Peter Jones Loco Works MSR Tribute "American Mamod"
Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 11:53 am
There is not much written about Miniature Steam Railways (MSR) and I have only, up until recently, seen limited information on the web about MSR and the products that they made.
One of the best pieces of information is on the Marc Horovitz site http://www.sidestreetbannerworks.com/ where you will find a page featuring a 1990 produced MSR loco as the January 2007 Locomotive of the month http://www.sidestreetbannerworks.com/locos/loco81.html
This page provides some excellent pictures of this fine looking loco that I like to think of as the American Mamod. I hope by now you have looked at the links above and got up to speed a little about the MSR loco
The information provided tells us that Miniature Steam Railways (MSR) is a little-know American manufacturer that existed in the 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership if Jim Wilson of Dallas, Texas. What I have since learnt is that MSR was a joint venture of two good friends Jim Wilson and Terry Shirley. Terry Shirley is also mentioned in the Marc Horovitz article. So where are we going with this introduction you may ask?
I was very attracted to the MSR loco and thought it would be a superb loco to replicate at some point. Any regular visitors to this section of the forum will know that I like to modify Mamod locos. Well the MSR is a really fine modification of the Mamod loco so I always thought I would build something similar one day.
Well this is when I had a real stroke of luck. I had spotted whilst browsing ebay some loco tender bodies that looked like MSS ones. They were in fact MSR produced tender bodies – more on this later.
I started to watch the ebay seller for new items and every now and again some nice spoked wheels would come up in 45mm gauge, intended for Mamod loco enhancement. This is what led me to get in touch with the seller. It was then that I found that the seller was in fact Terry Shirley! I explained who I was and sent him pictures of some of the Mamod loco’s I had made. I also let Terry know how much a liked the MSR loco.
Since then Terry and I have exchanged numerous emails and I have learnt a little more about MSR and also been shown some pictures of locos built under the MSR name that never became production models. I have been very fortunate to make contact with Terry and it has been a pleasure exchanging information and emails with him over the past 7 months or so. I am sure we will remain in contact. I have been fortunate enough to purchase some unused MSR parts directly from Terry and it is these that have allowed me to complete my tribute MSR loco to Jim Wilson and Terry Shirley.
This thread is to preserve on the web some more information about MSR and also to share some information and pictures about my MSR tribute loco build.
I will post more about MSR , my tribute build and the special MSR parts that have been obtained. So without further ado – here are your first pictures. I am using the images from Sidestreet Bannerworks as a way to compare an original MSR from 1990 with my tribute MSR build from 2013.
1990 MSR right side view:
Photo courtesy Sidestreet Bannerworks -- used with permission
2013 MSR tribute right side view:
1990 MSR left side view:
Photo courtesy Sidestreet Bannerworks -- used with permission
2013 MSR tribute left side view:
More to follow.....
One of the best pieces of information is on the Marc Horovitz site http://www.sidestreetbannerworks.com/ where you will find a page featuring a 1990 produced MSR loco as the January 2007 Locomotive of the month http://www.sidestreetbannerworks.com/locos/loco81.html
This page provides some excellent pictures of this fine looking loco that I like to think of as the American Mamod. I hope by now you have looked at the links above and got up to speed a little about the MSR loco
The information provided tells us that Miniature Steam Railways (MSR) is a little-know American manufacturer that existed in the 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership if Jim Wilson of Dallas, Texas. What I have since learnt is that MSR was a joint venture of two good friends Jim Wilson and Terry Shirley. Terry Shirley is also mentioned in the Marc Horovitz article. So where are we going with this introduction you may ask?
I was very attracted to the MSR loco and thought it would be a superb loco to replicate at some point. Any regular visitors to this section of the forum will know that I like to modify Mamod locos. Well the MSR is a really fine modification of the Mamod loco so I always thought I would build something similar one day.
Well this is when I had a real stroke of luck. I had spotted whilst browsing ebay some loco tender bodies that looked like MSS ones. They were in fact MSR produced tender bodies – more on this later.
I started to watch the ebay seller for new items and every now and again some nice spoked wheels would come up in 45mm gauge, intended for Mamod loco enhancement. This is what led me to get in touch with the seller. It was then that I found that the seller was in fact Terry Shirley! I explained who I was and sent him pictures of some of the Mamod loco’s I had made. I also let Terry know how much a liked the MSR loco.
Since then Terry and I have exchanged numerous emails and I have learnt a little more about MSR and also been shown some pictures of locos built under the MSR name that never became production models. I have been very fortunate to make contact with Terry and it has been a pleasure exchanging information and emails with him over the past 7 months or so. I am sure we will remain in contact. I have been fortunate enough to purchase some unused MSR parts directly from Terry and it is these that have allowed me to complete my tribute MSR loco to Jim Wilson and Terry Shirley.
This thread is to preserve on the web some more information about MSR and also to share some information and pictures about my MSR tribute loco build.
I will post more about MSR , my tribute build and the special MSR parts that have been obtained. So without further ado – here are your first pictures. I am using the images from Sidestreet Bannerworks as a way to compare an original MSR from 1990 with my tribute MSR build from 2013.
1990 MSR right side view:
Photo courtesy Sidestreet Bannerworks -- used with permission
2013 MSR tribute right side view:
1990 MSR left side view:
Photo courtesy Sidestreet Bannerworks -- used with permission
2013 MSR tribute left side view:
More to follow.....