Galteemore

Fascinating to see that mileage was calculated from Dundalk. Easy to think - as I always did - that the Derry Road was Portadown-Derry via Dungannon - in reality the line was properly Derry-Enniskillen-Dundalk, a blend of the Londonderry-EKN and EKN-Dundalk railways as the INWR.

No worries! He identified the electric light issue as an eliminating factor to rule out some similar locations which were gaslit by 1953. He spent much of his early banking career around INW territory - so knows the lines well- but unfortunately just after the system closed! He did manage a few runs on a lifting train though. He thinks it is C 1, 2,or 3 on a Clones- Enniskillen working , photo taken from EKN-Clones-Belfast train - he thinks it looks like a BUT set.

Maguiresbridge is his next guess....

My dad suggests Ballyhaise...

If not there should be I think!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CIE-Irish-Railway-s-Luggage-Van-/114289446755?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Indeed, Eoin - good points there. If only Thomas the Tank engine had featured an Irish character for commercial exploitation....’Boyne the blue engine, Maedbh the bluey-green engine, Drumm the battery engine, Moin the aromatically smoky engine....’ Much as we all cringe at the Hornby GWR tank loco with a flying snail on it, it at least represented a branded ‘Irish’ introduction to the hobby at relatively low cost. Sorry JHB - I know this picture will just ruin your afternoon.

Well yes. Trainee art restorers are encouraged to practice but you don’t start off with the Mona Lisa!

Sorry Dave - it fell off the back of a lorry - know how it is ...anyway you wouldn’t need a trailer unless you’re driving one of these....

My dad has one in the back garden....will see what I can do !

This is very fine work, Ken, and a most inspiring build. Carlsberg don’t make WT class tanks but if they did....

Van looks suitably grungy and careworn, David! Think you have got away with it and managed to make a purse - to continue the pigs ear metaphor! Loco is spot on - just like an F W Shuttleworth photo. Nice to see a Leitrim class just poking into shot...

Amazing to think that picture was taken 45 years ago - the loco had only been out of traffic 15 years at that point!

Looking good David - still plucking up the courage to finish painting the final bits on mine! I have a vague memory of door amendments,too....

One great thing you have done, Enda, is to curve the track through the station. Simple perhaps but incredibly effective.

Not as a rule, no..... http://www.taillampphotography.com/SGWR 1366_1371.htm

It’s one of those situations, I think, where one cannot eat one’s cake and still have it (I struggle to understand that phrase the other way round). Model railway production has vastly improved but customer expectations on availability may also have to change. From the 1920s until the 1990s (barring World War II/Irish Emergency I) model railway products were freely available but from a very limited range. Hornby Dublo for instance, would only furnish a very limited LM region layout with an 8F, 4MT, Duchess and class 20. The catalogue hardly changed year on year - and only by the last few years was Super Detail rolling stock produced. Otherwise the standard of HD models hardly changed from 1938 to 1968. Factory jigs and personnel at Binns Road were dedicated to the same task for decades. The business model has changed now, and model locos are produced in shorter runs but with increasing prototype fidelity as years go by. Compare a Hornby loco of the 80s with today - and the standard is changing all the time. To go backwards is pricey and inconvenient. As the business model changes, so must the purchasing one. And the sad reality is that you have to buy it when you see it.

Jon is a legend in the 7mm Signal world. You can see why...... .

Glad you learned from my mistakes David! Both looking excellent.

Yes, Ernie, I suppose the Manx Electric, and the Grimsby system are the closest parallels in these islands to interurbans. Although it could be said that the Dalkey route trams were rather special and relatively unusual for these islands, being bogie vehicles.https://en.sporvognsrejser.dk/other/howth-national-transport-museum-postkort-05

Lovely stuff. Even inspired a quick research trawl on Willwood/Crosse and Blackwell....http://builtdublin.com/factory-26-kings-inns-street-dublin-1/

Stunning work as ever, David. Very nicely finished off. The fireman looks suitably resigned to the prospect of a hard slog to the main line!

George - just to give the whole package...Here’s the vice @Georgeconna

TBM 220 comes alone George. There is a cheap vice available. But for precision you really need the compound table and steel vice. I also upgraded to a Roehm Chuck which makes swapping drill bits easier than using the supplied collets.

Long story short, @David Holman! I have recently made my first small steps in metal scratchbuilding as opposed to plastic work. I quickly discovered that the Archimedes drill does not cut nickel silver sheet quickly or efficiently! I discovered that many modellers use a small pillar drill. I’d fought shy of this before as I thought it would be bulky and not really of much value to my needs. This one is ideal though - it’s a Proxxon TBM220 with compound table. It’s already proved its worth. As for the new project, I’ll hopefully be able to post an update this week.