Galteemore

After another soldering session today, fixing a few bits that had made a bid for freedom, and adding some details from various photos of the real No 42 (such as extra pipe on fireman’s side and some odd lifting loops on the tanks) the F6 had a thorough rub over with scrapers to get off the excess solder, followed by a number of washes. She won’t be brass for long.....waft of primer tomorrow will reveal additional areas for filler on top of those I can already see! I managed to knock off the white metal whistle - which is in a rather vulnerable spot anyway. Replaced with a Laurie Griffin brass one.

Iconic piece of Irish railway infra. Nice work

Fair enough! I meant commercialised in its broadest sense, and the outcome would depend on who was running it! What I essentially meant was that the mere prospect of Dick running up and down between the metropolis of Fintonagh and the contiguous attraction of the junction is unlikely to stir the soul for many. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon it ain’t. So the only way such an attraction would survive in that location would be as part of a wider ‘interpretive centre’ or ‘experience’. The aesthetic sparseness of the original being compromised by the clutter of cafes and market stalls. Having spent much of my early life fundraising for the RPSI, I am keenly aware that main line steam in Ireland is kept running by flogging cuddly toys, raffle tickets, and other ‘gizzits’ on board a slick series of money-spinning Santa/Easter trains, with support from other commercial inputs such as the London ‘syndicate’. It could not be otherwise. What I am also thinking of is the Giants Causeway scenario, where the original bucolic charm has (necessarily?) been overtaken by something very different. And did the Blennerville experience really replicate the charm of two grey tanks battling through to Dingle trailing a caravan of dereliction behind them? To revisit the original scenario, as an astute traveller to our land observed 250 years ago, ‘nothing lasts long in Ireland except the miles’. The tram would eventually have been replaced by some fibreglass monstrosity on an agriculturally welded angle iron chassis pulled by a tractor painted brown. With ‘Dick’ written on the bonnet.

Edited reply below!

Unfortunately, I think it would have been over-commercialised and sentimentalised. Think Disney World. The tram did run again - once. When the Belfast Transport museum was opened - initially at Queens Quay, a horse was requisitioned from Harkness hauliers to jog the assembled dignitaries down the yard. The Lord Mayor took the reins at one point !

West of the Bann. A world apart. One that I have always found more congenial than the east of my youth!

So I understand. And not only that - ‘Dick’ was a mare!

83!! Worth a soaking. He was still driving when I went to school, and I saw some others of that class, like Davie McDonald, but driving an 80 class was a bit of comedown for them with not a lot of scope for virtuosity. Sorry to hear about 10. Didn’t the real one have a hole in the cab floor by the end?

This layout is terrific. It’s got that elusive thing we are all after when we model - ‘atmosphere’. That was clear when you put up those initial pics without trains in them - always the acid test of a layout!

That’s lovely, Leslie. More Harry Ramsey’s driving style than Dan McAtamney!

Looks an indeterminate shade of disgraceful grot - ie just right!

You’ve been busy, David!! That’s a useful tip on the turnouts.

Cheers Angus. This was what made me pause the build for a long time before starting it. I thought about building it from brass and putting the sides through my rivet press. But that wouldn’t sort the bolt heads running along the ribs. The only thing was to get red microstrip (so I could see it!) and cut off individual bolt heads one by one...the Limonene is a great find as it doesn’t dissolve tiny parts like that. When each bolt head turned translucent with solvent, I knew it was stuck on. This layout will have only 1 H van!! If I was clever, I’d have simply made one side and one end and made a resin casting.....

Thanks MM. Chassis is from a kit but body is plastic sheet and strip with a brass roof. A pic of the build is a few posts above.

One of my favourite SLNC pics hangs on my wall at work - it shows a ‘Holy Well’ or ‘Garland Sunday’ excursion at Glenfarne. Lurking on a siding is an H van, which although only in traffic since 1953, made regular appearances on the Sligo Leitrim up to closure. So I had to have one. As pics above show, basic plastic structure on an Alphagraphix chassis. A card kit from that source gave the dimensions, and one of @Irishswissernie ‘s excellent pics gave useful info. Pics below illustrate various of the themes above - including my attempt at a tribute to the original picture! Also a shot alongside my SLNC van shows how small traditional Irish vans are by comparison. And if @leslie10646 can have a consignment clip on his 4mm H van - I had to try and include one! Sorry the images are all over the shop and not in order, taken at various stages in the finishing process. And just for @jhb171achill, no black ironwork in sight ! Few useful learning tips from this including use of Limonene solvent, and a real fabric roof, ‘doped’ with PVA to seal the nap. It’s not perfect by any means, but given that I almost reduced the underframe to scrap during construction, it could have turned out worse! https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/6593632857/in/album-72157628618688939/

Nice signals. May we see photos of it in action, please ?

I’m assuming that’s why Noel’s waiting for winter Leslie - to have time to Dremel off that taper and insert a parallel tube..and you can hear 4 scream here.... That’s always struck me as one of the frustrations about the WT as a model - from smokebox to tank it’s largely Fowler - after that it’s Ivatt/Fairbairn!

Nice Noel, although the LMS hooter will have to go! I never liked No 4’s whistle which always sounded like a scream. The GNRI version was more melodious.

Nice job!

Spent the day with my soldering iron, in a challenge to finish this loco. Main construction now complete. The etches are now empty! What slowed things down was my decision to replicate the smokebox door clips as used on my prototype 42. This took some trial and error to work out a way of fabricating from 2 brass strips with high-temp solder, sticking on with 145. It’s a messy finish as lots of fettling was required to make it all fit - thanks to my mistakes earlier in the build. Rather than find nasty surprises at the end, I have also regularly tested the fit of the body and chassis, which means a bit of reworking at times. Thus the boiler unit was on and off several times today alone. I also like to solder on my white metal castings, which is more solid but can be a bit solder-heavy. This caused some angst when I realised that my first effort on the chimney needed fixed...So lots of tidying up and filling in gaps to come. But it’s progress....already spotted that ejector pipe on fireman’s side is wrong for 42 - that’s going to go!

Mayner - that’s fantastic work. You’ve really captured the grace of the original.

Reading about it or seeing it happen?

Forced myself back to the brass tonight. Bunker extension and footplate valances fitted plus some minor bits such as steps and front handrail on tanks - paying due heed to the the form these took on 42, my chosen loco. Having looked carefully at the loco in recent days, it was clear that much of the roof was wrong, not matching the side profile. Most of the evening was thus spent with the large 80w iron out, using its brute power in unsoldering the cab and then rebending to better achieve the Inchicore profile. I also discovered a dry joint on the front end which led to the entire buffer beam falling off, with other sundry bits and pieces also falling off as I put things right. On more than one occasion I was ready to ring the Hammond Lane Foundry to see if they still accept steam locomotives for disposal.....

That beige livery was applied for the movie, ‘Darling Lili’, starring Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, and 184, which limped asthmatically among in its cameo role, shoved by A16 disguised as a luggage van! 184 still wore remains of that livery when it was first overhauled in 1977/8 for RPSI service : the hasty overhaul was occasioned by a much more famous role for 184 in the First Great Train Robbery - also famously starring Moate station - hard to imagine now. Rather like the Quiet Man, it’s a lovely example of really professional film-making capturing the Irish railway scene. Cruelly cosmetically mutilated 184 might have been but those aerial shots of her thumping along are still thrilling!

Indeed I did Leslie, although it was more the common street Greek of the first century than the high classical style.