Galteemore

Wonderful Jim, I can almost hear the steady beat of that EE power unit. Nice to see the containers at stage left. All helps set the scene for modelling.

Excellent stuff. Recreating a real locale is challenging but doubly rewarding. You will find yourself learning much in the research and the building.

Not a million miles off a GSR/GSWR 301 class/D11 - in original form. Those Wainwright locos are things of real beauty and even those of us who prize the Irish 4-4-0 as the epitome of loco elegance must stop and pause! The big problem is the splasher design which doesn’t fit with much Irish practice.

It can be quite deceptive! The Clogher Valley tanks don’t look big but FourDees had to scale them down to fit 009 profiles: their website has an interesting contrast profile of the scaled down versus actual scale.........https://www.fourdees.co.uk/clogher

Some small Irish 3’ stuff will work out ok on 009 track - other larger prototypes will not! The Lough Swilly mega-tanks for instance, really need to be on 12mm track.

Excellent. Colin Boocock’s ‘Irish Railway Album’ contains a shot taken around the same time, inside the works, of the repaint under way.

The ‘black’ one is in Hull and the livery has a real patina of age. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was last painted in the 20s. As for the poster’s original question. A WT body to go on an LMS 2-6-4T chassis is probably the closest to a sweet spot. The Jeep shape is a subtle but distinctive one, and is not a simple conversion from any RTR body, so a printed version is attractive. Almost any Irish layout set from 1970 on can justify one painted up as No 4. And an NI based layout set from 1950 on could have almost as many as you like!

I think No 30’s BCDR livery was applied at York Road in the 60s. The loco had a lucky escape into preservation at all, at one point being hidden in Cookstown Junction shed by the UTA CME when the price of copper went up! She was recovered when the precious metals market was trading at less exalted levels. Funnily enough the York Road painters got no 74 turned out perfectly in NCC colours!! In fairness, some early preservationists were so exuberant at having saved locos from scrap that ‘accurate’ liveries took less priority than they would today.. The Keighley and Worth Valley is now seen as the epitome of 50s LM region authenticity. Fifty years ago it was operated as the ‘Worth Valley’ railway with its own livery to match....-and the less said about the Caledonian Fairburn the better, although GN men might think it a WT improved !!!

I suppose 100% of the 3’ NCC Portstewart Tramway loco stock survives . I do agree though - one of the huge LLSR tanks would be nice - as would one of the classic little NCC 2-4-2Ts.

Agreed, John - I simply put in a T2 for variety! A 2nd or even 3rd WT could have been acquired - a number of Jeeps lasted until at least late 1971 in storage. Funding was the problem - it was enough of a stretch to pick up one. The RPSI were also wary of taking on locos that required a lot of work in those days. Until the early 80s, perhaps, Whitehead had very basic overhaul facilities.

In terms of suitability for current loads and steam diagrams ( the real RPSI money spinners are the Dublin short hauls) etc the Q class 131 is about as spot on as you’d get - bar the turning issue. A Glover tank would be even better, arguably....image from Mike Morant

I’ve had this conversation with my dad, who’s been in the RPSI since 1964. He told me the initial plan was simply to save a GNR rail bus! They have managed instead to put 3 GN 4-4-0s back in steam....we could have been a lot worse off. I do think it unfortunate that CIE didn’t set aside say 6 locos that may have been a representative ‘national collection’ as the UK did. I think the absence of a GSWR 4-4-0 and MGW 2-4-0 is especially unfortunate.

At least you now know who all the other script contributors were ! Seriously, Patrick, having had my own material diluted at times for public consumption, no one here will hold you accountable for RTE turning your silk purse into a sow’s ear....

And Finn McCool built it to bring basalt to Staffa ....the prototype of the Boris Burrow

Trackwork flowing very nicely in these shots, David. Nice to see the signalling being enhanced too. The Shell wagon looks right at home- sustenance for the Belmullet trawlers ? Please tell me that really is an SLNC large tank poking into view and I’m not hallucinating....after 9 months I’m seeing the things everywhere !

Don’t worry Patrick. In the highly unlikely event that you are associated with any egregious solecisms, your many friends here will rally round and maintain that you have been deepfaked!

A seminal issue of RM, and C J Freezer’s use of that phrase still echoes in the UK outline community to this day in heated debate !!

Yes, I must say it’s unusual to see Irish people getting so excited about flags!

Much wisdom here. I suspect, to be honest, that the bulk of the classification detail required will be on the post 1970 stuff, and the distinctions will be required for Supertrain/IR/IE etc. That’s, I think, where the production emphasis will be. Sadly, I don’t anticipate a cornucopia of GSW/GSR/CIE steam stock requiring differentiation. Easy classification for SLNC modellers! The green era 1880-1920 The black era 1920-1957

This forum is a fantastic resource and clearing house for all those with an interest in Irish railways - and some of us choose to make that interest tangible by modelling stuff. Others don’t and that’s fine - my own modelling has been intermittent over the years. I left NI in 1989, and returned to both north and south intermittently in the years following, but haven’t lived in Ireland now for some 15 years. My current location has no Irish modellers nearby that I know of. The Gauge 0 Guild Forum has been a huge help in developing my technical skills. What this forum offers is a group of people who ‘get’ Irish railways, and who can critique my work from a culturally informed perspective. Your comments and support are a constant encouragement on my workbench thread- so thanks to all wherever you are ! Posting stuff on here keeps me accountable and stops me slacking off too much....

Looks lovely George. Would a bead of Matt varnish grip it ? I’ve used that for brass nameplates before

Thanks George - I can see why the combination of trains and jet noise might be attractive to you...

Excellent George. Please post some vid!!

I thought that was a camogie game.

You can then puff the piece up as having had expert input. Sadly, it can all be a bit of a Potemkin village with very little real substance. What matters is telling a nice story that gives warm and fuzzy feelings...I am an academic historian by training, and have written a number of things, so this stuff really interests me. It’s actually really hard to stick to the the facts when you have an attractive agenda to push and the facts just don’t seem that binding. After all, one train looks just like another....