A recent discussion in Garden Rail, has prompted me to dig out my old Mamod SL1 locomotive for a couple of photos.
This was the model that got me into garden railways. It arrived on Christmas as a present to my Dad and me from my Mum. As a kit.
As I recall, it was a very long time ago, she thought that if we tranferred some of our railway modelling enthusiasm to the outdoor world, she'd get some help in the garden. I'm not sure that building a timber viaduct down 30 feet of it was quite what she hoped.
We built the loco, and enjoyed it, but like all Mamod SL1's, it's a bit uncontrollable, the later models were much better for this. The lever in the front does back and forward, and speed control, but with "control" in very small letters. I don't think we ever managed to pull a train with it, but when the train is made up of lightweight Cooper Craft wagons, that's no real surprise.
Looking at the model, it's very attractive. Nicely proportioned, and with a reasonable mix of toy and model. Ours is set to 32mm gauge, which I think suits it. I do have the bits for a 45mm conversion, but as part of this involved packing the cylinders out from the chassis with a pile of gaskets, I think I'll leave it alone.
1 comment:
We had one too. As you say very attractive, but rather unpredictable. When we supplemented it with a ‘Lady Anne’ you saw what real garden steam could be like. Had a huge sense of achievement one night when it managed to haul a train round the circuit without incident!
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