Galteemore

Well if he’s happy…. Well, if he’s happy….

Wow indeed !! Real look of Glenarm about it….lovely. I also think we need to hear more about this layout - and stock….

A further advantage of painting, I have discovered this morning, is that the back scene can be revised if you find that the scenic feature you are installing needs a slightly different level of sky/land interface than you’d thought …..

It’s particularly annoying as both Ernie and Jonathan are keen to help bona fide enthusiasts. I have had to buy many of my photographs either in book form or from offline archives. To have them made freely available is such a gift - and shouldn’t be abused.

Like this ? Just notice how the essence is reducible to varying horizontal bands of colour….the green-brown at the back is a lighter shade than at the front.

Paint your own, JHB. It’s really not as difficult as it sounds. Barry Norman’s book on scenery tells you how. It’s based on ever thinner washes of green. Here’s a crude one I made this week. The idea of a backscene, I think, is to provide just enough depth to fool the eye into focusing on what’s in the foreground. Look at a lot of coloured photos of Irish railways and what you see in the background is a vague sweep of green and brown. Note that you will have to specifically focus away from the railway content to do that! As long as there’s a suggestion of. appropriate background, your brain will paint in the rest. It’s a basic camouflage technique - just providing enough visual clues for you to see what you are ‘meant’ to see. Photo backscenes are fine but sometimes too sharp and actually distract the eye towards them…well that’s my rationale anyway! The lowest layers of this one will have 3D scenery in front, but will hopefully give the idea of that classic Connaught high ground behind.

This item is now sold - thanks

Outstanding David. Absolutely wonderful. Know what you mean about the bow pen! So good to see 2 GSW locos close together. The late Drew Donaldson would have loved this - although upbraided you for not using clockwork !

Nice convincing scene taking shape

The most useful work on Irish loco performance is probably ‘ A Decade of Steam’. In it Drew Donaldson describes these engines as the most perfectly proportioned Irish locos of all - ‘not a line was out of place’. Speeds in the mid 60s were common enough even in their last years. One was turned out in green to entice the GSW directors to adopt the livery - must have looked a treat. If I ever get the mojo to scratch build another 7mm loco it will be this or a D19…

I think a model J15 on an RPSI special would look great here ! Brilliant stuff - esp that concourse

There is a fascinating story which appeared in a Railway World - I think - about 60 years ago. Some three shiploads of ex GN and CIE locos made their way to Spain, and some enthusiasts felt that they had possibly gone to be regauged for a new life in the sun. Sadly, all were simply destined for the flames like these two.

It was SNCF practice, I think, even after BR abandoned it, for locos to have allocated crews rather than being pooled. This led to rather greater affection as you say, John, by crews for ‘their’ loco. The idea of fuel efficiency reached ridiculous levels in the early days of railway operation, when a form of driving by contract was introduced. Crews on this system had such a fiscal incentive to save fuel that safety valves were tampered with to avoid tell tale blowing off of excess steam. Tragic results ensued, and the practice was banned. In today’s gig economy it doesn’t seem unfeasible to imagine its return….

I don’t think even the GSWR made its firemen wear Eton collars though….I suspect those are rather well heeled visitors

A classic conversation amongst railway enthusiasts in the 50s….. The Waverley is a great trip. Engines are mesmerising.

These are top quality images, JB, even reproduced via this medium. I’d say the IRRS would fancy these. And you can’t blame him for snapping these. If ever there was a 4-4-0 to lure one away from the GN….

Looking great George. Just watch you don’t ‘fowl’ the propellor …

I have a 1:43 GSWR F6 2-4-2T for sale, but it’s running on 5’3” track (ie 36.75 mm gauge). Should be straightforward enough to regauge to 32mm if you are interested….

This is fantastic David. Lovely period piece with Wolf Dog behind. The F6s were very capable little machines with a good turn of speed, so it’s not at all implausible to see them being tried out in WLWR territory.

It’s more of a living death really

They bought some C class, Colin, and repainted. Didn’t last that long. As Wikipedia says….. After withdrawal from CIÉ, six locomotives were sold to Northern Ireland Railways, which designated them 104 Class. They entered traffic for NIR in 1986–1987, except 105. Originally, CIÉ 224 was intended to become 105, but it was subsequently rejected by NIR and replaced by 218, which only entered traffic in 1991. 224 was left stored with NIR until it was scrapped in January 1996. Of those that entered service, some had very short lives working for their new owners. They were stored as soon as any problems arose (e.g. a seized engine or traction motor), and the whole class was formally withdrawn in 1993 (107/109) or 1995 (the others). The locomotives involved, their new numbers and their withdrawal are set out below: NIR number Ex-CIÉ number Stored Scrapped 104 216 September 1994 August 1997 105 218 November 1993 August 1997 106 227 March 1995 Preserved (see below) 107 228 June 1987 January 1996 108 230 December 1994 August 1997 109 234 August 1987 March 1993

And I don’t see a packet of Major fags….this is a stunning model, all joking aside! Well done IRM.

Lovely David. The F6 looks far nicer in that state than its later incarnation.

It’s a heavily disguised A class for a late 60s movie contract - Darling Lili - starring a very poorly J15, No 184, which could manage enough steam to make an impression but not move very much. The A was disguised to provide starting and stopping power. I understand it worked some service trains in this guise in between takes.

The CVR loco and coach are both Shapeways, John, from David Hurst. Loco runs on Kato pocket line chassis drastically cut down, and has had handrails, whistle, pipework, cab interior, glazing, and real coal added, with my own fabricated smoke box dart. Transfers are Fox 1mm lettering. The coach is a simple Shapeways, almost clips together, albeit with brass mesh added to the ends to replicate the original. Runs on Peco Welsh NG bogies. He also does the loco in 00n3, which may interest you: I think it was a collaboration with Paul Titmuss. The Clogher valley locos are a bit of a trap for the unwary 009 modeller as they will look far too big on 2’ scale track, so he also does a scaled down version for 009 !