Galteemore

The best analogy is probably with UK modellers who model the pregrouping scene eg LNW, SECR. For decades they have had to sort their own stuff and resort to kits or scratch build. Some fine RTR is coming on stream for them now but it will always be a small market. And there will never ever be a complete off the shelf LNW or whatever package. So you will have to buy what you can, when you can - and resign yourself to having to build or modify what the manufacturers aren’t supplying.

Welcome back Ernie. Glad my Nat Ins payments are being used for something worthwhile !

This is about as much Greek as I have left Leslie …it’s not an insult Btw just the the first Irish loco with a Greek name I could find!

Inspiring stuff. One of the best tests of a layout is how much you can tell about era and location without any stock present. No doubts about that here!

Just as I read this thread, passed by this in my local English supermarket. Is there no limit to Irish talent nowadays? Brilliant work IRM

Again not quite modelling, but Joe Brown was a loco fireman in his youth. Dvorak was also a spotter and was incensed when his son-in-law deputed for him one day at Prague station and took down the tender numbers instead!!! Honegger and Villa-Lobos also wrote railway themed compositions. And a regular staple of BBC radio was this… .

Oh dear. I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket - explains a lot about my modelling…. I have actually derived much pleasure from having music on in the background when modelling. Bach works well for precision and style. But in truth I think the Sligo Leitrim ran to the music of Carolan : listening to O’Riada I can almost see the 7:20 mixed rattling along near Manorhamilton, dark clouds of smoke emerging to each beat of the bodhran…..

That’s very nice. MGW house style shines through very clearly

Appropriate for the era of ‘earth tones’ as we called it then….

Interestingly, many 7mm modellers are now dropping DCC and heading to RC as a better option. If you like playing and tinkering with electronics then that’s fine - it’s got to be basic for me. We all have different approaches. I have found the real joy of modelling for me lies in researching and building stuff either from kits or raw materials. The basic mechanics of getting the end product moving I prefer to keep as simple as possible! But there are others that prefer opening a boxed model and then going to town with leds and speakers. Fair play to you- it’s a broad church and we can learn from each other. And like Mr H I have yet to hear a DCC steam loco that can coast convincingly and also turn up the amps with a heavy load on a gradient. Sound, like time, does not always ‘scale’ in the way that visual things do….

These are very good JHB - thank you !

Lovely work. Can see what inspired you ! http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway Stations B/Ballywillan/IrishRailwayStations.html

Neilson, apparently. Much more attractive than some of their catalogue ….

I have asked my source, now home from school, and he says it still has Dublin Bus signage inside. Will add photos later if he can find them….

Excellent. Bizarrely, one of these ex Dublin Olympians, of the Leyland ilk, is still here in Buckinghamshire- my son was a regular traveller on his school route. As we pointed out, his mum and I might well have travelled on it ourselves when we lived in Rathgar 99-02!

At work so don’t have my books with me. Looks a bit like Allan valve gear - and the engine has a bit of a ‘Haydock Foundry’ look like ‘Bellerophon’. It’s also a little like a Prussian T3…. Will check later ….and that looks like a WLWR 0-6-0 at stage left….

That interior is calling out for a gently flickering lamp to illuminate it!

Bit of ballasting and re-sleepering needed at Loughrea!

Complete with Hornby style black underframe !

Thanks Ernie. Hope all goes well. Excellent close up of flat bottom track too.

In 4mm scale you can also get off with using an old style GWR crest, which should be easily found from various transfer suppliers

Code 75 looks better I think. Much finer in appearance

The last of them ended up in Suffolk, in the hands of a one-off character called Peter Hunt, former proprietor of an infamous model shop - Chuffs, later reincarnated as Perfect Miniatures. His adverts in the gauge O Guild were absolute classics of British humour. A sample is below. I bought some books and card kits when he closed up, but up until a few years ago he was still offering Bats - this ad is from 2018. Long gone now - I’d have bought them if I’d had more sense. He actually came to my house with the stuff and was a most entertaining chap. As Mr H says, an ideal model both as it stood and as a vehicle for detailing. Thankfully Roger Crombleholme still offers a reasonably priced version of the E/J26.

Ausgezeichnet, Andreas !

Looks like a Leinster E class. Nice red livery too. Is that a Biblical name ? Exodus 15:27 springs to mind…