Part 1 shows what this very old Mamod ran like after I purchased it in a box of old Mamod railcars and track. Not great. Then I worked on the cylinder faces, tightened springs and such and it became a decent cab forward runner.
Part 2 shows the result of my very carefully and patiently lapping the faces of the reversing block. It turned out that the reversing lever face was no longer perfectly flat. It curved a fraction of a millimetre on one side. The side that connected the steam channels for forward operation.
I won’t go into detail here about lapping, and given the equipment I used it was sort of not really traditional lapping. There is great info online about lapping.
I used a very precise large flat file smeared in metal polish, lights carefully arranged to see ripples on the surfaces, a large magnifier and I finished with a general slow and careful polish with a dremel.
Now I have an old engine I never intended to have, it runs great for the low pressure thing it was meant to be, and is a reminder that this model got quite a few people into the live steam railroad hobby. It will get quite a few turns on the railroad being built outside.
If you live in the Victoria, British Columbia (or South Vancouver Island) area and are interested in live steam - even if you don't have any equipment of your own - why not leave me a comment. The live steam train hobby should be shared.