DougStar Works No. 3 - "Good God it's mucky"

[dougrail]

Having won a little Mamod with some Aster and Chaney(?) parts on Ebay for a bargain initially for spare parts, correspondence with the seller revealed it was a historic little loco, built and modified as a 'two fingers up' to the crazy and expensive Mamodifications trend from about 20 years ago.

5 years it toured shows and circuits to demonstrate the owner's point then the owner had to move home and couldn't ressurrect his line -cue 15 years in the attic for the little engine.

Finally he sold up and the DougStar Works tendered the successful bid to win it cheaply.

Mechanical condition, it seems fine. Will need to rewick the meths burner and uncut the soldered-on cap {!!} to one of the wick turrets but otherwise it seems a nice little loco.

Cosmetically however it requires a full stripdown, de-rust and repaint all over as the paint is flaking and possibly of a bad grade regardless.

For now, the engine has been nicknamed "Under Pressure". Stripping down into component parts started early today for full assessment.

[bessytractor]

from personal experience Doug, never start stripping an engine whilst your still working on another. Bits get lost, or you just end up stalling on one of them.

[dougrail]

Understood BT - but this and Nova have seperate worktrays and tins so no parts get mixed up.

This dirty little blighter is also something to do while I await imprtant parts to be delivered for Nova - bodyoverlays and wheels so I can put Nova back together, paint the boiler and steam it. That way at least Nova's "Small Mode" will be accomplished ready for action.

This one however is more of an aesthetic redo - strip, clean, repaint, reassemble. Whereas Nova was the expensive overhaul from wheels up, this is more a later-end thing, no more money required.

[dougrail]

Famous last words there...!!!

I'm pleased to report that I have finally finished a loco restoration.

Report will be/is up in the Mamods sub-forum, as this loco is mechanically still a Mamod at heart - low-press boiler, factory cylinders and original reverser block, dome-feed direct to reverser steamfeed.