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| alan2525 |
Mamod Loco with slide valve cylindersThanks to Rob for pointing this one on ebay, the minute I saw it, I had to make an offer, which was accepted straight away!
I don't know much about the loco, it has a Mike Chaney Silver Soldered boiler, slide valve cylinders and slip eccentric valve gear. The loco arrived in the post today, and initial verdict was that it is a very well engineered conversion, there are a lot of very meticulously made details, even the meths tank locates on tiny pieces of milled brass angle, the smokebox is scratch built and sits on a very well crafted saddle, bolted on with tiny BA screws the smokebox apron riveted very neatly to the buffer beam using tiny milled brass brackets. The copper saddle on the chimney is nicely flared out at the base and is riveteed to the smokebox with four tiny copper rivets. Theres a proper double crosshead slide which all operates beautuifully. There are even tiny bronze bearings on the connecting rod! Slip eccentrics are a triumph, anyone who owns a mamod loco with meths burner will now how little space exists between the frames! So how does it run? Blooomin' brilliantly - Thats how! Boiler was half full when it was delivered, topped it up, slightly over filled so it was a little reluctant to move to begin with, but once pressure was up, condensate was happily expelled from the chimney rather enthusiastically and then the loco ran smoothly and steadily, without problem! I was thinking it would be a very fast runner but it really behaves itself. Was only running on two of the wicks and wasn't getting anywhere near to blowing safety vales, the pressure gauge indicated 15psi but it ran beautifully, on very little meths and water for a good 15 minutes prior to blowing it out. I need to drop the burner out but I'll give it a few more runs whilst it's still light out! More photos and videos will follow shortly! |
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| made-in-england |
Damn thats another nice loco you have!!
Will look forward to the videos!!! |
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| johnreid |
That is a nice one, I like the looks of it | ||||
| Sandman |
Oh Alan, That's a cracker. 
I look forward to a vid of that one. |
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| Ross |
it makes me want to get a loco
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| alan2525 |
Ahh - that was very enjoyable, steamed the loco into the late evening, all that could be seen was the bright red tail lamp and the glow of the meths burner from the cutouts in the frames. Loco is very smooth in operation, it doesn't chuff, more of a contented little gurgle, and the smooth swoosh of it's wheels.
Now where did I leave my top-up water bottle! |
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| Graham-Jilly |
come on this topic is useless without pictures and vids 
great loco Alan I am so Jealous |
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| Rob |
now i cant wait ee it in person alan
looks a fantastic engine |
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| alan2525 |
Sorry I've been running the loco into the dark! I'll nab a few quick photos! Photos uploaded here! http://alan-briggs.fotopic.net/c1756356.html If you look around the loco there are some neat touches, the side tanks are bolted to the smokebox using little rivetted on brackets, the rear coal bunker is folded and rivetted with copper rivets, and then the seams soldered for a terrific neat finish. Loco is just a little oily in the photos, theres an unusual lubricator, i thas two seperate pipes coming from the regulator, one pipe goes directly to the cylinders, the other pipe diverts along the top of the tanks, into a lubricator on the smokebox and directs oil into the steam line into the cylinders. |
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| alan2525 |
You can see how tight this loco is for space in this shot. The pipework is remarkably neat too, with the little steam unions, frame spacers etc tucked up under the smokebox, there are also the twin exhausts extending up into the chimney.
The slide valve cylinders and crossheads 
Rather nice how the slides are fixed onto a collar around the cylinder gland on the end cap of the cylinders. The slide hanger is also rather robust! A little tinplate detail covers up the E clip on the small end of the con rod, cylinder gland nuts also very neat, are these John Prescott cylinders? Cylinders have tiny threaded holes for bolting on tinplate cylinder covers. (Note: Must Make cylinder covers) Modified Whistle 
The whistle is very loud, it's taller than the regular Mamod whistle, so has a little more of a resonator, the whistle also operates with a clever little linkage from the standard Mamod lever. Every loco needs a whistle, and this one can make itself heard! Rear coal bunker 
The rear coal bunker is nicely finished, the little piece of brass rod, neatly trimming the top edge, rivets are copper rivets, and the seam has been soldered flush. Smokebox and Smokebox door 
The smokebox is scratchbuilt, replacing the Mamod Mazac Casting, nicely detailed too, the smokebox apron is nicely made, from brass sheet, folded, soldered, riveted and bolted into position with tiny BA screws. |
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| bessytractor |
it looks excellent Alan! | ||||
| tmuir |
Wow!!
The ultamate Mamod loco!!! Thats so cool! |
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| Keith S |
Alan, where did the cylinders come from? Are they homemade? I am very impressed with that loco.. I have to confess I don't really like Mamod locos (heresy!!) , but that one I not only like, I wish I had one! It's beautiful! Is it a one-off, or does someone sell a conversion package? | ||||
| Graham-Jilly |
Alan that is one nicely put together loco. It definitely is ell put together. those are mods I would love to own. | ||||
| alan2525 |
It is a one off, home built conversion. The cylinders look to be comercially made items, although looking at the workmanship on the other parts of the loco they could be scratch built too. I purchased the loco as it is so unique, I've never seen a Mamod converted to Slide Valve Cylinders as neatly as this. I would have thought it would be a fast runner on account of the small cylinders, but it is also powerful and very controllable, it even runs on an indicated 10-15psi! Pressure gauge reaches 40psi with all three wicks burning, but even with just two it is a terrific running loco. Alll the valve gear is scratch built, and it's been very well made, as it's inside valve gear it must have been a real job fitting the slip eccentrics in between the frames and the meths burner too. The suprising thing, it's such a nice runner and the cylinders can be fitted so neatly it's suprising there aren't more of these conversions! |
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| tmuir |
Are you setting yourself a challenge? I'm pretty sure there would be a few takers here for one. |
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| Rob |
me for one |
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| Keith S |
Me too. | ||||
| Layfield light rly |
 i want it!
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| alan2525 |
Here's a little video of the Loco running!
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| Rob |
BEAUTIFUL
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| Sandman |
First class.
Excellent video. Lovely quiet runner with bags of power. Great to see. |
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| Graham-Jilly |
great engine great video Alan
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| newsteamer123 |
very nice 
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| Graham-Jilly |
I wouldnt mind having a go at making my own if I had the plans
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| johnreid |
That one really gets along nicely, a nice long train too. Are those IP MOD vans? | ||||
| alan2525 |
The vans are actually IMP powder vans, I bought those from the same guy who sold me his Locobox Isabelle. They have whitemetal frames, steel wheels and run well. They are very small, almost look like o gauge, but seem to look ok to me! Nicely painted and weathered too! The IP MOD vans are scaled to match the width of Roundhouse loco's and are much too large for 16mm scale, in reality the MOD vans are only about 4 feet wide! The four plank open wagons in the video are the IP freelance ones, the flat wagons are the couple I made, same dimensions as the IP wagons, but from hardwood rather than ply. |
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| bessytractor |
excellent stuff! Are you going to leave the paintwork as is? | ||||
| MooseMan |
That is a fantastic runner! Great video!! | ||||
| alan2525 |
Not too sure, I love the loco at it is, but the paintwork on the tops of the tanks is suffering a little. The white lining has actually been outlined in red too, it's expertly done but from a distance it does look very Mamod. The previous owner clearly wanted to keep the loco as much Mamod as possible. I was wondering about doing some overlays for the side tanks, with some rivet detail and a half round brass edging around the top, to complement the work on the rear bunker. Maybe a lower tank, with a cutout around the valve gear. I do want to do some 'Mamod' worksplates, same design as the decal but etched brass and much smaller. |
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| alan2525 |
It's fun to drive too, with a lot of load, I tried the loco with - 3 x IP Engineering Open Wagons 2 x Flatbed wagons 2 x Open wagons loaded with Accucraft wheelsets 1 x Closed Van 1 x IP Brakevan 1 x 2 compartment IP Coach 2 x 3 compartment IP Coach 1 x 4 compartment IP Bogie Coach 5 x IMP Gunpowder vans OK...So it was a very mixed train and the track was oily too, but loco pulled them happily, it needed some driving to prevent slip on some of the gradients, and I wouldn't make a habbit of it! Regulator is nice too, just a touch to get over the inertia and then knock it a fraction to keep a steady speed. |
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| johnreid |
Are the IMP vans available as kits? | ||||
| alan2525 |
Sadly IMP have ceased trading, I think IP bought up all their surplus stock, they made models of the smaller quarry style stock, and the kits were rather nice too, basic, solidly built but with nice little details, like on some the curved roofs were rolled from Brass, with a few little white metal castings too. |
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| alan2525 |
Well as some of you may know, I can't buy a loco and not modify it in some way!
Slide valve loco is no exception, I've added cylinder covers which I think improves the look of the loco, I've also drawn up some side tank overlays. The modifications to this loco makes it look more standard gauge to me than narrow gauge, although it still looks very attractive pulling my 32mm stock. I thought a nice stepped sidetank, with a cutout around the valve gear, somewhat reminiscent of the old stanier or BR Standard Tank locos... Here's the loco 
And with the Sidetank overlays added in photoshop 
And fitted to one of my other MSS loco's! 
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| Layfield light rly |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6ROkJSRcs
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