Garden Railway Forum

Greetings,

How hard is it to find Mamod open wagons on the used market? I've been trolling eBay for a month+, not seeing any.

Also, I run 45mm, I presume I can just press the wheels out on the axle from 32 to 45mm? I have two maroon Mamod coaches RW5 in 45mm and there is room between the frames for either a 32mm or 45mm axle set with no frame mods required.

Thanks,

-Richard

Why not buy them directly from Mamod? They're gauge adjustable.

http://www.mamod.co.uk/shop-categories/goods-wagon

I'll probably buy a van and brake van from MSS, they look to be same as old Mamod. I'd just like to keep everything in the style of the old Mamod RWx cars.

Like the original Brass Steam Dome cover, the story goes that the tooling to form the RW1 Open Wagon body was lost. MSS did introduce an open wagon but it has a wooden body with coal effect load.

The RW1 comes up regularly on eBay UK, and are very popular thus commanding good prices (the RW2 Lumber Wagon usually go for the cheapest) but likely most have excluded posting to North America in their listing, hence you are not seeing them on eBay.com - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... n&_sacat=0

The wheels (mazak) are pressed onto shouldered steel axles so you need different wheelsets to re-gauge to 45mm.

The MSS rolling stock kits are the same as the original Mamod ones, but are in slightly different colours to the originals. The tender was introduced by MSS (open body on the flat bed wagon).

Chris Cairns

Thanks for that history Chris, interesting that the tooling has been lost. That explains a lot.

On the re-gauge, is just a new axle set or will I have to move the frames out farther too?

I'll keep watching eBay...

Thanks,

-Richard

Hi Richard,

Yes it is just a new wheelset required (same length axle). You need to remove the buffers which then allows you to spread the solebars out enough to get the wheels off. I would also recommend running a file over the axle to chamfer the ends, otherwise they can jam in the axleboxes.

Roy Wood seems to be the cheapest for rolling stock wheels (2 axles for £8 - http://roywoodmodels.co.uk/mamods , otherwise http://www.manormodelsrailway.co.uk/MSS ... _id=100964 & http://www.dreamsteam.co.uk/mss-mamod-r ... l-set.html ).

Chris Cairns

Chris, thanks for the details on how to do it, and the pointer to Roy Wood Models. I shall continue to stalk eBay... see what comes up...

Best,

-Richard

Hi Richard,

As Chris said it is very easy to do wheel change, the wagons are designed to accommodate 32mm and 45mm wheel sets. I have seen quite a few on sale on line and at shows but prices tend to be high. You do sometimes strike it lucky, I once paid £20 for a pair that only needed a clean and replacement Mamod buffers, which I had in my bits box. A lot of my stock uses modified Mamod chassis which I like as they can be dismantled, modified or repaired if the need arises
, I have even rewheeled some.
Regards Alan.