Pulled the tigger on a Mamod Brunel Mk3 with all options

artfull dodger

artfull dodger

Registered
Country flag
Been looking for a geared vertical boilered loco to restart my tramway theme on my railway. Unable to locate a good used Regner Willi and with Chaloner out of budget at the moment. I pulled the trigger on the latest version of the Mamod Brunel with the canopy and cladding on the boiler. Definatly looks good to me. A member of our local steam group has one of the first runs of the Brunel and it runs well. Maybe if contract bonus or profit sharing in the spring is good enough, I will order a Regner Chaloner while I still can. The vertical boilered trams/DeWinton's fit my vision of a small railway set in the valley of the Shire. Just need me a Hobbit engineer at the controls! Ordered the model this morning, direct from Mamod UK. Now we see how long till she is sitting in front of me. Already planning to add Regner lanterns on each end, a condesate tank with seperate exhaust up thru the canopy roof, lagging all the exposed steam pipes and finding a figure or two for it. Cheers Mike the Aspie
 
They're not bad little models for the price. Definitely have steam oil lubrication problems though. They are actually almost 7/8 scale.
 
Now you tell him.....:rofl:
 
Mike, I have one and it is running fine after I figured out how to set the burner. There's no marks on the gas knob and it only needs cracking 10-20 degrees on my loco - I was opening it 1/4 turn like an accucraft and it started burning the footplate! I filed a mark so I could see how much it was open. I also had a leaking water drain on the boiler, but they sent me a new sight glass and I managed to cure it.

I agree with the 7/8ths scale as these were very small locos in the first place. Here's Chaloner

Wicksteed_park_Chaloner_and_Taffy_2007.jpg

My Chaloner has a 7/8ths driver standing on a plate bolted on the side of the footplate, just like that photo. The Brunel has room for him to stand:

20180118_113418-bruno-tippers-sm.jpg


I didn't know they now make a canopy - I will have to get one!

Brunel-with-canopy-and-cladding.jpg
 
A pal of mine in the FLR has lagged his steam lines with 'hairy string' as well as the boiler with wooden slats. It seems to have made a real improvement to the running times, as far as I can make out. Looks good, too. It's a great little engine and I'm just wondering why I don't have one of my own...
 
Mine will have the lagging on the boiler and I do plan to use my "kite string" to lag the steam lines as I did on my Regner Willi that I used to own a long time ago. I found the lagging the steam lines cut down on the amount of condisate filling up the Willi's tank during the run. Hopefully mine wont suffer oiling issues, but will be watching for it. Thankfully the gentleman that builds the WeeBee Loco Works safety valves is the leader of our local steam group, so any major issues he normally can help sort out. My Brunel is on his way as of this morning. so I should have him in a day or two they say. I have my LGB field railway rolling stock ready to go! Mike the Aspie
 
I may try to pickup a Regner Chaloner in the near future as well, while Regner is still making them. Nice pic of Chaloner as well btw! Shows just how tiny these coffeepots on wheels really are when you can see how they look with a driver at the controls.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom