Mamod steam roller wanted for young SAC member

[BUNGLE]

Hi, I am looking for a Mamod roller (must be a roller) for my great nephew. He is a SAC member, and this would be his first engine of his own.
I could go via flea bay, but would rather deal with a TT member, and keep it within the 'family'.

Has anyone got anything to get him started ??

Thanks for looking.

[ttp2011]

Hi Bruce,
Be careful what you buy if you have to resort to Ebay. The older ones can have corroded boilers or safety valves which do not work. If you have a suitable adaptor, run it on compressed air from a car footpump first just to make sure that it will be steam tight. any whistling noises from the boiler mean that you could have a problem. Also, as a matter of course, if buying from Ebay, I would suggest that you buy a new safety valve and fit it.

An alternative, which is more pricey, is to buy a kit from Mamod itself. This is what I did three years ago when I came out of hospital. I built it carefully and my Grandson and myself regularly run it. We have fitted it with rubber tyres to protect the wheels and we carefully lubricate it before every steaming and we empty out the boiler afterwards when it has cooled down as per Mamod's instructions. This was my first attempt at building a steam engine and from the outset and still now, it is perfectly steam and water tight.
Regards,
Tom.

[Arfursteam]

Bruce

I have sent you a PM which might be of interest to you.

Arthur (Arfursteam)

[davidnclare]

Get a wilesco they are much better.

[8_10 Brass Cleaner]

Buy and older one if you can. Older the better as the quality keeps going down.

I always buy pre 1976 ones with the spirit burner and water level plugs as opposed to the dreadfull smelly tablets and sight glass.

Repair is childs play. Its just soft solder and pop rivetts.

Parts readily availible and fairly cheap, but lots of bits soon add up in terms of cost. Buy one as complete as you can.

The bushes in the boiler are the only difficult repair on the mobile models as you can't take the end off the boiler to solder it back in.

[Chuffyshunter]

Also, if you want to go all out, you can get parts and spruce it up, you can buy kits that mean you can make a Crane Engine or do it your self, Its time consuming but also takes a bit of thought..

[8_10 Brass Cleaner]

This bugger works too

[BUNGLE]

Thanks guys for all the info. Really do want to avoid E-bay, hence my ad on here, I trust TT'ers.
All the above has been taken on board, thanks.

Arthur, sounds good, will PM you back.

Thanks again to all.

[UJ2225]

I have a good one available.

Its an earlier Mamod roller, meths fired with screwed in water plug. £50 inc postage if your interested.

Cheers

Jim

[BUNGLE]

Hi Jim, many thanks, but have done a deal with Arthursteam now. Thanks for the offer, hope you can place it with another young SAC member, to help further the cause.

Bungle