Mamod closing down

[JAParticipant @ja]

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/mamod-to-close/

JA

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Not before time !

Dangerous noisy smelly things that are destroying the planet.

[ only kidding, honest ]

MichaelG.

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Greedy Landlords seem to be everywhere these days.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Give the average kid a choice between a Mamod or a flashy looking RC Car, latest phone or pair of trainers and unless it’s a big kid mamod are going to loose out. Even then the Chinese steam engines have more features and are cheaper. They have not moved with the times.

 

No mention of when they last had a rent increase or if the new rate is comparable to others in the area or had they been getting a good deal for the last few years..

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Just found this link on another forum:

https://mamodopenday2024.rsvpify.com/?securityToken=7QD7cQKx7hSGvMT1iLKSPiJ1qLHTIggz

MichaelG.

.

Ref. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/187407-mamod-shutting-down/

 

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Surely Jason therte is room for all sortsand thanks for the vote of confidence for the company and its employers

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I’ve just read the article, seems to be a strange state of affairs.

This in particular – He tried relocating but the workers who walk to work opposed it.

So they’d rather loose their jobs than have to travel to work?

Also it seems like the new owner needs about £40k to survive. Has he tried contacting someone like Hornby who might be interested in some kind of tie up?

Somethings not right.

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I’m sure there is room but it is a small market. I know when my brother got his Mamod he was a happy boy, similar aged childern now would rather have something else. The fact it is still running today also means that any grandchildern are likely to be allowed to play with his one and not a new one.

 

Lego have moved with the times and have Technic. Hornby seem to be aimed more at big boys rather than children and have moved manufacture to the far east.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I’d bet good money that most mamod models aren’t sold to children.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I see that when the current owner stepped in a year ago they were two weeks from liquidation, so was it a viable business even before the rent increase? Sounds like there were other longer term problems and the rent was the last straw.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I’m ashamed to say that, while I’ve had three Mamod steam engines, which powered numerous Meccano cranes and vehicles, none of them was new when I got it. They were all got more than 50 years ago. I think I did buy a replacement cylinder and piston, but I’ve also made a couple as well, and those were decades ago.

So I haven’t helped the business…

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

I bet mot of the employees are not in their first flush either which is why they dont want to move.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I got a Mamod for Xmas when I was about 8. I still had it until #2 son took it into school to show his science teacher. I’m fairly sure the lttle ~**~ sold it, as I’ve never seen it since.

The landlord is operating a business, not a charity. If he can do better building houses on the land, then it’s called capitalism.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

“The landlord is operating a business, not a charity. If he can do better building houses on the land, then it’s called capitalism”.

That type of statement reminds me of an old industrial anecdote, almost certainly apocryphal, but which went something like this: A capitalist factory owner had just sacked all his workers and was proudly showing off his new un-manned, fully automated washing machine production-line to the trade union official. “There you are,” said the capitalist to the union man, “these robots will now make washing machines all day every day, never demand a pay rise and never go sick or on strike.” “That’s all very impressive,” said the trade union official, “but could you tell me, please, just how many of your washing machines do these robots actually buy?”

It may be stretching it a bit in the case of Mamod, but the obvious moral of this tale is that if the workers don’t have an income then they won’t have the means to buy or rent houses.

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said:

Just found this link on another forum:

https://mamodopenday2024.rsvpify.com/?securityToken=7QD7cQKx7hSGvMT1iLKSPiJ1qLHTIggz

MichaelG.

.

Ref. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/187407-mamod-shutting-down/

 

Being curious about that Smethwick address … I was a little surprised to see the Mamod website looking ‘alive and well’ this morning

https://www.mamod.co.uk/about-us

Nothing sinister about that; it just seems weird.

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Just a case of not keeping website upto date. I think their website was a lot worse before the new owner took over about a year ago.

 

Seems their FB page is better maintained and upto date.

Also costs them nothing to put a post on FB, they may have to pay a third party to do any website work so why throw good money down the drain.

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

I take Jason’s point about appealing to the younger generation, but how do you make a model Steam Engine more attractive to them than a phone or an expensive pair of plimsols?  A digital Steam Engine maybe, mmm….  Unfortunately, I think the gap is now too great between educational toys/models etc, and todays digital play things to recover.  Even Lego and Meccano seem to be clutching at straws to keep the young ones interested with fantasy kits.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Last week it was reported that the UK had dropped out of the top-ten list of manufacturing nations for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.   See report here.

UK is currently 12th, with a value of about $280Bn, dropping from 8th position in 2023, value $287Bn.   About 2.6M employed.

In comparison the annual values produced by the top 4 manufacturing economies are:

1. China ($5Tn)
2. USA   ($2.7Tn)
3. Japan ($850Bn)
4. Germany ($715Bn)

 

Dave

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

How do you crash a high powered car or shoot aliens with a Mamod? Can you control it whilst holding Pandora’s box?

Regards  Ian.

[JAParticipant @ja]

I have just had a look at their website again. They are having a discount sale of stock and their first ever open day (today).

I also had a look at Google Earth. Their works is a very ordinary early 1960s (probably) unit on an fill-in industrial estate. I doubt if the estate could be developed for housing or warehousing because of access.

I never had a Mamod toy and always considered them as typical tinplate junk. My views did not change into adulthood. Really, they were after their time.

JA

[Circlip]

On Circlip Said:

How do you crash a high powered car or shoot aliens with a Mamod? Can you control it whilst holding Pandora’s box?

Regards  Ian.

Yep, when they changed from meths firing all the excitement and risk went

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

My younger brother wanted my Mamod steam engine to run a bit more when the meths in the burner was running low. So he filled the cap from the bottle with a bit more meths and tried to pour it on the burner. He managed to get a splash on his hand that promptly caught fire. He just held his hand up and nipped to a tap to douse it. That’s the experience you get from burning meths on a finger that’s been dipped in it, no panic but still a bit of excitement.

Martin C

[David AmbroseParticipant @davidambrose86182]

Whereas I was playing with my Mamod stationary engine outside on a very warm sunny day.  There was just a few drops of meths left in the bottle, so I decided to soak a piece of cotton wool with it and set fire to it.  I needed somewhere to put the cotton wool before I set fire to, so decided that the neck of the empty bottle, which had been sitting in the sun, would be perfect. There was a loud bang, and I ended up in hospital to have my three burnt fingers bandaged.  All part of life’s rich tapestry, and a lesson learned.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

Well, I am absolutely (expletive deleted) astounded! I have just returned from the local pub and the company of my two regular Sunday lunchtime drinking buddies. One is 79, an ex-Merchant Navy chief engineer and the other 78, an ex-local government official so neither can be considered ignorant or stupid. As a talking point I mentioned that Mamod was ceasing production hoping for some sort of disappointed reaction but they both looked at me with a vacant expression. Can you believe neither of them had ever heard of Mamod or its products or had ever, as I had done, as a child of the 1950’s longed for the time when I could actually afford to buy one. What planet were these two men born on?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Video of the open (closing) day, some of the machines shown

[Author]

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