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Cheers, Noel. The Ballast and Gypsum wagons are a favourite of mine.

That’s interesting to hear. I certainly want to do plenty of testing before fixing magnets in place permanently. The simple tests I’ve done with just a couple of wagons seem to work ok in all modes, but I can imagine if there’s a bit of bunching in a train being hauled then they might uncouple. I can play with various parameters including the number of magnets, the height they are set at, and the lateral and longitudinal spacing. I can do all of those by tweaking the dimensions of the plywood block in CAD and laser-cutting them. One more drastic possibility would be to physically raise and lower the magnet assembly on a lever. On another layout I used the Kadee electromagnets, which work well but they are huge and power-hungry. I’ve never had much luck with the flat plate magnet type that sits on top of the sleepers. I’ll post an update on how I get on with my experiments.

I wonder did the designer intend it to be driven from the front coupled axle, which would avoid the problem. I think though that doing that would require building it as a rigid chassis, not necessarily a problem in 7mm perhaps but less desirable in 4mm with less weight to keep it in contact with the rails. I've not had a lot of success with rigid chassis but having a rigid front coupled axle, a compensated rear axle and a sprung front bogie risks creating a seesaw.

That's an intriguing approach to uncoupling Paul. I use Kadees and installed Kadee's own under track magnets on Kilmore but haven't had a lot of luck with them. I can get them to release the couplings under compression, as they're meant to do, but I can't reliably prevent them from uncoupling under tension. So when trains pull away over them, wagons or coaches tend to come apart when they shouldn't. I've tried adjusting the distance of the magnets below the track and also removing the steel booster plate but I can't seem to find a happy balance. If the train stays coupled under tension, then couplings don't release under compression, and vice versa. I know coupler height and distance of the loop above sleeper height is fairly critical but even after trying to get that right I'm still having problems. I've more or less given up on the magnets now.

June 2025, vol 31 no 217

Can you remember which volume? Local gossip in Wexford was so much drink had been consumed on the way down many never made it to the opera

Interesting. There was an article about the Opera Specials in a recent IRRS journal. I only once saw the exec carriages in that livery, in a train at Heuston.

I think it was one of the times they ran an opera special for the Wexford Opera Festival for corporate ticket holders. https://www.facebook.com/groups/573173142789869/permalink/780378232069358/

That could be a ‘when the real thing looks like a model’ thread. The trees are reasonably well modelled but only partly disguise the join between the layout and the backscene - the latter seems to have faded in the sun while the layout uses a very garish colour palette. There’s been no effort to weather the rolling stock, and painting a sheet of ripple glass a bilious yellow colour does not make a realistic river! On the plus side, the bridge is very nicely modelled, but it’s let down by the layout presentation with poorly-placed strip lighting.

Day 8 in Japan, which was in the Kyoto area including the Kyoto Railway Museum. Click on the photo below to view them all Regards, Kieran

Will Paddy be doing any of the executive coaches I wonder?

Some layout progress to report from the last couple of days. Firstly, all the track is now fixed down and the sector plate interfaces completed. Under the board I have done most of the wiring. It’s just the switched feeds to the two frogs that I haven’t dealt with. I’m planning to use some simple dowel rods to work the points, and to have them activate a microswitch to change the frog polarity. That may be a job for tomorrow. Secondly, I had been doing some experiments with uncouplers for the Kadees using rows of miniature magnets (an idea I saw on RMweb). This seems to work quite well - here are a couple of photos of my trial piece (not on the layout, this is made from oddments). The magnetic field is stronger with a steel plate underneath to connect the bottom poles of the magnets. So for the production version I have made some little ‘dominoes’ (or are they licorice allsorts?). The ingredients are a plywood block with holes in (laser-cut), 8 little magnets, and a steel plate: When complete they look like this: By adjusting the hole spacing in the wooden block I can make them fit between the sleepers of the track: The tops of the magnets are level with the sleepers so once the track is painted and ballasted they will be unobtrusive. They are also cheap - 100 magnets cost me less than £10 including postage, and the other materials cost me nothing. I have a few more of these to make, and will then get them installed on the layout. By making them as separate units I hope I can fine-tune their position to optimise performance. Some time in the coming week I hope to be testing the track, points and magnets with E410 and a few wagons.

Roofing tomorrow. Cheers Darius

I'll be in the Bray train fair tomorrow with a good stock of everything that I'm printing. If you are around pop in for a look and chat and possibly a cup of tea. I believe that there are a few new traders there also. Enda

That’s great Alan. Interestingly I had to do similar surgery to clear the heat wheel on the 7mm version….Dremel used in my case !

Yup, 83mm, I try not to use my brain on a weekend.

Crankpins fitted to the coupled wheels and thread-locked in. Coupling rods reamed to fit the crankpin bushes. With direct power to the motor, it turns over nicely. IMG_3874.MOV Then a snag reared its ugly head (do snags do that or do they just creep up on you? This one did the latter.) Despite forward planning and adding a drive stretcher to push the motor/gearbox forward and out of the cab (successful), it emerged that the final drive gearwheel on the back axle sits higher than the footplate under the cab, requiring a bit of bodgery. Hooray for piercing saws and Swiss needle files. Thankfully the cab floor is designed to sit proud of the footplate by a couple of mm so it clears the gearwheel and hides it too. Onward and upward to the next challenge - figuring out where and how to fit pickups. I'll have a lie down before I try that. Alan

Assuming you mean 8.3 cm, the grade is approx 1/38.

Is it 8.3cm, perhaps? Or 83mm.

It rises 83cm for each 360 deg of radius 3 curve, whatever gradient that is.

Looking for a Murphy models 141/181 Fan grill for my Irish rail 183 , if any one had one from a non runner or any spare. It would be greatly appreciated . Thanks

Under the lights at the Lakeview freight yard. 048 arrives at the Lakeview freight yard with the empty two axle bubble cement liner from Athenry, After uncoupling from the train 048 runs around and heads to the MPD for a FOW exam, Meanwhile 133+156 have arrived from the MPD and will work the laden bubbles back to Athenry when loading has been completed.

Final station building under construction. Cheers Darius

Here's a link to Brian Harrap's very easy way of making crossing Vs: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/38591-quai87/page/43/#findComment-5278749 It worked for me. (Now, if only I could get around to doing some.)

37 251 has charge of some NCB open wagons and a bogie brake van on Ashburton grove.