Galteemore

How exciting and interesting! Welcome aboard. Some really good work there. Would love to get my head around Silhouette cutting.

Most interesting. I was out running about 0600 this am near the GWR main line, and a lengthy passing freight brought this to mind. Several times a week I pass a metal recycling centre in Swindon which has its own siding and you will often see a class 66 in with scrap wagons. Destination is a steel facility inCardiff, about 60 miles away, with excellent motorway links, so an alternative option exists. But the simplicity of the loading process, and the sheer amounts involved, make it viable for rail. The Tara traffic just doesn’t seem to be in that space. Having used the Dublin-Drogheda road regularly in 1999-02, I was staggered upon returning to Ireland for a visit in 2018 to see how road-friendly the place is now. Rail traffic has an uphill struggle in the circumstances @Broithe outlines above - it was viable in 70s-80s Ireland but no longer, unless the distance and bulk is overwhelming.

Opportunity knocks @Wheelslip….

Go to local shows/swapmeets like Bray (assuming you’re Dublin based). EBay and adverts.ie are another one. Look around online and you’ll get an idea of what’s a fair price.

Rapido SECR 0-6-0 in grey might work - only need repaint smokebox !

Hornby Peckett is also a very small and characterful loco. Not far off one that the GSR had, either.

Hornby J15 isn’t far off. Stick a smokebox wheel on it and flying snail on tender and you’re well away. It will pass for a generic Irish 0-6-0. Try and get one in LNER livery as that won’t have a smokebox numberplate.

Let’s hope so, but I suspect it’s only because of the pruning that we have as much left as we do. I well recall Sligo in the 80s - Sligo Leitrim crews could still have brought a train in under semaphores, shunted down the quays, and then turned the loco and put it in the shed. All that infrastructure was still there. It was glorious, but it couldn’t last. Thanks to Ernie for this 1987 pic.

Fabulous livery and so iconically Irish. For some reason, when I was growing up it put me in mind of a liquorice all sorts…

Those Midland 4-4-0s, unsatisfactory performers as they arguably were, have a real presence. There’s almost something of a Prussian S6 or LNWR George V about them.

Great stuff Darius. Are you switching frogs and if so, how? I used w-i-t on a layout once and used separate rockers, but I know there are various ways…

It’s so long ago, that the VS never mind the Sligo tanks had never even touched Irish metals yet. But what a design the Jeep was. Still the RPSI’s most operationally effective loco - even if 171 is the most attractive!

And a little touch of a red fine-liner would do the trick …

It’s not 100% right. Should be shaded red. I have an ancient 7mm set from North Star - see below But it’s very close and will look fine !

Numbers 145-149 is your range of choice I think Patrick, as the model is of the 1948 batch rather than 1937 (you can tell as it has 3 plugs on the firebox). You’ve made a great job of that. I’d probably use a small amount of Humbrol ‘metalcote’ gunmetal on the handrails which will relieve the colour scheme a little.

Yes, quick smear of PVA on a fingertip should sort. Looks a great setup and some nice atmospheric shots by @LNERW1 show it off nicely

Great stuff David - always a relief to get to this stage. Taking shape nicely.

Certainly surpassed the sucking diesel stage! Look forward to seeing some of your 21mm stock posing on this. Aesthetically , that 5’3” is quite captivating. I think it works especially well on FB track as the width is visually accentuated.

Fabulous work all round Patrick. Sad though it is to see Brookhall go, this will be a more satisfying layout to operate. The greater sense of space also tells here. The U with a healthy rake doesn’t look crowded or compressed. I think a backscene - simple sky/landscape - would set it off very nicely.

I’m most grateful to those who post links for scarce Irish items. It has scored me a few 36.75mm locos. Including this SG2 - it’s on the workbench since last night for minor work - which arrived as a restoration project and is absolutely delightful. Other stuff I have passed on as the duty etc works against me as a GB resident. So Paul, and those like you, please don’t stop!

Don’t know how I missed this before. Am planning a layout - a proper working one rather than a diorama as before - and turned to my trusty Gauge O Guild books. And look what jumps out….from our own @Northroader Name clumsily expunged by me BTW - it’s not a fault in the original

If only ! ;courtesy of Ernie….

Great stuff Patrick. Just need to get some coal in those tenders!

The NCC certainly had some ex MR stock, and the RPSI had at least one IIRC. I have a vague memory that one of them had now gone back to GB. One ex MR coach, 68, has recently been restored and runs on trips within the Whitehead site.

Jet 2, Brute ?