Tullygrainey

Something out of a Transformers movie?

Brilliant stuff Ken. I’ve been drooling over these photos. The 3D prints are wonderfully crisp.

Definitely wow! I remember being bowled over the first time I saw pictures of Pempoul. The landscaping was just so good. Best modelling I’d ever seen. I’m sorry I never got to see it for real. They’ve retired it now I think?

Lovely stuff David. The rolling stock is looking suitably care-worn. Very convincing. The movement sequence sounds good and would be interesting to do and to watch. That the layout can support movements like these is a fair indication of the thought put in at the layout planning stage.

You may have noticed my model of No 18 started out as a full English

That's an impressive and very solid start. Puts my woodworking efforts to shame Very best wishes for the project. This one's going to be mighty I think!

Had them for breakfast, you might say

Yes, me too It's a shame one of this pair didn't make it to Witham Street.

Another Jinty. This one required a good deal less work as it's a bog standard Bachmann Fowler 3F which started out in BR livery and is now masquerading as NCC Y Class no 18. Railtec supplied the livery and Humbrol the grime. I have a photo of the prototype looking even grubbier than this. Before... .. and after. Don't suppose they ever appeared together like this. I assume they both got the livery change at the same time.

Imagination and ingenuity - the best tools any modeller can have!

What a bright idea. Brilliant! Seriously though, Patrick it looks terrific. Very atmospheric.

Any more news on the Sherman, Patrick? We seem to have lost track of it. Has it tanked?

Well spotted! You may have noticed I moved the sweetie shop. No point tempting impressionable engine drivers to spend all their pocket money on clove rock or chocolate toffee rolls.

I wouldn’t be surprised

UTA 0-6-0T no19, ex NCC Y Class, getting a bit of exercise. Let's just pretend that Loughan Quay is an obscure corner of York Road yard. Jinty at Loughan Quay.MOV

The British Aluminium Company at Larne used Pecketts like these. This one's in Cultra.

That’s an appealing idea. I think you should. It seems to be a theme largely neglected by modellers of Irish railways, probably for the reasons you mention - there weren’t many independent industrial systems. There’s also the additional incentive that those Hornby Pecketts are lovely little models and fine runners! I have two currently languishing in a drawer so I’ll follow developments with interest.

That Barclay has real presence David. I have to say it looks very comfortable on Fintonagh. I always enjoy following your rolling stock builds. Having seen some of your creations in the flesh (at Cultra on at least 2 occasions), the end products are very fine indeed. Using card kits as blueprints/drawings is a great idea which I hope to try. I bought some 4mm Alphagraphix wagon card kits a while back but found them difficult to build in that scale - the smaller pieces were nearly impossible to cut out neatly. Some good solutions to coupling problems. The modified tension lock couplers look like a viable proposition. Keep us posted!

UTA Jinty no19 is just about finished. Lining out was the usual challenge to regular breathing and took a number of days. Fox provided the lines, Railtec the UTA crest. The number plate was bought a while back from Narrow Planet (now Light Railway Stores). While waiting for transfers to dry, I made up some fire irons and a shunter's pole from scrap etch and wire. These will find a place on the running plate. No 19 now has a Hatton's DCC chip, probably the last thing I will ever buy from them now. It took a whole afternoon of fettling to get the little brute running tolerably well. In my experience DCC is much less tolerant of faults than DC and small ones that wouldn't trouble a DC loco cause a chipped one to stutter and sulk. As this one did. A few tweaks to the pickup wires improved things but then the chassis started locking up solid. It turned out to be caused by one brake shoe making contact with the back of the coupling rod and jamming the centre axle, one wheel up, one down. Took a while to spot that one but a little bit of filing sorted it. Mounting the chassis in the body added more woe with running becoming erratic again. At rest, one wheel on the centre axle was sitting just clear of the rail. Eh? This shouldn't happen with hornblocks and a compensated chassis. That's the whole point of that malarkey - to keep all the wheels in contact with the track. Turned out the pickups on the front wheels were fouling the inside of the splashers and pushing on the wheels, stopping the compensation working properly. That took a while to find too. Shortening the pickup wire and grinding a bit out of the insides of the splashers wasn't enough to fix it - another hour gone. Eventually, raising the bodywork fractionally with plasticard packing on the chassis mounts cured it. A bit of weathering helped to tone down the lining and move the model closer to how the prototype looked circa 1962.

The strays waifs and orphans of the Shuttle Plank. The Shuttleplank.MOV

Nice one Patrick. What else have you got in your sights?

Thank you David. The layout is a little four-footer built on an old Ikea shelf. It has two independent shuttle arrangements (from Heathcote Electronics) which allow 4 locos to shuttle back and forward all day. Gives me something to watch whilst I shout at the latest build project.

Jinty chassis fitted with pickups - 31swg phosphor bronze wire soldered to bits of printed circuit board... ...and first trial run under its own steam. It's actually a quiet runner. The noise is coming from that green Thomas Hill diesel in the background. Jinty.mov Halfords livery. Painting has progressed a bit further since this. More pics soon.

Wonderful!

That's looking really authentic. You did well with the bow pen David. I never really cracked using mine and I think I must've thrown it away in frustration because I can't find it now!