Garden Railway Forum

So, I'm aware that some of the larger locos will foul on Mamod point levers. Can anyone give me an indication of how widespread this problem is? Ie: is it just certain models of loco that one has to avoid if they are going to use Mamod track?

In the event that it is the majority of Roundhouse/Accucraft locos, is there any way around it? Ie: modifying the Mamod points so that the lever is further from the rail and/or using another manufacturers points that are compatible with Mamod track? (seems unlikely...)

I'm sure this is a common problem, but I have a large amount of Mamod track, and it would be a cheap way of getting started with a garden railway if it could be used. I don;t want to restrict myself to only running Mamod locos further "down the line" though!

This problem occurs with almost all non-Mamod locos - most people take the point levers off - the blades still stay in position.

...and then just move the rails themselves by hand when one wishes to change the point?

I seem to remember the points are sprung pretty stiffly. Seems like this would be tough on the fingers?

It is not just the operating lever that causes problems, but also the semi-circular frame in which that lever pivots.

So you either remove the operating lever and trim the frame down to the level of the sleeper, and then just manually push the points across to the required direction.

Or you extend the sleeper and the operating bar underneath so the operating lever is well outside the width of any loco. The late Peter Longfils did that successfully but I did not save his photo and it is sadly no longer available on-line.

Due to the design of the Mamod points they can be susceptible to causing derailments as they do not have a check rail, and when used to go round the curve they can knock wheels sideways possibly causing a derailment, particularly at speed.



If you file the back face of the point rail at Point B above this will give a smoother transition when running from Point C to Point D. Running in the other direction (Point D to Point C) the wheel will hit the 'pocket' at Point E, causing a derailment at speed. I've yet to find something suitable that could partially fill that 'pocket' for a smoother transition (have some Araldite Rapid Steel to try at some point), or possibly fit a check rail to prevent the wheel entering that 'pocket'.

Chris Cairns.

Ah, so, as suspected, this isn't a total lost cause. Thanks for the comments gents!