Galteemore

Thanks Eoin. How to turn basic parts like a smokebox door or a buffer housing ? I can manage simple paring down and managed to produce a basic steam manifold last night / which then flew across the room and vanished !

Great work Eoin. Just getting to grips with my lathe so a few of your excellent tutorials would be of great interest !!

Nice to see some intelligent use of a model railway by media rather than the usual banalities! Layout looked well on screen - great work !

My father has a few similar tales from UTA byways in the early 60s....and only yesterday I read about the late Billy Steenson of York Road shed who was set a challenge on his turn driving the 1740 to Ballymena. Two pints were set beside the water tower at Ballymena, and would be removed at 1810.....

Interesting subject. Speedy tablet exchange on the NCC main line to Derry was critical to the tight timetabling that this LMS component prided itself on. 60mph exchanges using tablet catchers were quite common - eyewitnesses of the operation in diesel days testify how noisy it could be at close hand! The LMS Society have some great stuff on this.http://lmssociety.org.uk/topics/singleLineWorking2.php In Northern Ireland, the LMS's Northern Counties Committee adopted the Manson system for much of its single track lines and equipped a high proportion of its front line locomotives with the catcher or 'snatcher' as it was known over there. Photographs indicate that most, if not all, of the following NCC classes of locomotive were fitted on the left hand side with the Manson style of tablet exchange equipment: 2-6-0s: W Nos. 90-93 (all); 4-4-0s: A, B, B2, B3, D, U, U1, U2 (all); and 2-4-0s: G, No. 40's being on the tender. Even J class 2-4-0ST Nos. 25 and 47 were equipped with the arm on the diminutive bunkers sides. The 2-6-4T WT class, colloquially known as 'The Jeeps', were a special case. The first example No. 5 was fitted with the apparatus on both sides in the conventional position below the rear cab window, but due to the considerable width of the cab, the arm was rather short and hence the head very low down. This meant the fireman had to lean out of the door and reach down to a similar level thereby exposing himself to some risk of danger. As a consequence, subsequent engines had the apparatus fitted to the cab door, and No. 5 in time likewise modified. Generally, to eliminate further risk of misalignment as a locomotive negotiated a curve with super-elevation, it was found desirable to locate ground tablet apparatus exchange posts on straight lengths of track. Ground apparatus was unlikely to be provided at terminal stations, due to the train being stationary prior to departure, or due to stop upon arrival, the token could easily be passed over by hand either at the platform or as the locomotive slowly passed the signal box. It was also permitted to throw off the tablet as the train passed a signal box at certain locations, including on the NCC: Larne (non-stop trains composed of corridor stock); Larne Harbour; Cookstown Jct; Macfin (non-stop Down Derry Central trains); Coleraine Jct (trains running tender first from Portrush, also trains from Portrush and Derry line at the Down platform); Portrush; and Derry (passenger trains only).

And it’s.....

Very nice indeed. Look forward to seeing her with numbers etc

http://www.trainweb.org/railwest/gen/signal/sl-intro.html See also here:,https://www.bluebell-railway.com/brps/signalling-staffs/ The rings are indeed significant. They reflect the ‘configuration’ of the staff to ensure that the crew of a train have the right staff for the section - especially significant where a line was made up of numerous consecutive single line sections. Often trains were worked by ‘staff and ticket’ and the crew might only see the staff and be given a ticket. It would be easy for staffs to get mixed up without a means of differentiating them, which is what the rings do - as well as their mechanical function in the instrument, explained well by Dhu Varren below. The crew can easily see if they have or are being shown the correct staff for the section they are entering and haven’t just been given back the staff for the section they have just left ! Assuming, of course, that they bother checking. At Abermule in 1921 they didn’t: ..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abermule_train_collision (it was a tablet rather than staff in this instance but you get the idea). This is how the SLNC differentiated them...

Excellent stuff Eoin. Would appreciate some pics of the lathe when it’s sorted, too!

Very nice indeed. Paint it right and will look most convincing.

You could also make it into a J11 0-6-0T - well known in Cork but without a curvy running board to worry about ! Nos 201 and 208 were definitely used on the CBSC lines, sometimes on passenger turns.

Looks good - those 33s are rather nice. What may help make the illusion even more convincing is a smokebox door wheel and the ‘dogs’ around the edges. These are a classically Irish signature. I modelled no 42, and although a pain to make in brass, helped finish it off.

Looks very nice! Good plan for the model too, as a ‘nevawazza’. What may help cement the illusion is incorporating typical BCDR features such as the smokebox handrail, quadruple front cab windows, and the curved tanks.

How wonderful. One of my earliest memories is seeing this book on the shelf at home, so it’s lovely to see this livery coming to life on Wolf Dog. How Richard Chown would have loved seeing this running on his system! BTW, I think the lining looks great!

Very nice work on both. Coach - that a Ratio donor?

Very nice work so far. The signature features such as the cab windows are coming through.

It struck me recently that Rosses Point could easily flex from 1930-1960....all I’ll say for now is that I have wheels, motor, paint and etches in place for a GSR loco when and if that 0-6-4T lumbers out of the erecting shop....and there’s the possibility of a maroon carriage or two.

Ex GSWR D10 class. Withdrawn 1957. Picture is post 1930 as it received a Belpaire boiler that year.

This is really good, Noel. Very nicely observed.

Genius idea about the jig. Wish I’d thought of it yesterday....

Fantastic view. Typically varied MGW style consist. What a wonderfully Irish railway it was.

Please do! I’m on the final furlong of building an Irish Beyer Peacock tank loco with similar features so it would be interesting to see how someone else approached it. As careful study of the locos shows, there are distinct family likenesses between the CBSC, BCDR and SLNC tanks, as one might expect. I have used an interior view of a BCDR cab to inform me as my prototype was very camera shy in that regard...

No problems. I realised that but I think the wheelbases may be similar so it might give you some ‘known dimensions’ if all else fails....pending a visit to Cultra to measure up no 30 yourself !

Worth contacting Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (part of wider Science Museum group) who hold the BP archive. My brother has guardianship of this built by the late Fred Graham - I know it’s the larger 4-4-2T but I could ask him to make some measurements....