Leaderboard

This year the South Dublin Model Model Railway Club is celebrating 50 years in existence. From humble beginnings of a few like minded individuals coming together in a members workshop in Rathmines to where we are today in our purpose built club rooms in Knocklyon in Dublin. Our Exhibition in Blackrock College this year will have added significance and we are planning on it being our biggest and best show yet. Dates of our show: October 25th,26th & 27th. Thank you The Organising team.

I've been gradually working on the weathering on E410. It's so easy to overdo it and I fear I have ended up with something a bit more grubby than I was aiming for. It's not as bad as some of the prototypes though! It has moved on a bit since I took these photos, I have taken some of the weathering off and added more in different shades and places. I can't quite settle on the right look. A black one would have been much easier! The green on the transfers looks too bright in this lighting, that may tone down with some weathering, but it looks better in sunlight. Tomorrow I hope to fit the cab window glazing, then reassemble. That's about as much as I can do before the loco's trip to Cork and Fenit at the weekend. I think it looks a bit better now than in the photos above. If the weather stays sunny tomorrow I'll take the photo plank outside for some pictures. In due course I may revisit and refine the weathering. I haven't got a driver figure yet but I will need one. I also think there's some fine-tuning needed on the DCC motor control as the loco seems to almost come to a stop and then lurch forward a little. But it feels like I'm very nearly there. The instructions are almost complete too. Once I've finished them off I'll add them to this thread and then you can see what you're letting yourself in for if anyone wants to build one for themselves. I still plan to build a second loco in black livery, and I have the parts to do so. But I have an embarassingly large queue of other things to make...

Life has quiet and busy patches and this week is a busier one, but I have got round to fitting the buffers and painting the bufferbeams, and it's a sunny morning today so another couple of pics. The electronics parts have arrived (DCC decoder, stay-alive, LEDs etc) so that's probably my next job.

Glazing added. It looks better on the photo plank in the spring sunshine! A few pics with a short train of equally grubby silver trucks.

I have had these UTA May 1964 slides for a few months whilst awaiting the rest of set of 130 odd images. Unfortunately the 65 odd missing slides have not come to light so I will start adding the ones already held. The 4 below are all Newry Edward Street. Railcar 104 failed on arrival so 36 was substituted for the run on to Warrenpoint and return. 45 was on a goods in the yard. 11 May 1964

Spa: I’m nearly back in Tralee now, hopefully time for a beer before the train back to Cork. I can see why the GSRPS thought this would make a great tourist railway. As a Greenway it’s a lovely walk / cycle and there have been hundreds of people using it today.

All being well,The Stone Yard will have an outing to the NDMRS Bangor show on 12 & 13 April at Bangor Grammar School. The fitters are busy prepping the locos.

Thanks - it was great to meet you all! Today E410 has visited Fenit on a sunny but very windy day. Seen here on the causeway and in the station. Now I am going to walk back to Tralee along the greenway.

Well, the shiny nickel silver and brass has gone, replaced with Halfords rattle cans, starting with self etch primer [pale yellow], then red oxide primer and finally dark green gloss, as shown below. As so often with these things, the colour is a bit of a wing and a prayer, but was the darkest I could find. In some lights, it looks almost black, but the green comes through quite a bit more in others. No matter - I'm intending to make the final finish worn but well cleaned with some careful weathering. So what we have above is the primary phase of the gloss green, with lining, plus a first coat of red on the buffer beams and rods, and dark grey on the smokebox, footplate etc. The lining is from Fox Transfers [0.35mm yellow], while the Swilly lozenge uses the same for its outline with hand drawn logo using a fine dipping pen and acrylic paint. Lining and lettering took about 5 hours over two days and rates well down my list of favourite things to do. Very little is fixed in place yet, while the photos [for me at least], show why a model looks far too stark without at least some degree of weathering. It all needs toning down if it is to look realistic. Some of the lining still needs looking at too, but note how the shade of green varies between pictures Anyway, it's a start though it might be a while before the model is finished as attention now turns to Northport Quay, which is going to the Orpington Show in two weeks time. Always a nice occasion, but not the biggest. At the end of May, NPQ is going to Railex at Aylesbury as a late replacement for a layout which had to drop out. Galteemore David is going to join me on the Sunday, so there should be a fair variety of broad gauge stock on show, maybe some GNRI too.

I have a new GNR station building added. It is based heavily off Sion Mills.

Its hard to believe that its over a year since my last post. What a year it has been. I got the layout to the stage where all the track was laid and fully operational. I did spent a lot of time running trains for the grandkids and am hopeful the the hobby might not be lost on future generations. I had a dress rehersal for a full operating session and then life intervened. The two of us were rattling around a large house that was impossible to heat, using perhaps a third of the living space so we made the momentus decision to downsize and sell the house after 32 happy years there. I had to dismantle the railway, pack it all up and put it into storage in my daughters attic. We were very lucky, we got a good price for the house and found another close by that meets our needs, a key one being space in the garden for a timber room for my model railway version 2.1. The selling and buying took six months and then after moving in in December we made the decision to completly refurbish the new house and so are currently homeless but actually are lucky to be able to stay in any of our three kids houses, the one condition being that we help look after the grandkids. While I haven't posted very often this site has been a constant in my life keeping me in touch with the hobby over the last year. I really appreciate what everyone contributes and IRM for running an add free service. I have a great team of Romanians working on the house but have assumed for myself the role of clients representative, resident engineer , assistant plumber, assistant electrian, assistant dogsbody. The result being no time for modelling. We hope to move back in around Easter. Below is a picture of the timber room that I was allowed purchase. Its nominally 16 x 12 in old money, about 15'8" a 11'8" internally, fuly lined and insulated. It is currently being used for storing our furniture so I hope to have vacent possession in a couple of months. I am currently designing version 2.1 of the layout so more to follow.

Just a few random photos from Bangor show

This evening a PW inspection has taken place, and a tin car has visited Dugort Harbour where it will remain at the disposal of the south-western division PW engineer until 1973. Its home will be here or in the spare loco siding at Castletown. We’ll say nothing about the time when the senior porter in charge, his uncle out the Tully Road, and yer man who likes the Beatles and lives next to the Volkswagen dealer in town, took it for a spin out to Caltragh and back at 4 a.m. after a lock-in in McLaughlins, in order to leave the O’Shea girls back to the gatehouse…. My first foray into brass and soldering. Thanks to Des for the kit (SSM) and Michael for his tuition and long-suffering patience with a rank amateur.

Right, after much more xxxxing about, re-cutting re-sticking and stuffing, this is what 28 canopy kits (each is just 4 inches, 3D printed) looks like. Ever tried to line up quite so many? - don't look for a straight line! They're in groups of 3,4,4,3 so that each platform (6ft or so) has fourteen! Of course they have to be "planted" with a bit of ballast and a barrow walk at this end. The "aerial" view looks quite nice? Since I took this, I've re-painted the surface in a darker grey (Hobbycraft "Light Grey" seemed quite realistic). Also, I'll swap the sloping ends over - the one at the other end hasn't got that broken bit! If you look at earlier photos on the thread you will see that the station is barely visible and Platform 1 - to the right - can't have a canopy, as the slope of the roof precludes even a tiny bit! The platform is part built. Next job is to build the larger water tanks and place them on either side of the building. Next week .......

CIE 1965-ca Wexford 2608. CIE 1967 CA Killarney B121 25j+090 CIE 1967-09-09 Dundalk 186 SPL +B173 in bay. CIE 1967 ca Wexford North 25j+081.

Making good progress with the Courthouse. The date for the opening of my exhibition in the County Museum has been moved to Saturday 26th of April at 2 pm. The title of the exhibition is "Breffni in Miniature: A Scale Model Tribute to Cavan".

I'll be there with my upgraded "Cynwyd" layout in N gauge:

Having worked in Ballina freight yard over twenty years ago and now only recently returned to take up a position there - there are a number of major industries based in the town-the main one being Ballina beverages (aka Coca cola) -they moved into the town in 1999 and have provided the railhead with lots of traffic-and a lot more if IE could provide wagons and paths, Baxter’s healthcare is Castlebar is another major customer as was Asahi, IE continues to offer competitive rates for the carriage of containers to the above named customers and have had an excellent record with drivers and depot staff with no trains cancelled over the last twenty years. a few photos from last week….

The majority of the fiddly bits are now done. Buffers, safety valves and vacuum pipes from Alan Gibson. The footplate steps are a Mainly Trains etch from Wizard Models. I made the chimney in the now traditional manner with brass tube, a washer and lots of solder. The dome is wooden dowel with a plasticard flange and filler to blend the two together. Still a bit of work to do on this before I cut away the surplus plastic and glue it on. Alan

Some views at or approaching Finaghy 13 May 1964. UTA365 1964-05-13 Finaghy 128 on 7.55am Lisburn-GVS. UTA369 1964-05-14 Finaghy. UTA368 1964-05-14 Finaghy WT 50. 8am Portadown-GVS. UTA367 1964-05-14 Finaghy U 67 on 8.25am Lisburn-GVS.

We were floored by the news of Andy's passing yesterday in IRM central. It's probably unknown to many, but Andy was a massive help to IRM and then Accurascale as we got into this industry with information and guidance around the market. Indeed, he was of help as we got tangled up with the infamous DJ Models in our early days and even was our product photographer at one point and helped us recruit some of our team, including Paul who has designed the Hunslet, Park Royals, 800s and ICRs. Myself and @BosKonay chatted to Andy regularly, and indeed Stephen assisted RMWeb with hosting and in recent times, a switch to the same software as this forum which went down very well among membership. He was a true pillar of the modelling community, brought many thousands of modellers together, encouraged and assisted us younger manufacturers to help us thrive and someone I counted as a friend. Still cant quite believe it. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

The Swilly tank engine is now approaching what might be described as the 'ex works' stage. The cab still needs glazing, while roof is still to be fixed, vacuum pipes added, plus coal for the bunker. When adding the finishing touches to a model, I am always surprised at both how many of them there are and how long it can take. For example, buffer beam red is a colour that does not seem to cover well. Three coats in this case, each needing to dry overnight before the next. Even painting the rods as well, it is little more than a ten minute job, but ends up being spread over several days. Painting the crew can be similarly fiddly, but at least acrylic paint dries quickly. Buffer beam lettering is pressfix. I was going to use some Fox transfers black lining for the buffer beam surrounds, but it was easier to use a fine black marker pen. Looking at colour photos of No 10, I felt I'd painted the smokebox too grey. This was easily remedied with a coat of Metalcote gunmetal [27004]. The footplate and cab floor were done with a mixture of ordinary gunmetal [53] and a dark rust [70]. Martyn Welch's Art of Weathering suggests bauxite [133] but this is no longer available. On the chassis, the same mix is used as for the footplate. Actual weathering comes next, for which I need to gird up my loins and get out the airbrush. Martyn suggests a light spray with a mix of metalcote gunmetal and tarmac [or roof slate] in a ratio of 2:1, with leather [62] as an option. After all the efforts so far, I'm not about to risk this on the model without a bit of practice, so have sprayed a couple of bits of card with the dark green, so I can gauge the effects, so wish me luck! Finally, for now, a couple of pictures of the loco on the layout, with its Barclay sister. The Barclays, though well cared form, seemed to get a bit grubby in their daily lives, whereas the Kerr Stuart generally seemed well polished - albeit with the oily rag somewhat darkening things. Note again how the shade of green varies under different lighting.

I have a lot of slides and negatives to put on flickr with more on the way so today I have added the 30 slides of Stranorlar, Barnesmore & Lough Eske featuring Meenglas on the demolition train and light engine in the Summer of 1960. They are at the end of the CDRJC album (also at the latest photostream upload) Album is https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157662649694575/ Click on the above link if you want to see the album, there are now 502 images on it so it will take you a while to get to the last page. A few images below:

It's been a busy couple weeks, including a short break in Paris sandwiched between two exhibitions. Northport Quay behaved reasonably well in the first, though there was still a list of things to look at afterwards. The second show, last weekend, was at Ashford, in support of the National Model Railway Centre. The latter is the brainchild of Cliff Parsons [of Gresley Beat fame] aimed at preserving some of our most iconic model railways. Gordon Gravett's Arun Quay was at the show, but so was Pempoul, his Reseau Breton masterpiece - and with Gordon busy on Pempoul, I had the delight and privilege of operating Pempoul. Those who know the layout will appreciate it is a scenic masterpiece, but it is also a mechanical and electrical one too. It uses one of the ZTC DCC controllers, complete with semi automatic control because the five storage roads are well out of reach at the back of the oval. Choose a train and the route is set, then all you have to do is drive it, via a very nice regulator lever, round to the station. There was an 0-6-6-0 and 0-4-4-0 Mallet, plus three railcars to play with - all scratch built, as indeed is the whole layout. At least 13 years work in total... Helping Gordon pack up Arun Quay after the show, I also saw how well engineered his layouts are. Arun Quay's structure is largely made from laminated foamboard and the two baseboard fit snugly in a beautifully built wheeled box. Baseboards sit on a purpose-built frame [which will also support his new Reseau Breton layout]. This folds up neatly for transport, with carefully made slots for various other pieces, while the fascias live in their own, purpose made gunny sack. Exquisite doesn't begin to describe it all. Came away feeling I really should do better! Anyway, this week, finally got back to the Swilly Pacific. While looking very smart in its lined green livery, for me it was a bit too bright and clean and I wanted the finish to be more like the photos in Norman Johnson's splendid 'Irish Narrow Gauge Railways in Colour'. The two pictures below, while not the best in terms of definition [They are early 1950s colour, after all], give a good idea of what I was after. Fairly clean, but with lining and lettering appearing only faintly behind a haze of everyday grime. So, it was back to the bible that is Martyn Welch's The Art of Weathering. Produced nearly 30 years ago, it remains my 'go to' for such work, because it makes everything seem very achievable. However, I also had to gird up my loins and get out the airbrush - very much NOT my favourite implement, but needs must in this case. The basic work is to spray a fine mist of Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal, mixed 2:1 with tarmac, though as the latter isn't available anymore, I used slate grey instead. The main concern was getting the right amount of misting & overall, it seems to have worked out ok. After leaving the paint to dry overnight, I then used cotton buds to polish the tanks, boiler and cab to give a more cared for look. Glazing was then added to the cab, the roof fixed in place and vacuum pipes fitted too. Judicious use of weathering powders finished the job. Still a bit of final fettling to do, but thought it would be nice to pose the loco on the layout, along with some of my other Swilly stock.

Great to meet up with @LNERW1, @josh_, @Tullygrainey @WRENNEIRE and others today. My stock has taken a nice dent, but I haven't run out yet! If you're making a trip here on Sunday be sure to have a look at Enda's new PalVans which look just terrific - an absolute winner if I'm any judge. Thanks to those of you who came by today and helped reduce the number of boxes I have to take back! Leslie

My first time to visit a Model Railway show/event and I was very impressed. The trouble that different clubs and individuals have gone to with their layouts was very impressive, with clubs from all over the country in attendance. There seemed to be a lot of people milling around but not to many to hinder getting a go view of the layouts or the stalls. Above is a map of the event, the rooms/areas were nice and bright and not cramped, I didn't know what to expect but it I was pleasantly surprised by the whole event. Loved the humour of this partial shot of the layout, this one featured running water with one of the builders was saying that they were going to add anglers at some stage??? The detail in this and many of the other layouts was extraordinary for my untrained eye. This European tramline combining the 4 seasons in a single layout, along with a park with cyclist pedalling around in circular route and all to scale... I did like that. Below are a few pictures from the event. This layout is sponsored by Tayto

Managed to make some time for modelling on Saturday and Sunday evenings after an unpredictable and challenging week. This time adjusting the B-B and pick ups on G617 to try and achieve more reliable running. The loco which is on a scratchbuilt compensated chassis had a tendency to de-rail the fixed axle while running through Peco small radius points. I still have the original Worsley Works 21mm gauge chassis and was seriously considering converting it to a OO rigid chassis as a replacement for the compensated chassis. I replaced the existing North Yard (NZ supplier) wheel sets I originally used on the G with a set of spare wheels I had from a Murphy Models/Bachmann B141 (original release) for improved pick up, but struggled to achieve a 14.5mm B-B on the rigid axle due to the thickness of the insulation bush on the Bachmann wheels. In the end I reduced the thickness of the brush using a flat needle file, thus correcting the B-B and adding some much needed play between the axle bearing and wheels significantly reducing friction, the loco runs freer and motor a lot cooler following this modification. G617 which was assembled about 20 years was originally fitted with a Black Beetle motor bogie, which I may have re-used in a Wickham car and I built a replacement OO Chassis for use on NorthWharf about 2-3 years ago. Replacement chassis uses a step down gearbox which in turn drives a layshaft with final wormdrives to the axle similar in principal to the Bull Aunt and drive systems used in N and Narrow Gauge HO locos. Motor and drive components supplied by Hi Hevel although the step down drive 'Tender Riser' is intended for 4mm locos with the motor in the tender. At the time I was tempted to use a High Level 'Quad Driver' similar to that produced for Industrials like a Ruston 0-4-0 but wheel base was too short for a G Class. Chassis is compensated by allowing one axle/gearbox free to rock pivoted on the layshaft and now appears to operate quite reliably. The wiring harness above the motor is a DCC Concepts 6pin DCC socket with a DC jumper rigged up from a DCC plug. I have a stash of 6 Pin DCC decoders somewhere, I bought a a selection of 1 & 2amp 6pin decoders from a selection of manufacturers but need to find them! G617s decals are looking the worse for wear but the Duetz 'plates' still look reasonable, I need to ask Des for some replacement running numbers and CIE logos. E421 assembled from a Shapeways shell with my own detail overlays is running once again but needs ballasting, glazing and some paint touch ups. My own 3D printed and IRM bulk grain wagons.

3 scans today from original prints ,unfortunately apparently the negatives were thrown out years ago. CIE 1955 ca Kenmare 139 coprint 25j+066b CIE 1955 ca Headford Junction 139 on Kenmare branch train coprint 25j+066d CIE 1955 ca Rosslare Harbour 255 coprint 25j+065c.

Some progress on the electronics. After seeking advice on RMweb I built a lighting board to allow me to have the required lighting functions. A connector from the decoder plugs into the multicoloured socket. Blue is the common positive while white, yellow and green are the 3 function outputs. White or Yellow give directional headlights (2 whites) at whichever end is the front. Green gives shunting markers (1 white and 1 red) at both ends simultaneously. The diodes enable one white at each end to be used twice. The board will be mounted in the top of the bonnet with the LEDs hard-wired. The other side of the equation is the decoder and stay-alive, which are wired to the chassis in the conventional manner. Thanks are due to my friend Matt who is better at very fine soldering and also has a lokprogrammer, for wiring these up and programming the chip: This shows how they fit within the bonnet. This is the incomplete second bonnet which is proving quite useful for positioning and fitting the internals. Note the plug top left, which connects to the lighting board. The functions and operation have been tested and the loco given its DCC address 410. The next thing to do on the electronics is to fit the LEDs into the cab and bonnet ends and route the wiring to the lighting board. The 2mm 'lighthouse' LEDs will need a bit of trimming to fit. But before that I need to finish any weathering tasks that need the cab and bonnet separated, because once the headlight wiring goes in they'll be joined.

Old colour slides from 1956…. and black white prints from 1944…..…. Dugort Harbour didn’t have a Sunday service, so the place latterly was deserted on Sundays - unless there was a GAA special. But not this day in summer 1956. Smell the turf smoke and sea air? —— The following Saturday, a light engine breaks the silence with its Crossley growl, as it heads down to the harbour station to collect a solitary fish van.

GNRI 1953-10-02 Hill of Howth Tramway near Sutton Car 3 yj107. CIE 1961-06-08 Kilfree Junction B129 yj334. CIE 1956-04-26 Cork GSW 840 yj333.

One of the most requested wagons we get asked for from our Irish outline fans is nothing new, but an icon of our past. The humble cement bubble was the second wagon we ever produced, but was an absolute must have wagon for any Irish outline modeller. It's been several years since the last run, but we're delighted to announce that our Cement Bubbles are back, in two liveries! HISTORY Introduced in seven batches between 1964 and 1972, a total of 150 of these two-axle wagons were built by Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) to convey bulk loads of cement from Irish Cement’s plants at Drogheda in County Louth, Castlemungret in County Limerick and Platin in County Meath to distribution points throughout the CIÉ/Irish Rail and Northern Ireland Railways’ networks. Despite being introduced at different stages, the fleet carried numbers in an unbroken sequence ranging from 25050 to 25199. Affectionately known as ‘bubbles’ due to their distinctive profile, the majority of the fleet remained in service right up until the cessation of cement traffic by rail in 2009. At first, the wagons carried an all-over medium grey livery with CIÉ roundels and ‘Bulk Cement’ text on the body sides. In the early 1970s, they were repainted with orange/tan bodies and grey chassis. In the early 1980s, they received a further repaint which saw them turned out with ivory bodies and black chassis. This latter livery was carried until withdrawal, although it was often hidden below several layers of cement dust! While wearing this colour scheme, a small number of wagons also received ‘Irish Cement’ branding. The wagons were loaded from overhead silos via a hatch located on top of the body, while unloading was conducted by utilising compressed air, which forced the powdered cement through the two cones at the base of the body and into a pipe which emerged at one end of the wagon. Unloading could be conducted at specialised terminals or by road-hauled trailers fitted with the necessary air blowers The Model Our cement bubbles were the second wagon we ever produced, and we're delighted to say that the detail and quality still more than holds its own among other releases since. Now in our fourth production run, we are bringing back the orange variant (only ever produced in small quantities once many years ago. We are also bringing back the ivory livery with CIE roundel, a livery that the bubbles wore for the longest period in their careers, from the early 1980s until withdrawal in 2008. In the early to mid 80s they also ran in mixed trains of orange and ivory liveries, so they can complement each other in a rake. Three packs are available in each livery and are priced at £109.95 per pack, with 10% off when you buy two packs or more. Delivery of the bubbles will be Q4, 2025. Pre-order yours below, or from your local Accurascale stockist! Pre-Order Your CIE Cement Bubble Wagons Here! View the full article

I have been doing some more research on the G class, prompted by a discussion with @jhb171achill last weekend about the dimensional accuracy of some G class models. I haven't seen any official drawings of the G class so I've been looking into the origins of the design. Here's a nice photo of the preserved G601, from Jonathan Allen on Flickr: These small shunters are a variant of the widespread German Köf II design, of which over 1000 were built. The standard Köf II was a much squatter loco, because it was designed to be moved long distance on a flat wagon. Nevertheless, if you look at the photo below you'll see some common features with G601 above, things like the axleboxes and springs, oblong holes in the main frames, bonnet access doors, cab front windows. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Kleinlokomotive_Class_II There are dimensioned drawings of the Köf II here: http://www.industriespoor.nl/tekeningDeutzA6M517.htm https://www.gartenbahn-werkstatt.de/de/zeichnungen/horst-dieter-hettler/diesel-lokomotiven/ https://www.woernitz-franken.de/koef.htm There are however several differences from the Köf II, not just the cab but the engine, which is air-cooled on a G but water-cooled on the Köf II. The G601 class is a Deutz model A8L 614 R, a variant of the Köf II produced in smaller quantities for industrial users in Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere. There's more information on the A8L 614 R here, including drawings on all three websites: http://www.industriespoor.nl/tekeningDeutzKK130B.htm https://cftr.evolutive.org/amateur/engins_moteurs/Deutz_e.php https://www.rangierdiesel.de/index.php?nav=1405415&lang=1 Here's a Flickr photo from Alex Leroy illustrating one of them, with a clear resemblance to the G601s. The cab, bonnet and frames appear identical, but the bufferbeams and running plates are different, and the frames are closer together to suit 1435mm gauge. So it should be possible to carry over many of the A8L 614 R dimensions (from the drawings linked above) and check against the G class. Searching for A8L 614 R on the rangierdiesel website gives a list of 67 locos, which include G601 (Deutz 56119), G602 (Deutz 56118), G603 (Deutz 56120); note they are not in order. https://www.rangierdiesel.de/index.php?view=fahrzeuge&object=A8L+614+R&nav=1406157&lang=1&action=results Clicking on 'typengalerie' and selecting Deutz and A8L 614 R gives a gallery of hundreds of images of these locos across Europe, which have a great deal in common with the G601s, although they mostly have a low-level running board rather than a footplate at cab floor height. Here's an example: http://www.rangierdiesel.de/images/basic/deutz_56744_58.jpg There are even three photos of G601 at work which I hadn't seen before: http://www.rangierdiesel.de/images/basic/deutz_56119_51.jpg http://www.rangierdiesel.de/images/basic/deutz_56119_52.jpg http://www.rangierdiesel.de/images/basic/deutz_56119_53.jpg Some of the later A8L 614 R class had the larger windows of the G611s: http://www.rangierdiesel.de/images/basic/deutz_57236_53.jpg So, what about the G611s? These were an improved model with more power, designated A8L 714 R. Searching for A8L 614 on the rangierdiesel website gives a list of just 7 locos - our familiar G611 class. https://www.rangierdiesel.de/index.php?view=fahrzeuge&object=A8L+714+R&nav=1406157&lang=1&action=results The list gives works numbers as: G611 (Deutz 57225), G612 (Deutz 57224), G613 (Deutz 57226), G614 (Deutz 57228), G615 (Deutz 57223), G616 (Deutz 57227), G617 (Deutz 57229); note they are not in order. There's also a link to a photo of the preserved G613. Later, the model designation became KK140 B, such as this example on Flickr from Helgoland01. This may have had a different engine, but I'm not sure. Note the light clusters similar to the G611s but positioned differently: My next step is to overlay the 3 drawings of the A8L 614 R and compare to the Worsley Works etched parts, and we'll see where we go from there...

I had the great pleasure of meeting MOL-pmb on the Cork to Galway railcar tour yesterday, and the masterpiece “E”! The connection from Dublin was 220….

A bit of work done to Maedbh over the last week or so. The Royal Scot has many similarities to the 800s, but the 800s have a much longer front end and bogie, along with smaller bogie wheels. Changing to smaller wheels meant a large air space was left between the wheel and chassis. This became a bit of a knawling bug for me To sort the issue, I fabricated some fau frames from plasticard, painted them black, then applied them to the sides I then karate chopped the bogie and placed a plasticard spacer to increase its length. I think this improves the overall appearance of the front end considerably.

Orange or blue!

More Ballyercall images. Sligo oil working arrives in the yard.

No updates on this thread in quite a while. I have been receiving chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma since December. The treatment resulted in quite bad back pain, so I did not really go near the layout. I had a meeting with my consultant during the week and the good news is that my latest scan was all clear. Cancer gone, in other words. Happy days. The trade off with my particular lymphoma is that it is non aggressive and slow growing, but it can never be fully got rid of. This means it will almost certainly return in the future, but hey, I will take the victories where I get them. I had been making some wall sections before Christmas to go around the railway yard, so hopefully I will have some some pics of those soon enough, now that the treatment is finished. Bet ye can't wait

Mark 2D Composite 5156 in the sidings at Heuston North

A few progress pics of the BCDR bogie tank. Managed to get through the painting process without any major disasters. A first? I think I'm learning, albeit at a glacial pace. Halfords grey etch primer from the rattle can then Tamiya acrylics. X18 semi-gloss black followed by XF70 dark green, both airbrushed. I've started the line dancing now. Fox transfers. This bit always takes a while. Alan

I'm surprised that no-one associated with this exhibition has publicised it here - or did you all know about it already? As I'm wearing myself out getting stuff together for it, (and crossing the Irish Sea to attend) I want to see some customers!! Perhaps someone in NDMRC would provide the details to drum up business - I'm a mere "trader".

Hello everyone, I just want to say on behalf of my father and his Evenwood layout a huge thank you to those who supported the project. It has been quite the undertaking and we are extremely happy to be able to present it at the North Down show. The project was originally conceived ten years ago with the construction of station building and signal box, it was only last year that we realised that we needed to really push forward and complete the project, using the 200 year of the S&DR as motivation. The layout is roughly 95% complete, with just signals, footbridge and terrace housing requiring completion, which we hope to do so soon. We hope that everyone who observed the layout over the weekend enjoyed it, and we thank those who shared their memories of the surrounding area. The layouts next outing has not been confirmed, but a running video will be created and uploaded to YouTube.

Many thanks to NDMRS for a fine show and to everyone who stopped to chat over the 2 days. Enjoyed it very much. Some pics... Alan

IR 1995-xx-xx 051r Alexandra Road Dublin Tippler sdgs. 249023. GMK060 CIE 1955-xx Youghal, 12whl Brake Compo (ex tri comp). Probably a bit better to travel in than the coach on its right! GMK008 CIE 1961-04-xx Inchicore A31 TI148

The ARROW railcar 2601+2602 forms the 22:45 Dublin Heuston-Kildare service seen here calling at Tara junctions platform 4.

New station LED lights have been fitted to the canopy on platform one.

I got the Protestant Hall finished. The exhibition of my models in Cavan County Museum, in Ballyjamesduff starts on April 19th.

Sunday morning at a sleepy Ballyercall. 174, 154 and 056 await.

Finished Cheers Darius