NIR

Thanks, I have three ivory CIE cement bubbles on order to add some Derry line freight operation to the Larne line spoil wagon formation. Then onto an etched brass MED parcels van to raise the quirky NIR-ness quotient tenfold!

My first kitbuild. It's a wide-angle photo, the buffers are not that wonky Not prototypical but I needed a fairly easy kit to start with, though I'm sure I saw one or two knocking about NIR in the 80s. Next up three NIR spoil wagons, with the open wagon above that should make for a decent PW train. Happy Easter!

David, not sure if this is relevant but I had a look at Halfords colours and noticed that some specified use of their red primer not their grey one, I think Rover damask red was one of these.

Interesting signals!

CIE cement wagon shows Irish Cement photo https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles/products/cie-cement-wagon-multi-pack-h Irish Cement wagon shows CIE cement photo https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles/products/irish-cement-wagon-multi-pack-g

I think you have the descriptions and photos mixed up on your website so it is unclear what you are actually ordering

Yes, if you want to model the usual run of homes and distants you can just drop them in somewhere far enough from everything else, maybe at a remote refuge siding too with some permanent way wagons.

So in a nutshell, in a model you need to signal the routes not signal the flows. Signalling of flows (the blocks, homes and distants stuff) can be mimicked by keeping a proper separation between trains on the layout - by not having them run on each others tails and by not having them run right up to a conflicting route simultaneously.

Larne Harbour, the inspiration for my track plan. Maybe changed a little between the 60s and the 80s but it seems I have a fairly good memory!

I'm just seeing if it reduces to some rules of thumb for trackplan and use, coming up with some generic situations like 'diverging route', 'terminus', 'sidings/loop' instead of talking technical terms like 'home' and 'distant' which seem fairly irrelevant. In your examples a busy passenger station is 1 and 2 in my terms, needing lots of splitters and starters, and a goods yard is 3, potentially needing just one ground signal on the final exit.

Signalling discussions often get bogged down in talk of blocks, bell codes, homes and distants as if actually operating ten miles of busy mainline. So, keeping it relevant, what is the minimum signalling required for a layout to be prototypical? Is it as simple as 1. stop signal to indicate diverging routes ahead (signal can easily be assumed to be further out and so off-layout) 2. stop signal as starter for a movement from a terminus/onto a converging route/onto a single line 3. stop ground signal on final exit from sidings/goods loop 4. stop ground signal each direction on a trailing crossover 5. no signals on simple continuing lines (not modelled for long enough for blocks, homes, distants, etc to become relevant) (everything else can be reduced to the seven elements in bold - a facing crossover is a diverging route, a diamond crossing is a diverging and a converging route, more complex goods yards are two or more sidings/goods loop, level crossings are continuing lines) So a through station with routes diverging then converging again and a single fan of sidings could require just starters and one ground signal operated from a signal cabin nearby. Or a through station with continuing lines, a single fan of sidings and a trailing crossover could require just three ground signals operated by a nearby ground frame. Simplest of all, a through station with continuing lines requires no signals at all, though if you model a signal cabin or level crossing there does need to be a stop signal each direction somewhere nearby as a nod to the homes and distants nonsense.

Let's not forget the typical Ulsterbus, engine as noisy as a 70 Class. The armoured RUC land rovers needed two armoured British Army landrovers as escort where we were going, then you crossed the border and everything was back to normal. It all left a big impression on a visitor. Looked at foam board and mounting board in my local Hobbycraft today, looks just the thing for structures and surfaces

Haha, not sure I would want to do that although it was *very* noticeable. RHC, UYM and YCV were a bit of a mystery to me but I remember UVF being changed into LOVE with an L and a couple of _ The NCC was very much 'the long way around' for us. I imagine 'Ballyshane' has a flute band.

BR Class 105 (and Class 110) roof extractors were supplied by Greenwood's & Airvac Ventilating Co Ltd https://www.railcar.co.uk/type/class-105/description Presumably also supplier to the UTA/NIR builds. I'm pretty sure I saw the same vents on lorries, vans and buses too.

That is the one area of British outline I would consider modelling, a quiet Southern branchline terminus or Colonel Stephens light railway