Non Linear Halfords Concentrated Screen Wash

[Graeme]

Ditto. That 'Mamod' smell :-)

[Bob Eager]

Well, yes. And I have one of those too.

[charles]

Castrol R ?

[Graeme]

In message , Bob Eager writes

I'll see your Mamod and raise you a Bowman loco.

[Bob Eager]

Would be nice...

[Vortex12]

That's interesting.

As it happens I have filled with about 50% and I am sure that should cover all likely scenarios in southern UK.

I want to Halfords out of necessity rather than choice. a "bonus" feature of this stuff is that has a citrus stink. Will never buy it again.

[damduck-egg]

My " Uncle " Peter who was really my Godfather had the freight set illustrated here

Unfortunately my "Auntie" was one of those women who exhibited OCD about how clean a house should be so after their marriage the set was never fired up again. Their own son who was about 8 years older then me was allowed to play with it in push along mode very occasionally such as when we visited but a request to steam it was always denied. Circa 1969 their son married and left home. Shortly after my godparents came to stay for a short holiday and Auntie was quite pleased to describe she had cleared out their sons things so she could have sewing room. I asked about he steam set and was told she had put out it with the rubbish, the one saving grace was that the Dustman actually knocked on the door and asked if there had been a mistake and if not could he personally take it which he did . I was pretty miffed at the time that she hadn't offered it to me but although I didn't the know of the word then I certainly felt schadenfreude as in a nearby town an antique shop had opened which had a section specialising in models. The look on Aunties face when she saw the prices being asked was a picture, even in 69 I think it was north of £80 and possibly more.

ironically the rise of the www and ease of finding things in salerooms and auction sites added to older generations dying and their descendants finally realising that modern children will never be interested or have room for their forebears collections and putting them into circulation again has resulted in such models becoming available for a lot less in value terms now if you really want one.

G.Harman

[Huge]

I wonder what happened to my Mamod traction engine?

[Huge]

[38 lines snipped]

Wow. The books about them are more expensive than the models themselves.

[Starts to add things to Watchlist]

Now, I wonder where I could put them on display? :o)

[news]

Perhaps it is the one I got given, mine leaks so much steam from the cylinder it will steam up and run the flywheel free running but not enough oomph to propel the wheel.

I see most of the spare parts are still available if I ever get bored.

AJH

[ARW]

So why does it say "works at minus 15 deg" on the tin?

[tabbypurr]

Indeed, we've never come across products that fail to do what they claim have we, or only do so in a very specific set of circumstances, usually ones you're unlikely to encounter.

NT

[Graeme]

Live steam is really just a branch of my toy trains, but does include one Bowman loco, a Mamod traction engine and two stationary engines, one Bowman and one Mamod for Meccano. They all run, and there is nothing else like that smell of burning meths and warm oil.

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

Agreed. Finding items now is far easier than it was even 10-15 years ago. Sadly, on line sales, particularly eBay, have almost killed the swapmeets and toy fairs, which were always fun. Now, it would be easy to build an impressive collection without ever leaving home, which is slightly sad. Other side of the coin though, it is much faster now, of course, to share pictures and videos with friends, receive and request help and parts etc., both nationally and internationally.

Yes, many prices have dropped too, the only exceptions being the genuinely rare items, and/or those in excellent+ condition.

[damduck-egg]

You missed out singed carpet. very quickly found the traction engines propensity to bounce the spirit burner out and after that was banished to the concrete yard outside.

G.Harman

[damduck-egg]

snip

I haven't been tempted too much with one exception I did hanker when I was small for a model tube train and was told by the man in the shop that EVER READY made one . He also said it wasn't very good and was only made so they could sell lots of batteries. My parents received this news with enthusiasm though in reality if had said it ran like a Swiss watch there was no chance they would have got one. I got one a few years back and the man in the shop was right, It's very basic.

details for the curious here

G.Harman

[Rob Morley]

Don't forget the burned skin smell, from that invisible flame.

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

I'm well trained (ha ha) and only ever run the traction engine on the kitchen lino type floor.

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

I do have an Ever Ready set although quite surprisingly, could not find one on YouTube except this, which has a replacement motor bogie :

[Mike Humphrey]

The air temperature may be above -2 but how cold was the windscreen?

The problem with windscreens is that they face the sky. On a clear night heat radiates from the glass into space, and that coming back is minimal as space is about -270C. The screen can't get too cold as it will absorb heat from the air, but it can be well below the air temperature.

Was it an aerosol or spray bottle? I find the aerosol de-icers useless - the aerosol cools the de-icer (which cools the windscreen) so much that it adds ice to the windscreen rather than removing it. The spray bottles don't have this issue as there's no propellant to cool the spray.

Mike