Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Right gentlemen I gave her a run today on my rolling road and she ran well. It took a bit of time to light the burner so I took the jet out and cleaned it. It seems to be a common  thing in some new engines. The burner is very quiet even on a high setting and makes plenty of steam even when turned down low. There were a few teething problems, the safety valve was blowing off way past the 40psi mark so I had to reset it, seems ok now and lastly steam was blowing past the rubber washer on the regulator spindle,I tried another and the same thing happened so I replaced it with PTFE tape and that seemed to cure it...The top one in the picture is the original with the rubber washer and the one below is the one with the PTFE tape. Note the thicker 4mm lever shaft on the lower one to take one of my own levers. I might sound a bit picky but its a new venture for Mamod and I think they've done a great job especially for the price. There are a couple of awkward things on it like the oil filler cap and oil drain valve are difficult to get at and the water level plug on the back of the boiler is impossible to even touch so I fill the boiler to the top and withdraw 35mm to leave space for steam.  I find it a very well made and attractive loco, it's certainly got character. I am very proud to have the  Stirling as part of my locomotive collection. Congrat's Mamod 
                                                                                                Allan.