RANGERMOUSE

Totally agree, a spur from Clongriffin is a simple solution and I would say a "no brainer" That's probably why it won't happen. Why do something simple when you can complicate it. My idea is more an ideal world fantasy. I have braved the road crossing from Connolly to Busaras on many occasions and you're right, it needs an overpass. When I used to get the 747 into the city to get to Connolly I'd get off at Commons St and walk up through the car park into the station. I'd have to go through the barrier and tell whoever was standing there that I'd come from the car park. Then I'd get my ticket and go back through the same barrier to get the train. Bizzarly the 747 didn't stop at either Connolly or Busaras coming from the airport and Commons St was the handiest for Connolly. It did stop at Busaras on the way to the airport.

My own proposal would be a bit more ambitious. I'd connect the Cork line just north of Hazelhatch where the line curves, to the Sligo line East of Lexlip, again where the line curves. It's a distance of 3 miles. A tunnel would have to be built under the M4 around the Spa Hotel. I would then build a spur out to the Airport from between the M50 bridge and Navan Road Parkway. This would be a traingle juction so trains from the city could use it too. A bridge back over the M50 between Jct 3 and 2 and parallel the motorway until it nears the airport. It could then be a through station out to Clongriffin as Iarnrod has suggested above with another triangle junction to cater for people coming from Drogheda and above. This covers all lines into Dublin, negates the need to actually go into the city itself and also has the added benefit of all lines being now able to access the Docklands Line where a temporary station could be built under Croke Park to accomodate match days. Going west out of Connolly, while the longer route, would probably be less congested than the Northern line as it wouldn't have to compete with the DART. This is all fantasy based on looking at Google earth and seeing where a line could go with the least disruption to residential properties. It doesn't take into account topography and the junction for the spur after the M50 would be difficult due to the Royal Canal. Some golf courses may have to be sacrificed but since I don't play golf I'm willing to take that hit

A while ago I saw a comment on Dublin Airport's social media, (can't remember which one so can't find it), criticising them for having no rail connection. Dublin Airport replied saying they had built provision for rail transport during construction but it was up to the railways to connect to it. Does this mean there is a secret underground station at the airport no one knows about? I've used it regularly over the last 10 years but have seen no evidence, though I use Terminal 2. Have any of you heard of this or have any idea what they were referring to?

I tried to post this last week but due to horrific internet the pics wouldn't upload. Here are my finished models of 2023. I had set myself a challange to complete 1 a month and as you can see I failed miserably. Though I do have 3 or 4 at the weathering stage. First up is a Revell F-22 from the 90th Fighter Squadron in Alaska. Second is also Revell Hawk T1 of 736 NAS at Culdrose. I completed this in time for the Hawk to be retired and 736 NAS disbanded. Third is an Italeri F-35 B from 617 Squadron. And lastly an Airfix Typhoon 1B from 121 Wing during the Normandy invasion. All are 1/72 and great kits that pretty much fall together. Painting the F-22 and F-35 were a nightmare though due to all the masking. Paints were Tamiya or Vallejo with the exception of the F-35 which was Hataka Have Glass. Weathering was done with oils once the paint had been sealed with a varnish. I might get another F-35 seeing as 809 Squadron has now stood up and seeing as Naval aircraft are my favourite, particularly the Fleet Air Arm.

One of my weekly haunts is to Saltburn for fish and chips (try the Cat Nab, I get a blue eyed, Irish accent discount hehe) I've been up on the cliffs too where the line comes fairly close to the cliff edge leaving a narrow track above a sheer drop. I've walked from the breakwater at Teesport, along the coast to Whitby over a few weekends. Open to correction but I think the Manchester Airport train only goes to Redcar via Northallerton. Any trains from Saltburn go to Darlington or Bishop Auckland unless this has changed recently. Lovely part of the world.

On our day we can beat anyone as we have proved over the last two years. The question is not whether we can beat them, it's can we beat them one after the other with the pressure of a knock out tornament.

The old OS maps are a great source of info about the railway back in the early 20th century. You can see which lines were double tracked. As Mayner says above the double track finished in Longford and carried on after Carriganat Junction. The infrastrucure between was built to accomodate double track however. The bridges over the Rynn River and the Shannon, which are local to me, are examples of this. The road bridges over the line were built wide enough for double track too. I'm not sure the actual track bed was built for double. It does seem too narrow in places, especially if you look towards Sligo from Dromad Station.

If I can give an example of the lack of joined up thinking regarding our transport network. My friend is flying back to Bristol at 1630 from Knock tomorrow. He is just outside Carrick on Shannon, a distance of 39 miles (67km) or 55 mins according to Google Earth. To make it he has to get a train from Carrick to Sligo which is more or less an hour and then get a bus from Sligo to the airport which is also almost an hour. The bus leaves Sligo at 1400 but the train doesn't get in until 1417, meaning he would have to get the earlier train which gets in at 1217. Not only has this made him go an hour in the wrong direction, it also leaves him an hour and 45 waiting. He is getting a lift. If the Govt are serious about getting people out of their cars they need to look at simple things like this. Why is a bus leaving 17 mins before a train arrives? Surely anyone with an ounce of sense might think people would want to make a connection and ammend the schedule to account for this. Another example of the NTA not being fit for purpose. There are many other examples I could give but this is one is current

The local brew, made in my home county. Well done to all at IRM and Accurascale. Absolutely deserved!

The UK has a "Blue" prefix for the radar in their aircraft. For example the Blue Fox in the original Sea Harrier and the Blue Vixen in the FA2. During development of the Tornado F3 they put concrete in the nose of the aircraft for ballast and christned it "Blue Circle" Nothing to do with the performance of the radar itself

I think it's next year (22) the C/Ds leave. The Es will still be there though. And I think they're getting 2 squadrons of F-35s, though I could be wrong on that.

We had a Harrier do a "show of force" for us during Herrick 8 in Sangin. It came out of the blue, down the canal and I swear at one stage I was looking DOWN at it, it was so low. Didn't work, we had a major contact after it left. That was the patrol where our Plt Comd ordered us to "Fix Bayonets"

The latest 2 additions to my aircraft fleet completed over the last 5 weeks at work. First is the Airfix 1/72 Sea Harrier from 801 Squadron FAA. The Sea Harrier is my all time favourite aircraft so I couldn't not have one in my collection. The panel lines are unrealistically deep and are typical of the Airfix kits from the time (10 to 15 years ago). It was painted using both Vallejo and Tamiya paints. I mainly used the kit decals but the 801 NAS specific decals were from a Model Alliance decal sheet. Second is an Acadamey 1/72 F-15C Eagle from the 493rd FS at RAF Lakenheath in the UK. Paints were "USAF Gray Schemes" from Vallejo's Air War Colour Series. I used Caracal Models F-15C/D Lakenheath decals with some of the kits own decal for some of the stencilling. Both kits were primed in black and mottled over with white. This creates a worn, grubby look as the different tones show through the paint, as long as you don't apply too heavy a coat. Don't ask me how I know that Please excuse the quality of the photos. The light in my room at work is awful and I'm using my old Samsung camera. I don't own (or want) a smartphone to takes pics on that. I'm home for a month now so will hopefully be able to crack on with my layout. Progress has stalled on that over the last year as due to the restrictions on travel for the first half of the year getting home was a nightmare.

Another new addition. This is the 1/72 Acadamey F-18 kit. Kit was built OOB with some Decals from Air Graphics to make a CF188 that recently operated in the Middle East. Paints were Vallejo and I seem to have solved my varnish issues. I'm using Vallejo matt varnish. The weathering was done using oils over a gloss varnish to highlight panel lines. I then overcoated in matt and dabbed highly thick dark oil washes to give the grubby effect. This was sealed in with more matt varnish. In hindsight I'd use a thinner brush to do the streaking on the wings as it seems to be a bit thick. It is much darker in the pic then it is in reality. The lighting in my room is awful. All I need now is to add a Sniper tageting pod as the kit came with a LANTIRN pod.

HMS Tamar after her recent paint job