Galteemore

Jim McGeown of Connoisseur Kits also suggests ensuring the brass is warm and dry. I follow his guidance of sticking my brass models in the hot press for a while along with the can and it’s worked. Although as an Englishman he calls it an airing cupboard …..

Thanks Ernie. Always liked those GN railcars - something almost Michelin-like about them

That’s mighty work Eoin. Reminds me of a late night footplate trip I had once on 171 with the crew silhouetted like that against the fire….

Most interesting JHB. A socially awkward, oddly dressed, muttering type - you’d think someone like that would be conspicuous on an Irish enthusiast tour….. All the same, bet you’d give anything to be kipping on a dusty oul sate on a laminate out of Sligo behind a 141 again…

Definitely calling out for a track panel or two of 5’3. Could do what this bloke has done….in SLNC two tone green… I’d probably convert the signal cabin into a workshop upstairs - lots of light ! And use the locking room below as a layout room..,

Looks like the N gauge Society one they produced with Farish a few years ago. I had a blood and custard one. Lovely little model - here’s another variant.

This any use ? http://www.crecy.co.uk/railway-atlas-of-ireland-then-now

Nice to see this taking shape. No matter how much drawing you do, there’s nothing quite like seeing a plan in 3D to see where adjustments have to be made. Backscene sketch looks great.

As a member of the Gauge O Guild I get updates from their photo gallery. Just in is this Class K of the South Australian Railways. This is the loco from which all the SLNC 0-6-4T locos derived, the likeness to ‘Lissadell’ and her sisters is obvious. The last K class went in 1956, so they had a similar lifespan. The modeller has, nicely, built it to proper 5’3 gauge. They have also built an ‘L’ class, which is a nice ‘might have been’ for the SLNC…..again, the family likeness to the tanks is there to see. The L class were originally tanks and rebuilt.

Thanks Ernie. This was that brief window when the Belpaire Compounds had the Enterprise all to themselves before the VS arrived! That photo at Dunleer is pure GN glory. The tortoise may not have won the race in this instance but it certainly had a longer working life!

Good advice there ! Little tricks to help the finish are also : 1. warm the can in the hot press for a while before spraying 2. never stop or start spraying on the model - sweep over the model with the paint coming out and stop spraying when you’re off it - avoids paint runs and drips 3. Two light coats always better than one thick coat !

Patterson’s Swilly book shows a lighter green in the cover painting. But I think for later years the darker colour is more accurate - and shows off the brass work nicely !

It’s a beautifully done project - hard to tell where the old station and the extension join. Last time I was there, the goods shed did not look as if the same care had gone into its conversion. The next station along at Belcoo is similarly well looked after - by a lady who knows its significance and has done lovely work with it. Manorhamilton and Dromahair aren’t quite so charmingly presented! Intriguingly the owners of the latter and Florencecourt have both chosen to move the main door from the original left hand bay to the middle bay.

A very rich dark green with gold lining. Swilly engines were also spotlessly clean as a rule, so they looked quite majestic. @airfixfanmay have some quality pics - this is just a screen grab.

High Legh (yes, no letter ‘I’) miniature railway in Cheshire

That is truly magnificent

See what you mean. If tanks were flush with the valances you could let the rods disappear into the tanks….You could always go for a pastiche of a Coey/Ivatt class 37 (37-38, 317-20) or class 27 as that has curved splashers outside the tanks….

Well done for trying brass! Won’t the bumps (really coupling rod splashers) be hidden in the new tanks anyway? You could probably just cut those out of the running plate and cover them with the tanks. A strip of plasticard would cover the missing bit of valance.

Here’s one taken that day….https://www.geograph.ie/photo/3320318 yes, Mullan’s is long gone. Quality shop. It was the 800th anniversary in 1980, and I remember it well. I was 9 and my dad was at that point both RPSI treasurer and treasurer for the church in Carrick which was also 800 that year; I was almost certainly on that train! I certainly recall the 800 anniversary keyrings and mugs I was tasked with flogging.

Having studied BP SLNC drawings, Ken, ad nauseam, the side tanks were connected via the back tank, so theoretically filling on one side would be possible. The rivet pattern (again, long study involved here!) doesn’t indicate a dividing baffle. As an aside, the ‘Large Tanks’ originally had filler openings on the bunker tanks - see below - which were later removed or remained unused. As far as I know, no bunker filler was installed on the Lough class.

Nice work David / great to see it coming together. And lovely turning job on the gauge!

This is great - good work. Simple tank extension, chop off the cylinders, take off the excess handrails, paint big yellow numbers on the tanks and you’re away!

Thanks everyone. I’m prone to over analysis myself. In fact sometimes modelling seems like some kind of esoteric ceremony requiring all kinds of elaborate mental preparations before anything gets done! I have to say that having this forum is a great help in keeping me focused on producing work….. I think it will be the pastiche version of Blacklion, John, as the images mostly date after 1928. And yes, David, there’s lots to build - would be nice to find more evidence on the 0-6-2Ts too…. There’s a drawing - a basic one - in Norman Johnston’s GNR loco book, Angus. It’s roughly to scale, having checked out key dimensions. Having played around with a scale ruler and calculator, I have had it blown up to some odd percentage by a local copy shop and the result is a 7mm drawing giving key placements for wheels etc. You can see it in photos above. But photo analysis will be critical and Alan O’Rourke has been helpful here. Having been brought up with a wealth of Irish railway books, I knew that a UG was like a U, an SG like an S and so on. Perhaps a JT might be like a J….analysis of Norman’s book confirmed this suspicion, so I cheekily asked Roger Crombleholme if he’d let me see a JT drawing from his kit when I ordered stuff recently. This he kindly did, and we have a front elevation of cab and smokebox as a result. The cab isn’t exactly the same, but the roof profile is very similar, so that’s a huge help.

Having acquired a considerable amount of machinery to build ‘Enniskillen’, it seemed rude not to build another engine. The only question was what to build. I had long thought of a D19 Kerry bogie. However, I have also been doing much soul searching on my modelling future - more on that anon. Suffice to say I have ditched - or am attempting to - all my CIE stuff and going SLNC all out. But I still felt I should build a 4-4-0 - as @leslie10646and @jhb171achillknow, I was brought up to respect the GNRI and all its works! I have long had an affection for the GN locos, especially the smaller and more ancient types such as the Ps and PP. As many of you know, the SLNC had two J class 4-4-0s, bought 2nd hand off the GNR. Expecting these two elderly ladies to cope with the vagaries of SL gradients and curves was cruel really - like subjecting your granny to an assault course. Because they had been so short lived and unsuccessful, I’d always written them off, until last year I saw a photo of one gleaming in black. The rods and plates would have been red - what a picture ! And that ridiculous chimney….I was just captivated by the idea of this little old thing heading a smart new clerestory on ‘the mail’. The locos were also the first 4-4-0s acquired by the GN - so the direct ancestor of all the blue beauties that came later. Anyway, weeks of filing and cutting and measuring later, we have a free rolling chassis. Loads to do but this is a milestone. Doesn’t look much but this has taken a long time. The foundation is really the 4 oblongs of metal which are drilled together to make rods and frame blanks. Saw to shape, solder up and with baited breath stick the wheels on…so at least she should run. Careers across the floor like a Hot Wheels car so hopefully a good sign. Her plates as ‘Black Lion’ - as two words rather than the normal spelling, oddly, are on order and the design came through from the makers today. So I’d better get a move on..,,

Know what you mean. Years ago I was captivated by the SECR D class at NRM York. Caledonian livery is quite attractive too! Trevor Nunn’s layout is something else