Mamod forced to close following ban on hexamine fuel

[randyrippley]

MSN

www.msn.com

Government anti-terror ban forces closure of UK model steam train firm

Historic British firm Mamod, in Smethwick, West Midlands, which produced model steam trains for 87 years has been forced to close its doors after getting hamstrung by red tape.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Another British traditional manufacturer shuts down.
Luckily I've still got my traction engine - around 55 years old and powered by methylated spirits, not hexamine

Government anti-terror ban forces closure of UK model steam train firm​

• Mamod, in Smethwick, West Midlands, founded in 1937, has now shut down
• Firm was hobbled by a ban on hexamine fuel tablets used in the model trains
• Counter-terrorism officials said the chemical had been used to make bombs

A 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.

The new scarcity of stock has ironically led to a boom in the value of Mamod models, with classic examples said to be fetching up to ten times their original values at auction.

Mamod owner Adrian Lockrey, 52, of Tamworth, Staffs, said he had 'tried everything' to keep the firm running.

He said he begged counter-terrorism officials not to impose the blanket ban on hexamine but the prohibition came into force in February.

He told the Mail: 'It is red tape. Basically, we were doing £50,000 a month, every month, and then come February our sales dropped 50 per cent basically overnight.

We ended up getting through to counter-terrorism in London and the woman just said, 'well, you can't sell it'.

'I said it was like me selling a torch without batteries.

'It was a really big kick. Apparently it's been used to make bombs.

'We've been running on those hexamine tablets since 1975, before that it was methylated spirits – but then in the 70s someone burnt themselves on that so we went to this fuel tablet.'

He said the company spent £20,000 trying to develop a liquid fuel alternative, but once that had been finalised, the rent on their factory premises was raised to the point of unaffordability.

'It is very disappointing,' he added. 'It's heartbreaking. We were England's oldest and largest steam toy manufacturer.'

Mamod was founded in Birmingham by Geoffrey Malins as Malins Models.

Early traction engines cost 99 shillings and six pence - just under a fiver - but latest similar models were retailed for £300.

The engines are powered by steam-driven pistons, set into motion when water is heated by a small fire in a burner tray placed under the boiler.

In October 2023, the company came under threat when hexamine was banned after officials concluded it could be used to make explosives.

Mamod had been using hexamine fuel tablets for decades in its engines.

Tightened rules meant hexamine could still be bought, but only under certain circumstances with customers forced to pay for a licence and hand over personal details.

Earlier this year, Mamod estimated that the overhaul of the business required by the new laws would cost in the region of £50,000.

Mamod's Tom Lockrey told The Telegraph in March that the company was reluctant to sell the engines without the fuel as it's 'like buying a torch and having no batteries for it', and bosses felt they would be doing their customers a disservice.

He said at the time: 'This is currently stopping £8,500 in orders from going out, as over 75 per cent of our products need to run on this hexamine-based fuel.'

 

[Gloster]

There is actually more to it than that, but it is the sort of things that the Daily Mail doesn’t want to tell you as it doesn’t bash the government and bureaucrats. The works’ rent was to have increased substantially and its terms to have been changed to ones that the proprietor just could not accept. The rent increase seems to have been the main factor and the hexamine ban only a secondary one.

 

[Meole]

Daily Mail exposes the action of the new government with enthusiasm ?

 

[Pigeon]

I didn't even know you could get hexamine fuel in this country. I always thought Mamod engines ran on meths (and surely all you have to do anyway is replace the hexamine burner with a meths one, for crying out loud). I first heard tell of hexamine in the US Army Improvised Warfare Manual, which tells you how to use it to make explosives. Soldiers have it to heat their rations with, but I always thought a civilian limited to what you could buy in British shops would be unable to follow the recipe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I didn't even know you could get hexamine fuel in this country. I always thought Mamod engines ran on meths (and surely all you have to do anyway is replace the hexamine burner with a meths one, for crying out loud). I first heard tell of hexamine in the US Army Improvised Warfare Manual, which tells you how to use it to make explosives. Soldiers have it to heat their rations with, but I always thought a civilian limited to what you could buy in British shops would be unable to follow the recipe.

It was widely sold with cheap camping stoves.

Fortunately for Scout Groups which often had a fair bit of it, the best way to get rid is, er, to have a campfire.

 

[Pigeon]

Yeah, I thought it was only American camping stoves that ran on it, whereas the British equivalent would use meths...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yeah, I thought it was only American camping stoves that ran on it, whereas the British equivalent would use meths...

Different types of stove. You can get both here still, there's just a different type of solid fuel more similar to firelighters.

 

[Vespa]

In the army we had hexamines for years and no one got blown up, we've now moved to gel blocks, most of us use jetboils anyway while keeping the gels blocks system as a back up.

Hexs are lighter and less messy.

 

[Bletchleyite]

In the army we had hexamines for years and no one got blown up

It's not dangerous in its fuel block form, it's just like a longer-burning firelighter. The issue is that it can be used in the manufacture of explosives.

 

[AndrewE]

I imagined that they moved away from meths a few decades ago as it was "safer", as a solid fuel doesn't spill - then burn everything it touches!
If you want to keep a hexamine-powered model going you can get old meths burner trays if you look in the right places.

(I tried the hexamine for something, I thought it had a horrible smokey/sooty flame compared to meths.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

I imagined that they moved away from meths a few decades ago as it was "safer", as a solid fuel doesn't spill - then burn everything it touches!
If you want to keep a hexamine-powered model going you can get old meths burner trays if you look in the right places.

(I tried the hexamine for something, I thought it had a horrible smokey/sooty flame compared to meths.)

They are a completely different type of stove. Hexamine is burnt in a lightweight folding metal stove - these are mostly used as emergency kit because they cost next to nothing and are very light and robust. Meths is burnt in a Trangia style round stove which typically has integrated pan sets and is more designed for routine use. There is a move away from meths in the latter as it's slow and not very safe, but the move isn't to hexamine, rather it's to gas - you can get gas burners that slot in and provide all the benefits of both.

There isn't much point trying to "convert" a hexamine stove to anything else, as it's basically just a metal stand costing a few quid. Better just to replace, unless using the new style non-hexamine blocks.

 

[AndrewE]

but we're not talking about stoves. Mamod burners are either a "vapurising burner" for meths, a deep tray stuffed with something like cotton wool and a mesh top, or (if I'm thinking of the right thing) a direct-replacement open shallow tray which takes the hexamine blocks. (I have only dealt with one once.)
see https://milburymodels.co.uk/product...d3u2-sg82TrgqgeD7uRtlgjv6TotDV1u5QAvG6VbynDo4 and https://milburymodels.co.uk/collect...-fit-mamod-traction-engines-and-steam-rollers

 

[Vespa]

It's not dangerous in its fuel block form, it's just like a longer-burning firelighter. The issue is that it can be used in the manufacture of explosives.

I know I work with explosives

 

[Ediswan]

In the army we had hexamines for years and no one got blown up, we've now moved to gel blocks, most of us use jetboils anyway while keeping the gels blocks system as a back up.

Hexs are lighter and less messy.

In the Scouts in the 1970s, we sometimes used 'meta fuel' (Metaldehyde) to pre-heat Primus stoves. This was potentially poisonous. It came as small tablets, with dark spots. Alternative use was killing slugs. I never understood why anybody would want something poisonous around food.

 

[AndrewE]

In the Scouts in the 1970s, we sometimes used 'meta fuel' (Metaldehyde) to pre-heat Primus stoves. This was potentially poisonous. It came as small tablets, with dark spots. Alternative use was killing slugs. I never understood why anybody would want something poisonous around food.

er, because it is not "around food?" Metaldehyde is poisonous, and the paraffin you put in the stove is smelly too. Just wash after that job before handling food or eating.
I agree though that meths was/is a better alternative.