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Time to share my latest efforts!! Anyone of a railway persuasion who travels along the A6 road from Belfast to the North West will be familiar with the small station at Knockloughrim, located a short distance beyond the Castledawson roundabout. Knockloughrim was the first stop out of Magherafelt on the oddly-named Derry Central Railway, which meandered through the eastern edge of the county, almost in County Antrim. The line eventually closed completely in 1959 but most of the stations survive and Knockloughrim in particular is beautifully preserved, with station building, goods shed and adjacent road bridge all in excellent condition: I have long been an admirer of Knockloughrim so this year I decided to have a go at creating a winter diorama of the station. The owner was very welcoming and I have had the pleasure of visiting the station on a few occasions and he has even provided me with some very interesting historical photos: The last photo above is of great interest as it shows a Mogul passing through Knockloughrim - an unusual visitor. I also received a very useful plan of the smaller Derry Central stations from Kieran Lagan: I started into the build a few months ago and unlike my usual situation, progress has been fairly rapid and the build is almost complete. I decided that although it would be a diorama, I wanted to have trains moving, and that is still the plan. The station is depicted in the final years of the DC line, under UTA ownership, although modellers' licence has been used to make the station appear a bit busier. Passenger services stopped in 1950 but goods traffic lingered on until 1959, although by then the line was completely closed north of Kilrea. The 'Kilrea Goods' workings were the final regular movements on the line but there were also occasional passenger specials during the final years, some of which are described by James McIlfatrick, in his charming and highly readable 1987 memoir of the line ‘The Derry Central Railway’. The diorama is 41 in long with a depth of just 16 in, and the baseboard was constructed in foamboard - this material is not very strong but I do not envisage any outings for Knockloughrim. The landscape was built up using foamboard and plaster bandage, and winter scenics came from Noch and All Game Terrain. Gabor Evenich supplied three beautiful handmade winter trees and further trees were obtained from the scenics section of Hobbycraft. Buildings are my greatest interest in any project and all have been constructed with a mount board core. The exterior of the station building was finished in Metcalfe brick paper but the goods shed and bridge were finished using Das clay, with the stonework scribed once the clay was fully dry. Wills Random Stone sheets were used for the vertical platform face. I also made use of a suitably wintry backscene from Model Scenery Supplies and I am particularly happy with how this has worked. Final scenic work remains to be done and I am also hoping to add some basic lighting to the building and the platform. Motive power on Knockloughrim will mostly feature ex-NCC U Class No. 80 'Dunseverick Castle' which was converted for me a few years back by Colm Flanagan, from a Hornby LMS 2P. One of the recent Marks Models Jinty tanks will also appear, along with the OO Works ex-GNR UG class No. 49 - I doubt if either of these latter two locomotives ever visited Knockloughrim in real life but it would at least have been possible. A number of UTA-liveried wagons and vans from Provincial Wagons will also feature, along with a few ex-GNR vans, as well as Gareth Brennan's superb scratchbuilt UTA brake van. And I feel a story coming on............

Dear friends I am giving serious consideration to retirement. If I get to 2026 (DV), I'll be 80, so maybe the time has come to stop? Reluctantly, I will not deny as I / we get plenty of fun out of it but the "work and getting there" bit is a lot less fun! At present, postal sales are almost nil, thanks to Brexit - and of course the excellent products from a certain bunch of youngsters in Dublin! Any sales I make are at exhibitions in Ireland and an invitation to attend the NDMRC (Bangor) exhibition in April has provoked much debate between Richard McLachlan and I whether to do "one more year" (even to the extent of checking hotel rates in Blackrock in October!). We're sleeping on it! It is no exaggeration to say that each exhibition is knackering, takes up at least two weeks of time, each time - more if I'm bringing new product as I would be chasing the producer for months before! At best I cover my costs. I don't intend to produce more kits beyond what is on order now, or in my attic. That is: NCC Brown Vans 6 SLNCR Cattle 4 GNR Brake 0 Double Beet 10 GNR Y5 Van 3 GSWR Brake 4 CIE Cattle 12 GNR 10T Ftd 9 GNR 10T U/Ftd 6 GNR 9T U/Ftd 6 GNR Cattle 4 GNR 6 Plank 7 GNR 4Plank 7 GNR Loco Coal 3 Spoil wagon 0 (but some on order) Bread containers 17 I still have about ten Grey RTR CIE van with broken wheel and 20 or so Brown vans, also with a broken wheel.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments, always appreciated! There must be someone working the Sunday shift at Knockloughrim today as there was a late afternoon goods to be dealt with…… with unusual motive power…..

The shape colour of things to come. Having ended up with a duplicate of IRM NIR coach 902, I decided to repaint it in NIR 1970s maroon and blue. This is what it looks like. I'm sure IRM's livery application will be far superior but this does give an idea of what to look forward to. (I know this coach was numbered in the 800 series when in this livery, but I had no number 801!)

UTA-liveried U class 4-4-0 No. 80 ‘Dunseverick Castle’ has braved the snow to make a few visits to Knockloughrim this evening. This is a scene which was probably acted out in real life, about 75 years ago at least

Many rural places like this could find a little yellow biscuit tin on wheels reposing at the end of an uncared-for siding. So Dugort Harbour ought to have one. Hence my first ever attempt at a brass kit this morning.

CIE 1956-04-xx Cork, 109 yj138. CIE1956-04-26 Cork, 388 +307 Up passenger. yj139. GNRI 1956-04-03 Railcar A Oldcastle service yj137. I recently discovered that I have never uploaded photos from March 2004, March 2009 and September 2014 of the various Railroads around Salt Lake City , Ogden and along the ex DRGW over Soldier Summit to Helper in Utah. My daughter in 2014 had a house overlooking the ex UP line at Layton which has over 50 freights per day plus the UTA Front Runner service and I spent many hours just sitting on the veranda whilst the trains passed. I have started putting these on Flickr in an album https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72177720323304198 A bit different from Ireland!

Well @leslie10646you were correct of course. That GN brake van does look good at Enniskillen…..and look what brought it in….same seller was offering a 36.75mm SG. It needs some TLC but it’s built to an incredible standard with springs and plungers and goodness knows what. It may need a repaint but will try a clean first…..

Riveting done, the tender is now largely assembled. A lot of edge to edge soldering at the corners which is always fun . Keeping the solder away from all my lovingly embossed rivets was a challenge. Complicated little beast. Still a few details to add. I've built it almost entirely in nickel silver. The springs were cobbled together using white metal wagon spring castings from MJT (Dart Castings), cut down and soldered to brass rod with low melt solder. I vaporised one and broke another before I got 6 usable ones. They'll go on like this but won't be finally attached until the paint and lining is done. Axle boxes are also MJT castings. Undoubtedly not accurate but they'll do until something better turns up. If ever. The coupling between tender and loco involved a bit of faffing around. I'm using a simple hook on the loco locating into a hole in the tender and that seems to work ok but it might not be the final arrangement. IMG_1634.MOV Alan

Apart from some landscaping the County Museum is done. It took a lot longer to finish than I thought.

You may have seen over on my other thread that I’ve been designing an etched ‘kit’ for an E401 class shunter in 4mm scale. I’ll document the build in this dedicated thread so that it’s self-contained and easier to find in future. I've chosen this prototype partly because I like them and there is no kit option presently available and partly because, with none surviving, I suspect they will be a less appealing prototype for IRM to make. They're not the prettiest locos either, but as the largest class of 5'3" gauge shunters in Ireland they played an important part in railway history. I've based my artwork on this official drawing, which is fairly well dimensioned and having checked them all it seems to be drawn to scale. I've also reviewed over 100 photos to work out the details not shown on the drawing, and where necessary I've scaled dimensions off the photos. So I can't claim perfection but the main dimensions are correct and we'll see in the test build whether it looks 'right'. I have designed this model for myself, it’s not intended as a commercial venture. However, I could also make the etches available to others who would like to build one. This thread could also act as a set of instructions and will give forum members an idea of what’s involved in the construction. I could also consider a 7mm scale version - I've already had one expression of interest in that and I quite fancy a big one myself. For starters, here's the etch artwork that I've sent off to be made. I should be receiving the trial etch early next week: This is just the bodywork and the 'functional' chassis will be a separate etch in a thicker material. There were 19 locos in the E401 class, built at Inchicore in 1957-1958. Most survived into the 1970s but only a handful beyond 1975, and the last one was withdrawn in 1979. The locos were all painted silver when new. From 1962, some received black and tan livery (without roundel); I think these were E402/403/405/406/412/415/419. Locos repainted from 1964 received black livery (with roundel) and this remained in use until the end. However, a few locos retained black and tan livery, and the regular Heuston pilot E402 was repainted in black and tan (with roundel) at some stage in the late 1960s and carried that livery until withdrawn in 1975. E412 also carried black and tan until at least 1975. They were primarily used around Inchicore / Heuston / North Wall, but some ventured further afield including E414 based in Cork for some time, E410 trialled at Fenit and on the CBSCR, and another on the Harcourt Street-Bray line. Latterly their main duties were North Wall to Islandbridge transfer freights, and Heuston pilots. On the challenging route from North Wall to Islandbridge, they were thrashed mercilessly and when the 400hp E class were finally replaced with 141s, the permitted train load was reduced for a loco with more than twice the power! The etch provides for several detail options to cover most of the class over their lifetime. The major visible variations are: Radiator side grilles (several variants) Small grille/panel below radiator grille on LHS (several variants) Removal of exhaust/silencer cowl on locos still in use in the mid-late 1970s Addition of emergency vacuum brake dump valve on cab backon locos still in use in the mid-late 1970s Having looked at a lot of photos of these locos and the E421s, I've come to the conclusion that there are hardly any common features between these two outwardly-similar classes. If this project works out well I could consider doing an E421 as a follow-up if it doesn't feature in IRM's plans. However, it would be almost starting from scratch rather than a few minor tweaks. Anyway, once the etch turns up next week, watch this space... Mol

Well, the little Tamiya drill has proved its worth in drilling holes in plastic for hand rails, though it will work even better when I get some sharper bits. Anyway, certainly helped me move the tramway coaches towards completion. Couplings needed [still to grasp the nettle here], but painting and lettering finished today, along with roofs and interiors beforehand, including some cheap and cheerful Peco figures. Lettering is Fox and the crests are LMS from and old SMS transfer sheet. Use the crests for my Donegal stock too, though for the West Donegal Tramway, have put them upside down. The crests also nicely cover up the Clogher Valley logo on the loco. As you can see in the photos, work has begun on the fencing for the tramway platform.

Been working on some rolling stock again. A Donegal 'red wagon' has joined the fleet, built from plasticard & based on the Alphagraphix card kit. The chassis is a suitably chopped etch intended for 4mm scale. Not sure if the wagon load will end being the one depicted, as much will depend on what Railcar 8 can pull. Which reminds me - must get in touch with Mark Clark as it is now at least six months since I gave him the bodywork in the hope of a working chassis... Next come the other two tramway coaches. Based on the Alphagraphix card kits from the Schull & Skibbereen, have increased the width of these two to 6'6 as the 3rd class coach looks a bit narrow at just 6'. One is a passenger brake van, the other a first class coach, now downgraded to a third, but retaining smoking and none smoking sections. Plasticard all round for these, including the chassis which are doctored Parkside ones - a real bargain at less than six quid. Speaking of bargains, have been looking for some detailing bits and pieces to furnish the quayside. Some more fish boxes from Skytrex have been joined by a dinky set of crab and lobster pots from Scenic 3D. 3D prints, they were less than a tenner [including postage]. Apart from some fancy etching, can't think of a better way to produce such things other than learning lace making & they paint up well too.

CIE 1965-07-10-xx Kingscourt Branch Ex SLNC Railcar 2509 yj099. CIE 1970 's Tullamore 073 yj088. C&L 1957-07-29 Ballyconnell yj074

I had an unexpected free morning today and I paid a visit to Knockloughrim. The owners kindly showed me inside the building and it was great to see what appears to be the original fireplace in the former waiting room: Hard to beat a roaring real fire! I brought the diorama with me and was pleased to get a photo holding it in front of the real thing: A very pleasant morning - better than working!

Happy with my first brass kit build. The lovely SSM Wickham Inspection Car. Few pics of the build..

My childhood memories of Ennis in the mid 80s to early 90s, not all the same year but don't ask me exacly when!

MTK LMS corridor brake coach kit built as a UTA (ex NCC) coach. Repainted Dapol LMS suburban coach. Plus an MPD… Cheers Darius

There are two main hazards with buying a half built kit off the web. One is that it may be incomplete. The other is that work done so far will be badly done. This PP arrived as a box of half-used etches and a few made up body parts. The chassis did look good in the eBay pics, and so it proved in real life. The body was mounted on a wooden block, which is a combat indicator that the builder knew their business. Having gone through the boxes, most of it seemed to be there, bar the tender chassis. It took longer than I would have liked to make this from scratch , but it’s more or less done now. Several attempts were required to get it right and I will fine tune it before final assembly. It will be sprung - albeit crudely - and the weight will be transferred to the loco as per Mike Sharman’s recommendations for 4-4-0s. The tender body carcass had been very competently assembled and just needed detail work such as lamp irons and water filler. The arrival of tender toolboxes from Laurie Griffin today mean that the tender is basically done. The loco needs a little more work….some of the cab parts were distorted by the time in storage - and horribly tarnished - but 74 is coming together. I had to desolder some of the existing work as the parts had not been assembled as per the kit instructions. Adrian’s very clear on the order in which things should be done and it’s not wise to ignore that. As you can see, the cab area is now more or less on track after some careful cleaning, metal bending/squeezing, and not a little soldering. I am a little alarmed to find that this is my fourth GN model in a row and I haven’t touched anything SLNC for a year…..I blame @leslie10646…. As an historian by training , it’s been fascinating to discover from the paperwork accompanying it that this was one of the first kits to be bought - the builder was on Adrian’s ‘expression of interest’ list, and this kit dates from 2001/2.

"Back in the Day" Comet Models has a particularly striking exhibition stand that featured contemporary rtr British Outline steam outline locos whizzing away continuously on their replacement chassis and their beautifully finished coach kits with flush glazing at a time the majority of plastic rtr coaches had their glazing set behind relatively thick plastic sides. The TMD/SSM etched GNR, GSR and GSWR etched coach kits were a similar break through for Irish modellers, in the early 2000s Worsley Works began producing etched sides, ends and underframes for 'modern" Irish coaches including the AEC Railcars, Laminate, Park Royal and Cravens on a similar principal to the Comet Kits, but without a suitable roof extrusion or detail castings. The Railcars and Coaches build into nice models, but there models of a particular era and there are challenges particularly around the roof and sourcing suitable running gear/bogies. When I sourced the parts about 20 years ago my initial thoughts were to use an extruded roof similar to those used by Comet and other British manufacturers, but the $11k NZ -€6k price tag for a die to extrude a wider Irish profile coach roof put that particular idea to bed, instead I formed the AEC Railcar roof using balsa, glider tissue and dope, with lining tape jointing strips and cast whitemetal vents, I used standard Comet BRMk1 roof extrusions cut longitudinally widened to the Irish profile with the resulting gap filled with body filler supported on a plasticard jointing strip, followed by a lot of sanding before completing the roof detailing. Functional coach bogies were MJT "Torsion Bar" bogies widened to 21mm gauge, while the railcar runs on "Black Beetle' bogies supplied to 21mm gauge rtr. The main stuff up is the coaches run on BR pattern Commonwealth Bogies as no suitable castings were available and the MTK AEC railcar bogie sideframes are to a 9'6"" as opposed to the correct 10' wb resulting in a misalignment between the functional and cosmetic bogie sideframes. Ten or so years later when I began to design the Tin Van kits my initial thoughts were to use a 3D printed body core with etched cosmetic overlays, but ended up producing the vans as conventional etched kits as a result of the limitations of the 3D printing process and cost. While the large scale release of relatively inexpensive high quality rtr models has lead to a expectation that manufacturers like MM or IRM will produce rtr models of once common items of stock such as the AEC Railcars, Laminates, Tin Vans and the various Passenger Brake Vans, I still believe that there is a place for kit and scratch building as it may not be viable to produce some or all of these models as a result of the size of the market. This has been reinforced to a degree of the lower than expected demand for the forthcoming Intercity Railcars, recent sale of Bulleid Wagons and IRMs recent instruction to the factories to reduce minimum order quantities for some models. So what of the Worsley Works Irish coaching stock and what could be done to simplify its assembly, a number of New Zealand kit manufacturers have shifted to a multi-media approach combining laser cut, etched and 3D printing. 1. The issue of the wider Irish profile could be overcome by 3D printing the part possibly including basic detail such as jointing strips, including a domed end for AEC railcars. 2. A one piece 3D printed floor/ends & underframe including truss bracing and battery boxes as opposed to individual components. 3. A one piece 3D printed interior including partitions and seating. 4. 3D printed functional bogie suitable for 21mm or OO. Using etched coach sides as opposed to a fully 3D printed body eliminates the risk of print defects inherent in resin printing in particular both sides of a coach body with a near identical surface finish on both sides as opposed to 1 good and 1 bad (soft) side sometimes present with 3D printing. Just floating the idea around rather than actually planning to do anything at this stage.

Christmas 1958, and The Irish Railway Record Society organises a railtour to the last operating section of the former Derry Central line, from Magherafelt to Kilrea. The train left Dublin at 8:00am with CIÉ A class A30 hauling 4 ancient 6-wheeled carriages. It was a long day for the tour participants, in what was maybe not the most luxurious of vehicles, but nobody complained. A30 ran around her train at Lisburn and headed on to the Antrim branch, passing Antrim at 10:02am then taking the Cookstown line at Cookstown Junction a few minutes later. A comfort stop was made at Magherafelt at 10:50am before the train departed at 11:09am and ventured onto the former Derry Central line. The speed limit was just 20mph and Kilrea wasn't reached until well past midday. Lunch was taken in a nearby hostelry before the train departed at 2:30pm. A stop was made at Knockloughrim on the return journey, because the UTA pilotman's fiancée lived nearby and nobody was bothered that the CIÉ crew were left to make the journey back to Lisburn on their own. The driver was an ex-GNR man anyway so they were fine from Antrim. Lisburn was reached at 3:58pm, A30 ran around for the final time that day, and the train left for Dublin at 4:12pm, arriving at 5:58pm. Those ancient six-wheelers weren't allowed to rush. A30 @ KLM.mp4

Perfect landing on our chimney, missed the house roof and the glass sunroom roof just behind

Have at last equipped all my new stock with couplings, so thought a few photos might be of interest. Whenever I build a layout, I usually have a very specific idea of the trains I want to depict and run and Swillybegs is no exception. For The Londonderry & Lough Swilly, there are two trains. Firstly a Barclay 4-6-0T and a short mixed train. It is made of two/three wagons and a brake third coach for the guard & occasional passengers. There are a couple of 'spare' wagons [one of which is a former CVR butter van] which are exchanged as part of the shunting moves. The second Swilly train is yet to be built, though have made a start on a bogie fish van & another brake third, which will be pulled by a Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T. Swilly traffic would not be complete without a bus service and this Corgi Class lurks outside the station, waiting to be relettered. For the Donegal, it is all internal combustion, starting with Railcar 10 [ex CVR] and a trailer. A second railcar [No 7 or 8] will have three 'red wagons' to play with. Freight will be handle by the ex CVR 'Unit', with Phoenix doing the shunting, to and from the off scene goods yard. Trains are just 'posed' at the moment. One of my next jobs is to get things up and running again, so I can properly test those new couplings. When that will be I have no idea. One of the joys of layout building is that you can go where the Muse takes you!

The work I did over Christmas, drawing out coaches and wagons on plastic sheet, ready for assembly has got me on a bit of a roll, so after the three tramway coaches and red wagon now comes a Swilly van. No ordinary four wheeler this time though, it is Bogie No7, which was constructed on a coach chassis. The drawing, to 4mm scale, and photo come from J C Boyd's lovely album on the Swilly, so the bit over Christmas was to rescale things to 7mm, producing two sides, two ends and four pairs of double doors. I also scribed on the planking and cut out the two windows openings in the guard's door. These are all on 1mm thick/40thou plastic. On Wednesday afternoon, it only took a couple of hours to assemble these pieces on a floor of 80thou plastic, adding the vertical strapping as I went along from 60x80 thou strip. Recently, I've taken to using Plastic Magic to weld pieces together. For me, it is a nice compromise between rather powerful stuff like Mek and the lighter, but still smelly D-Lemonine. The bottle is less easy to knock over [so far!] and also comes with a handy brush. One downside is that Plastic Magic is quick to evaporate, so you have to work quite quickly, but a strong joint is made in seconds and you get less in the way of finger marks too. It may not have taken very long to put the main shell together, but detailing is another matter. There is a fair bit of strapping, which also needs riveting, so the GW press has earned its keep again on 20x80 strip. I always find guard's duckets fiddly things to do & forgot to do a cut out in each side [not for the first time] which will need a bit of remedial work, but they are shaping up ok. Another potential hurdle is/are the ten louvres [four each side, one each end] which can be a real pain to get looking neat. Tried an internet search in the hope that some enterprising 3D printing whizz had come up with something, but not yet, as far as I can tell. What I did turn up was a short article in MRJ 285, where master modeller Laurie Griffin had used Evergreen 'siding' sheet. In my part of Blighty, Evergreen stuff is getting ever harder to source - and indeed plastic strip generally - but managed to find some on line, so put in an order. While waiting for it to arrive, I can still be getting on with the bogies and under frame [Alphagraphix castings], while the doors and roof still need doing too. The intention is that the bogie van will be paired with another brake third and provide the train for the Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T when the Worsley etches eventually arrive, while in between there is still the harbour scene to dabble with too.

20241225_110402.mp4 Testing to see if this video works. I'll try to have more variety in future!

GNRI 1953-07 Portadown 192 ADH yj086. CIE 1961-06-09 Enfield 184 + unid A Class. yj080. CIE Early 1970's ca. Wexford Quays A58r yj081

Royal Mail finally delivered this one today and think it might be a good one to start the New Year off. SLNCR 1956-07-xx Sligo Railbus A (2nd) after re-bodying ref25j+002 I have done a bit of 'ferreting ' amongst my reference books and note that after re-bodying in 1950 it had a grey rather than white roof. Also one of the panels has a slightly different shade of green.

Light weathering to finish. Cheers Darius

At Downpatrick, volunteers are now laying the first section new of track (as opposed to a relay or extension of existing headshunts) since 2015... The timbers come from the recently closed Great Victoria St station, so a little bit of modern NIR history shall live on. More at https://www.downrail.co.uk/2025/01/new-siding-at-railway-museum/

Well, hats off to David @Galteemore for the tip off about the RBAI railtour to Kilrea many Januarys ago!! You were spot on David and I spoke to a contact at the school who was able to unearth some very rare footage of the trip, and you’ll never guess where it was filmed……. The tour did indeed feature an ex-GNR U class and there was also a second outing, the following week, which featured an ex-GNR UG….. Coincidental or what!! ~~~ And yes folks I know both locomotives could do with being lubricated, and yes @leslie10646 there’s one of your GN passenger vans! Very rare footage from the aforementioned RBAI railtours: FullSizeRender.MOV FullSizeRender.MOV FullSizeRender.MOV

Storm Éowyn kept me and most others indoors on Friday so I got on with lining out Number 6. It helped to distract me from the noise of the roof tiles doing Mexican waves. It seems that with a little perseverance and the judicious application of Decalfix, straight lines can be made to bend quite well. So, dodging the bow pen so far... Alan

Final details - I actually believe this very enjoyable little project is complete! Time now to indulge in some creative videography…….. watch this space

It's that time again... Paint! There were a few hiccups and in keeping with tradition, the cellulose thinners was deployed at least once thanks to some ham-fisted work with the airbrush. However, I'm confident that before the decade is out, I will have figured out how to work it. Here's No.6 before the paint flew, scrubbed up and with most of its fussy bits loosely attached. Then a rattlecan coat of Halfords etch primer. Next, an undercoat of Tamiya acrylic black applied with the airbrush. I didn't use the rivet press for the smokebox so these rivets are Railtec 3D resin transfers. Topcoats of Tamiya acrylic dark green XF70. Airbrush again. I don't bother wearing a mask when airbrushing because mostly I stop breathing. The lining will be a challenge on this one because there are curves that won't be possible using transfers. Can ordinary mortals master a bow pen? How long does it take? Drop me a line, Alan

At the start of a new year it's always nice to look forward to what treats might be in store for us. So Mystic Mol has been gazing at his crystal ball (OK, to be honest it's a flat-screen monitor) to read our fortunes how our fortunes might be spent on IRM products in 2025... Mentioned officially but not yet formally announced: CIE Park Royal coaches: main-line, ambulance and brake versions NIR Mk2b coaches: blue/maroon livery No-brainer based on existing tooling: CIE Unfitted H van Surprise bonus ball re-run: Cement bubbles Informally mentioned as inevitable, but no date suggested, perhaps to be announced in 2026 after the Hunslets have been delivered: CIE C / B201; NIR MV class locos Informally recognised as needed to complement existing models, perhaps following the Park Royals and H vans: CIE goods brake van: perhaps 30t? CIE Steam heat vans: Mk1 / Dutch / Tin? Here's hoping at least some of these get announced in the coming year, and perhaps some more surprises. But in the meantime I'm eagerly awaiting the fitted H vans and the first lot of Park Royals. Mol

Oh my god, it was August when I last posted a "monthly" progress report..... While it has been a very long time, being snowed in has allowed me to make some very decent progress. Firstly the plan has changed somewhat. The layout is now set firmly on the Waterford and tramore railway and despite looking nothing like either of the stations is a rough (emphasis on rough) representation of a scaled down Tramore station. (New layout name: Trá beag?) To reflect Tramore station a bit more accurately, I got rid of that ugly flat roof and added a second storey. The real world ain't flat so similarly to the actual station I'll be adding grass behind the platform and beside the running line. Does anyone know can you apply static grass directly to a wooden baseboard? And finally I have managed to assemble a somewhat prototypicalish W&T passenger train. Let's hope next month comes a bit sooner eh?

Ballyercall in full service.

It’s a busy scene at the Lakeview freight yard where Guinness empty and laden kegs are loaded unloaded after the Christmas/New year period, Fastrack parcels traffic is back too after the break-thanks to Geoff J for the truck to complement the scene.

Finally got to the end of lining out No.6 (breathes huge sigh of relief). Some small details have also been added - whistle, safety valves, tender springs - and a bit of light weathering done. Compared to the BCDR tank locos where the large tanks could be filled with lead, there is a lot less space in this one to stow extra weight. However, putting the DCC gubbins in the tender freed up the boiler for this. Arranging things this way means having 4 wires running between loco and tender - 2 for the pickups and 2 for the motor. If the wires are too stiff as they were in my first attempts, they tend to interfere with the reliable tracking of the ensemble. Fine wire of the sort usually connected to DCC chips does the job ok. A pair micro sockets, one connected to the motor and one to the pickups are glued under the loco chassis at the back and flying leads from the tender plug into these. The lack of backhead detail is very evident in the above view. My excuse is that I wasn't sure what it should look like so as usual, the crew have the extra task of hiding the evidence, or lack of it. Also very evident is how ridiculously out of scale 16.5mm gauge is. I'm going to have to give up on OO one of these days. Even with extra weight inside the tender, there was still a wealth of free space so I decided to try a sound chip for this one. The chip, speaker and stay-alive capacitor are all secreted in the tender. It still needs some detailing and a coal load in the tender. That left side number plate needs straightened too but all in all I think it's just about done. A run at Loughan Quay. No 6.mov

Farmhouse is finished. And I have started on Crossdoney platform shelter in OO

Servicing of locomotive is taking place on a busy Saturday evening at the MPD

The up 11:40 to "town" departs on a bleak January day in 1948.... . On the same day, the afternoon mixed heads off in the same direction....

More of a taking stock and prioritising for 2025 than a workbench, I have very little time available for modelling for the next year or so as a result of family committments. First priority is to complete a pair of 21mm gauge J15s started several years ago as a low priority 'standby' project as potential motive power for a Burma Road layout if I ever get round to building it, failing that find a space in a display case. Although both kits were originally complete, I managed to mislay the coupling rods and some of the gearbox parts for the superheated loco. I have a set of rods from a spare chassis fret, though I will probably end up replacing the gearbox as its an old pattern High Level Load Hauler and replacement gears my no longer be available. Apart from assembling the replacement the rods, next job is to fit the brake gear to both locos and small GSWR tender before completing detailing before I loose any more parts. Next priority is to assemble a set of etched parts for a GSWR 60 Class 4-4-0 I designed in Jan 2024 and had in stock since last March! The 60 Class worked Limerick-Sligo passenger trains until replaced by AEC railcars during the 1950s. Locos final priority, if I get round to it! 21mm gauge 650 Class. Although I completed a couple of 21mm test builds and completed a number of OO RTR commissions, I have not completed a 21mm gauge 650 for myself. Body assemby on both locos is basically complete, though require fitting with an operating chassis. One of these locos will use Sharman wheels re-cycled from my first attempt at a 650 Class in 1985 but fitted with a more modern gearbox and motor. Coaching Stock, I have 4 SSM GSWR 6wheelers of different types & GSR decals stashed away to compliment my pair of assembled GSWR 6 wheelers.

Absolutely David. First thing I do when building a kit or a scratch loco is buy the wheels and axles just to have them laid by - everything else can be bodged after a fashion. This guy, it turns out,used to build locos on commission for people but the Irish models were his own pride and joy. These two items were the very last of the collection. One wonders what else was there ! The quality is outstanding. Although the motion is dummy, I think, is beautifully done. Once I get rid of that silicon appendage I’ll give it a run….it’s got jointed rods and hornblocks aplenty so should float along nicely. The brake van has working sprung axleboxes ….

054 at Ballyercall Station

I acquired this gauge many years ago, the glass was smashed, the face badly damaged and the pointer completely rusted away. Large body gauges- 100mm dia, are ideal for steam boiler pressure testing, much more accurate than the smaller type. I started restoring it a few years ago! but recently finished it;- This is the new face made by scanning the old one into Autocad, drawing it up anew, printing it out on heavy paper card and spray lacquering it to seal the paper. It is mounted on top of the old face when reassembling. Sand blasted the outer body and the exposed pipe fitting. Body spray painted, the new pointer was cut from thin brass sheet and chemically blackened. Polishing setup for the brass rim, my polisher is a pistol drill mounted on the bench. I used Luster polish first and finished with Rouge n paraffin. Polished A new brass ferrule was turned up on the lathe. Stuck together with Loctite 603, the ferrule is a press fit onto the pin of the pressure mech, the pin is tapered so the ferrule locks on. Reassembled, the new glass was made from 3mm perspex sheet. I now need to pressure test it against a known accurate gauge to see if it needs adjustment, but I will hang it on the wall for the moment...... Eoin

A late Christmas gift in the form of a new addition to my collection. I didn’t need to post this but I am one point away from an 11/14 rank (which is insane considering I don’t think I’ve contributed anything of use or interest, maybe the ranking system is flawed but I think I’m the problem to be honest. Ah well).

Back to No.6's tender. Taking a leaf from @Mayner's book (thank you John), I attacked the tender chassis again and fitted patches inside the frames to give it two sprung axles riding in slots. Bit of a dog's dinner by the time I'd finished hacking it around but it works and it won't be seen. Tender frames cut and shaped as a pair before being separated... ...then a role for my new toy, a GW Models Universal Rivet Tool. A lovely bit of kit and quite addictive. Tender body sides cut and shaped as a pair then separated for another riveting performance. I made a mess of the second one - that diagonal line of rivets strayed off line and trying to fix it only made things worse. I had to cut another side and start again. Eventually got a matching pair. The beading along the top edge is 0.33mm brass rod. I thought this tender would be fairly straightforward to assemble but the more I look at it the more complicated it becomes. More soon. Alan

My latest creation, a farmhouse in OO. Not finished yet as I am going to add a shed onto one gable. Also needs ridge tiles and downpipes. I was at the Train and Model fair in Bray on Sunday. A good day out. Good to meet other model makers, I came home with lots of new idea. I sold two models. I will be there next month with 4 different models to sell, including this farm house.

Hi all. After alot of queries and interest in the 20ft flat wagon I started working on it after the 3 day show last year. I've had to put alot of time into designing and testing these on different layouts and have finally got them where I'm happy to produce them. Please see attached video for more information. Cost is €22 plus postage but I have a stand in the Bray fair every month and most other shows aswell. Please Pm me if you have any questions or want to order any of the 3D printed items that I'm doing. Thanks Movie003.mp4 Enda