Motor Mule and some Ancient History

[sandy1000]

Almost as tired as I am getting this far in trying to post more MM photos. More tomorrow.


This second photo shows 2 famous GR locomotives. The yellow Simplex is the one that appears ever so frequently in early GR books and magazine articles. It is of course a locomotive of the Compton Downs Railway. I bought it at a swap meet in the late 1980s. That big, black brute in the background "Dain Ironfoot" (and it was named long before the movies were produced) also appeared in a number of early GR publications and its construction was featured in an early edition 16mm Assoc. magazine. I also bought this one as well at a 16mm exhibition. I later met the builder through David Pinniger and was told that it could climb a brick wall and I wouldn't surprised if it did so. It was the first 16mm to the foot loco we ever bought and for several months after we bought it, it simply ran up and down a window sill - there was something addictive about pushing that long floor mounted gear lever forwards and off it would go slowly grinding and bumping along - throw the lever back and reverse the whole procedure. No speed control but plenty of low geared "oomph."

They are now both a long way from home (some thousands of miles)and if anyone were to set up a museum or collection of early GR items I am happy to lend or donate them even. Something open to the public or at least readily available to GR enthusiasts. The original Archangel Brick would be the centrepiece of it all I would imagine.

[tuppenced]

Well done, Sandy!
Looking forward to more.

D

[sandy1000]

Almost as tired as I am getting this far in trying to post more MM photos. More tomorrow.

We have 2 of these bought in the UK, one from Tom Cooper himself.

They run on AA batteries, have speed control via a large filter mounted on top of the engine compartment and and on/off switch is in the cab. Scale is unusual somewhere between 1:19 and 7/8th scales I reckon.  Very powerful and free running. The detail is quite fine - the beading around the cab doors and the rivets also seem to be scaled just right,

[tuppenced]

You're right about the scale, which is hugely bigger than 16mm but not really 7/8".

They were made for Tom by Roger Hines, who later downscaled it to the Mini Mule, still available from Essel (Stephen Lacey).

To be fair to Tom, those were the days when "16mm" was even more elastic than LGB, and Ron Grant was doing a brisk trade with his absolutely enormous gutsy Kerr Stuart.

David

[GTB]

We have 2 of these bought in the UK, one from Tom Cooper himself.

Looks like one of the later builds with etched bodywork. Early builds don't have the beading and rivets on the cab.

If you look underneath, you may find it's builders no. is scratched on the footplate between the driving axles.

I restored one a few years ago that had been butchered to run on track power. All the original electronics had been stripped out, but I understand that originally the models were powered with a lead-acid sealed battery and that a radio option was also offered.

The before and after photos of the restoration are here. You'll see this is one of the early ones, with handcut bodywork, rather than etched. I added the cab beading, but drew the line at rivets. Great models for an operating layout, solidly built and with good pulling power.

http://gardenrails.myfreeforum.org/about5095.html

The original Motor Mule models are a bit overscale in 16mm/ft scale for the 50HP model of the Fowler motor locomotive, but will still fit through the same size hole in the scenery as a Roundhouse Bertie. Fowler built locos mostly for export and like their steam locos, the prototypes were large by UK 2' gauge standards.

The fly in the jam pot, as LBSC used to say, is that the 50HP model was an 0-6-0 and the Motor Mule is markedly longer than it should be for a 0-4-0...........

The restored 30HP 0-4-0 loco ex Plane Creek Mill is currently located in the Puffing Billy museum at Menzies Creek in Vic. and there is a 50HP 0-6-0 loco ex Condong Mill at Menangle in NSW.

There was a GA drawing of the 50HP Fowler published in Light Railways, Issue 204, Dec 2008. That issue is now out of print, but available from the LRRSA as a download.

Regards,
Graeme

[Big Jim]

I have a soft spot for these engines. Trouble is they don't appear very often.

[sandy1000]

[sandy1000]

Here is a photo of the 2 MMs. The figure is one of those universal scale items loosely termed G scale. The locos look like giants from this angle

[sandy1000]

[ul]

My all time favourite battery powered locomotive. Highly detailed and a good runner. It surely comes alive when the power is turned on what with the gear whine, the clattering of the panels and general rumbling and mumbling. It runs smoothly with all 4 wheels firmly on the track.

Motor Mule dual units:
The cab to cab permanently coupled approach. Each loco has its own motor, battery and internal and external lighting but there will be only one R/C ESC, TX, RX and sound unit - each loco will have its own speaker.
Detail will include air horns (from sound unit) headlight, handles on gear cover; decent paint job, interior paint, name plates, hand rails ...

Any other suggested little embellishment greatly appreciated.






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[sandy1000]

It is strange how things can happen. I put up photos of 2 MOTOR MULES to demonstrate the need to have them permanently coupled when I see another post on Roundhouse's new battery
powered "Bulldog." Looking up the specs on these I see that they use an ESC ''Locoglyde" which seems to be just right to be placed into each MM allowing each loco to be totally independent.

So everything is on hold at present while I investigate these ESC from ROUNDHOUSE. in fact a complete Bulldog as well might as well be called for. That very deep green would be a suitable color.