Barl

Amazon/AbeBooks doesn't have this. Wonder who's got reasonable shipping to the US?

Book Depository says it's currently not available also but they have a 'notify me' option and free shipping also.

http://www.bookdepository.com/Irish-Railway-Rambler-Michael-McMahon/9781780730752

Fantastic layout with amazing detail. The photographry portrays it excellently too!

Thanks for the spoiler alert.....

I'm not sure if this has been posted before but I received this link from a colleague who worked on the renovations of the Drogheda Viaduct and it shows some nice drone captured footage.

http://www.irishtimes.com/dramatic-drone-footage-of-the-refurbished-drogheda-viaduct-1.2458554

Noel, yes the chassis is from the railroad St. Paddy model. As space is a bit tight it was a matter of squeezing the weight in wherever possible.

I tried a few decoders with mine, including a Bachmann and TCS one. I damaged the built in decoder socket during construction, so decided to hardwire a cheap Hornby decoder in for testing the model; I actually found this to work the best with the 55 despite the warnings I had heard about them. This is what is fitted in the video above.

The Class 55 railroad chassis surprised me if I'm honest, it runs very smoothly for a single bogie drive unit. I've included a video below from a while back of my 001 (A) class with a deltic chassis which shows some slow running while pulling 5 mk3 coaches.

Edit: I'm not sure if this link is working but I'll try fix it tomorrow at some point.

http://vid637.photobucket.com/albums/uu97/Barl07/Video0056.mp4 ii

I was there for a while on Saturday and I thought it was a very good show with some excellent layouts on display.

Had a good chat with the lads at the IRM stand and was nice to meet them in person. Picked up 078 in grey livery too, I couldn't resist seeing as it was on sale.

This is great news and I hope the new venture goes well for all involved

Fantastic layout and the level of detail is excellent! It might encourage more people to try model Irish railways in N when they see what you've achieved.

Did anyone else see the 22k (might have been 22133 but not sure) with all-over 'Hotel Transylvania' movie vinyls? Is this a new trend for IÉ?

Event being held next month in Naas if anyone is interested.

http://www.heritageweek.ie/whats-on/event-details?EventID=270

Great resource kirley and fair play for doing it. One to add to the list could be the closure of the Sallins to Tullow branch in 1959.

I'm thinking about repainting some MM mk2d (or AC stock if you prefer) Supertrain coaches to match the 'orange roof' IÉ livery. As far as I can tell there were 9 composites originally and 5 were converted to standards after some time.

My question is, did composites often run in IÉ livery (black and orange roofed) mk2 rakes or was this rare?

What a fabulous setting Neil, great shot!

 

Some more of Merlin yesterday, and other shots such as 088 on the liner and 206 before she failed in Kildare as well as others on my flickr

 

More Merlin Magic by franburke, on Flickr]

 

Great shots all round, Merlin looks fantastic Something I've always noticed though, which is visible in these shots, is what cowboy built the wobbly block wall alongside the house on the northbound side!

You're right the RPA only look after the Luas and proposed metro lines, apologies I've had the RPA on the brain a lot lately. Maybe there will be inner-city freight transported by Luas trams in the future ha

Looks great so far and a nice mix of colours .

IE takes 2 hours to cover 60 miles to Gorey, I think that could be bettered , 2 hours is hardly a " short hop"

 

IN fact the mk2 and mk3 stock that is refurbed on Uk railways, is some of THE most comfortable stock ever made. way better then 22K for example. ( quieter too).

 

Passagner number are up in the Uk, due to increased service, faster trains etc. Rail freight is resurgent , while it has in effect totally disappeared from the rail network here

 

Add to that an operating company that last year , essentially completely ran out of money

 

Things are not looking up

True that it could be bettered but the same can probably be said for lots of routes throughout Ireland. In contrast (and on a positive note) I can get from Heuston to Sallins in about 16 minutes on certain services, try beating that by car!

I have never travelled by rail in the UK so I cannot comment on the comfort of the refurbished stock but, based on what others who have done have said previously on this forum, the 22ks are quite favorable and comfortable in comparison and I don't think having travelled one journey on them is enough to make the assumption that other stock is 'way better'.

Rail freight in the UK is increasing due to the fact that heavy industry is still prevalent there, something that is not the case here and is not the fault of IE. The refurbishment of the 071's, the presence of the DFDS and IWT liners, IE's new emphasis on attracting freight contracts among others would suggest that there is a future for rail freight in Ireland.

The fact that the NRA and the RPA are now, in essence, the same organisation would lead you to hope that there would be more cooperation in the future with regards to combining rail and road freight also.

 

In Ireland , the block support for CIE encourages neither, in fact it does damage ,as CIE chases high profile public projects ( dart interconnector) and leaves simple interim improvements to fall by the wayside ( Park tunnel, non mail line speed improvements , new freight etc ) there is simply no reason for CIE to grow, as growth means it needs more money and consumes up resources

The Phoenix Park tunnel is in the pipeline to open to Kildare commuter traffic at some stage next year. I don't see any point in improving speeds on non-main line routes as these are mostly short hop journeys.

I have travelled by rail almost every day for the past 9 years or so and the quality of the service provided by IE in that time has increased significantly so its not all doom and gloom. We have one of the newest rail fleets in Europe while many parts of the UK are using 80's stock and as for the increased passenger numbers; surely this has something to do with the increase in the population around areas like London?

To be honest I would expect the Elite to work with any decoder as Hornby state that it's NMRA compliant. If that's not the case then I would steer clear of it.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was just wondering if anyone knows what the issues are with the Elite and Hattons decoders? I have a few 201's and 071's to fit decoders to and I was thinking of trying these decoders (I can live with the lack of cab lights) but I'm also currently using the Hornby Elite controller. Is there a similar alternative that people on here have experience with?

Always perplexed me why cie/ir/ie. Forbid the use of sanding , it must have been widespread on steam locos in Ireland and it has remained in use in the US and elsewhere. Anyone shed any light on the purpose of the decision not to use sanding apparatus

Apparently the sand causes increased erosion on the rails although you would think restricting its use to times of 'fallen leaves' would make sense.

I'm not sure if the current Luas trams use sanding but the new LCC Broombridge depot will contain a sanding facility for the trams.

The layout is looking great and the trackwork and scenery seem to blended together excellently. Looking forward to seeing some greenery

Barl have you the number of the railway Modeller you got the idea from or can you show some pictures.TDR

Hi TDR, its been years since I read it so sorry can't remember the number but I do remember there was a seaside scene in the front cover. There's a few pics which show the river on my layout thread which may be of use;

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/1043-Barls-Layout

To create a small river on my layout I borrowed an idea from an old Railway Modeller and used clear silicone to simulate flowing water. I found putting a layer of PVA on top of the river 'bed' and then covering it with the silicone sealant to work best. Not ideal in cramped locations due to the odour though!

Excellent video Heirflick Anyone know if the stop in Sallins was scheduled? I'm raging I missed it!

Yes I probably was, but by the gate

Thought as much. I was walking up that way to Platform 1 to get the 17.55.