Galteemore

Well that’s it. Drumkeeran Road has just driven off with its new owner - a young chap who wants to model Irish railways to proper scale. Spent the proceeds on this! My soldering iron died and this got good reviews…..

lol - that’s my dad ! Showed him photo. It’s c1962 - and apparently he got the shed foreman to start it….

Real master class here in observation and detailing

And thanks to @Irishswissernie, here it is, at stage right, complete with crutch. This is pretty much how I remember it outside Witham St too - a dilapidation of blue and cream. I think this is probably the one my dad started up in Portadown roundhouse one day…..

Don’t worry - it’s not some kind of Northern land grab! Arguably Dundalk works would make a brilliant Irish railway museum - with a short running line up the stub of the Irish North…. It’s all about context really - it’s only when you see exhibits juxtaposed that you can really put them into perspective. That’s what the big museums like York do so well. A replica of 36 - or better still ‘Hibernia’ sitting next to 800 would be most educational.

And here’s one arriving at the scrapyard. Rather off topic, but the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch 15” line have a loco called ‘The Bug’ which once ran at Belfast Zoo. It also ended up in the scrapyard and was regularly concealed under fresh piles of scrap by a man called Tommy Dorrian, an 8th Army veteran who didn’t want to see it scrapped! Eventually it did escape back to England. Tommy ended up as an RPSI barman on many rail tours ….sadly these two little locos were too big to hide. Interestingly the scrap yard went to the effort of putting them on rails, which suggests they may have had hopes of selling at some point…,

Easily found. Again, if you tell us what you want it for we can give a more informed answer !

That depends….what do you want to do with it? Something like this is a good starting point DURATOOL - 48W Soldering Station https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01186R3AE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZNEATWA9XP6DP2VAZA8J

Rustons should be pretty ok out of the box, livery dependent obviously. The small Ruston has a match truck supplied with it, which I assume has extra pickups on it. This would greatly assist electrical reliability on a shunting layout. The Guinness locos were fairly modern in appearance by steam standards, whereas some of the Hornby Pecketts have very ornate fittings. Model R3679 is closer but note that the chimney and cab proportions aren’t the same as the Hudswell Clarke style. Add a few skirts and a bell and it would look ok!

That was my other thought..in all seriousness, it would be nice to see a replica of a really early Irish engine for Cultra to give an idea of progress. I live near Milton Keynes, where a very convincing non-working replica of an LNW loco exists…

Absolutely right, Tony. Iain Rice would say that a small shunting layout is the most technically demanding to get right! Hence why P4 layouts spend so much time on things like compensation etc to ensure smooth running. There is no speed momentum to carry you over a small dead spot! There are a few dodges to ballasting points - some have simply been know to lay them on top of appropriately coloured sandpaper.

The word ‘utility’ is confusing in this instance, to be fair. It basically means that the coach was turned out originally to wartime standards with wooden seats etc before being ‘upgraded’ post 1945

Fascinating reversal of history going in here - the SLNC 0-6-4Ts could normally handle track that others couldn’t ! The dreaded F- word though - I don’t enjoy the fettling stage. Does sound as if you are making good progress at least !

Nice - the texture and tone of the road are very impressive too!

It’s always disheartening Tony, when something goes wrong,especially after lots of effort. Sometimes it pays to take a break and focus on another part of the model for a day or two.

Are you using a CDU with the motors, Tony ?

It must have been one of the earliest examples of a railway company preserving one of its locos - few Victorian companies showed such sentimentality. I understand that it is largely held together by string and bits of wood inside! It is one of the few Irish locos to be publicly exhibited on the big island, making an appearance at the S and D centenary in 1925. Ironically, it was after this that it seems to have been most at risk, as photos at Inchicore show it looking very shabby and unloved in the open air. Arguably it would be best shown at Cultra beside 800, to give a nice comparison of the development of Irish steam.

Thanks Ernie. Hope you all manage to get through ok

Looks like 55, near Greenisland I think. Smoke looks like it’s pushing the rear of a spoil towards Magheramorne. Interesting track fitting on the up line.

Is a nice enamel type replica of the coat of arms. Such things were flogged by the RPSI sales team thirty years ago, as I well recall, being one of the hucksters…..Nice gift. You can see a big version of it on No 30’s cab

Nice, these really need a subtle weather like this to lift the detail.

Looks right at home Noel. Agreed - lovely livery

Dead right about offbeat pictures and their value. The late JJ Smith was another who did this. Two days before the SLNC closed he spent some 8 hours at Florencecourt photographing everything that came through. The station is literally in the middle of nowhere - not even a pub for refuge between trains! It was terribly wet that day but he persisted and even got very rare images of the cabin interior and its antiquated fittings - including the signalling diagram. So we all owe a debt of gratitude to those photographers who see beyond the usual !

I don’t like the look of those characters with the oxy-acetylene tanks …