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Tyrconnel kits are marketed in the Alphagraphix catalogue and as well as the E class include Cork, Bandon & South Coast Railway 4-6-0Ts and several highly individual small Irish locomotives including a Fairburn 2-2-2T and two Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Tramway locos.

The E Class 0-6-0Ts were introduced between 1891 & 1894 by Martin Atcock & built in Britain by Kitson & Sharp Stewart. Originally numbered 106-117 by the MGW, they became 551-562 under the Great Southern, ranging far & wide across the system. There is a photo of 558 at Sligo in the 1950s, while other allocations included the T&C in the far south west and the isolated Waterford & Tramore line in the south-east.

The Tyrconnel kit [£90] is mainly etched brass, with whitemetal castings for things like chimney, dome, buffers & other fittings. Additionally required are wheels, motor, gearbox, wheel bearings, handrail knobs & various gauges of wire. Suggestions of various sources for these are provided in the fairly extensive instructions, which also include several labelled photos of a part assembled model as well as the prototype itself. A scale line drawing is also provided. However, as a ‘flatpack’, there is no box to contain the finished model.

The loco was built pretty much as per instructions, which proved to be a pleasant, largely stress free experience, taking about 40 hours work in all, including painting & weathering.

The builder is advised to split the work into three parts – superstructure, boiler and chassis. For the superstructure, the only difficult part was at the start – soldering the splasher backs and tops to the footplate. Heat from the soldering iron tended to warp the footplate & with hindsight it might have been better to add the valences first to make the unit stiffer. However, once done, things went together easily, aided by slots and tabs, plus a few half etched lines on the bunker rear to help curving. Alternative etches to make the Waterford & Tramore line versions are also provided.

Boiler, fire & smokebox units come as flat etches & need rolling to shape, but as the brass is quite thin, this was easily achieved using ¾” plastic pipe, as suggested in the instructions. A neat touch is the provision of 6BA holes in the boiler & smokebox front/rear, enabling the two to be bolted together prior to soldering. The combined unit then slotted neatly between the tanks/cab front & sat nice & level first time. Boiler fittings are whitemetal castings. Alternative chimney & smokebox doors are provided for early/later models but, along with the dome & safety valve units required a fair bit of fettling before they would ‘sit’ properly on the boiler. However, in fairly quick time, the loco body was complete.

The chassis is interesting in that it is designed to simply fold up from a single etch. Unfortunately [for me at least], it is designed for 32mm gauge as opposed to the correct 36.75mm for Irish [5’ 3”] broad gauge. The latter is catered for by reversing the fitting of the wheel bearings, so they project outwards, which gives the right back to back measurement. This was the route I followed and though very suspicious of the fold up chassis, it actually worked out very well. My ‘portfolio’ runs to over 50 locos over the years, including several scratchbuilds & having always used separate spacers, I wondered whether the single etch would fold up accurately. However, my fears were unfounded & apart from having to open up the etched axles holes a fair bit to take the bearings, when I did a trial fit of the wheels, the chassis sat level & true.

Coupling rods seem very lightweight & are just a double laminate. As per prototype, they are not jointed, so again are quick and easy to assemble. Fitting them to the wheels gave a smooth, free running chassis first time – always rather satisfying!

My only major departure from the instructions was to fit a commercial motor/gear box, floating on the centre axle, rather than soldering the motor to the etched mount provided & suggested in the instructions. For a while, I also contemplated making a set of dummy frames [by tracing round the etched ones] to go outside the narrow ones. However as the loco is only really seen ‘side on’, I decided in the end this wasn’t necessary.

Tyrconnel kits were a new name to me, but if the little E class is typical of the range, then I can thoroughly recommend them. They should be well within the scope of a careful beginner. Building mine to 36.75mm gauge was not a problem. Slaters provide the longer axles for a small fee, while I have found their wagon axles are more than longer enough to ease the wheels out to broad gauge without the need for any replacements. My new layout is using custom made points

 from Marcway, with plain track soldered up on copperclad sleepers. The light rail & broad gauge really help set the scene & it is a shame that most 4mm scale models seem to use 16.mm track – especially when that is already narrow gauge!

The Alphagraphix catalogue includes several etched coaches and a large number of card kits for wagons, coaches and buildings, all of which provide useful starting points for anyone contemplating modelling the Irish scene. Given the many delights of railways across the water, it is a relatively neglected area for modelling which deserves much more attention & hopefully Alphagraphix are doing just that.