Galteemore

Looks brilliant Robert!

It’s not a rerun. It’s a new book, focusing on the GSWR rather than the GSR.

Lovely. It’s the details that help here - ‘Irish’ signals, phone box and crossing gates set the scene even before trains appear !

Great progress David and I know what you mean about the face! You need have no fears on that score - it’s really acquiring character.

My understanding (based on 7mm) is that ultra scale stuff like P4 and S7 has much less tolerance in stuff like flanges. They are so fine that there is not much scope for error (and also why so much effort goes into compensation systems to keep stuff on the track). One of many reasons I went for 5’3” in fine scale and not ScaleSeven!

I think you mean now for a WT fore and aft ! Brilliant work - like the Cravens factory production line. You’ve earned that cake...

There’s an article in the latest ‘New Irish Lines’ I think

Lovely neat work Ken and a nice little prototype.

Great photos above of railbus both finished and in progress. That last picture of DVs could be Portrush on a summer Saturday. One of the nicest livery ironies was in Belfast Corporation. Most trams were dark blue and cream, but the oldest, open top, trams were red and cream - just the same as the brand new trolleybuses !

Happy Christmas Ernie - thanks for the gift (and the others you give every day !).

Merry Christmas from Rosses Point. Not sure even the SLNC could handle livestock like this!

He looks a Lidl worse for wear

Inspiring as ever, David - great progress to see, and learn from. Your soldering is also very clean !

Thanks Jim. He has a few additional comments to add for the captions if you’re keen !

As a teenager, I spent hours going through my dad’s collection of images, and thought I had seen pretty much what was out there, SLNC wise. In those days you bought slides and photos off very basic, unillustrated, catalogue descriptions, and you picked out what looked like the best. But what delightful and convenient access we have right now. These are halcyon days for researchers, with so much stuff available. Many thanks to Ciaran and of course our own Ernie ! If you’re not an IRRS member, this archive alone is worth the sub cost.

Sorry JHB - can’t do that, much as I’d like to, due to IRRS access conditions. It’s a generator van, also pictured in the recent RC Riley album....

Enniskillen is a ‘Large Tank’. So she needs...large tanks. And now they are finally on, after weeks of thinking through. She’s fresh from her Viakal bath (to clean off flux) and has a few water drops still glistening. In a good kit much of the planning is done for you with helpful tabs and slots to locate parts. With scratch building I find I spend at least two or three times as long on planning as building. Riveting the tank sides took much effort and many attempts, but turns out it was only half the fun!! 10 thou NS is very workable but also a bit bendy in long sections, so further planning.....Cue much adding of angle and rod to brace the sides and act as anchors for the other sides and ends, which also needed some rivet press attention. The tanks have a raised edge on the outside faces which needs accounting for. Anyway, stuck it all together today, adding beading and handrails as we went. Final job was adding some brackets at base of tank fronts. Thankfully all the reject rivet panels from previous work have given me a rich storehouse of ready riveted strips! Tack soldered cab faces in for now, just to give an idea of how she will look in terms of height, although cab front plate should be a good bit further forward. These were a huge task in themselves - especially the 0.3mm wires individually added one at a time for window grilles - but are effectively finished now including window frames. Hopefully the character of the loco is beginning to emerge. That’s now the ‘square’ bits of the loco effectively done. On to the round and curvy bits....or for those of you remember Playschool, time to look through the round window....

Nice work Noel. Really brings it alive

Exactly Mayner, that’s what I thought it was at first, remembering an old Five Foot Three article. It does look rather excessively military. Given postwar shortages, wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of the platework off that wagon was repurposed.

According to the McMahon Riley album, a generator van used for heating with diesel 28, which presumably lacked the onboard resources for train heating when working passenger turns.

Yes it’s the bottom photo I recall. Scary how ago that is !

Log on to IRRS Flickr site and select Clements album. It’s about page 16. It’s the SLNC ones I’m talking about JHB but there’s quite a few GN and GS locos in 1920s garb.

Fantastic new photos on the site from the Clements collection. Includes lots of SLNC photos, @Irishswissernie! Some very rare views, including 1928 photos of locos in old livery. Lots of other stuff of general interest -including narrow gauge - I even think there’s Cork and Muskerry in there too!

Thanks Ernie. DCC and its intricacies I cannot get my head round but this stuff I can begin to understand ! Also helps explain why - if they were on a tight schedule - they opted for railcar hire rather than doing what various English enthusiast parties did then - have a bogie stuck on the back of a goods working. Given that the UK was still under very tight rationing in 1950, would be interesting to see what the customs men made of a party of Englishmen making a quick trip in a privately hired train across the border and back!

Great stuff Jim. It’s a great website, which I have used for many years, and your new material is a very useful addition.