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The Mamod SL SVR Engine
Thought to be the rarest of all the Mamod SL production locos released. Only 25 of these were ever made. Produced in 1981 by Mamod, they were an experiment to try and launch their new loco design into the heritage railway gift market. Mamod chose the Severn Valley Railway for this new venture. Mamod worked directly with the railway to agree a design for the motif that appears on the loco side tanks.
The SVR wanted the loco to be in 45mm and in a set. This presented a challenge as all the Mamod Garden Railway set boxes were designed to take the Mamod cast 32mm track. Another issue was that Mamod did not make 45mm track. The solution was to replace the track with two extra Open Wagons in 45mm. The Seven Valley Railway Set was born!
Mr Dream Steam: Alan Dunster, founder of the Mamod oriented business 'Dream Steam', had amassed a tremendous knowledge of the Mamod railway system developed by Mamod in 1978-79. He had also put together a wonderful collection of Mamod SL engines and models. For the 30th Anniversary of the Mamod railway system, Alan contributed a series of 5 superb articles celebrating '30 Years of Mamodry' to Garden Rail magazine published by Atlantic Publishers. Articles appeared from Jan 2009 through to June 2010 (magazine numbers 173, 177, 182, 183 and 190).
SVR Special: Garden Rail#177 featured article 2 in the 5 part series. This included reference to this rare Severn Valley Railway liveried SL1 loco. Unfortunately, this foray into the heritage rail market ended as a bit of a marketing flop for Mamod as few SVR sets were actually sold; after all, who goes to a railway attraction with the equivalent of £300 in their pocket ready to spend it on a steam engine? No more than the initial batch of 25 were made with Mamod giving up on the whole idea after that. Thus the SVR liveried SL1 is considered to be one of the rarest of all production Mamod engines.
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