Galteemore

This is delightful. Very convincing and as scenic development continues will nicely lend itself to black and white photos appropriate to the era! Really like your 309. Those classic 4-4-0s don’t get modelled enough, but are absolutely key to any Irish layout set before 1960.

Roof looks good George - how’d you do it please? !

Very nice Eoin - lots of scope for you to work your magic! Nice tip - I’d forgotten to look at Slaters for a Belpaire backhead so ended up fabricating my own this week.....should have looked !

Looks great Jim. I took the liberty of turning it over...

Somewhere in Ernie’s archive, Jim. Early days of UTA ownership as it’s still in SLNC colours (nameplates are giveaway). Looks like Adelaide and I think that’s VS ‘Erne’ beside it.

It’s incredibly difficult to notice in b/w and sometimes colour unless the loco is sparkly clean. These are identical black engines : but clean and dirty they look very different.....my thanks to Ernie and RCTS....

Bloke to the left of the sign is probably Dr P Ransome-Wallis, a GP from Herne Bay in Kent and noted photographer. He features in another shot by HCC on Ernie’s site on the same day, and is named in the caption. Ransome-Wallis was a remarkable character who knew both Stanier and Churchward personally, and whose knowledge of locos was such that as a medical student in Edinburgh he was asked to lecture the local loco crews on valve gear. During WW2, he was a Navy surgeon and on a visit to the US saw the trial steaming of a Big Boy at Alco’s Schenectady plant. As a man acquainted with some of the finest loco works in the world, one wonders quite what he made of the SLNC set up at Manorhamilton....

John - quite right re Glenfarne and Florencecourt. This was especially so during the summer I think. Any ideas where such traffic may have originated ? Am assuming it was from Dublin/Belfast and carried in GN/CIE wagons with no transshipment, but will be hunting out that Florencecourt photo. I have a wagon load of drums for Rosses Point - much as I’d like to use an SLNC wagon for that it strikes me as unlikely and I should probably provide a CIE open.

Very helpful comms from the publisher just in and now appears that the item is well on the way through An Post. Collon Publishing posted it on day of purchase so great service from them. Really looking forward to it arriving.

Two weeks after ordering mine hasn’t appeared yet. Covexit no doubt. Sounds great though! Fascinating re the pay carriage. Roger did a model of that little Sprite I think. One of my favourites of that genre of loco was Drummond’s Bug which achieved remarkable feats on the LSWR and could convey the wrathful CME to wayward sheds at considerable speed !http://svsfilm.com/nineelms/bug.htm

Lovely Eoin. We had a tender version of that - they are fun little things. Nice job conserving the paint work too!

Sounds good. Tegral factory branch is interesting and historic with its Ballylinan back story. Some fantastic scope for a 141 shuffling about in the weeds.https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/ForgottenRailways/The-Wolfhill-Branch/i-Vndptrw/A

Nice work. Bit more info on what you did to get here would help many forum members along their modelling journey, I think - eg the 800 class - is that a Royal Scot conversion ?

Much wisdom above. Having begun broad gauge modelling myself two years ago, I can testify that there is much to commend in the Iain Rice cameo approach - a small self contained layout. Not much track required, not much stock, not much space needed, but lots of emphasis on the layout as a whole package - scenery, lighting etc. Hornby Trainmat it is not! An ideal way to prove concepts and get something sorted quickly. If you get bored with one aspect you can go and do something different on the layout, but a complete project can be assembled in a reasonable amount of time, giving a sense of progress and completion. Modelling is often as much of a psychological challenge as it is one of skill!

Brilliant stuff David. Was hoping we would get to see some of the lathe output. Those MGWR buffers are quite something - very delicate looking.

Telegraphic codes. GWR was a big user eg Mink, Hydra etc. https://www.svrwiki.com/Telegraph_codes First brass kit I made was an O gauge ‘Loriot’

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-golden-age-of-steam-tickets-136434508287 Hot on the heels of his BackTrack article, AirfixFan of this parish is doing an online talk for PRONI next month 18 Feb at 1400. Lots of images not used in the article, with expert commentary. So consider yourself invited!!

https://www.downrail.co.uk/rolling-stock/steam-crane-3084/

This is more your man here...https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274423615940 not far off Sligo Quay (from Eiretrains site).

Is a face beginning to emerge?

Unless you were a 4 wheeled wagon and got winched across the Craigavon bridge !

As I suspected, JHB, this was simply a premature screen grab, having looked at it online. The map appeared gradually on screen and all the lines appear in the end - even the SLNC!

The graphic is odd as it shows lines which closed in 1933 but not those still open in 57! Is it a screen grab of a graphic that was still ‘growing’ ? Re closures - there was certainly debate at Stormont re opening up at least part of the old BCDR main line in the early 50s. In one of his final speeches the late J M Andrews ( Prime Minister 1940-3 and former BCDR director whose mill had a private siding ) took the Govt to task over it.

Volume 2 of Irish Railways in Colour had a pic on p131

https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2438869 Basic story at the link above. and also here : https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1991-07-10a.1022.0