LARNE CABIN

Yes, welcome on board @BEANO3005 , lovely layout. Looks like it has been built up over a long period! Lots of stock and some fine trackwork and scenery. Please continue to post.

A bit off track, I know, not prototypical UTA 1969 and unlikely, but I couldn't resist posting these pictures of 027 arriving at Larne Harbour this morning.

027 arrived at Larne Harbour this morning.........

........super packaging for posting, super presentation and an absolutely superb loco, unbelievable! Many congratulations to IRM.

I have been looking through a few Working Timetables for the Larne Line that I have had stored away in a box for many years. (I see the equivalent are now fetching £20 - £30 on eBay!). The closest I have to my model period, 1969, is a WTT for 1975. I noticed a lot of paths between Magheramoure Loop and Cloghan Point and return, the vast majority just passing Whitehead, not stopping. I see from the internet that the oil terminal opened in 1979, so assume that these movements were to do with the building of the terminal! Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks @Irishswissernie, I assume that is Coleraine. Would take it from that, that uniform is black, rather than dark grey! Many thanks for looking.

Hi Galteemore, Along UTA Lines has a few vague, long distance shots, nothing concrete! Looks like white shirt though!

Hi @jhb171achill, in particular, or any one else of the learned forum members who may have the answer. I am starting out to paint a few figures for my Larne Harbour Station layout, set late 60's, mostly 1969, 'Steams Last Fling'. I would like to be as authentic as possible regarding uniforms. I know NIR took over in 1967, but I am assuming in 1969, most staff still in UTA uniform?. My main characters are Porter, Signalman and Shunter!  

Photos of staff are very scarce. Jonathan Allen's 35 Years of NIR has a picture of Senior Porter Fred Savage at Lisburn in 1972 very neatly turned out, white shirt, red tie, in NIR uniform. Was a white shirt typical of UTA?

Any help greatly appreciated.

A wee bit of craic at Larne Harbour Station, with Barney, the Porter

We have briefly met Barney in a previous post. He will be with us throughout this project, along with other station staff, including the Signalman, Shunter, a few members of the P W Gang and a few other characters, including one of those photographer guys who went around taking photos of the last days of steam in the late 60's. Watch this space!

Barney was born in Belfast in the early 1920's. His father worked in Harland and Wolff Shipyard and so did Barney for a while before getting a job as a cleaner at York Road Shed. He was courtin (dating) a Carrickfergus girl, Emma, and when they married went to live in Carrick and then Larne and so Barney got a job as a porter at Larne Harbour Railway Station.

Due to his Belfast upbringing and schooling Barney had a profusion of Norn Ireland sayings. He was renowned at Larne Harbour for his craic and banter  (social gossip and friendly exchange of teasing remarks), and indeed his yarns (long rambling stories). Everyone was greeted with a friendly 'Bout ye'  (Norn Ireland greeting for 'How are you') and a farewell of 'Keep er lit'  (encouraging remark). 

Barney loved and enjoyed his job, it was 'Wee Buns'  (enjoyable and really easy), except for when the 17:05 Non Stop Boat Train was delayed due to the late arrival of the steamer, which was quite often, when Barney was Up to High Doh  (stressed out) having to get passengers and their luggage on board as quickly as possible so that the 17:05 could get away as soon as a path became available at least as far as Magheramourne Loop.

Barney was brought up to be neat and tidy and to him if something wasn't pristine it was boggin (very dirty). When the new 70 Class in their gleaming Maroon and Oyster Grey Livery made their first appearance at the harbour in 1966 they were parful  (a good thing, a high compliment), but the oul boys on the P W Gang were scunnered  (depressed) that steam was all but gone! "Boys a dear, thon there diesels be takin ivver"  they'd gurn (moan about something).

In the winter months, with an icy wind coming off The North Channel, Larne Harbour Station was baltic (icy cold) and passengers were foundered  (very cold) and eager to get into a warm  carriage. If a carriage door was left open too long someone would shout "were ye born in a field"  (close that door, it's causing a draft). It was even worse if It was teemin (raining heavily), but the harbour had a decent canopy

Norn Irish people have a tendency to describe everything as "wee". It's a prefix we can add in front of pretty much any word. A local stopping train left at 10:35 and there was nothing else till after noon and Barney would go up to the cabin about 11:00 for a wee cuppa tae (that's tea) or on Friday after he finished work he would take a wee dander (a short walk) across the road to the Olderfleet Bar for a wee pint, and when it was time to go home he would always say "Ats us nai"  (meaning that's us finished). Emma was Dead On (OK, in agreement) with this arrangement, but if Barney ever came home steamin  (having had too much to drink) he would be in the dog house for a week. At home there was no doubt that Emma was the Station Master!

This is stunning work. I just love to see models of real locations and this is going to be top class.

On 5/10/2021 at 2:25 PM, jhb171achill said:

What did you use for the point rodding and associated gubbins?

@jhb171achill , the point rodding, cranks, downset drive joints etc., are all Wills Kits, SS89 Point Rodding and SS90 Point Rodding Extension Kit. It is very difficult to neatly line up the rods, so I watched a video on Utube which showed how to put a little styrene strip under each join. This makes it much easier to line them up neatly and makes a much more sturdy joint. I used Plastruct Styrene Strip 0.5mm x 1.5mm for this. 

One more photo, from the cabin side of the tracks. Lever 5, shunt signal for Up Sidings, and Levers 19 and 21, associated points pulled off. Signalman must have popped out for a moment!

The six rod run is now complete! All rodding installed and all connections made to the lever frame. A few minor alignment adjustments to be made before the P W Inspector comes down again from Ballymena later in the week (so expect some more Ulster-Scots dialect again soon!).

Note that no ballasting had been attempted yet! I am hoping to include some signal pulleys etc. before any ballasting.

I

When I first started out on the rodding, I thought after a few attempts, why am I doing all this, it's a huge task, but then I thought of the ultimate aim, realism and a photo of a model that someone has to look twice to decide if it's real or not. @Noel 's Gort Station is truly inspirational and something to strive to emulate.

The six rod run is now complete! All rodding installed and all connections made to the lever frame. A few minor alignment adjustments to be made before the P W Inspector comes down again from Ballymena later in the week (so expect some more Ulster-Scots dialect again soon!).

Note that no ballasting had been attempted yet! I am hoping to include some signal pulleys etc. before any ballasting.

I

When I first started out on the rodding, I thought after a few attempts, why am I doing all this, it's a huge task, but then I thought of the ultimate aim, realism and a photo of a model that someone has to look twice to decide if it's real or not. @Noel 's Gort Station is truly inspirational and something to strive to emulate.

Unlike the above forum members, Andreas, I know no German, but welcome you to the forum, good to have you on board. Some very impressive modelling there.

A short little shunt up the Narrow Gauge line!

Mid and East Antrim Council have developed and installed five Information Boards along the Inver River Walkway, basically the trackbed of the Ballymena and Larne Narrow Gauge Railway. The Boards cover the development of Larne, the port, industry, churches, schools, even the football pitch, now Inver Park Stadium. Also, the wildlife and fauna along the river, salmon, herons, kingfishers etc.

The fifth board is placed roughly between Station Road, where the Broad Gauge entered the town, and Narrow Guage Road, yes you've guessed it, where the Narrow Gauge entered the town, and is largely devoted to a brief history of the Narrow Gauge Railway.

It is refreshing to see The Council providing such interesting historical information and hopefully the younger generation will appreciate and learn a little from them and not vandalise them!

I agree with Blaine. It's a local Bangor - Portadown, heading towards Portadown. Looks like somewhere between Belfast and Lisburn, maybe Dunmurry!

Great video, thanks guys. 027 in Supertrain Livery is the A Class I have on order. Way outside my area of interest, but so fantastic that I couldn't resist! Supertrain Livery has always been my favorite CIE Livery and I expect that some time in the future 027 will make a guest appearance at Larne Harbour.

Super running, as usual. Just love to see those long rakes of coaches, and super timetabling, but looks as though the railway companies may have lost money on the day! A lot of those specials look fairly empty, especially that 08:00 ex Westport, those cravens look empty! 

Excellent work Galteemore. You have captured the 19th century 3' gauge look perfectly. I agree, I love the natural looking flowing curves. The final two panoramic photos are the first time we've seen the overall context, and it looks terrific. I'm sure it will be a big hit at the show. Just as a matter of interest, what width is the layout?

Very impressive Doc. I like the detail, particularly the ballast around the yard, coal, oil, soot, dirt, typical yard. I see that boy with the yellow hat is STILL on the phone after all this time. Must be a serious problem (or a woman)!

On 26/8/2021 at 8:54 PM, murphaph said:

You can say that again:

Is that the inside of your Railway Room? @murphaph. Very impressive collection, and probably only some of it! I like the way you've stacked three cabinets, one on top of each other. Good use of space. Can I ask what make is the individual cabinet? Is it IKEA or German make? Thanks.

The 4th run has now been installed, right down to the bridge (or the fridge, in this case) .......

and connected to the lever frame.

The 4th, 5th and 6th runs will have to be installed one at a time as the curve makes it difficult to install more than one run at a time and keep the alignment correct. Each outer run becomes slightly longer than the previous run, so a little insert has to be deployed to keep the alignment correct.

This caused a right rumpus when the P W Inspector turned up unexpectedly to see how the gang were getting on! The Gang Foreman got a right telling off. I caught this conversation between two of the older and more experienced men in the gang. They were relating what they had overheard, with some amusement, I might add!

"Yer man maun be doon frae Bellamaina hey, hes a bit o ane strang brogue, yer man says 'onie eejit kens thon ootside o a bend be a wee bit langer nor thon inside, sae yis shud hae stairted on thon ootside rin an shoartened thon rins as yis moved in ........ noo yis hae tae lengthen iverie rin as yis move oot, bot sure a sappose yis is doin a good jab o it' ".

Translated into English that reads "The man must be down from Ballymena [a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, many of it's population having a strong Ulster- Scots accent], he has a strong accent, he says 'any idiot knows the outside of a curve is a bit longer than the inside, so you should have started on the outside run and shortened the runs as you moved in ......... now you have to lengthen every run as you move out, but I suppose you are making a good job of it' ".

So there it is, we all learn as we go along, and the Gang Foreman will know better next time!

Hope to get the 5th and 6th runs completed soon and then have a look at signal pulleys!

[and yes, for those who guessed, I did get the dialect idea from @jhb171achill. I love the way Jonathan has introduced the backwater country Irish railway craic on Dugort Harbour. I hope to introduce a few County Antrim Ulster Scots scenarios at Larne Harbour as the project develops!].

As a wee taster, Barney, tha porter, wus doin the crossword in the local rag on a wee break between landins an leavins when the oul fella frae tha geng cum danderin alang tha platform. "gie me ane clue" tha oul fella says. "14 across, 4 letters, Drunk with Whisky" says Barney. "FULL ......Bloody Full" says tha oul fella.

(obviously, SODA was the correct answer, so God knows how the other clues ended up)

I don't want to give the impression that this was typical of the Larne Harbour Station that I'm modelling in 1969. All the staff, including these two boyoos, took their jobs very seriously and were proud to work for the railway and most spoke with a perfectly understandable Norn Ireland accent!!! Like everywhere else there were the exceptions, the well known characters, and it is these characters that we will meet from time to time during our visits to the harbour.

I agree @JasonB, the Driving Trailer 811, in Blue/Grey is absolutely fantastic.

Absolutely stunning! So good to see NIR coaches at last. I have a Hunslet and was in the process of making a Driving Trailer from a Bachmann Mk2c, and now here we have the Driving Trailer in perfection from IRM. Can't really believe it! Thanks guys.

Looks very realistic. Could easily be mistaken for real photograph taken from bridge. 

For a first layout, as you say, this is absolutely A*. Terrific detail, terrific scenery. I especially like the nighttime shots! Looking forward to more.