Galteemore

And boring as this made the NIR of the 80s, it arguably helped its survival

That’s incredibly good.

Thanks everyone. Been a nice project in many ways, and learnt lots. Entire board is 4’ by 2’. You can see how the foam insulation board permits contouring a landscape. The pub and corrugated store buildings sit on small raised platforms and the landscape flows around that. The red pen is sitting pretty much where the pub is. You can also see where I used Setrack for the curves leading into the offstage/back scene - just to give a tight radius but with a definite 9” radius rather than my own estimate!

Could possibly do part of the Cork coal gantry railway…, this is great info in all seriousness and helps illustrate what keeps a good layout on the road. Nice to see Sir Henry with his red plates and rods!

Determined to crack the scenery this w/e, I set to and it’s more or less done. Just a few bicycles and chickens to add….A few Google Earth and drone type views as well as normal level ones are below…..the big job this weekend was clearing the road of all scenic detritus such as stray static grass, and recoating it in paint. As ever, photos reveal more areas needing work! But the show’s a few weeks away yet…. One obvious addition is level crossing signals, inspired by Ballyduff on the Arigna tramway. These are deliberately placed to draw the eye away from the hole in the backscene where the train dives through. So the signals indicate a crossing off-stage. They are old BEC kits, from 3mm Soc 2nd hand shop. The whitewashed gable’s purpose as a sighting aid is clear in some of the views. The cart and horse are another 3mm society kit, tricked out in traditional Irish orange and blue. I had originally planned to build this layout with 009 setrack. Looking at the flowing curves, I’m glad I didn’t - the line just seems a little bit more natural with no abrupt bends. The panoramic picture is what the viewing public will see, and shows most clearly that whilst the railway is level, the road really undulates !

Coming on well. Will be a great train watching layout when you work your scenic magic!

So when locos run off the baseboard edge…there truly is a prototype for everything…..

Yes I get that. I suspect something like a 3’ Parry People Mover is what’s required. Good for the eco credentials too…..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parry_People_Movers

That looks like a doorway of some kind he’s standing in. Can probably roughly scale off that. I don’t think he rivalled DeValera in the height stakes ! I’m not that tall myself but I won’t be volunteering to be scanned by ModelU dressed like that….. To be honest, you could get an HO scale Preiser station master or policeman and stick a few shiny dots of paint on and it would look fine.

Nice. The 800 class looks -most prototypically - suitably careworn!

The Time Traveller or the Invisible Man? Could be either in Donegal !

Thanks J-mo - it’s all scratch built, using an Alphagraphix card kit as a plan. Card sheet as the core structure, with plastic stone sheet on top, and corrugated Evergreen for the shelter. Windows are individually added layers of microstrip. Card strips for roof tiles to give layered effect, and etched valances from 3mm Society.

Excellent idea, John. My brother models 009 and the stuff coming out commercially now is tremendous. Kato tram chassis are incredibly reliable and smooth foundations for a variety of projects too - I have been most impressed by them and there are a number of good almost-Irish 3D prints available to fit them. The other end of the payout is also a Kiltubrid pastiche - with the road/rail bridges and t-junction.

With the vast bulk of heavy duty scenery now done - mostly set dressing left - it was time to bite the bullet, clean the track and see if trains actually ran after months of blasting the layout with glue, ballast and scenic fibres. Mercifully yes. Although some 3mm scale tree surgeons will be required as ‘Fury’s’ roof was knocked off by a branch - it can be glimpsed lying at the far platform end….The crew have parked their train in the overgrown siding and repaired across the road for a restorative after that shock ! That siding is very handily placed for bringing in kegs of the black liquidation - it may be in use more often than it looks…

Great to see such progress. It’s a lot of effort but will really set off the end product.

Thanks everyone. Bit of Bank Holiday spare time means that Drumkeeran Road station is now more or less done..the inspiration from Kiltubrid on the C and L is probably clear !! You can just see the corrugated waiting shelter beyond the station house. The whitewash was done in this way to assist sighting on curves. Various C and L stations were painted various ways, some being white overall, but I liked the distinctive 2-tone Kiltubrid style. The freight siding clearly sees little traffic….

Yep. Pretty sure I was on that

What was the consist of that MRSI special to Westport in the early 90s? I have a vague recollection of spending part of it in the NIR executive coach 913.

Never even got that far! The solebars just kept fracturing on me when I tried popping the wheels in….

Tell us more, Andy. I got a 3mm scale C and L brake from there and have really struggled with it…..

From a scratch builder’s perspective, I’ll grant you that it’s a lot more of an enticing option than the compound curves of a regular AEC….and it does have an offbeat appeal, like one of those Neilson tanks - another case of putting straight lines where most designers put curves !

The Bulleid numbers were 2660-2665….but I agree re the looks….:)

REC is ‘Railway Enthusiasts Club’ - GB based group which did a lot of Irish tours - you’ll see the headboard on the SLNC pic above. 2661 may be the number - the unofficial REC archive records a Bulleid of that no in one of their photos.

The famous steam tour of 64 visited this branch but I think this image is c 54-57, when the REC had a number of Irish visits, including a run on the 1115 Sligo-Enniskillen goods, behind the SLNC’s premier loco image below courtesy @Irishswissernie That’s what I thought at first but for the cooling tower….

Ballasting under way. Hopefully impression of a 3’ byway emerging. I had originally been going to use 009 set track throughout but decided on flexible for scenic front half of layout. You can see the transition curve here in the distance as it begins to segue into the set track curve