Galteemore

Thanks Paul. It’s all a bit mysterious to me too, and I’ve asked Allen what he thinks it might be. The label on the etch says J4 but that it ain’t !

Live steam one available from Regner

Thanks Paul - makes perfect sense now! Hopefully one of the carriage gurus such as @Paul 34F will recognise what we have here, as it matches nothing I can see in photos.

After a bit of advice please. I have just received a Worsley etch for a GNRI J4 coach. I’m pretty sure this isn’t actually a J4 as I can’t see any evidence of a brake compartment. That I can live with. However, I’m flummoxed as to two main points. 1. What it actually is, and how it’s laid out internally. 2. What I actually do with it! I can’t work out what to do with the floor etch and where the footboards go. The coach body is a mystery as it seems to have a slit running right along the middle for some reason. This will obviously have to be backed or filled with something. Any ideas or tips welcome please !!

The bearded gent is Bob Symes, an Austrian aristocrat who fled the Nazis and had a remarkable life. His WW2 service for instance - courtesy of Wikipedia… After gaining the required letter of recommendation, due to his ability to speak German, French, Arabic and English, Symes was commissioned as a Lieutenant into the Royal Navy, operating Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) in the Mediterranean while based in Alexandria.[2][3] Quickly rising to command his own boat, he broke anti-torpedo measures in a raid on Tripoli.[2][3] After rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he took part in protecting the landings that led to the liberation of Crete.[2][3]

Ah yes. That will be ‘The Antlerprise’

But mixed to a precise formula and not simply made up of any old pastel shades they had at the back of the paint shop

Literally my workbench itself this time! For some time it’s become apparent that the Enniskillen diorama was dominating the workbench. Lovely as it may be as a backdrop, much of the time it’s been used as a table for storing modelling things on. So I’ve upended it - it can be taken out of storage and made ready for photos in 5 minutes - and given the space back to modelling. Ironically I now have my longest test track ever..have installed a basic 5’3 line on a series of diorama baseboards stitched together, hidden at back of bench. Pretty it ain’t but functional it is! It doesn’t obtrude but allows long enough of a run to give locos a good workout.

Cheers Harry. Yes, the UTA black is rather fine and actually made the SG3s and UGs rather glamorous. One can only wonder what a VS would have looked like in that livery - possibly like a shrunken Royal Scot in LMS postwar black / livery 6115 Scots Guardsman used to carry in initial preservation. Can’t paste links for some reason but there are lots of images out there.

I take the Henry Ford approach to GN locos. Any colour you like as long as it’s black ….

Just wait till you try GN blue! Looks amazing. That oily sheen on the boiler is terrific and makes such an impact on the visual effect.

Strictly speaking, too, the fitted stock should be marshalled together next to the loco, unless the unfitted stock is piped.

Some great tips David. Great to see NPQ gearing up for a trip out!

Great to see it’s found a good home and such an appropriate one. Frees up space for a new layout too…

It was a railtour to Cork. Smaller GN locos did make it to fairly odd parts of the Laois rail system, most notably an old U at Mountmellick.

If RM Web is our datum line as a heuristic of what UK modellers are interested in, you’ve actually more justification for posting French models than Irish ones. The French section on RM Web has 27 pages of content, the Irish 21. Both dwarfed by North American section which has 156 pages……

Thanks Alan. Complement each other very nicely.

Looks great Alan. Well worth the effort ! Any chance of posing it with version 1?

Well done. Some good work there

Great work. Coming on really well

Interesting to see the BR style first class totem. The Enniskillen pic is nice; the place looked very different 6 months later. You can’t see into the gloom of the shed but there’s 3 Sligo tanks in there. In 5 months from the date of the photo ‘Enniskillen’ will be hauled out and cut up in front of the shed. The two Loughs will linger on a bit more and eventually be hauled to Belfast.

All Murphy ones gone by 1930s I think. Nothing RTR would have hauled them

Fair enough Harry. Have had a similar inner monologue myself when finishing the PP last week. Some pics show a gleaming smokebox, others don’t! You can certainly take pride in her

Terrific job. Subtle but effective. For a lot of my own work now all I do is a MiG dark wash with a few powders. Seems to do just enough. Might you consider a soupçon of dark powder on the smokebox?

Looks really good. Totally off topic but that’s a bare 17 years after the SLNC closed -1974 seems a lifetime ago now!