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The lights are from Kyle’s Lights and are wired to parallel bus bars (copper tape strips) beneath the platform. So not plug and play. Cheers Darius

Thank you @Irishswissernie and @Mol_PMB, that's crystal clear and makes sense - although I wonder how often they were used ........

This topic is about where the mk3s went and where they were scrapped from push/pulls and dining cars to standard and EGV generators all from HST's BREL's and in kits at inchicore Personally Mark 3s were nostalgic growing up seeing them all lined up awaiting scrapage or be sent to england from the point square shooing centre cafe next to the cinema which did and still does have the best view of the yard Even though there final days of service and awaiting the hungry scrapman, they are still admired apon to this day From what i know 4 EGVs are on the enterprise and the 3 at Moyasta are gone to a glamping site(s) in the UK I know others were bought back by BR and other privatized lines but where exactly?

Sure look wont be surprised the likes of 171 175 and 177 follow the same path but they might get bought out by an anonymous enthusiast or DCDR catch one or 2 before the scrapman like pokemons

10:22 was when the down day Sligo got to Mullingar. The Westport table shows nothing going via Mullingar by then - all via Portarlington and Athlone. However the 03:10 Dublin to Ballina Newspaper train arrived via Mullingar in Athlone at 04:54, and Ballina by 06.57.

Many thanks for this JB, greatly appreciated. Regarding the down Sligo Day Mail, is there a Galway/Westport-bound PAS service leaving Mullingar around the same time? I wonder if the Sligo Mail was ever left overnight at Mullingar, awaiting a Galway bound train before heading for Sligo as the Day Mail?

Very much unfortunately for me modelling Mullingar, I was not around for any of the interesting junction operations!

In the 1973 WTT, for example, when mullingar - Athlone was still fully functional, the Galway mails were as follows: Down Day Mail 08:20 ex Connolly 09:29 - 09:36 Mullingar 11:30 Galway Down night Mail Pearse 20:05 Connolly d 20:15 Mullingar 21:24 - 21:31 Galway 23:34 No up day mail working Up Night Mail Galway d. 20:15 Mullingar 23:32 - 23:45 Connolly 01:00 next morning Pearse 01:30 The Sligo services were: Down Day Mail Connolly 09:05 Mullingar 10:22 - 10:26 Described leaving Dublin as "Passenger", but leaving Mullingar as "PAS MAIL"; they possibly switched the bags from the earlier Galway Mail here? Or, it left Dublin with the mail? Sligo 12:40 Down Night Mail Leaves Mullingar as a connection off the Galway at 23:40 Sligo 02:05 next morning No Up Day Mail Up Night Mail Sligo 20:25 (This is the one I travelled on several times, in all cases with a pair of 121s up front). Mullingar 23:21 Await Galway train. Returns to Sligo at 23:40 as above. So - in summary - the morning ones went through, possibly; the evening one was a Galway - Dublin one, and a Sligo - Mullingar one.

Would have been a fairly efficient way of doing business, saving Sligo crew a lodging turn to Dublin.

In steam times, yes! But - see my post below for 1973.

Interesting, I wonder if this went back into the steam era. Many thanks, JB. I also presume that, given the Jail Siding was almost always full of coaches in every photo I've seen of it (admittedly, later on it was RPSI stock), that trains that were split at Mullingar would've been strengthened with extra coaches.

Yes, that seemed to be what it was the several times I travelled on it in the 1970s. You had to change at Mullingar and wait the guts of an hour.

Many thanks Mol

I probably have a suitable WTT to answer your question, but I’m now away from home for a couple of days. Someone else might get there first. The van is looking excellent.

Work done tonight, sides soldered on, doorways soldered in also. And now a question. I was reading through one of the Irish railway rover books, which had a photo of a Night Up Galway mail train at Mullingar. The book mentioned that it was waiting for the Up Sligo mail, which in turn would then wait for the Down Mail before returning to Sligo. Am I right then in thinking that the Sligo Mail was pretty much a Shuttle from Mullingar to Sligo, first going up to Mullingar, meeting the Up Galway there and having its Mail transferred to that train, then waiting for the Down Galway Mail, having mail transferred to it, then heading back to Sligo. OR was it the case that the trains were simply split and joined as per other trains at Mullingar? There's a photo of a Cattle Engine shunting a TPO tin van at Mullingar somewhere..

Quick question for you @Darius43, did you just go "plug and play " for the light s, ? Or did you take the "proper" route. And if plug and play, what did you use? .Looks great. Thanks, Derek.

I started building the Wantage tank ((No5), aka Jane, aka Shannon, formerly of the Sandy & Potton Railway, for my Loose End layout. Soon after I started the scratchbuild (one of my first), Model Railway Journal ran a series of articles by Laurie Griffin to build your own - with the option to buy all the castings and a specialist set of wheels, to go with it. Serendipity or what? Apparently many sets of parts were sold, but (as far as I'm aware), very few got turned into models. Laurie was a former Chatham Club member and his articles were absolutely perfect in terms of me building the model, which runs as well as it looks. Since embracing Irish railways, I've always aimed for a 'Jane Layout' one day, so it's nice to be able to work on it at last.

That’s a useful tool David!

Fabulous - the little tank looks so at home in its shed !

Wow that’s fabulous. I find guitar band clamps are great for holding boilers together whilst soldering. Know what you mean re cutting out / lots of careful measurements! Something mesmerising about watching those huge drivers !

Activity this afternoon! IMG_4490.mov IMG_4491.mov

Looking superb - an inspiring build and some useful tips too.

Thank you!

Cheers! I’m trying to find what works best with them. I appreciate the feedback!!

More PPs. The boiler came ready rolled which was a real help. It just needed tightening up a bit on the rolling bars. Boiler bands can be a bit of a struggle to fit. Three cheers for fibreglass pencils to clean up the mess afterwards. The boiler needed quite a bit cut out of it to clear the motor, gearbox and wheels. The danger is always cutting too much away and leaving an unsightly gap somewhere so it's a time consuming exercise - boiler in, mark it up, boiler out, cut a bit, boiler back in again, fit the chassis, check for clearance, repeat until done. The smokebox has three layers and needed a lot of heat to get everything soldered up. I had the temperature controlled iron turned up full and still it was struggling. A trial run at Loughan Quay PPs.mov Time for a tidy up, more fibreglass pencil and a scrub with scouring powder.