TimO

@DiveController Have a look here https://irishrailwaymodels.com/blogs/announcements/beyond-orange-and-black-iarnrod-eireann-s-future-fleet#:~:text=October 29%2C-,2022,-Fran Burke It gives the history and types of the ICRs.

Hi Darius, Thanks for the information on the upholstery, I found the earlier references. As others have said, you are prolific. You must have some great references to work from. What glue do you use to glue the etched sides to the cutback plastic coach sides? Tim

Is it possible to remove the seats and upholster them? If so, what pattern should they be? I think they reflect a lot of ‘orange’ light that doesn’t look quite correct. I am also thinking of blackening or papering the ceiling and walls. Your peeps look the part.

Hi @trainboy, I have not seen this problem but I suggest you turn the loco upside down and place it on something soft to protect the roof detail. Then try turning each wheel set in turn. If anyone or more of them are free to rotate then they have a problem, maybe you have done this already. If you have an issue you could email IRM support as they have a lifetime warranty or alternatively remove the axle keeper plate and see if the gear on the axle is loose or damaged. If it’s damaged you will need a replacement, if it’s loose I’d still look for a replacement. Hope that helps.

@jhb171achill Green loco with maroon coaches, yes. Class 47, no. I believe it is either a Class 40, 44,45 or 46 but I don’t know which.

@Darius43 Amazing work all round, I am interested in your seat upholstery patterns. Where did you source them, looking at your posts I have the impression they are printed on label sheets where you can peel off the backing.

@Warbonnet Are these anchor mounted fuel tanks the same design of tank as the A and B class ones introduced by Briitish Rail and the UK oil companies in the late 1940's but mounted on the Irish Bulleid triangulated chassis rather than the standard British chassis? They look very similar. Tim

Patrick, Thank you for the detailed description of your method. As I suspected, it’s different to many other methods. I must give it a try. I’m looking forward to seeing how you weather A42 as I think that is one of the best liveries on the A class especially with your goods trains.

Hi Patrick, lovely photos, particularly A42 on the beets. Can I ask you what’s the secret behind your painting on these Bulleid wagons? Is your base colour a silver or a grey colour and what have you used for the ‘rusting’. I presume your grey on the wooden opens and vans comes from a range of rattle cans?

It’s probably for the linen table cloths used in the officer’s mess. No wonder it’s not on government files.

I have seen them running perfectly on DCC with a decoder in the trailer. I believe it was a Murphy Models 121 loco decoder (not sound) with the address set to the same as the loco. Trailer lights automatically changed from red to white to red depending on the direction of travel in push pull mode. Hope that helps.

@WRENNEIRE More fabulous models. If your test runs look good and if gauging trials were satisfactory, it would be good to run-in these locos along the embankment and over the Egyptian arch. Then after topping up coal and water they could be scheduled for a run with the Down Enterprise….

@WRENNEIRE Beautiful models. Are they 21mm and are they motorised? If so, do you know when they last ran? Are there any couplings fitted? If they are suitable it would great to see them running.

Access for the decoder is definitely the same as the original batch, that is, remove one cab, then remove the body with the other cab. There is a new pub with built in speaker.

I have found a solution to playing the videos that works for me on an iPad. Hold your finger on the grey play button for 5 seconds or more. Then double tap. The video shows up and starts to play, tap again if it is slightly dark to get the full colour. I hope this works for some of you.

@jhb171achill I have just finished reading all 21 pages of this story to discover how it has developed. Great photos showing great work and I particularly like the river scene and the weathering on the wagons. There is one area of interest I’d like to know more about. There are two modern coaches in Black and Tan livery that rarely get a mention. I think both are possibly laminates. The first, I think it is a brake coach, was seen at Dugort Harbour a lot in the early days but then seemed to disappear. Perhaps yer man sent it to Inchicore to get the dynamo repaired since the passengers always seem to travel in the dark, not unlike the prototype at times. The second is, I think a more recent arrival. Perhaps it has been cascaded down from the mainline as more Cravens are available. This laminate seems to have “frosted” lavatory windows in the centre.

The statue and date above the door are priceless, absolutely spot on for country churches. However, please don’t light the candles, there’s a lot of inflammatory stuff around here.

Not long ago on a visit to Brookhall Mill, I heard that a little while back (actually one afternoon in 1944) Mr Weaver was away from the mill. Now it strikes me that Mr Weaver is not the type of man to leave his domain without a very good reason; even if he is ensuring the safe delivery of a shipment of linen. After making some enquiries I discovered that the local newspaper, the Brookhall Daily, was also on the case. They had sent their top photographer to record the event, this being a visit to Loughan Quay. The photographs he brought back were stunning. How could a small industrial quayside layout look so wonderful. One had to investigate. This brought me here to Loughan Quay, Such a fabulous layout. A track plan with so many shunting opportunities set within a very tight and coherent industrial setting. At least five or six individual industrial and railway scenes, all so beautifully detailed. Brilliant use of view blockers and half relief buildings. I like the fact that all the buildings have a purpose and look as if they have developed over time. This is enhanced by the multitude of roof profiles, the consistent colour palette used on the stonework and the weathering. The tight confines of the walls, roads, alleyways, railway and quayside mean that there are so many viewing angles all within the theatre of a cameo layout. The locos and stock are also fabulous! Thank you for sharing and Merry Christmas to all at Loughan Quay @Tullygrainey and to Mr. Weaver @Patrick Davey. Tim

James, Delighted that you have got on top of using offset addressing to set up and control DCCconcepts Digital cobalt motor from the Z21.

@Chris_w Thank you for these very interesting maps. The development of Letterkenny is particularly fascinating. Sorry I cannot help you with the photos.

I’m delighted to see the launch of the Pannier tanks. I have a number of the existing ones and I have always been disappointed with them. In particular the execution of the detail on the top of the boiler and tanks and also the area under the tanks such as the injectors etc.The engineering prototypes look good in this regard. I have one question. Which of the liveries represent the loco in preservation livery? I have the impression 7714 is for one.

@Fiacra I took a few photos to show you what’s possible. This is a Murphy / Bachmann CIE coach from way back when, converted many moons ago to 21mm gauge, P4 Profile to run on Adavoyle. I think the wheels are Alan Gibson on 28mm axles and I suspect a jig was used to get everything square. Under the brass bolster plate there is a brass bush but the details are not visible. The screws are likely M2. the original bogie has just been cut down the centre and widened with the plate, nothing fancy. I hope this gives you some ideas.

@Bob49 Great work on your wagon bodies, can I ask what paints and colours you used. For drawings of DNGR I suggest you PM @leslie10646 and ask him to forward your request to Richard who has scanned some drawings but I don’t know if he has done what you are looking for.

@Fiacra From memory the bogies on the new Mk2 coaches are fixed with screws. I should have taken a photo at Blackrock show. The sides are prototype width so they should take 21 mm gauge wheel sets and therefore will easily accept EM gauge wheel sets but you will have to reposition the brakes. Your best option with the original ones is either as you suggest to cut them and fix to a brass plate or use suitable MJT units.

@jhb171achill Thank you. Did this wide variety of Bredins and CIE 1951-53 stock run on basically the same chassis and bogies? Designed and built in Inchicore? Were the true laminates on the same chassis? I’m looking forward to your photos. Plenty of scope for new IRM models here.