Angus

I which case I must have been sat by you last night and didn't realise. I must make more of an effort to introduce myself! It was a great talk though.

Also not convinced there is anything to "Cash in on" here. Most of the finescale societies (2mm, 3mm, S Scale etc) have produced their own plain track bases. These are all pretty similar, normally six sleepers on a web through which the rails are threaded. The 2mm Scale Association's 8' 6" product is shown above. From memory the development of the tooling for these was a considerable investment that had to be backed by the product development fund financed by the society's membership subs. The only commercial offerings that are similar are from British Finescale who offer a the above for standard N Gauge but for code 40 rails, finer than all commercially available track. They do offer points kits in other scales 00, 00SF & EM but as can be appreciated these are all scales with a large following. I doubt the interest 21mm gauge matches even the smaller of the specialist societies. That's not to say it can't be done. It just needs a co-ordinated effort and investment from those interested.

Hi, just a question I'm struggling to find a definitive answer to. On broad gauge vans what size are the G and S in Great Southern days, the lettering seems to cover 3 planks so I am assuming 18" but we all know what assumption do..... Thanks

Hi David, Great progress with the changes, I'm looking forward to seeing the transformation as the Swilly (my spell checker altered that to Willy which would have taken this post off in whole other direction.....!) has always been a favourite of mine. When transferring drawings to plastic sheet I found I could scan a drawing then print it out onto the plastic sheet. My cheap home ink jet printer will feed 20 thou (0.5 mm) plastic sheet without a problem. Leave the print to dry and apply some sealing spray otherwise the print just rubs off when you touch the sheet. I always check the print size on a piece of paper first as they often need rescaling slightly. Onviously this is limited to A4 size (unless you've got a posher printer) which isn't much of a restriction in 2mm. It does save a lot lot of faffing about with pencil and paper, and avoids my inevitable inconsistency.

Thanks GSR800, I did read the reference. I'm more wondering what the source was. Rumours will always abound, not all have any truth.

I've been watching this with interest as the LNWR represents one of my main interests and I've slowly been accumulating 7mm scale kits and models for a future layout. As a result I've also got a fairly extensive library of LNWR books. The MGWR also represents a key interest in Irish railways. I missed the reference to talks about a merger in Ernie Shepherd's book, but having taken a quick look through my LNWR books I can't find any reference. The only references to the MGWR are in conjunction with the construction of North Wall and the connecting branches, all of which were built after the MGWR line. The LNWR was an investor in the Dublin & Drogheda but divested it's shares taking ownership of North Wall Station in the process on the formation of the GNR. I'm left wondering what the source of the reference to a merger was. I'll ask a question on the LNWR Society forum and update with any information found.

I'd be happy to take a couple if it gets this over the line.

Happy to take one of those (albeit in 2mm) so that would leave 3.

Ah! Bob49 is revealed! Nice to see you branching out into Irish stuff Marc.

There is a scaled down version of the etch TMD/SSM etch in circulation from a few years back, commissioned, I think, by Patrick O'Sullivan author of the Farranfore to Valencia Harbour books. I've been kindly gifted three of the etches by other 2mm Association members one of which I've partially built ( I seem to have become the custodian of Irish railway etches for 2mm finescale). Although it doesn't appear to be in their catalogue? I have contemplated approaching them to see if these could be reduced to 2mm but 7-2mm might be a stretch to far to result in anything buildable. I've always viewed any scaled down etch (or print) as an aid to scratch building rather than a full blown kit, the basic structure should be usable (although might require a few tweaks) anything else is a bonus. That said Mayner's MGWR horse box and meat vans went together well.

Hi Bob, Presumably the underframes are etched, but what about the bodies, are these 3d printed? thanks Angus

Coming a little bit late to this thread, another vote for a J5, so that just leaves four more to find. The only snag is I need mine in 2mm scale so not sure that counts? I'd be happy to order a couple of etches if it helps make up the numbers. I feel the real missing engine is the more utilitarian MGWR 0-6-0s the L class (J18/J19). I'd also love one of Mayner's Z boiler etches in 2mm scale but having asked him to reduce some of his kits these have lain in the gloat pile gathering dust whilst my Irish modelling takes a back seat for a while. I really need to get on with what I've got 4!

Love the brass rod idea to hold the boiler level. I've not seen that before. Simple and effective I shall be using that!

I've always thought the G2 2-4-0s were the quintessential MGWR engine, long lived and rebuilt multiple times so you can have a few of them each looking totally different. That said a J18 would be more practical.

Hi Colin, The Sligo project was always something for the future. It would need a large amount of stock to be built to effectively represent the station. I've a build underway of a fictional terminus in the Sligo area which will allow the gradual accumulation of stock without appearing ridiculous. That build is on hold for a couple of reasons but I hope to recommence later in the year. I do plan a visit to Sligo at some point in the next year or so to do some detailed photography to assist.