Galteemore

That depends on whether you enjoy drinking oil or applying it as a lubricant Loco tea mugs tend to be white enamel. The colours may denote different grades of oil. For certain high temp applications, for instance, you need to use heavy grade steam oil which won’t separate under heat. A memory from my days in 16mm live steam when we used heavy oil for cylinder lubing and light oil for bearings.

Shades of the Addams family….he was a real living person, honest

Wow x 3. What a treat. Beautiful little engine which runs as nicely as she looks. Well done indeed!! Backheads are interesting, and I think you’ll get away with this one. They are often far more dull and unobtrusive in real life than modellers portray them (inc myself before I took the trouble to look at the real thing). This is one of my pics of 131 last year. Note how dull and non-shiny it is. None of the bright red and brass fittings we often see modelled……and as for out of scale gauge, your craftsmanship distracts away from that.

Thanks John. I’m just finishing off my first ever 4-4-0 and have already found that I need to boost the front spring to lift the frames off the bogie. I’ve built a weighted tender as per Sharman. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out….

They were rather niche. Would also have presented some significant modelling problems. Small 4-4-0s can be problematic to motorise and balance - even in 7mm you may not get away with a conventional motor gearbox combo. The GN J-class, for instance, requires a rather expensive 3-stage set of gears from ABC as pictured. Belpaire boilers make life a little easier but a round-topped firebox rather limits your wiggle room.

Lovely ! Also shows importance of having a crew on a tender loco. You can get off without them on a tank loco or BR standard because it’s so dark in there but less so with an open cab tender engine. Those two look very good

Yet another reason to distrust the NCC - that Courtaulds place in Carrick is turning out artificial fabric by the ton. With its own sidings and two tank engines too!!!

That’s how she came off eBay. Thankfully I have spares. She also needs a few other things but I won’t derail your thread. Did I glimpse Mr Weaver at one point?

Please, with milk and SG

It’s you VS me, Davey…..

Taxi? join the Q!!!

There’s also historical backing for peripatetic Us. 197 Lough Neagh made it as far as Mountmellick in 1960. Pic on IRRS Flickr

Fabulous - I figured someone must have had pics of the event !

Could that leading coach behind the VS be one of the ex LMS coaches which ended up on the GN? It is rather narrower than the other stock

Amazing to think those blue GMs have done longer in service than the SG3 class !

That’s part of the RPSI’s current problem. No one in NI qualified to drive main line steam!

Fabulous stuff Patrick. I think the RBAI railway society ran a tour shortly afterwards with an ex GNRI U class. Hint hint….

Now that has to be one of your biggest challenges to date….

Yes it probably is. By 1964, though, it was a rare sight to see a CIE steam loco in Dublin. Steam on ex GN into Dublin persisted until 66, mostly Jeeps by then. The last VS run was in 65

Last pic is especially interesting. Steam ‘officially’ ended on CIE in ‘63……just as in NI occasional steam lingered on until some months after the final spoil train.

Fab. Have checked and that is Galteemore Snr in top pic - young man in brown jacket walking towards the photographer

Looks absolutely fabulous. I was a little troubled at the start of this project at the thought that we would never see the little CVR tanks again. But the transformation into Swillybegs has actually included them and introduced a whole new cast of characters. Really exciting to see it developing.

One of those tat things. But look at the GNRI crest on the wall. I grew up looking at just such a one every day! The artist has actually done a fair render of the Hornby Dublo look

Now that’s really good

Fab work. Here’s one for starters - Eire Trains by Ciaran Cooney