Galteemore

Fabulous work Ken - and one’s mind doesn’t necessarily turn to cameras in mid-solder! It’s incredible how ‘big’ a small engine can be. Years ago I had a 7mm G6 which I thought quite small …..until it met a Terrier….

That’s interesting re a near-Patriot. A green one appears briefly in the original Awdry books as it happens - the ‘big city engine’ whose derailment permits Gordon a brief off-island excursion. https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Big_City_Engine

Fabulous - if Mac approved that’s a seal of approval indeed. Awdry’s initial story series was entirely drawn from real life railway incidents.

Thanks Ken. Tried that in the past and found it tricky - so reassuring that you do too!

Lovely work Ken. Any chance of a look at the roof springs please? I’ve often pondered such a thing…..

The illustration in the book simply shows the split train, with no evidence of dismembered cattle parts or blood spattered planks. The clear impression is that - however contrary to the laws of physics - the cows broke through unscathed.

Can only assume the hosting has lapsed. The editor is still actively compiling the next print edition, I do know.

The role of the goods guard is easily underestimated - they had a crucial job to do managing coupling tension on a loose coupled train. A fantastic display inside a brake van at Bucks Railway Centre, Quainton Road, opened my eyes on this, which I hadn’t really twigged before. The work involved in getting a long train over a difficult curved and steep road such as Portadown to Derry or Sligo to Enniskillen was challenging to put it mildly…..

The duel of Sir Handel and George the Steamroller was directly drawn from a 1927 episode on the Cork and Muskerry.

Are you winding us up?

Ground that can never be walked too often! There was almost a stay of execution for the SLNCR when talk was made of keeping Omagh-Enniskillen open as a long siding for cattle traffic from the west. Realistically it would have to have shut by about 1960 anyway I think. The PW was knackered and even the 1951-delivered tanks were ailing. As roads and car ownership developed in the SLNC catchment area, it would have been used less and less and was bound to collapse in the short term. Mind you, that doesn’t stop me imagining G and C class locos cascaded into SLNC ownership staggering on until the 1980s David Briggs did a nice ‘what if’ painting of a 2000s Enniskillen, with the SLNC under IE running.

Interesting Minister. I was thinking along similar lines so to speak. Much as I have enjoyed hot food on board, and sometimes a cup of tea is enough, its the unusual juxtaposition of pleasures which is delightful rather than the quality of the cuisine. Like Dr Johnson’s comments on a dog walking upright - one wonders not that it is done badly but that it is done at all. The ‘glory days’ I recall when trolleys appeared even on the early morning Newcastle-Stranraer, when a fresh cup of tea enlivened the Scottish lowlands are gone for ever sadly. The economics don’t stack up, and punters can get a drink and snack to take onboard from station facilities that are much more lavish than they were decades ago. Here on the Big Island it’s a luxury for first class and long distance. Indeed at least one TOC has scrapped it entirely …read why below. Interestingly, Chiltern’s London-Birmingham service is similar in timings to the Enterprise, and runs with similar loco-hauled stock, but manages without dining facilities. Pic from Railway Gazette https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/15289458.rail-operator-announces-will-scrap-on-board-catering/

He does some very nice ones indeed, although this one cannot be 1950 as on that date the two Loughs were still in Manchester awaiting the SLNC’s long delayed payment …..https://www.painters-online.co.uk/gallery/davidb77/transport-paintings/285917/

Those Terriers make O gauge so accessible - relatively inexpensive and well suited to a small layout. That’s how the 7mm bug bit with me and started off my first layout……

B5 was for heavier loading. AFAIK the B5 was under the generator end, B4 at the other end.

Ideal way to start a small O gauge light railway terminus or shunting plank. Incredibly cheap !

Fascinating. Amazing to think those stores trains were still running as late as 1989.

One of the issues I had to address was how to ‘model’ the rest of the station. Enniskillen had a rather large station building which looms large in photos of the Sligo bay. It’s never going to be in focus on this layout but has to be at least suggested. I’m no artist but had a go, working very much off J H Ahern’s principles. A loading gauge and half-relief open wagon also help close off the scene a bit. I also sketched in a suggestion of canopies, pillars and shadows suggesting the main station platforms stretching beyond the Sligo canopy. Still a few tweaks but getting there. The layout is designed to be viewed side on rather than at this angle so a vague impression of depth is what we are after, really.

Must be possible with a CriCut or similar. Or one of the laser cutting kit companies might do a commission ?

Iconic loco. Fairly reliable for the era, as it could pick up over a longer footprint than the typical trainset 0-6-0. And you didn’t need DCC sound - growled away naturally!

On a diet of Gallagher’s, Guinness and beef stew I have little difficulty in imagining the mephitic conditions! I do know what you mean though…,

There was. Even more inaccessible as it was blown up by the Army c1970. The depression in the ground was visible for decades afterwards.

Wonderful. What a lovely conversation shot at Dromod. Unusual to see a T2 on the Irish North

I think, IIRC, the situation arose from full order books with GB loco manufacturers in the late c19th, so a few odd US locos found their way to these islands. GCR, GNR, Midland all had them. The first US import was actually as early as the 1840s.

@WRENNEIREmay weigh in here, but my own understanding is that these are production over/runs or maybe seconds. This is probably the supplier