All Activity

It's a lovely livery alright!

Is that where those yobbos were swapping out reg' plates on the two Qashquai's?

You big tease!!!

Thanks JB, the horsebox is John Mayne's excellent kit. More updates on her later!

Thanks when I return from Donegal will look at the IRRS photos

Oh this looks special! Love the last photo. Oozes atmosphere. Tuned in big time.

Not at the minute, it was my brother and currently in storage while I work on the boards. I’ll see if I can get it out for some photos for you over the next few weeks Cheers! The Galway set is the newest addition and I love it!

Are the Cylinders on top of the boiler on that loco. Traction engine style? Looks like a good start!

I tried clay and it failed. Air dry stuff, All cracked up. Went carboard in the end. had this pop up on my feed recently. Loads of others.

I find they just adds to the overall atmosphere really!

A quick Flickr search produced these: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53813368993/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/51051528111/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/49458836682/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511735395/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/51370098550/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/50604223122/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/52693318587/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251552989/ I searched for CIE 532, MGWR 532 and GSR 532. Note that some of them are in the IRRS archive so can only be seen by members.

Video No. 40 on my 'PD Model Railways' YouTube channel - it's a compilation of most of the video clips I made of trains running through Knockloughrim. I should have made more videos!

A friend of mine is looking for photos of Achill bogie No 532. It was withdrawn in 1954 as a stationery boiler at Broadstone

I wish I had the definitive answer to that one! The challenge, as David says, is that there's no 'concrete' colour as such since age, texture and weathering affect the colour and appearance of concrete in widely varying degrees, not to mention the ingredients used to make the stuff in the first place. My experiences in wrestling with this suggest to me that a single flat colour won't look convincing. A mixture of shades in the finished surface will look much better. I generally use cheap artists' acrylics from tubes in three colours - Mars Black, Titanium White and Raw Umber. Mixed in different proportions, these can produce an infinite variety of suitable tones. The process is distinctly trial and error. I just prod away until it looks right to my eye. Thin washes allow different colours to show through in random places on the final surface. I think we're agreed too that talc can add a bit of texture. Some dry brushing using the raw colours and sometimes some yellow/green to hint at moss or algae also contributes to the overall look. For largish areas of concrete, remember that it will likely have been laid in bays, with lines of tar between the sections. For modelling this, I scribe lines into the card surface and run black paint into these. Cracks can be modelled by drawing lines with a pencil. I'll leave the last word to the Grand Master, Gordon Gravett in his book Modelling Grassland and Landscape Detailing (Wild Swan, 2013). "For concrete slabs, I use Humbrol matt enamels: No.110 Natural Wood, No. 64 Light Grey, No. 34 White and just a touch of No. 81 Pale Yellow in varying proportions".

652 and 658 were withdrawn in 1954, which may rule them out depending on your preferred date. You have a CIE buffet car in the train, built around 1953/4. Your G2 model is the Belpaire version. Boilers were swapped between locos from time to time, but in the mid to late 1950s the following locos had round-top fireboxes and can therefore be excluded: 651 654 655 658 661 662 663 665 657 had a much larger tender of different appearance, probably from another class of loco. Potentially that leaves a shortlist of locos that broadly match the model's appearance: 650 653 656 659 660 664 666 667 668 By this stage of their lives, every loco was different in minor details, although the Belpaire-boilered ones had more in common than the round-top. Some of these differences were the shape of the front of the tender, the cabside details, arrangements of pipes and handrails on the boiler, and the boiler fittings such as chimney, dome and safety valve bonnet. These minor differences may be more easily overlooked than the shape of the firebox. I have put together a list of photo links of the G2 class. Let me know of you would like a copy.

Think that sounds about right. Even in 7mm concrete has zero texture, so card and talc should work well. The difficult part with concrete is the colour. Humbrol concrete just isn't right, but then the shade varies according to age, weathering, dry or wet. Tullygrainy's probably the master. Let's wait to read what he suggests!

I have a 1952 photo of 666 "Himself" arring at Sligo with a train of 7 6w coaches and a 1957 Shuttleworth photo of 659 (belpair firebox) making up the Night Mail at Sligo complete with 6W Midland TPO. Apparrently the 650 Class appear to have worked the Sligo portion of the Night Mail in the 1950 until replaced by the A Class. Some proper MGW 6w coaches incl a TPO is still on my to-do list if I ever get round to it!

This could vary.... However, 656 and 660 appear to have been working out of Mullingar in the mid 1940s and probably later too. The late Jack O'Neill wrote about firing on a turf train double headed by these two. 666 ("The Beast") spent a period in the 1950s on the DSER. Prior to 1950, they were almost never to be seen off the ex-MGWR lines.

Yes, you're right - it was a "local" job, though as likely to be Glanmire Road or Limerick as Rocksavage. There was a set of old GSWR coaches brought in to the West Cork section after a while lot of old knackered CBSCR stock was withjdrawn in the early CIE days. However, initially they were proper lined green, as shown in the very forst photo, and the second carriage in the last (colour) photo. Any repaints afetr that tended often to be plain DARK green. I've a couple of vehicles on Dugort Harbour done like that. Usually they had no snail either. The photo you have up there of 8B, a 33ft bogie, was one of only two done like that; no lining, but two snails, and painted on, not the normal gold-lined pale green transfers. Both were local Cork jobs. WHY am I only seeing this post NOW!! Absolutely TOP class work. What is the kit?

More work done on the horsebox van tonight. Bearings fitted and wheels added. Rolling along now! Beading, strapping, brake gear, springs, axle boxes and buffers added.

Thanks all. there may even be an irish spin off

The footbridge is over this track just around the corner after leaving Heuston North- l actually don't have a photo of it!!

Coming together really well David: and the techniques you’re demonstrating are widely applicable

IRRS LONDON - Next talk LIVE + ZOOM : 18.00 – 20.40 Friday 21 November 2025 “Photos of Closed Lines that might Reopen” by Roger Joanes The All Island Strategic Rail Review of 2023 advocated reopening of several long closed lines throughout Ireland. Garnering high quality photos from 12 leading Irish railway photographers, lifelong enthusiast Roger Joanes recalls these lines as they used to be with photos of trains, stations and places long since disappeared. If reopened, the lines may look quite different so take this opportunity to relish their heyday. COME TO OUR LIVE MEETING ….. ….. at The Gallery at Alan Baxter, 100m from Farringdon station. Door opens at 17.30. The Gallery is a smart and spacious community space, ideal for our talks, and with stepfree access available. We hope as many as possible will be able to come along, see the speaker live, contribute directly to the discussion, meet the Committee and other members, and enjoy refreshment in a nearby pub afterwards. ATTENDING BY ZOOM To obtain a Zoom link for the meeting, please register by clicking REGISTER HERE and fill in your email address to be sent a personalised Zoom ink. You can register at any time up to (or during) the meeting, and you can copy this registration link to others. Please note that the link will be sent by Zoom (not IRRS London) and will arrive immediately after registration. Those who have registered should receive a reminder from Zoom nearer the meeting. Alternatively, open Zoom on your device and enter the following : Webinar ID: 820 9160 4904 passcode: 381075 For those participating in the meeting via Zoom, please note that should Zoom fail and there is no transmission, we will try and email everyone on the London Area email list with an update so please watch your Inbox PLEASE ALSO NOTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE AREA COMMITTEE: LIVE MEETINGS - PLEASE COME We invite more people to come to our live meetings. Live meetings in the capital are the raison d’etre of the London Area. We are happy to share them by Zoom but f the live meetings themselves are not supported, there will be little purpose in continuing to have a London Area as such. The London Area Committee is concerned that attendance at our live meetings is slipping and may be approaching the point where live meetings cannot be justified – and that would mark the end of the London Area. For those who have a choice, we know how easy and attractive it can be to stay at home and watch on Zoom. But we do encourage you to come to our live meetings. It is an opportunity to engage with the Committee and others who share an interest in Irish railways, or to engage directly with the speaker. Perhaps enjoy a drink afterwards. And it will ensure that London Area meetings continue. (From Leslie) I cannot over-emphasise this "warning". We often have a speaker over from Ireland, at considerable cost and then find him speaking to less than a dozen folk, plus the committee. If you live within 50 miles of London, surely you can support the area in person? At least from time to time? Tonight's speaker, Roger Joanes, has travelled over 200 miles to give his talk. Like most of our speakers, he is a specialist, who will illustrate his talk with superb photography of the period. So, please, come along and enjoy a great talk!