Mayner

One of my 2017 New Year resolutions was to complete what had been the study model/test build for the CIE 4w TPO, SSM prepared a set of suitable decals around the time I released the kit. I painted the van about 12 months ago along with a brace of ex-MGWR vans in CIE green, GSR Maroon & Purple Lake but could not find the decals. I finally unearthed the decals when I started work on the GSWR 6w coaches, including a set for a silver van! Its tricky masking around those recessed doors but at least the 4 wheelers did not have mail bag pick up and set out gear like the bogie & 6w TPOs. The P & T emblem and lpost box instructions were on plates fixed to the coach sides presumably supplied by the Department rather than lettering applied by CIE staff. Des did an excellent job on the bi-lingual instructions which are fully legible, the van is a bit schizoid on one side numbered 2965 & 2566. I am planning to add an interior to the TPO and the other 4 w vans, David Malone a pioneering S4 21mm gauge modeller built a heating van & a luggage van with detailed interiors from my kits so the challenge is set. One of my ambitions is to build 1960s and steam era mail/goods trains, though the steam era train will probably be made up of pre-amalgamation stock with an ex MGWR 6w TPO The break through of the week was rescuing a MGWR van & a CVR horsebox after 12 months from a brake fluid bath. Apart from an accident with hi-build primer the MGWR van is ok, the horsebox was an early exercise in soldering and basically needs a complete strip down and re-build.

With the majority of the soldering complete I neutralised any flux residue by dunking the kit sub assemblies in boiling water, dried off with a lint free cloth then cleaned off the majority of the tarnish with a combination of a fine abrasive block and a fibre glass brush Body mounted on chassis although the majority of the components are soldered in place the vents over the doors & springs are fixed with Medium Zap (CA glue) 1½ Bogie Chassis from below, I need to replace the 28mm pin point axles with plain 26mm axles to allow the bogies to articulate fully Chassis from above on 3' radius curved track Body sub-assemblies. The middle hole in the top plate is for bolting the completed body assembly to the chassis Sides and ends bolted together with 12BA bolts ¾ view of coach very little cleaning up of solder required with steps, hinges slotted through from inside the coach. Possible mid-late 1950s passenger train, 4w luggage vans were regularly used with 6w stock on branch line and secondary workings.

I used to visit the Rathfarnham shop regularly in the 70s both when I was going to secondary school and after I had started working. I don't remember seeing any Irish models in the shop before the Lima models came out, at the time several modellers in the Dublin area had built quite presentable A Class locos in plasticard on Rivorassi and scratchbuilt chassis and Supertrain sets using heavily modified Hornby MK2 coaches as basis. The locos and stock used on Carlow and the CIE dioramas were scale length and built to a reasonable standard Declan Lonergan a former MRSI club secretary used to help out in the model railway department on Saturdays a very knowledgable modeller on day he brought along a OO gauge kit built model of a LNWR "Jumbo" 2-4-0 and sometimes his own American N gauge locos and stock. I got hooked on N after buying a pair of Wrenn-Lima BR vans in the Rathfarnham shop and cleared out most of their stock of Graham-Farish wagons and Peco flexible track shortly before the shop closed and John Byrne opened the Sackville Place model shop where the model railway department was on a 1st floor mezzine. Not sure how long the Sackville Place shop lasted.

John Byrne who managed a chain of toy/model shops and was later the Irish Hornby rep seems to have been the catalyst in getting the Lima Irish and possibly the Hornby Irish re-paints commissioned. He managed the model shop at the Rathfarnham Shopping Centre and later operated a large model shop on the ground floor of the then new office block at the rear of Cleary's on Sackville Place He was an active railway modeller and was commissioned by CIE to build models of a number of the stations and yards that were re-modelled as part of the Railplan 8O programme, his OO Carlow layout was a regular feature on the Irish exhibition scene during the 70s & early 80s with scratch built and modified rtr rolling stock. Lexie Tynan may have used John Byrnes rolling stock in the initial publicity photos for the new Lima Irish train set as the loco was a lot closer to an Metrovick than a Class 33. John

One of this years new year resolutions was to catch up on my backlog of unfinished projects along with my new builds. I picked up a job lot of TMD/SSM loco kits at Expo-EM at the Bletchley Leisure Centre around 20 years ago including a MGWR E Class later CIE J26 0-6-0T loco the first etched Irish loco kit. Although I already had a model of 553 assembled from one of the original TMD kits about 30 years ago, I thought another E Class/J26 would be useful as the original loco is just about due for an overhaul/re-build. The kits are supplied with parts to assemble the locos in original MGWR condition with long cast iron chimneys, flush smokeboxes and a rather ornate smoke box door, the MGWR reboilered the locos from around 1912 and fitted conventional smokebox doors, the locos appear to have received snap riveted smokeboxes and Inchacore built up chimneys during the 1940s with most operating to the end of steam. I have worked on this loco in fits and starts over the past 4-5 years, the build was substantially complete when I managed to break off the end of one of the coupling rods. I decided to have an new set of rods engraved rather than attempt a repair or fabricate a new set of rods. This week I eventually got round to fitting the rods, these are a fish belly pattern similar though a bit heavier to those supplied with the kit, there was no sign of binding when I rolled the chassis up and down the test track. On this loco I am experimenting with pickups fabricated from phosphor bronze strip soldered to short strips of PCB sleeper strip glued to the inside of the mainframes. The chassis was spray painted Howes weathered black. The motor is a Mashima 12X24 can with drive through a Branchlines Multibox gearbox with a 50:1 reduction this arrangement should result in a low top speed and adequate low speed torque for a shunting branch line loco. The Branchlines Multibox have multi stage metal gears and should last a lifetime. The riveted smokebox was produced from my own etchings, most of the detail filed sanded off the smokebox door and hinges added from etched wagon strapping, I am not sure where the chimney came from. The photo shows up the wonky sandbox, the vacuum pipe arrangement is classical Midland, the pipe is by Markits who produce a huge range of wheels, gears and detail castings for steam locos. I finished the superstructure of the loco about 2-3 years ago, I need to investigate why its not sitting level on the chassis and do a bit more of a clean up before painting and lettering. The chassis on my original J26 has an 1980s drive system with an open frame motor and single stage 40:1 gear box and tends to wobble a bit at the tail end. I will probably upgrade the loco with a similar chassis and motor transmission to the new loco and back date the loco to GSR condition with tall cast iron chimney and flush smokebox.

It looks like ordinary wooden sleepers are supplied cut to length from sawmills in Scandanavia & Australia. Sleeper length appears to have been reduced from 9' to 8'6" as an economy measure at some stage after 1914. William Mills "Railway Construction" 1910 speaks about sleepers for gauges between 4'8½" & 5'3" being brought over from the Baltic in "blocks or logs 8'11" some square some round, each block sawn down the middle gives two sleepers". I use SMP EM copper clad sleepers for 21mm gauge flatbottom track which are 34mm long. http://www.marcway.net/list3.php?col=head&name=PCB+PRE-CUT+SLEEPERS SMP & C&L Finescale both supply short sleepers to disguise the narrow gauge look of OO track laid on 32 or 36mm sleepers

Although my main interest is the Midland I found it hard to resist at least a couple of GSWR 6 wheelers for a 4mm broad gauge layout if I ever get round to building one. The coaches were released as a set of 5 coaches about 20 years ago when the business was owned by Paul Greene an S Scale modeller Kilbrandon is based on Killorglin on the Valencia Branch. http://www.s-scale.org.uk/gallery15.htm. The 6w brake 3rd caught my eye with its gas lighting, birdcage look out and skylight lasting in service into the late 1950s, most of the GSWR 3rd class coaches seem to have been converted to carry turf during the emergency with the slightly more spacious 1st & 2nd class coaches remaining in services into the CIE era, the slightly more modern and spacious MGWR 5 compartment 3rds replacing the 6 compartment GSWR 3rds on branch line and suburban trains even in deepest GSWR territory. I started the assembly saga on my Tales from the Carriage Shop thread but though building these coaches was worth a separate thread, with relatively few modellers apparently prepared to assemble a metal kit or attempt a scratchbuild. These coaches are a fairly advanced design and relatively easy to assemble compared with a high proportion of the etched brass coaches produced by UK manufacturers. The SSM coach kits are available complete with wheels and are basically designed for slot and both together construction, I use solder for joining the majority of components and sub assemblies as its faster and stronger than epoxy or superglue. I used an 18 Watt Antex iron with 145 degree solder and a citrus based flux available from DCC Concepts for most of the assembly work on this coach. I wash the sub assemblies in warm water to remove flux residue after soldering and store in an ice cream container as the combination of acetic acid (citrus) and heat during soldering tarnishes the brass and leads to verdigris. Hinges are represented by strips that slot through from inside the coach, much simpler than fixing individual hinges supplied with some kits. Hinge strips soldered in place, end steps fitted in a similar manner. Hinges fitted, guards lookout or ducket before fixing, the ducket sides have tabs that slot into the side of the coach. Ducket sides soldered in position. I flux the joint and pick up a very small bead of solder on the iron to minimise the clean up needed. Reverse rod formed in ducket side by rolling around a piece of brass or steel rod (handle of hand vice!) Strip of waste brass clamped to inside of ducket with stainless steel clip for soldering, hand vice on right. Rear of ducket with reinforcing strips/spacing strips fitted. I kept the strips a min of .4mm back from the edge to provide a seating on the ducket edges. Ducket tacked in place. Ducket secured at bottom with solder. Detailing to side is nearly complete window droplights and side lamps to be fitted. I will add the door handles and grabrails after the model is painted

I agree with Eoin its a far better long term option to build the loco with the chassis as supplied in the kit rather than attempt to modify the loco body to fit a rtr donor chassis. Markits wheels in combination with a High Level , Branchline or DJH gearbox and Mashima motor is probably about the most cost effective option, all up the wheels gears and motor should cost no more than £95 . The Markits LMS/BR Fowler 4-4-0 package may be suitable for a GNR Compound and inclueds wheels, axles & crank pins. The combination of Markits wheels in combination with a Branchlines Multibox or DJH gearbox and a Mashima motor is a bullet proof in terms of durability and ease of assembly, and likely to outlast a modern rtr loco.

The 650 should be available late 2018 once I have completed a few tweaks to the artwork and the final test build. Back to square wheelers: The coach body is basically designed to bolt together so that the sides ends and roof can be painted separately. 1st step is to form the tumblehome in the sides, the instructions recommend supporting the sides on a resilient surface like a computer mouse and forming the curve with a piece of brass rod, I prefer to clamp the sides in a vice in a jig formed from a piece of skirting board then form the curve with a brass rod. Sides and ends have flanges and tabs that bend at 90° for attaching the floor and roof assemblies U Usual drill of supporting the side or end on a firm surface and bending over the tab at 90°. Basic body assembly waiting to be bolted together. Body assembly temporarily bolted together. Starting to look like a coach, the detailing takes a bit longer!

I gradually converted all the locos to on board battery RC using the Australian RCS system https://www.rcs-rc.com/. Before that I used Digitrax DCC with their MK1 radio control system, the main draw back using the system outdoors was intermittent power pick up in humid conditions (late afternoon-evenings) and unreliable reversing. The K27 is powered by a pair of 7.2v NiMh battery packs in the tender which is also home for the RC receiver, power controller and sound system.

That time of year again! I decided to retrofit 464 with her snowplow and see how she would do with a recent leaf fall. On sunny days our sweet gum and oak trees provide nice shelter from the sun, the down side is 6-8 weeks leaf clearing in Autumn A couple of weeks earlier 464 arrives with a train of stock & boxcars this is a near repeat of a photo taken 12 months earlier only changes are the caboose and the loco shed getting into an even worse condition. Bachmann originally produced this loco with a snow plough pilot, though I was able to source a road pilot with a standard cow catcher as a spare part from Train World, the front platform is a weak point on these locos, the stays back to the smokebox serve a real purpose as a section of the diecast loco chassis had broken off just forward of the cylinders. 464 arrives on leaf clearing duties the snowplough is temporarily secured in place on the pilot with short pieces of brass rod. Temporary set up clearing the high line. At this stage the snowplough was held in place by a pair of rubber bands. Over the High Line and across the Warren Truss bridge. I am planning to re-build the "High Line" as a long wooden trestle similar to one of the Ophir trestles http://www.rhyman.org/articles/trestles-rgs-styleat some stage during the next two years. The main draw back is that in terms of climate the Waikato has more in common with the Pacific North West than Colorado

Large scale staging lead & turntable to loco yard. The turnout ladder to the large scale staging was originally laid with LGB Med points and electronically controlled by the DCC system & a JMRI CTC panel on the computer laptop. I relaid the ladder with a combination of handlaid and Sunset Valley No4 switches as a result of de-railment problems with body mounted couplers when I shifted from1:22.5 to the more correct 1:20.5 scalestock for American 3' narrow gauge, with hand operated turnouts. The ground trow for king turnout at the yard lead was difficult to reach in the corner behind the turntable and under a door. Attempts to convert the turnout to electric control with Aristocraft switch-machines was unsuccessful as I could not get the blades to sit reliably against the stock rails in the reversed position. I eventually moved the ground throw out from under the door and installed a mechanical linkage between the turnout and ground throw using 1.2mm KS brass rod and model aircraft bell cranks. Model aircraft bell crank mounted on brass plate screwed to shed framing Ground trow and linkage. I used 12mm No 3 dome headed wood screws as guides, the linkage was actually constructed from two pieces of 1.2mm brass rod connected by a 1.2mm bore brass sleeve soldered to the tube. This arrangement gave some adjustment during set up and operation has been 100% reliable since installed. I acquired a pair of SSM GSWR 6 wheelers a brake 3rd and a 4 compartment 1st as suitable stock for a Burma Road inspired layout up to the end of steam. The kits were released by SSM around 1999 as a 5 coach set and have been available individually since Des Sullivan took over the business several years ago. The coaches were designed with a 1 & ½ bogie arrangement to get around curves and can be assembled to suit OO, EM or 21mm gauges by soldering the bearing units to the bogie frames. I used 12BA bolts to align & secure the units in place until soldered then folded the bolt head flush with the bogie frames. I used a tapered broach to open out the holes to a 12BA clearance. I wasn't able to produce and decent photos of the folding and bogie assembly process as I am still trying to get to grips with a newish camera. Bogie frame folded up and bolted together for soldering. The solder is a locally produced 179° solder which does not appear to flow as well as the equivalent Carr sheet metal solder and finished the assembly with DCC concepts Saphire flux and 145° solder which flows better and is easier on the sinuses than phosphoric flux. The floor, underframe and upper stepboards are basically designed to fold up from one piece of brass the important thing is to make sure edges and the pieces being folded are adequately supported while bending. Bogie units and underframe nearly ready to be joined, I still have to bed up the buffer beams. One 6w coach chassis, next step to fix springs and axleguards before soldering the lower footboards in position, followed by vacuum cylinders, gas cylinders and buffers. I omitted the SSM coupling mounts which appear to be designed for tension lock couplers, on brass locos and stock I usually mount Kadee or D&G hook and loop couplers on a pad built up from plasticard flush with the underside of the buffer beam.

It looks like a very good reason to backdate the layout to 1900 🙂, the WLWR presumably having running powers over the SLNCR from Colloney. the only snag would backdating your Midland locos back to pre-amalgamation condition. The goods brake looks like a GSWR standard 10t or 12t brake that were used all over the GSR/CIE system until the end of steam a few survived were retained for branch line use into the mid 1970s. The WLWR brakes look very interesting

Good example of the level of realism that can be achieved in N compared with a similar space in OO. Excellent scenic and structure modelling Tony, the only disappointment is that you modelled the 1960s period and omitted the impressive double junction between the Portadown and Enniskillen lines. John

I originally planned to use 3D modelling techniques to produce the JM Design Tin Vans rather than as etched brass and whitemetal kits. I prepared this about 6 years ago though never got round to producing a 3D print. The basic idea is to use the print as a master for casting in brass or whitemetal. A number of local companies offer a resin casting services, using rubber moulds produced from 3D models. This avoids the layering effect with traditional 3D printing. At the time I was quoted around $800.00 for a mould for a coach body with a mould life of approx 30 uses. In the end I released the models as brass and whitemetal kits, due to the comparitivly higher costs associated with 3D printing or resin casting considering the potential level of demand and to achieve an acceptable standard of finish. In general JM Design covers its distribution and production costs but not its design or overhead costs.