normal stuff won’t cut it - you need steam oil. I used to ensure the cylinders and regulator especially were thoroughly lubed. Should be able to get Wilesco Z83 in the Euro zone -not much point me telling you what we can pick up in GB.

Edited March 9 by Galteemore

[murrayec]

A tip for running Mamods;-

Do not run it for any longer than 1 or 2 fuel tabs! The water level sight glass in the backhead is only plastic, if the water level gets two low the heat in the boiler melts the plastic, with water n steam gushing out. It's not violent but that's the end of the sight glass, spares are available.

But knowing this and keeping an eye on the water level, not running it for more than 2 fuel tabs, this can be avoided.

Eoin

[Broithe]

Do make sure that the relief valve actually operates. It is not unknown for them to stick down and then 'something else' might let go first, if it comes to that.

I remember the excitement of a stuck-down relief valve going off on a small boiler, when we got to three times the intended blow-off pressure, due to a confusion over documentation using every unit known to man, except what was actually on the pressure gauge...

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Thanks lads, it might be a good idea to test it in the field

[Galteemore]

Edited March 9 by Galteemore

[Ironroad]

10 hours ago, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

Found this today at my mum's house, it was built by my stepdad years ago and I remember him showing it working, it was some kind of kit he built, he loved tinkering with engineering stuff, I can't find anything about it here, does anyone here recognize it?

Ps. Just done some research and it isn't a kit, it's part of a set, I will have to source the missing bits.

 

By pure chance when paging through some old magazines today, I noticed this model got a mention as a pending release in Railway Modeller, Feb 1980. Not a lot of information other than the set included two all metal wagons, and a 5m oval track (diecast) at a price of £55. The track gauge was 32mm, the approximate scale of the freelance stock is 16mm to 1ft.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

28 minutes ago, Ironroad said:

By pure chance when paging through some old magazines today, I noticed this model got a mention as a pending release in Railway Modeller, Feb 1980. Not a lot of information other than the set included two all metal wagons, and a 5m oval track (diecast) at a price of £55. The track gauge was 32mm, the approximate scale of the freelance stock is 16mm to 1ft.

Great bit of info, thanks for that.

[Patrick Davey]

Interesting find!!  Would like to see it in steam!

[Mayner]

The Momod train had quite a following among the UK Garden Railway fraternity.

Should be able to download the instructions

http://www.eagleassist.com/hglw/Mamod Handbook.pdf

 

Mamod Handbook[22677].pdf

[Georgeconna]

On 9/3/2024 at 9:51 AM, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

Found this today at my mum's house, it was built by my stepdad years ago and I remember him showing it working, it was some kind of kit he built, he loved tinkering with engineering stuff, I can't find anything about it here, does anyone here recognize it?

Ps. Just done some research and it isn't a kit, it's part of a set, I will have to source the missing bits.

 

I have a set with that engine in it, I had to replace the water filler bolt as the seal had persished. Nice little runner, There are some upgrades available too to run on meths as the Tablet honk. Mamod & MSS Upgrade Parts - Dream Steam

the Rolling stock are daft prices. I did not bother expanding it.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

4 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

I have a set with that engine in it, I had to replace the water filler bolt as the seal had persished. Nice little runner, There are some upgrades available too to run on meths as the Tablet honk. Mamod & MSS Upgrade Parts - Dream Steam

the Rolling stock are daft prices. I did not bother expanding it.

I think I will see it running first and then just put it on the shelf for display only, not really worth wasting money on it.

[David Holman]

May be wrong, but my impression was you can't do much with these Mamod engines other than run them round a circle of track, so once the initial novelty wears off, suspect most will have sat on shelves/gone back in their boxes. Apart from the general lack of controlability, as already outlined, they work via the cylinders rocking up and down like a see saw, as per other Mamod products, so not exactly prototypical either.

 That said, as a project for a tinkerer, there is scope to get them running nicely, but not for the faint hearted.