Ironroad

Regardless as to who gazumped who, it seems like there was foul play (industrial espionage !!). And in effect Hornby have managed to bully a competitor out of the market. On the face of it Hornby do not deserve the benefit of any doubt simply because they did not announce. It's a bit similar to Bachmann's recent attempt at one up man ship on Accuracscale. But it will come back to bite them, the more manufacturers involved the greater the choice, generating greater consumer confidence, and creating a greater chance of success.

But Hornby did not announce, it's too much to be just coincidence

TT has come and gone before. It was a brave move by Heljan but by deliberately duplicating models Heljan intended to produce, Hornby have gotten it horribly wrong and have effectively killed any chance that TT scale might succeed this time round. Had Hornby entered that market with alternate models complementing those proposed by Heljan, that would wet the appetite and be a lot more tempting to new entrants and those who might switch scales. I have never liked the business practices of Triang/Hornby (of which this is another example) and as a matter of principle have never purchased their products.

I travelled on the Dublin suburban trains between Howth Junction and Blackrock daily in the period 1975-1977 and later daily between Harmonstown and Tara St in the period 1981 - 1990. I cannot claim to have been very observant but John Mayner's observations on these operations are much in line with my recollections. As noted these services fell into two categories, IE inner and outer suburban services. Inner services operated between Howth and Bray with some continuing on to Greystones stopping at all stations and were operated using repurposed (and gutted) former AEC railcars (with engines removed) as push pull trains with C Class Locos. (Loco normally at north end of trains but not always as was the case in the Gormanston crash). Outer suburban services (some as far north as Dundalk and as far south as Wicklow) were operated using Laminate coaches and some Park Royals (i don't recollect seeing Cravens but probably so from the mid '80s ) and were loco hauled These trains ran non stop between Connolly and Howth Junction on the north side and non stop between Pearse and Dun Laoghaire and then non stop to Bray on the south side (I'm open to correction on the south side services. There were no push pull services on the main line north of Howth Junction until I believe 1989 with the introduction of Mark 3 coaches push/ pulled by 121 class locos on the outer suburban services (again with the loco at the north end of the trains). Class 121 locos never operated push pulls on inner suburban services other than between Bray and Greystones late '86 - '87. Three trains were involved in the crash in Gormanstown in 1974. The runaway train was an empty Pearse to Howth Junction Push Pull train, pushed by B202 which was diverted onto the main line at Howth Junction. At Gormanstown the runaway hit the rear of an empty Connolly (departed from the Fairview Shed) to Skerries AEC 2600 railcar train . This train had continued north of Skerries because the driver was warned of the runaway behind him. The third train hauled by B219 travelling southbound Dundalk to Bray with over 75 passengers was stopped at Gormanstown. One car of the AEC railcar set was derailed and struck the side of the southbound train killing two passengers. The whole affair was a disgrace and in my opinion amounted to criminal negligence. http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/accident_gormanstown.pdf.

It's not just the interconnectivity of rail services that is ignored. Busaras in Dublin is over sixty years in existence and is sited across the street from Connolly Station, yet in all that time the concept of providing a simple elevated pedestrian walkway linking both terminals does not seem to have occurred to anyone.

I know little of the subject of UK vehicle registrations and photo is not quite sharpe enough to be sure, but the last letter of the registration (year suffix) of the Cortina looks like an "N". That being the case I think that car was registered between Aug 1 '74 and July 31 '75. So yes, photo probably dates from late '70s.

Excellent execution of an air of age and neglect with so many small details, simply fabulous

Some research needed but they probably used the Royal Yacht to get around in 1911 as Edward V11 did in 1903. The political climate of the time may have had a bearing. So far as I'm aware the earliest travel by a British royal on Irish rails was by Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra in 1885 from Dublin to Cork, they were not well received. And the earliest i know of by a reigning monarch was again by Albert as Edward V11 and Alexandra in the course of a private visit in 1904. They arrived in Dun Laoghaire on April 26 and travelled by train to Naas for the Punchestown races. From there they travelled to Kilkenny again by train and stayed at Kilkenny Castle for two nights. They then travelled on to Waterford again by train and left by sea on May 4th.

Didn't pay VRT, report to Customs

I think 95% is bit of an exaggeration, one third of the population lives in the greater Dublin area. The proposed interchange in Glasnevin alone will link Kildare, Maynooth, Swords, the Airport, the Docklands, the south side of the city and the Dart system (both Connolly and Tara St.) Although I have never understood why a quick and easy link to the city from the airport via the northern line at Clongriffin could not have been provided long since. Perhaps the fact this may have necessitated adding a third running line from at least Clongriffin to the city was a factor mitigating against this but I believe this will ultimately have to be done anyway given the congestion that exists on this section of rail line. As for who pays, well the same can be said of motorways and national road routes (anywhere in the world) which are funded centrally. They would not be built if local populations were expected to pay for them. But I do have a problem with the fact that the trucking industry is not expected to pay proportionately for roads. The fact that they enjoy this invisible subsidy is always overlooked when the finances and viability of railways are under scrutiny. As regards the Dublin Metro, central funding does make sense in the interests reducing car dependency in a congested area with the environmental benefits this brings and reducing pressure to expand road capacity. It is also impossible to consider some sort of local taxation to contribute to this funding or even for local initiatives to be considered or commissioned, when the local authorities have been stripped of their powers progressively since the inception of the state to the point that the Dail has become a glorified county council. A re-organisation is in order including elected Mayors in the major cities.

Likewise, or does anyone know of a source?

Regardless as to the origins of this livery and whether it achieved the desired striking corporate image, it was perhaps an unfortunate choice of colours given their historical association. As a kid I remember some disquiet on the part of a family member but don't know how it was received generally. If it was influenced by a cat there was precedence.

Thank you folks, from this I found Leslie's email address on this site and have written to him. Again thank you

Is this still the correct web address for Provincial Wagons? If so there seems to be a problem.

And as they say Rome wasn't built in a day. As I recall Murphy Models only produced the EGVs and Restaurant cars subsequent to the successful release of the coaches they were complementary to. I think the same logic can apply to the AEC railcars. There are all sorts of options that could be taken with an initial release that could be expanded on over time. It may be that the Cravens were slow to shift but that may have been related to the quantities produced and the market size at that time. Those were still pioneering days and the market has probably increased since then. It is worth noting that Murphy Models suggested a rerun depending on demand. So Paddy does not seem deterred.

I think they are viable. Anyone interested will likely want more than one train and in the various liveries (GNR blue & cream, CIE green as well as black & tan. They were ubiquitous for a long period on the network and ran in consists I believe of two up to eight. with all sorts of intermediate coaches including Park Royals and Laminates and were ultimately converted to run push pull with C class locos which are a natural complement to them. Assuming the availability of a C Class I'd even buy them in their final state on Dublin Suburban services with the blanked out cab windows. I think there is a lot of mileage to be had over time from the tooling (more than a loco) and they broaden the market for earlier coaches for which there is probably a solid demand following the release of the A class. Ideal for offering as a four car trainset !!!!

That sheds a more positive light on matters and is encouraging. Yes a C class is an obvious choice and they together with the AEC railcars that would open up lots of possibilities.

I see it as lobbying and I don't see any harm in keeping hopes alive. Most certainly some of our wishes are probably unrealistic commercially but we have not seen outright dismissal of the suggestions being made and it would be a shame if the goose that laid the golden egg was forgotten entirely as I sometimes fear is the way things are going. I think these are the figures posted by Stephen on RM Web quote; "Generally if we can make 20-30k of it, if its a wagon, 15-20k of it if its a coach and at least 5-8k of it if its a loco, it's 'viable' in our eyes. " The problem is that if John is right in his assessment above that the market is as small as 1,000 active modellers/collectors, that number is not necessarily representative of the interest that may exist for particular offerings because it is diluted by bias for particular periods. So I think the best we can hope for is items that spanned long periods of time that will sell in multiples. A possibility here is the AEC DMUs that ran in various liveries from 1951 to the early '80's. Running contrary to all of this was the production of the ballast plough. The probability is that few of us purchased more than a pair and they did take a while to sell out and that maybe a reason for hesitancy to go with such a unique item again. But given the fact that they are essential to completing a ballast train, did they contribute to sales of the ballast wagon? So I don't think items that may have low volume demand can be entirely ruled out. It is noteworthy that Paddy Murphy seems to have had success in selling purely complementary items such as EGVs and Restaurant cars. So is the glass half full or half empty???

They are much simpler or perhaps should I say more sophisticated than that. They uncouple magnetically, via a magnet under the track bed. Reversing the stock over this magnet opens the couplings, you can then change the direction of the loco and leave the stock behind. I think Noel has posted extensively on this subject and has included a video.

Even a kid knows what a CHU CHU is

Yes, nostalgia is probably a big part of this, but steam made the railways possible and steam engines are the epitome of them. Diesels for all their practicality are pretenders.

That about sums it up. The GMs except for the 201 have more interesting profiles than probably any other diesel prototype in Ireland or the UK. but that doesn't justify describing those less interesting profiles (long or short) as bricks or briquettes. They are what ran or still run on the railways we aspire to model and so we need to accept them otherwise what's the point. They are what they are.

For those that say this I would ask, "As compared with what?", besides no diesel has the character of a steam loco.

Never saw that before, very dark. Opening scene is definitely Rathdrum. For a well made piece there is a bit of sloppiness at the end, in that, the train arriving at the station is not the one that departs in the final scene as she walks along the platform.