Garden Railway Forum

Made a quick video of myself going over Harry The Rocket because damn it I wanted to, theres not enough videos of Harry around.

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WTF?!

A nice tribute to the Harry the Rocket Pauly.

I'm sure that David Terry, managing director of Mamod Ltd., would be able to confirm how many were actually made and if they were all sold.

By the way the old Mamod Railway System did include 45mm rolling stock towards the end of production in the 1980s.

And you need to remember that Harry the Rocket was made by the current Terry family owned Mamod Ltd, and that the old Railway System was not included in the assets that the Terry family bought. The Mamod 'bible' states that the Terry family were not interested in the Railway System which is how it was acquired by MSS, but that statement is disputed by David Terry (the 'bible' after all was published by MSS).

Pity your gas tank is leaking. If you got another gas tank would you actually fire your Harry?

Chris Cairns.

PS - I suspect that my Royal Family topic helped with some of your research as you correctly identified the wheels as re-machined flywheels - they were wrongly identified as Traction Engine wheels on the other Forum!

Chris Cairns:84452 wrote:A nice tribute to the Harry the Rocket Pauly.

I'm sure that David Terry, managing director of Mamod Ltd., would be able to confirm how many were actually made and if they were all sold.

By the way the old Mamod Railway System did include 45mm rolling stock towards the end of production in the 1980s.

And you need to remember that Harry the Rocket was made by the current Terry family owned Mamod Ltd, and that the old Railway System was not included in the assets that the Terry family bought. The Mamod 'bible' states that the Terry family were not interested in the Railway System which is how it was acquired by MSS, but that statement is disputed by David Terry (the 'bible' after all was published by MSS).

Pity your gas tank is leaking. If you got another gas tank would you actually fire your Harry?

Chris Cairns.

PS - I suspect that my Royal Family topic helped with some of your research as you correctly identified the wheels as re-machined flywheels - they were wrongly identified as Traction Engine wheels on the other Forum!

yes it did help though Iv always thought of them as flywheels, they dont resemble any traction engine wheels Iv got in my collection.

I did look into a new gas tank but a suitable replacement with Mamod would be very expensive, perhaps one day when Iv got some spare cash floating around.
Its not mint by any stretch so yes Id fire it.

Yes Im aware of MSS though I don't see why that should matter, the NEW Mamod had experience with locos from their Royal locos sets which while not perfect were not bad little locos for a first attempt where as Harry came later and its just weird that they even attempted to sell it, I think they where just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck.
It probably would of sold well enough if offered cheaper, Ill never understand why they gave it such a high price tag when there's so little to it.
Its a strange little piece of recent toy steam history. a true folly

It is an interesting period in the history of Mamod Ltd which really needs explaining more - an updated version of the 'bible' is required.

With regards to the gas tank it is the same version used in the Mark I, Mark II and Diamond Jubilee locomotives so perhaps you could borrow one from a local enthusiast.

As I understand it the Golden Jubilee locomotive was designed externally for Mamod Ltd and was changed quite a bit before production. I'm sure you remember the photos that steamyjim posted on both Forums of his Golden Jubilee prototypes.

And I just managed to find the original RRP for Harry the Rocket - it was £160 when the William was £290 - http://web.archive.org/web/200611092204 ... obiles.htm Scroll down to the bottom right.

Chris Cairns.

Chris Cairns:84455 wrote:It is an interesting period in the history of Mamod Ltd which really needs explaining more - an updated version of the 'bible' is required.

With regards to the gas tank it is the same version used in the Mark I, Mark II and Diamond Jubilee locomotives so perhaps you could borrow one from a local enthusiast.

As I understand it the Golden Jubilee locomotive was designed externally for Mamod Ltd and was changed quite a bit before production. I'm sure you remember the photos that steamyjim posted on both Forums of his Golden Jubilee prototypes.

And I just managed to find the original RRP for Harry the Rocket - it was £160 when the William was £290 - http://web.archive.org/web/200611092204 ... obiles.htm Scroll down to the bottom right.

Chris Cairns.

£160?  thats better than £260
the £260 price was seen on several websites that sell mamods, what a crazy markup.

also seems strange that the prototype that has the direct cylinder-wheel arrangement which we only have one pic of but there is a second prototype that James owns that appears to be the prototype for the production version.

I wonder what happened to that original prototype version with the direct drive cylinders, its surprising how difficult it is to find info on such a recent line of locos.

I'm still struggling to get my head round that ...that.....thing was ever considered commercial and produced.

What were mamod thinking? It looks like its made from spares.

SapperAnt:84485 wrote:I'm still struggling to get my head round that ...that.....thing was ever considered commercial and produced.

What were mamod thinking? It looks like its made from spares.

according to Mamod it was an experiment at seeing how cheaply they could make a loco.

Something about that doesnt sit right with me

Nor me.

It looks like the spares cobbled together: a TE engine frame and flywheel; "Jubilee" boiler; turned-up flywheels as wheels and some crappy bit of tin as the frame - is it just a single piece folded up?

"We've got this stuff left over boss ...what do we do?"
"Let's make an engine"

I reckon it was a consumer gullibility test

Narrow Minded:84489 wrote:I reckon it was a consumer gullibility test  ;)

hmmmmm how little effort can we use and still turn a profit

In that case I think it failed?

SapperAnt:84492 wrote:In that case I think it failed?

yes its a failure but dont expect mamod to ever admit that, most they have ever said is that it simply isnt available anymore.

Seriously I adore Mamod but I have no problem with saying they arent perfect unlike some people who take any critism against them as a great sin.

Its why Im so happy to see the excellent developments as of late and the way they have began to really listen to their customers.  :D
Gotta get myself one of those beam engines  

SapperAnt wrote:It looks like the spares cobbled together: a TE engine frame and flywheel; "Jubilee" boiler; turned-up flywheels as wheels

If you have read my Topic on the Mamod Royal Family it is actually a modified Traction Engine boiler as it has the empty void at the front of the boiler.

When pauly first got his he said he could not steam it as the boiler had a hole in the front, but that is the hole in the Traction Engine boiler that is used to get the steering rod mechanism up through the chimney.

Like pauly I'm a loyal Mamod owner however I do wish they would get away from using rivets. They may be cheaper that using 6BA screws and nuts (but not by much) but can lead to problems with misalignment and bits working loose.

The SP8 Beam Engine is certainly a new venture for Mamod but they have used the largest and ugliest aluminium rivets to hold the engine plate to the base plate giving it, at least in my opinion, another cheap "it's a Mamod" look.

Getting away from rivets would help to make the Thomas Telford more appealing to those outwith the Toy Steam community.

Chris Cairns.

Good point Chris - and if they used nuts and bolts/screws, it would be infinitely more helpful to modders and bashers, which would open up more potential custom.