mamod loco..

[jay1976]

Just won this mamod loco off ebay..
its got a few mods and upgrades..possibly a few more that wasnt pictured..






Is this anyones or reconise it..Hopefully receive it before weekend if not i might be able to test it during the week but I work nights and sleep daytimes so testing weekdays is a bit limited..

[Chris Cairns]

Do not forget we have a Mamod sub Forum on here.

We have discussed this Mamod on Facebook. It has several Mike Chaney upgrades - boiler, in cab regulator, dead leg lubricator, meths burner & 'O' ring pistons. Not sure on the wheels - has been suggested as Salem, however my Salem wheels have a different shaped balance weight.

Take care with the sight glass tube - it looks like either there is still water in the boiler or it is stained. And the top and bottom fittings are misaligned so watch out for cracks in the end of the glass tube - it is 6mm so works a lot better than the other Mamodification boilers that suffer from air bubbles using a 5mm sight glass.

Chris Cairns.

[jay1976]

I spent a bit of time in the sub section hopefully look more tonight when at work(night shift in front of a computer all night)
I am sure I have seen the glass somewhere
if i cant find the link can someone post it up as will buy one for a spare..
so does anyone think its a good buy or not?
I thought so but another £3 and it wouldnt have been mine..
facebook page??

[Chris Cairns]

Sometimes 6mm sight glass tubing appears on eBay, but I got mine from Steam Fittings - http://www.steamfittings.co.uk/asp/comp ... ubCatID=55

I used a drill bit reversed to line up the top & bottom fittings. I think the misalignment occurs because the pipes coming out the boiler are quite soft and the fittings can twist when you tighten up the sealing glands. So you need to hold the ends of those pipes steady whilst doing up the sealing glands.

so does anyone think its a good buy or not?

As with all 2nd hand items on eBay it depends if it works or not. The boiler is silver soldered and rated for 50 PSI. I have a similarly equipped modified SL1K but it has not run consistently. I do have a stiffness/binding problem with one wheel's steel axle and I suspect it may need new 'O' rings on the pistons. However it is a low priority on my workshop 'To Do' list for now.

Initially I could not find the Facebook Group either. It is a Closed Group that you can request to join (several Forum members on there) - Try https://www.facebook.com/groups/387493518008459/

Chris Cairns.

[jay1976]

thats he group i found today and joined..just seen the small thread on there..

[pauly]

I was gunning for that mamod on eBay, really like the older mods but came up short on cash.

[jay1976]

save more cash for the next one as they come up with mods every now and then..I missed out on 1 last week as well by a few extra £..
just hope it wont need to much spent if anything on it.. Also I hope to add radio control to it but not sure how I will get the reverser to work on rc as yet but might just have speed control just for starters..

[Chris Cairns]

You do not see many Mike Chaney boilers fitted to eBay Mamod/MSS's and his in cab regulators are just as rare in the 2nd hand market.

Fitting radio control to the regulator will be a challenge as it depends on how much it needs to be moved rotationally for proper control (there are 2 versions of his regulator) - may need some form of chain & gears between the regulator shaft and servo shaft. Looking at the eBay photos there are holes in the cab front at the bottom suggesting it may have had radio control on the reverser at some point.

Chris Cairns.

[jay1976]

Received it today..and it does steam ok,really needs radio control but will chuff slowly if I am careful with regulator..Was a bit on the tight side first of all and both cylinders and a few screws and bols were a bit loose its looked like it has sat about for a while and the stain on the water glass pipe is water as the boiler had water in it...gets up to pressure in about a minute..



The burner




Has a loose chimmney but as I dont like the one fited I am not to worried..that pipe comes from the cylinders so it exhausts up the chimmney


A few missing screws


cab back which I dont intend running with as will use the tender.







are these uprated piston/cylinders? not woried if they are not..

[Chris Cairns]

Jay as I said above it is fitted with Mike Chaney 'O' ring pistons (an upgrade) and a dead leg lubricator (on the side of the smokebox). So you will need to put steam oil in the dead leg lubricator ensuring you prime the steam pipe entering the lubricator (I use a syringe to push steam oil down that pipe), otherwise the 'O' rings will not get lubricated and probably seize up.

Controlling Speed - if it is running away from you with the reverser valve at the front all the way over to one side try putting it halfway across and just using the cab regulator (the position of the reverser can obviously be adjusted as necessary). Those Mike Chaney regulators are very good so with practise you should be able to easily control the speed once the loco has been freed up again after an obvious lack of recent use.

Lack of screws - at least one of the holes at the front through the cylinder covers & smokebox apron look like where the radio control linkage was previously mounted to control the reverser/regulator valve (remember those holes in the cab front at the bottom left?), and the other may be where a sandbox casting was fitted

Burner - I see you have new wick material to hand. I would recommend using acetone (nail varnish remover) to clean out the inside of the burner - flush it out afterwards with meths.

Glad it turned out to be a good runner.

Chris Cairns.

PS - There really should be a warning on eBay about posting steam boilers still with water in them. I've had at least 3 boilers sent that way with one leaking into the jiffy bag which was not waterproof!

[jay1976]

I did try the reverser lever at a diffrent position I just think I need to use I ned to use it a bit more and get used to it...
I got steam oil and did fill the lubricator up,I also lubed all joints a few times,luckily I got a test track outside otherwise I would have oil everywhere...
The wick stuff was already in the burner but I do have more if I need it..
The cab has a small hole on 1 side where what looks like a rod came out to the reverser lever and what looks like a servo was fitted under the regulator, I plan to fit a servo on speed control regulator for now and fit batterys and receivor in the tender,he coal load comes out and reveils a space to fit all he electrics..buffers are coming off as I got centre buffers on my other stock then once I have it running nicely I will give it a repaint,need to get a straight chimmney as well and figure out how you remove old one(I havent looked as yet but it cant be that hard)
I am happy with it and is very free running

[Chris Cairns]

Did the lubricator actually use up some or all of the steam oil? Many owners dismiss these dead-leg lubricators as they do not always seem to use oil, but after I was told the tip of priming the steam pipe entering the lubricator (and I do this on every filling) all my dead-leg lubricators have worked, although the amount of oil used does vary between locomotives.

If you have not seen it before I did post some useful Mamod files in the Reference Library but myfreeforums has already deleted at least one of them - http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/about434.html

I also have a set of the SL1K instructions which I have re-written and the exploded diagrams have been cleaned up and clearly renumbered. PM me if you would like a copy.

Chris Cairns.

[jay1976]

it seemed to use oil from the lubricator..over he next few days I will be running it on blocks at a slow speed to help it run better..I filled up meths and oil with a small syringe and filling boiler with a large syringe ..I got loads of them all new in sealed packets from a local vets who was throwing them out due to being past use by date..

[jay1976]

After seeing that it now steams okish..I had noticed a few loose nuts and bolts holding the cab to the chassis,also the poor running at first was due to both cylinders being loose on the sprung bolt which holds them in place...The result of the taking apart as I wanted centre buffers as the rest of my stock has them fitted(roy woods buffers in case anyone is wondering)
thats a hglw coach in the background as well which is due to have a set of bogies fitted..



After being fitted back together(I have a stright chimmney coming soon so it will be in pieces again once that arrives..



the glue was because a lump of coal had come off the tender,Once I fit radio control(I am waiting for 2 micro servos to arrive in next few days I will test run a few times them strip the red bits off and repaint them..

[Chris Cairns]

Hi Jay, I finally found my photo of a dismantled SL3/MSS balloon chimney.



So the balloon chimney has a normal straight chimney through the middle of the brass balloon, and a wider collar (I do not have one for the above balloon chimney) on the bottom holding them together. I assume that collar has been glued on, but I'd be very careful apply any heated to remove it as the collar and straight chimney are made of Mazak (zinc diecast) which has a low melting point.

Look forward to reading how your radio control works out.

Chris Cairns.

[jay1976]

my current chimmney dont fit on the smoke box as there is a bit broken so it just sort of sits there with the exhaust pipe stopping it falling off

[Chris Cairns]

The chimney is one of the weakness's of the Mamod SL/MSS locomotives as they do not use a reasonable method of securing it and a lot of locos tended to get lifted by the chimney thus they worked loose.

Indeed the chimney on my MSS kit was already loose as soon as I took it out of the box prior to assembly.

Given that it is in direct contact with the boiler and thus gets very hot you need to be careful when choosing a glue to use to fix a chimney back onto the smoke box.

Chris Cairns.