Galteemore

Don’t worry Patrick. In the highly unlikely event that you are associated with any egregious solecisms, your many friends here will rally round and maintain that you have been deepfaked!

A seminal issue of RM, and C J Freezer’s use of that phrase still echoes in the UK outline community to this day in heated debate !!

Yes, I must say it’s unusual to see Irish people getting so excited about flags!

Much wisdom here. I suspect, to be honest, that the bulk of the classification detail required will be on the post 1970 stuff, and the distinctions will be required for Supertrain/IR/IE etc. That’s, I think, where the production emphasis will be. Sadly, I don’t anticipate a cornucopia of GSW/GSR/CIE steam stock requiring differentiation. Easy classification for SLNC modellers! The green era 1880-1920 The black era 1920-1957

This forum is a fantastic resource and clearing house for all those with an interest in Irish railways - and some of us choose to make that interest tangible by modelling stuff. Others don’t and that’s fine - my own modelling has been intermittent over the years. I left NI in 1989, and returned to both north and south intermittently in the years following, but haven’t lived in Ireland now for some 15 years. My current location has no Irish modellers nearby that I know of. The Gauge 0 Guild Forum has been a huge help in developing my technical skills. What this forum offers is a group of people who ‘get’ Irish railways, and who can critique my work from a culturally informed perspective. Your comments and support are a constant encouragement on my workbench thread- so thanks to all wherever you are ! Posting stuff on here keeps me accountable and stops me slacking off too much....

Looks lovely George. Would a bead of Matt varnish grip it ? I’ve used that for brass nameplates before

Thanks George - I can see why the combination of trains and jet noise might be attractive to you...

Excellent George. Please post some vid!!

I thought that was a camogie game.

You can then puff the piece up as having had expert input. Sadly, it can all be a bit of a Potemkin village with very little real substance. What matters is telling a nice story that gives warm and fuzzy feelings...I am an academic historian by training, and have written a number of things, so this stuff really interests me. It’s actually really hard to stick to the the facts when you have an attractive agenda to push and the facts just don’t seem that binding. After all, one train looks just like another....

You can then puff the piece up as having had expert input. Sadly, it can all be a bit of a Potemkin village with very little real substance. What matters is telling a nice story that gives warm and fuzzy feelings...I am an academic historian by training and have written a number of things. It’s actually really hard to stick to the the facts when you have an attractive agenda or story to push, and the facts just don’t seem important.

The point of these programmes is not to convey information but feelings. Part of a wider cultural trend - we just happen to spot this because we know the facts on this one. The intellectual roots of this lie way back with Rousseau and Nietzsche but I bet they weren’t named in the credits......

I started the ‘Enniskillen’ saga with a long post so may as well finish with another one. You may wish to make a mug of tea! I promise that when you’ve battled through the text, there are pictures. Lots of pictures, as I got rather carried away.... I have long admired those - including those on this illustrious forum - who can take an expensive box-fresh model and gaily waft an airbrush over it, to great and convincing effect. I’d never have the nerve for that! So you can imagine how anxious I was about weathering an engine that has taken me almost a year to build from scratch. But weather it I had to do. It wouldn’t fit with the layout if I left it, as it would stick out, and all the details I’d added would be hidden in the plain unvarying black. Martyn Welch’s excellent book was my guide - and I had the gall to contact the guru himself for extra tips. I also practiced on some old Wrenn/Hornby Dublo bodies - sorry @WRENNEIRE - but hopefully the sacrifice was worthwhile!! Welch warns that bad weathering looks like a loco has been attacked by an incontinent bullock and I know what he means. Even the SLNC’s overwhelming cattle traffic couldn’t justify that ! So I determined to follow his approach religiously. BTW I don’t have an airbrush....so this is all hand applied. I think it could have turned out worse. First off is a coat of gunmetal/grey/leather stippled on with a brush. The lovely black engine starts to look like a shotgun barrel - what have I done ! But hold your nerve - carefully applied weathering powder tones all down nicely - but do work from photos and not what you imagine. Hours have thus been spent on studying grime......Underframe and wheels are a similar process - with lots of talcum powder added. Even the lovely red coupling rods were plastered in gunge. Much detailing work remained. Coal and glazing were added to the cab, plus screw couplings and dummy inside motion, made from plastic rod and strip. I had the chance to poke my head between Lough Erne’s frames a few years ago which was helpful for this. The crew were painted up and glued in, along with the boiler backhead and Wakefield lubricator (although it should really be a Detroit). The crew’s position in the cab is based on a quote from the SLNC CME Mr Egan, who described how crews on the steep banks would anxiously watch the water disappearing from the gauge glass and pray for a third injector to appear. That’s exactly what they are doing in this pose... Before we let loose on the photos, which are taken in a mixture of day and LED light, and show details plus overall views, I do apologise for the cheesy cotton wool ‘steam’. I did get carried away.. One last vignette. N W Newcombe travelled behind ‘Enniskillen’ in Apr 57. I read his piece 30 years ago and recently rediscovered it. Here’s a brief edited excerpt - I’ll let him have the last word. If my small effort does any honour to this wonderful railway as he describes it, I’ll be happy with my year’s work. But the next project will be plastic - I’m over soldering and filing for a while....the cab roof needs stuck down, and she is still a bit light on the front drivers so I’ll squeeze some lead in -but we’re now effectively signing this off!! ‘Enniskillen’ laboured terribly on the restart from Glenfarne, climbing to Kilmakerrill. Soon we were belting along in the dusk, a fine moon coming up behind us. It felt like 50-60-70mph but the sober evidence of my watch said it was just over 16mph. ‘Enniskillen’ was simply pounding along, waggling her shoulders so ferociously that I had doubts we should arrive safely at Manorhamilton. It must have been quite exciting on the footplate too. I saw now and then the driver’s head against a lurid background of fire, sometimes it protruded against a greenish night sky. Now and then showers of sparks went up from the funnel, once even a rush of fiery smoke billowed out from the cab itself. And always there was tremendous black smoke....

Nice neat wiring. Will be worth it in trouble free running

Classic stuff. Looks really well against that scenic backdrop.

Apologies - the Airfix one won’t work as it’s tender drive! So you may need to look at another manufacturer. To be honest, you might be as well making your own frame for this. It is far from as daunting as it sounds - Simon Bolton has a number of useful books which helped me build my first frames. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30874693493&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-tile2&searchurl=kn%3DSimon%2BBolton%2Bscratch%26sortby%3D17

That would be useful, David. Some 4mm modellers on the Irish Railways Group on RM Web have been using the WW stuff, I think.

Nice NIR vibe. Unusual to see an 80 class in the suburban livery

That’s a really nice model. Can you tell us more about it?

Yes, I was thinking Airfix for a cheap trial one.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324557016104

LMS 4F is 5’3” and can probably be acquired fairly cheaply if you go for an older one.

That half model is really useful! That looks a pretty ancient open frame motor. Is the new Hornby model smaller ? As you say, may be better going for an 0-6-0 of some sort, with separate bogie. What size drivers are on a Bandon tank ?

Really impressive George

Looks close enough, David! Nicely applied

Coaling plant was built c1945, I think Ernie. The top photo has a 1920s feel in terms of loco condition, but the bottom one puts me in mind of the rundown of BCDR steam c1950.