Bored In Lockdown: The Mamod Long Boiler Roller...

Hi everyone and a very belated Happy New Year to you. Lets all pray that 2021 has better things in store for us than last year! So, where have I been? Nowhere! What have I done? Well, nothing really, hence no posts on the blog. I've never been much for recapping old stories just because there's nothing new to write, so I've just kept quiet through these dark Winter weeks. With nowhere to go in search of steam, I've kept myself busy with household tasks and DIY. The only thing I have recently completed is a bit of a restoration on a very old Mamod I had languishing in a scruffy box in the workshop. The story of this goes back probably five years now, to when I was asked to sort out a Christmas gift for my uncle. The request was to find and test a Mamod SR1A: their signature steam roller: and make sure it was right before being given for Christmas. Examples of these engines are numerous on Ebay though can vary vastly in condition. Me being me, I ended up with a mass of parts and mixed them together to create a nice little roller, leaving me with a box of scruffy old bits. The post on the original roller I did is here. The remaining bits I had didn't include a boiler so back then I managed to purchase myself a scruffy old Mamod TE1A boiler (from the traction engine) and had it painted where I used to work. And then the project stalled...

Much later, in 2021, all it took was the complete eradication of my hobby to get the job on the move again! The shot above is very much the before image, showing the myriad of bits and pieces and their pretty poor condition. You couldn't just throw the thing together again as it was, otherwise it would have looked quite appalling. I had it in my head that I'd use my repainted boiler barrel and then redo the reds and blacks on the engine myself. The other parts would take some cleaning up but the majority would be fit for reuse. Below we see a before shot of one of the rear wheels. As you can probably guess I'd decided to make up a roller using the slightly longer traction engine boiler, sometimes then known as the 'Long Boiler Roller'...

The paint on the wheels was already pretty loose and so the gentle application of a heat gun freed off the remaining bulk. The wheels were then pinned with a cap head bolt into the chuck of an electric drill and spun up before being polished with various grades of sandpaper. I also took the opportunity to polish the very dull outer edges of the wheels. The resulting finish was quite good and left a clean surface for painting...

Paint choice among Mamod owners can often start a heated debate so I'll be honest about my choices. The red is an RS Pro red gloss spray and the black is a heat resistant matt version from Screwfix, both chosen for their good reviews. As the current damp weather doesn't really lend itself to painting, I sprayed the parts up in the workshop before bringing them inside to the warmth of the house to dry. Luckily I was in the depths of redecorating the spare room at the time which gave a good drying area. The reds were given two coats of gloss to get the shine...

After 24 hours drying I decided to unmask the red parts. The mask had done its job very well and any spill onto the burnished edges of the wheels was easily cleaned off with a sharp knife. For what was just a pile of old bits in a tatty cardboard box a few days before, I was very happy with the finish on the wheels and flywheel. Not bad for a cheap job completed in quick time by a buffoon...

The matt black parts also came out well after drying...

One of the two firebox cowls I had had been chosen for this roller due to its better condition. I'd spent some time cleaning it up with Peek a few years ago but have since discovered the wonderous cleaning properties of Autosol. The latter brought a very good shine to the polished metal before it was reinserted into the repainted housing. As is usual with Mamods, the majority of the engine is held together with pop rivets of varying sizes. The other parts meanwhile were cleaned up using Autosol and, well, scrubbing ability. The results were again quite pleasing...

This engine has the water filler plug type boiler which dates it pre-1978 I believe as that's when the sight glass boilers came in. It also (if original) has the meths burner and I believe the engines used solid fuel as of 1976 so really it should be at least 45 years old as I write! Once the firebox cowl was riveted together, it was time to slide in the boiler. The boiler is held in place by two blind copper pop rivets which then seal the fitting holes. With a new seal on the cleaned up water filler plug, that was refitted too. The mounting bracket for the main shaft is then riveted on with slightly larger rivets. It certainly felt like it was coming on at this point...

The smokebox had turned out well in its new matt black. I managed to retain the original Mamod paint at the front by keeping that masked up. The smokebox was then riveted on and the three copper pipes (one feed, two exhaust) cleaned up with Autosol...

The final results of the engine then came together quite quickly after a few evenings work here and there. I'd never really thought about the dummy running board before but having seen how they enhanced other peoples Mamods I thought one would look nice on this, and it does. It's pretty nice quality too...

I also fitted two extra brass boiler bands and a small bucket hung beneath, which all seem to add to the appearance of the engine. I'd never really been one for all this accessorizing but in this case the features seemed to add something. Now the engine has pride of place on the workshop shelf, along with my Mamod SW1 and Wilesco D405. For a box of scruffy old bits it has turned out quite well and I'm pretty happy with it for a little lockdown project. It looks quite nice...

The engine didn't take much to do really. It had a respray, a clean up and some new seals and rivets. I managed to save most of it but it has been treated to a new whistle as the old one was the rarer push-button type which would undoubtedly burn your fingers! So there we are, post No1 of 2021. Who knows when the next one will be? Roll on Statfold for some sweet, sweet handle! Cheers all, stay safe...