Before the Festivities really begin,I'd like to say thank for the warm welcome to your Talented Group(phenomenal layouts,no detail too small or large to tackle)and I take this opportunity to wish you all equally an incredible Christmas....with nice HO:OO or similar stocking fillers!!!Clive
As it has been a while, thought I'd bring you up to date on what is happening on the layout. Much has been covered in the workbench section, but these notes will try to bring it all together.
The layout is effectively complete, as far as scenery goes, so work since the summer has concentrated on stock and operation. For the latter, new LED lighting strips have been fitted, cutting power consumption down from 480 watts to 150, with [i think] sharper light too. A fair bit less heat as well! The
We moved back to Enniscorthy area in 2006(RectoryRd.man)and have laid my new roots in Clonroche! I need to ask if there's any lads out there who can give me any info.re the closest Train Model Club in Wexford...this is the first time I've heard that there's a Wexford Club!In preparation to setup a layout,on a very small,beginners layout,one Irish Rail loco&carriages,about minimum of 10 plus buildings built(plastic)and shedload of road vehicles! I have one problem,I have a few 1/87 scale,mode
I am having problems with a Belfast Model Shop class 201 decoder/sound card. The speed is fixed at a snails pace and I cannot achieve in increased activity. It's as if the loco is stuck on notch 1. Can anyone help?
Many thanks
Arigna Town's second outing is coming up in a few week's time - at Uckfield Model Railway Exhibition in Sussex on weekend of 18/19 October. Come and say hello if you can make it. The new 'sliding & rotating' fiddle yard will get its first full test, allowing more stock & greater flexibility of its use. First time out too for 'Lark' my latest loco - a Tyrconnel kit of St Molaga the T&C 0-4-2T.
Sadly, doesn't look like my new rake of coal empties will be there as am still waiting for
The main problem with the Chatham Show is that however fired up with new ideas/new toys one might be, it generally represents the start of the summer too & that is never a productive time for model making for me. When I was working full time in education, the summer term was always the most manic & we not so much reached the holidays as fell off work into the welcome stupor of a bit of R&R. These days, we try to go on holiday before the schools break up – simply because it is cheaper
After an almost classic tailchaser with Patrickswell I looked at Fenit as a sleepy branch line terminus. I initially looked at including Spa with its beet siding and treating the Harbour Commissioners line as part of the hidden staging, but eventually decided to omit Spa and include a representation of the pier and its railway.
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The layout is a lot more challenging in terms of trackwork and operation compared to Patrickswell, with little in the way of structures, the fo
The main purpose of the planning exercise was to see if it was feasible to fit an American style walk around design layout inside an 11'x17'6" garage. The idea definitely seems feasible in N and just about possible in OO though probably better off in American N or HOn3 given the amount of rolling stock building required for an Irish layout of this nature.
In 21mm gauge it seems to be basically own to a simple through station on a continuous run or a U or L shaped terminus to fiddle yard effo
I drew this one up mainly to see if it was possible to fit OO gauge E shaped block plan into a single car garage, rather than a more traditional around the walls effort. It just about fits in with a reasonable aisle width by reducing the minimum radius on the turn back section on the peninsula section to 2' radius.
The scheme is just about workable in OO though would look a lot better visually in a wider room or in N or perhaps American or Continental narrow gauge in either HOn3 or HO
Although I have tried to be faithful to modelling Irish railways mainly GSR & CIE in 4mm scale, I had various flings with British, American and even freelance modelling in scale and had a long and sometimes stormy relationship with N American gauge.
I first tried N in the late 70s frustrated at trying to fit a OO gauge layout into a box room and even more so with my efforts to kitbash and scratchbuild Irish stock. A nice scenic N gauge layout with repainted or slightly modified rtr stock se
I really enjoy exhibiting, especially when things go well. Guess it is the teacher [bit of a show off?] in me. However, I also find the process both tiring and a bit stressful at times & with my layout fast approaching its exhibition debut, these notes are as much a reminder to myself about final preparation as a window to any reader about how I go about things.
I’ve been exhibiting since 1987, with over 50 shows in that time. When displaying my models, I am always conscious of the fact th
The tendency for modellers to organise conventions rather than exhibitions is probably the greatest difference in the way the hobby is organised between the UK and Ireland on one hand and North America, Australasia. The local model railway clubs hosted this years National Convention over 180 delegates attended with American guest speaker Lance Mindheim http://www.shelflayouts.com/, together with workshops and clinics on various aspects of railway modelling including layout planning, operation, s
These are the cranes I mentioned at the Dockyard & which the late Ted McIlroy made fully working 7mm scale models of. See Mayner's blog/thread on the Fenit branch.
As for exhibiting...
The amount of other stuff that the exhibitor needs to take with him/her is considerable and no doubt I am not alone in being neurotic about leaving something vital behind when I go to a show. So, along with the baseboards, trestles or other supports, plus lighting and pelmets, what else needs to go?
At exhibitions, I often find myself paying as much attention to how a layout is built, as its scenic 'face'. This is because, despite many layouts and many more shows, I am still trying to find ways of making transportation & setting up simpler. My preferred favourite [not yet built I might add] would be an inflatable layout, which could be taken to shows in a carrier bag, but be able to be blown up to many times its deflated size...
This is probably some way off [would need inflatable sto
I may be wrong, but looking at the ‘My Layout’ pages, most contributors have what might be called ‘home layouts’ – in other words, non-portable ones. Well done the Wexford crew though - a nice surprise in the latest RM.
Arigna Town was designed from the outset to be a portable, exhibition layout [as indeed have all my previous efforts] and, aside from the obvious issues of needing to be taken apart & put together again for shows, there are various other aspects, such as transport and prese
As we have looked at most of the main line stations on the North Kerry, I thought we might as well look at the North Kerry Yard in Tralee and the Fenit branch, both were important in terms of beet traffic and the North Kerry yard continued to handle keg and container traffic after the main line closed.
The GSWR and the North Kerry originally had separate stations on either side of Edward Street the connecting line and level crossing was a late addition, the North Kerry station closed severa
The Festival of Railway modelling at Alexandra Palace was its usual enjoyable event, made better by seeing Paul Green's fine S scale Irish layout. Some superb stock there Paul, especially the Achill bogie...
A feature of Allypally is the sheer range of scale, gauge and prototype on show. One that stood out for me was Orange County and 'FS3' model. For that read 1:15 scale, so 3' gauge on 45mm track. BIG, in other words - am sure whole layouts have been built in one of their stockboxes!.
Love
My interest in Irish railways was pretty much ingrained in childhood experience, my grandfather on the mothers side was a driver on the Midland but had died before my time, in the 60s railway did not exactly have a positive image breakdowns and line closures, a sunday afternoon walk over pat of the Meath Line before it was lifted. Ours was very much a car family but got the occasional squint over the railway wall when we were driving somewhere, despite this I got interested in model trains, and
Although Abbeyfeale was a much smaller town than Newcastle or Listowel the station seems to have been reasonably important in terms of traffic serving as a railhead or a large area of North Kerry and West Limerick, at one time there were even plans for narrow gauge feeder lines to serve the town and villages south of the man line. During GSR days in addition to the three daily through passenger trains Abbeyfeale was the terminus off a daily passenger train from Limerick. The working was unusual
Was thinking about this the other day, when preparing some notes for a magazine article and the answer is not easy to fathom, other than the obvious delights and the fact that it makes a very satisfying alternative to the conventional 'terminus-fiddle yard' concept.
I started off in 4mm scale, EM gauge, modelling Light Railway practice. The Colonel Stephen's railways have always fascinated me & we do share a name [my surname, being his Christian one]. After a couple of layouts, one of whic
A brief look at the eastern end of the "main line" the busiest section of the North Kerry between Carey's Road and Ballingarne. Definitely worth including this section of the line possibly including both Patrickswell & Ballingarne in an American style possibly two level "walk around" style layout.
The stations buildings on the original Limerick & Foynes line at Patrickswell, Adare and Askeaton are to a common attractive cut stone design, the track layouts very simple. Patrickswell an
As Fermanagh approaches completion, looking at my journal, it will be my 54th locomotive, only 8 of which were bought ready made and all but two of these were substantially altered as well. Of the other 46, 13 were scratch built, though in earlier days some of these were my own bodywork on commercial chassis. 12 were 4mm scale, one HO ( a Bachmann Shay - long story), and the rest 7mm scale, 13 of which were narrow gauge. There have ten layouts in all, with Arigna being the seventh one to be exhi
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