Galteemore

Unless they’ve used the wrong pic, that’s a OO gauge one Tony - even less interest to you! The coupling looks like a standard Bachmann OO one. There may well be interest on here.,,

Looking good David - and some fine soldering!! This sounds a most familiar tale though. Fettling the curves on my little tank took ages. I was genuinely anxious that the rods would end up clouting the valances. When I tried running the loco there was a shower of sparks accompanied by ominous grinding noises - before everything shorted out. As you know better than I, it’s possible to build Alphagraphix locos to 36.75 - but not always easy - I suspect that they are designed primarily for 32mm wheels which fit in that little bit more comfortably. To fix the issue, I had to take a Dremel to the inside of the F6 and grind away various bits where the flanges were rubbing things they shouldn’t. It was test and adjust all the way through but all came good in the end...looks like you’re sorting the issues as they come up!

I think it finally closed to Rathkenny in 1940 and the rails were probably lifted in short order given what was happening that year...which also meant it was a rather inauspicious time to go taking photos of a transport asset - even a redundant one.

What a beautiful loco, Leslie!

Nice work. Unusual prototype too.

I did enjoy the time travel in the new IRRS journal - showing @leslie10646 back in 1963!

Nice prospect, John. Tony Ragg has built a rather splendid one which I have seen at a show. Oddly, this is one of the easier ones for 7mm as Alphagraphix have a card kit to work off - and also produce suitable w/m bogie frames.

Looking good David! The F6 I recently built had a similar fix for the curved running plate, although the J18 seems to have a bit more meat in the footplate which should make construction more solid. I found that building the superstructure with the loco clamped to a piece of Formica helped keep it all square.

Nice work Noel. Number on the frame looks especially good

Isn’t that what finescale is all about?

The Loughrea and Ballinrobe lines had 79lb rails originally on half-round sleepers. FB rail was used AFAIK. In 7mm we tend to use code 100 - am guessing you could get off with code 70 which I have seen recommended in 4mm.

Wow! Another masterpiece takes shape...

My biggest regret re my student days is that I now realise I was living not far from Richard Chown and could have applied to be an operator on Castle Rackrent.....how amazing it would have been to have seen that huge 36.75mm system.... I made up for that a little at least by arranging a meeting in 1991 with the late P D Hancock of Craig and Mertonford fame. A highly reclusive man, he only agreed to see me because I was studying the same subject at the same university he had attended!

Very nice. And a lovely shot of the GNR MAK diesel too...

Cheers Ernie. I for one am most grateful that the SLNC stuff is in your hands - given your generosity in sharing your treasure trove.

This sounds so familiar to my inner monologue last month. Every time you look, there are more of those things!! I ruminated on several ways of building it, including brass sheet punched on a press - but there just is no shortcut, largely due to the distinctively bolted ribs. Looks terrific so far.

Looking good Angus. Traditional it may be but the front view offers a bit more scope for detailing - as you know, the area under the canopy at Dromahair is rather rich in poster boards, barrows and scales. Unlike Manorhamilton and Glenfarne, the ‘street frontage’ at Dromahair is most uninspiring as it was basically the back of a rather plain house - no elaborate door, canopy or such - photo taken last summer. The level crossing etc at the Ballygawley end might offer some scope for trompe l’oeil distractions. At the Lisgorman end, a telegraph pole and some verdancy might serve...

Nice work David. You did it a much cleverer way than I for the angle. I used T section Evergreen and stuck individual bolt heads down each side.... What I did find useful for the detail strips was a solvent called Limonene which is much gentler and less aggressive than the Plastic Weld I used for the main construction.

And the North Down stations to yellow for the Alliance party ....

Got mine for £8 Leslie (after some negotiation - it’s in the genes!). I well remember that bookshop and the gentlemanly Jim Crozier. His brother Sid produced a rather fine coal-fired SG3 in 5” gauge I think ....

Dark blue was Eastern. Orange was North Eastern. I’m talking about BR colour schemes BTW, not making any kind of socio-political commentary on the Irish demographic scene !

Great to see. There are some lovely red ones displayed at Cultra, scratch built by Drew Donaldson (in 7mm scale) many years ago. These will be something special and add a bit of authentic colour to some 50s freights !

A small number were so turned out early on for running with passenger trains.

Having studied H vans a lot of late I agree! I wonder if the main body material varied over time too - as some seem to have acquired external reinforcement panels on the ends.

Really nice work Angus.