Garden Railway Forum

The touchups make a heck of a different Superbiker - she looks a beauty!

Any news on a steaming anytime soon?

Very tempting to try and do my own.........

That's rather excellent Peter
Hopefully one of the moderators will "sticky" it over into the forum reference section

Not a Mamod man myself but you can't but admire the quality of your presentation document on the American models , I agree it should be made a sticky in the reference section. Keep up the good work.

Peter,

That is an excellent reference document that you have shared with us regarding the MSR history. Thank You.

Copy now sits in my Mamod/MSS reference library.

Chris Cairns.

The document now sits in its own topic in the Garden Railway reference section

laalratty:87653 wrote:The document now sits in its own topic in the Garden Railway reference section

Miniature Steam Railways - The American Mamod

The story continues.....

.....ace carried on the story of the Mamod based Plantation style locomotive in his build thread which has been great to see.  I thought it was about time I updated this thread now as I have so much more going on with regards to MSR that I am looking forward to sharing.

First off I have added a numbered works plate to my build so this make it No. 9 of the Peter Jones Loco Works Mamodification builds.  I have also added the flame guards that I missed of the original build and also added the MSR waterslide decal on the tender to match the original.

Now, the original - I am very very pleased to have a REAL MSR in my collection! This one was made as a special commision in September 1990 for Marc Horovitz of http://www.sidestreetbannerworks.com/

This loco was made by Jim Wilson and the reverser block is engraved "MSR 9.90 MH"

So, the engine that inspired me to build an MSR in the first place is right here sat along side my own 2013 build.

I thought I should share these pictures first:

I think I prefer the straight stack, Superbiker. It makes the boiler looks longer and has a tidier line. Well done for finding an original.

A very nice addition to your collection Peter. Well Done.

You & Ace obviously work to a higher budget than I would go to. Having previously been stung for the rip off postage costs, plus the UK VAT, Duty & mandatory collection fee on purchases from outside of the EU I now restrict my purchases to within the EU - at least until we get back to the good old days of 13% Interest Accounts!!

Chris Cairns.

ace:90937 wrote:I think I prefer the straight stack, Superbiker. It makes the boiler looks longer and has a tidier line. Well done for finding an original.

I think most if not all the original MSR loco's were straight stack. When MSR started out on the venture to produce this loco, Mamod were approached to supply parts. I understand that Mamod did not want to do this and so MSR had to buy SL kits (SLK) in order to build the models. They then sold on the surplus Mamod parts that were not required for thier Plantation style loco.

Chris Cairns:90939 wrote: You & Ace obviously work to a higher budget than I would go to. Having previously been stung for the rip off postage costs, plus the UK VAT, Duty & mandatory collection fee on purchases from outside of the EU I now restrict my purchases to within the EU - at least until we get back to the good old days of 13% Interest Accounts!!

With the loco purchase I did not insure the package. I paid for shipping via US Priority Mail (the cheapest way) which was $77.85 at the advice of Marc. The total cost for the loco, rolling stock and shiping was still considerably less than what I paid for my Ragleth a few years ago.

Did that museum ever get back to you?

pauly:90949 wrote:Did that museum ever get back to you?

I have tried them a few times via email but no response

Build thread correction:

MSR also sourced the dummy air tanks and compressor castings from Model Engineering Works. It was always MSR's intention to eventually develop their own air tank, and compressor castings as well, as they considered the ones they had sourced to be rather crude even if they did add weight for traction. Of course Jim's untimely death meant this development never came to fruition.

Since writing the build thread I have found a few corrections that I need to make. The first is this one in relation to the dummy air tank and compressor. This is actually a reproduction part for a pre-war Lionel 400E standard gauge electric train from the USA.

You can see an example here on a restored Lionel 400E Black Steam 4-4-4 Loco:



For the right hand side of the MSR the casting was done without the compressor part.

We have news from Patrick C. Morrison, Museum Educator 2 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania:

Thank you for your inquiry about the MSR live steam locomotive. Yes, I believe I know which locomotive you mean. I have attached photos of its current condition. Sadly, we have not used this one for years. The guys who run these regularly tell me that it no longer works reliably. I’m sure it is fixable, but may need some parts, which I am not certain are still available. Instead, we rely on a fleet of Mamod 0-4-0s that we have maintained and operated for years. We even use the MSR’s tender with these locomotives as part of the train consists we run on a daily basis here.

Perhaps, at some point, we will work out the bugs in the MSR locomotive and get it running again, especially with its American manufacturing origins, which is why we have elected to keep it and not sell it at auction or somewhere like that.

I have passed on Terry's details to Patrick so perhaps the MSR can be put back onto the live steam demo roster once again!

Great to see that this loco still survives, and that the Museum has a policy of keeping items with an American manufacturing history.

Given that it is only really the cylinders that are different to the Mamod SL's that they are running it should not be difficult to getting it running again. Looks like it has had a lot of firing (denatured alcohol?) but I wonder if they regularly lubricated the cylinders internally?

Also looks like it has had a front end knock with a bent coupler and the pilot beam to smoke box struts being banana shaped.

I'm sure it will live to steam again.

Chris Cairns.

That is great news! I am so glad that more of them are appearing out of their hiding places. Well done for tracking it down.

It also looks like it has a standard standard mamod safety valve too, where as it used to have the wilesco one. Some maintenance maybe...

Hi hope you don't mind but I emailed the US magazine Garden railways editor and posted a link to this blog...maybe someone in the US can sort it out!

In the meantime your loco looks good...there would be a market for these I am sure

Build thread correction:

Superbiker_uk:86799 wrote:

Chris Cairns:86772 wrote:Where does the bell fitted to the steam dome cover come from?

Apparently this type of bell was just a decorative item that was available from any arts and crafts type store in the USA back when MSR were making their loco's. Terry tells me that Jim had a knack for spotting small items like this bell and instantly recognise a way to use them to the benefit of MSR loco production!

It is fitted with a small rivet to the standard Mamod steam dome.

I have been intending to update a few items on my MSR thread for a while now and so it's time for me to correct another error in my earlier post about the bells used by MSR. Whilst discussing MSR with Terry Shirley I had been informed that the bell was thought to be from an arts and crafts store.

I have since discovered that the bells used on the MSR are in fact taken from another loco manufacturers models - the American Flyer Standard Gauge range e.g. #3014 boxcab engine. The bell on the American Flyer 4-4-2 Standard Gauge Steam loco appears to be slightly smaller with a slightly different mounting bracket as that used on the MSR. I have obtained various American Standard original and repro parts to make the correct ID of the bell used. It also identified the method of attachment having a threaded hole that can be used to screw mount the bell carrier onto the top of the Mamod steam dome.

How to identify a real MSR:

MSR engraved the bottom of the Mamod reverser on the MSR models that they built and also any that they over-hauled/up-graded.

My MSR was made to order in September 1990 for Marc Horovitz and features on page 160 of Marc's excellent book "A Passion for Steam - small scale steam locomotives and how they work".