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The best ones, as at Blue Anchor on the West Somerset Railway, are still operated by turning a big wheel in the Signal Box... 
Not convinced, there must be alternative fuel, meths for one.historic British firm which produced model steam trains for 87 years has been forced to close its doors after getting hamstrung by red tape.
Mamod this month closed down production in its factory due to dwindling sales and spiralling overheads, in an era of gaming consoles and social media.
The firm was also hobbled by a government ban on the 'dangerous' hexamine fuel tablets that had long been used in the models to heat water and set the intricate engines chuntering.
Founded in 1937, Mamod's steam trains quickly became a favourite of children across the country, boasting static generators which powered models with wire loops and scaled-down traction engines.
A fire sale of remaining stock was held at the factory in Smethwick, West Midlands earlier this month as long-time fans of the miniature trains witnessed the final models off the production line.
They purr when nicely set up... I had assumed it had long gone, but no back in 2012 it was literally dug out of its slumbers, repaired renovated and added to and in now the Thorpe Light Railway.
| Original | Restored |
| Opening on Good Friday 1971 the 15? gauge Whorlton Lido Railway was another attraction to Whorlton Lido, a popular destination for family days out in the North East. Built by professional platelayers for site owner Raymond Dunn the well-engineered 770 yard line has its station on a straight section, with a balloon loop on each end. There is a 33 yard tunnel in the eastern loop.  | Open days are limited to 6 per year. Passenger trains are usually worked by a Severn Lamb ‘Rio Grande’ steam-outline diesel, which used to work in Ireland with the three carriages on the railway. |
| Visiting Flying Scotsman at Whorlton Station Bridge in the background  | “Rio Grande” in the cutting, on approach to the tunnel |
I'm sure that some will know the particular machine on station platforms in the 1960's that post of Jim's conjured up memories of for me. Durham station certainly had one. I like visuals, but who would bother taking a picture of a vending machine in the 1960's and going to the bother of getting the film developed, and 50 years later stuff it on the internetCitroJim wrote: 02 Sep 2024, 05:57 As testimony to how the car has been maintained, there's Dymo tape all over the engine bay such as these:
So for now just a description from RM WebNeilhttps://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/64 ... l%20labelsAnother common machine was the one that produced the pressed metal labels, you got so many characters for 1d, it had a handle you pulled to emboss the letter which used to spring back, one hit my brother on the nose and had him bleeding everywhere much to the dismay of my parents.
