The quest began back in March when I won this tired locomotive on Ebay for a song. The photos tell the story in its own right.
As can be seen, the loco was a custom and unique jobbie. Several details came to light – like the maker’s plates, the elegant funnel and other fittings such as the use of a Mamod van back for the cab:
On close inspection a sorry tale of woe presented itself to me. The wheels were somewhat stiff [though the cylinders weren’t], there was hair, muck, grime and a thick layer of dust everywhere. Worst yet, the paint was very poor – scratching off at a fingernail and in turn, it was rusted on the tanks, cab parts, frames – there were patches of rust just about everywhere underneath!
A happy exchange between the former owner and I followed, as I asked for a full loco history, curious about its new ‘bodywork’ and origins.
“ t hasn't got an exciting history. When I was active in 16mm there was a craze for converting Mamods into more and more unlikely locomotives at the expense of the Mamod's already limited running capabilities. This was an attempt to buck the trend.
Under instruction from Derek Goodall (loco builder and, at that time, after sales engineer to Aster) I removed the cylinders and throttle valve and smoothed all mating surfaces on a surface plate (and if I recall correctly gave an element of 'lead' to the throttle valve). The pistons were also 'lapped' in the ctlinders to ensure no rough spots...
The loco ran like a dream. The 'lead' makes the throttle valve sesitive but very resposive and the loco would crawl in a way well below the stall speed of any other Mamods I had seen.
There were two problems, the loco was such a free steamed that the safety valve was blowing almost continuously, so I capped the centre burner, which did not effect running but saved wasting so much steam and heat. The second is that the filler valve is directly over a burner wick, so if you spill water on the wick you have reduced availble hear by half - moral do the initial filling with the burner removed from the loco. Once in steam this is not a problem as any 'dribble' is turned to steam before it can run down the boiler.
After giving it this build up I must say it probably need some TLC to return to that condition.
Cosmetically, the Mamod tanks were moved forward and re-rivited, The back sheet came from a Mamod brake van as did the cut down roof. Tool box and tank fillers were commercial castings. The safety valve cover was a bit of turning and brass tubing - it may well take to a good polish to restore the glint of brass.
The whole thing was sprayed with Motor Cycle exhaust paint to withstand the heat and was fitted with my (then standard) works plate.
For a period of around 5 years it went to all 16mm open days I attended to show Mamods could be made to run properly without the major and costly add-ons that were being offered at the time. I then moved house, the garden railway never got relaid, and now, some 15 years later I have to accept I will not be relaying it!
Fifteen years of storage indeed had worn down upon this little engine.
The day I received it, I promptly dismantled it into its component parts, ensuring all the trims, nuts, bolts, clips etc were all kept in a tub clearly marked so as to avoid the ‘other’ locomotive’s bits and pieces.
At this point, I must explain my motive in buying it. Having received much theory but little practical on loco/live steam restoration or treatment, this cheap engine could serve with little price of failure as a practice run for the long termer – of which an updated report will be on its own thread. But for now, we must focus on Deep Thought. In short, it would be a trial run before I restarted my longterm loco.
I had stripped the engine down and began stripping the paint.
Initially a blowtorch was used. However, this is a time consuming pastime as firstly one must ensure they don’t harm the metal with the flame, secondly, that they don’t BAKE the ‘paint mess’ ONTO the part, defeating the objective and thirdly – often, a disgusting, metallic burning, sickly sweet smell [vapour?] would arise from this. It did make me somewhat ill so an alternative was sought.
Behold – “BIOSTRIP”. As once sold by Thermacure, but now exclusively from Biostrip themselves [www.biostrip.co.uk] this stuff is magnificent! Throw away your Nitromors, dispense with your blowtorches, and wash yourself of safety gloves – this stuff is the future.
And a demonstration elsewhere:
Eventually, with a paint scraper, the bodywork and frames were brought back to bare metal. They then spent 24-36 hours inside a ‘Rust Remover’ dip which by God worked. They were sanded down with four grades of sandpaper to reveal this:
They were then sprayed and thoroughly wiped over with this stuff:
in order to be ready to prime and paint. This process, inbetween looking for a job, travelling to Wales and other occupations meant that it was late April before we were all ready to paint. Painting – I Definitely absolutely hate painting! Believe it or not, it took several weeks for this to occur and finish. Reasons were that 1)Time. I wasn’t painting, scraping and prepping every day as sometimes it became an irksome chore. So I would leave it.
Secondly, I needed good conditions as I prefer to spraypaint outside – but on a dry, windless day. This spring was pretty wet and so days that were perfect were snatched. Some days could see five or six pieces painted, others only a couple. Painting came in stages:
Two to three layers of Plastikote Super [White]Primer. A layer sprayed on, ‘mist style’ every hour or so to allow for best application. Sometimes paint could be applied the same day but other times would be applied the following session.
Plastikote I had the complete ‘system’ and so followed its instructions thoroughly. You can respray in under 4 hours or after 36 hours of initial application. Do not deviate from this. The result is the famous bubbling and lumpiness that has been many a painter’s bane.
Over the next few weeks, the tanks were repainted twice; due to bubbles, drips and overpainting causing ripples. The sides were repainted once as they were touched by a delinquent parent unit [!!!!]. But luckily these could be stripped, prepped and repainted in under a day -a record for me!
The frames, wheels and cab roof were painted in VHT paint. For VHT, a lot of people recommend Halfords own Black VHT. I frankly abhor this as its finish is matt, and isn’t a true black -it’s a charcoal grey at best, a muddy grey at worst. It does the job, I will admit happily but for something more...black, sleek and eyecatching I recommend what I have used on the wheels, frames, cab roof and also on my other loco: Thermacure’s Satin Black Stove Paint. Good for upto 650C and produces a grand finish.
Finally, we had the curing. Many of you will know that I have had quite the difficulty with this aspect, not having access to curing facilities as such. Back in mid April I scoured Ebay and came across this:
AN ELECTRIC TOASTER OVEN.
For £15, I bought it. And it worked! I used the engine’s parts – combichamber, wheels, frames, roof and finally, the boiler, as again, the guinea pig of my endeavours. This paved the way for my other engine immensely...
Finally, the paint settled and the VHT paint was cured. Now I was in early June. I had begun to reassemble the loco, mechanically-wise but needed to finish the lining out.
Dryingwise, I used our warm kitchen and hung the pieces off the washing rack. These could sit for two-three days, depending on weather, mood or if I was busy. The transformation is readily apparent.
One difficulty was trying to paint the cab: outside in red, but inside as true locomotives do – in cream. This too was Plastikote Super; ‘Ice Cream’ shade to be precise.
Now once dry and ready to handle...time to harden the paint. This is a precise process- the pieces go inside a cool oven, and bake slowly as the oven warms up to a ‘medium’ temperature. The pieces remain no longer than THREE MINUTES – or the paint will bubble, burst and spoil. I literally timed this to within seconds to prevent going over the edge and ruining another attempt. Which did happen once, hence one reason [again] I had to start over on some pieces. :/
But once these were passed...and the pieces were Ready...and all was dry and good...it was time to line out. I used Trimline tape, a set square and a triangle protractor to aim for a good, square [almost!!] finish. One side was done first – the other was a vast improvement, having learnt from the first side a lot.
The lining was then covered in three layers of Plastikote’s “Clear Super” protective varnish. Believe it or not, this also caused a repaint job on a tankpiece when it overcooked!! >(
Painful, but I have learnt a lot from it. But once all the pieces were varnished...we had a finished bodywork set.
Time to reassemble and steam the loco. Now we are talking maximum two weeks ago. Unfortunatly the boiler decided only then to unveil a nasty surprise...
Backheads suck.
Screwed the plate onto the back of the boiler and somehow, the screws broke. Both of them. Inside the threadhole. :@:@:@ Much profanity ensued until I was able to try and drill the brass screws out...
The screws went flying, the brass was belted out but the drill was shifted off centre. Thats right, something harder than steel had got into the boiler. Do not ask. Don’t ask at all. And yes, more profanity ensued. This engine has fought me every step of the d**n way, from dismantling to steaming.
Luckily...I had got a spare. And the same day, the new high-pressure valve from the ‘Dinorwic Light Railway’ arrived.
A boiler transplant later and a fight with aligning the body to allow the number and works-plates to be refixed using their original 12BA screws and hold the body together later.......and behold, was the engine finished.
More to follow...
