Mamod

The Mamod company, specialising in building live steam model toys, was founded in 1935 in Birmingham by Geoffrey Malins. The company produced stationary steam engine toys, road rollers, traction engines and steam cars, aimed at the toy market, which were simple to operate and ran at low boiler pressures for safety but were not accurate scale models.

In 1981 they introduced their first model railway, the O gauge live steam SL-1 locomotive, along with a small range of rolling stock and track. It was the first cheap, mass-produced live steam set in Britain and sold well. Further locomotives (the SL-2 and SL-3) available in ready-to-run and kit form and in both O (32 mm) and 1 (45 mm) gauge soon followed, along with special edition locomotives, further rolling stock and points.

Mamod went into receivership in 1980, but survived and is currently based near its original home at Smethwick in the West Midlands, producing a wide range of mobile engines, as well as some stationary models and machine tools.