patrick

Regarding the GA brake vans, I recall seeing one in Tralee about 1966 or 1967. It came in on the afternoon Cork Tralee goods which at the time I recall was often powered by a Sulzer.

The upgrade to DCC didn't prove too painful but of course it would have been much easier if it had been done when layout construction started. The previous DC control system had one wirless throttle which provided so much freedom running trains that I felt that a wireless DCC system was the only way to go, especially with a walk around layout. I found the MRC system on e bay, "as is" and won it with a really low offer. There were a few issues with it but MRC provided phenomenal customer service and I still came out way ahead on the deal. We don't have any sound equiped locos yet and have not started exploring cv values but I still feel a sense of wonder calling up a loco on the keypad and running it without having to set a bunch of switches. The catch point is still there on the beet loading siding although I'm questioning the length of the bank thinking it may be so long as to overwhelm the scene.

Does A23r have the high or low band?

Having a few days off before starting a new job gave me time to work on the layout for the first time in months. I mentioned in a previous post about reverting to the orignal plan for the rebuild of Glen More, placing the gantry crane on the rear track and the beet loading bank towards the front. The reason for this was when the the crane on the siding towards the front it was getting knocked over too frequently during operating sessions and I was nervous about having rolling stock fall on the floor. The photos show the new old arrangement with the beet loading bank under construction. On the DCC front, six locomotives of the eight in black and tan or supertrain livery have now been chipped which is more than enough for a decent 1973/74 operating session.

I'm envious of your passenger stock Noel, It's something that falls way short on my layout.

Yes, I'm referring to the as delivered version of 141, not the preserved version which as Noel says does not have tablet catchers.

Some if not all the141's arrived and went into service without the CIE broken wheel logo. The Murphy Models 141 is the only black and tan baby GM without it and may be the most appropriate version for a 1963- 64 era layout.

The Grand River Railway is what was the North end of the former B&O Lake branch from Youngstown to Fairport Harbor Ohio. The line was abandoned north of Warren by CSX In the early eighties except for a two and a half mile section between Painsville and Grand River which was taken over by Conrail who ran the line until 2002. The line lay dormant until it was reopened in 2015 by a new shortline the Grand River Railway. At present the line serves just one customer, a large salt mine at Grand River. Power is all leased four axel GM's, a GP-10 and a GP40-2 which is paired with a slug manufactured from a GP-35. Both are former B&O units. Although the line is only ten miles from my home its weekday operations make it difficult for me to railfan. Today however I got lucky catching a train of fifteen loaded hoppers from the mine at Grand River and the interchange with CSX in Painsville.

My previous layout had a duck under which was navigated by scooting under it on an old office chair.

There has not been a lot of progress on the layout in the last few weeks as circumstances have changed in our household. Maureen and I have become foster parents to two girls, an 18 month old and her 5 year old sister. We have known the girls through friends of ours since they were born and when circumstances dictated that they needed to be in foster care and no suitable home was found we volunteered. What has been completed is the installation of the DCC system. This involved removing the control panels and wiring from the twin cab control system previously in place and the installation of a bus wire. A second hand held wireless controller has also been aquired. At this stage only four locomotives have been chipped, all with Digitrax decoders, none as yet with sound. The photo shows the base unit installed at the entrance of Waterford fiddle yard. The track with 045 on it is the programming track. Five universal throttle holders aquired from Micro Mark were installed, throughout the layout, one each at Grange, Glen More, Keilys Cross an at each fiddle yard. I am very pleased with the system and can't overstate the convenience of wireless throttles on a walk around layout. No further work has been done on Glen More but it has been decided to move the tar depot and crane from the front of the layout to back as the orignally plan had been. The crane tended to get knocked over too frequently while operating and I was nervous about rolling stock so close to the edge of the layout. The beet loading bank will be reinstated on the siding towards the front and will provide protection for rolling stock parked there.

I just cant let this go John but I think you should loose that 3 way point. Being so rare on Irish railways it seems out of place at least to me and the it looks like you have plenty of space for an alternative arrangement.

Backdating the idea to the ninteys or earlier could allow oil trains from Whiddy Island and beet in season.

Glen More's new signal cabin which is adapted from a Dapol kit. I was inspired by signal cabins at Dungarvin, Tralee and Ballygeary and is intended as a place holder until something better comes along.

I needed a break from wiring so I finally got around to building a more appropriate signal cabin for Grange. Its a Ratio kit with new steps from a Dapol signal box kit.