Irishswissernie

Now I would have models of 6 of the Swilly 4-6-2t's but not the ugly pair 13 & 14. They were built by er Hawthorn Leslie now where did I mention them recently oh yes A5's .

Sorry not a fan of the A5 and they didn't use them in true Geordieland much. Darlington I think had some but they had to have lower domes and modified chimneys to fit the former North Eastern railway loading gauge. The final batch built in LNER days had these and cab side windows., however they were built up here at Hawthorn Leslies. I would rather have an A8.

The cheapest or should I say the least expensive option has been a tunnel under the Solent in the Lymington to Yarmouth area and has always foundered on the cost plus the major centres of population are Portsmouth on the mainland and Ryde/ the East coast of the Island so it would be a huge detour to use the tunnel. My imagineering (new word?) has always centred on a line called the Yarmouth, Totland & Alum Bay which would have run from Yarmouth with a branch joining from Fort Victoria Pier where minerals would have been shipped, then via Totland and a short tunnel to Alum Bay. Possibly a colliery near Alum Bay (perish the thought), however there are apparently deep down under the chalk, coal measures rather like as in Kent where coal measures had been discovered during digging for the early channel tunnel proposals. It could have been oil or gas as in the Isle of Purbeck. Anyway such a line would have captured and developed the tourist traffic to Alum Bay from Yarmouth and the ferry from Lymington. I will have to try and forget all this! The current layouts are the Sligo & Donegal Junction and Glengarriff, its bad enough trying to incorporate the North Eastern, Caledonian and North British alongside CIE/Irishrail on Four Masters Bridge; scenically -not at the same time. Chalk downs, bricks and Morris Dancers just won't fit in.

I have always been interested in the Isle of Wight Railways and keep pondering about building a model but there are only limited range of models available RTR. Back in 2016 I visited the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and on a whim purchased the 2 Kernow Isle of Wight versions of the O2. On returning home I discovered that Kernow were going to do an ex LSWR Brake Van Isle of Wight version so I ordered 2. The years rolled by and no sign of the Brake vans appearing so when someone offered to purchase the O2's which hadn't even been taken out of their boxes they 'went the journey' Moving on to 2021 and I was looking for a couple of Brake Vans for the Sligo & Donegal Junction but I'm long past building stuff so searched for a model a bit different from the usual to convert/re-letter (The Sligo & Donegal being an independent company would have had its own rolling stock) After 6 years I discovered that Kernow had finally made the LSW Brake Van so purchased 2 grey for the S&DJR plus 1 SR brown Isle of Wight version to go with the latest Hornby Isle of Wight SR Terrier which I couldn't resist getting. I then tried to find a Kernow SR Isle of Wight O2 but no such luck so gave up. Suddenly on 4 August I had an email from Rails of Sheffield with the info that Bachmann in the 2021 Autumn new models were going to release an O2 under the EFERail brand so I thought might as well order one and hopefully it will appear in the next 3 or 4 years so won't interfere with the looming expenditure on 2 more A Class! It was a bit of a shock to get an email 6 days later saying the O2's were in stock and mine was being posted. Sure enough its turned up this morning. Rails now say this version is now sold out so lady luck was with me for once. 6 years for the Brake vans to appear and 6 days for the O2!

It definitely looks like it. The captions on the Armstrong negs are often a bit suspect, I imagine because it was at Broadstone he thought it was ex M&GWR. Here is another. Pennyburn Level Crossing on the Swilly. I rather like the collection of telegraph poles and supports, the odd signal and the trespass sign bolted to one of the poles.

Several or probably many years ago the Armstrong Trust kindly provided scans of the late JW Armstrong's negatives taken in Ireland in the 1930's and just after WW11. I was pretty sure that he must have taken more as some remote locations only had one or two views. I have now had the opportunity to go through his Archive and ones where Ireland wasn't in the caption had been missed in the original 'trawl' Here are a few of the latest finds. I am sure that the negative of CDRJC 'Blanche' is an original works view rather than one listed as at JF Wake the SH loco dealers in Darlington as even the nameplate is still in situ.

Keeping busy in between blood tests , scans etc. I have fettled up the track on Glengarriff as it always moves a little during the summer and especially after the recent heat wave. Now its beginning to feel like Autumn (in more ways than one!) This a view looking west showing the cement storage siding with 2 x 121 having just reversed a set. I also managed to reverse this set around the layout as a check on the trackwork. A short video link to the flickr album with a few trains.

Model Railway Shows were getting to be financially risky even prior to COVID. I understand both the 2 large shows here in the North East in 2019 made a loss. Back in the 1980's when I was involved in such ventures, Even allowing for inflation, Venue hire was much lower especially schools etc. Public liability Insurance much cheaper and visiting layouts expenses lower. Plus there were far more clubs so a bigger pool of members layouts etc which would do reciprocal visits etc in exchange and forgo expenses as a result.

Nothing yet Jim

Right area Jim but its the other terminus, Thurso

Its still under construction planned opening Spring 2022

The viaduct at Newport Isle of Wight is quite interesting. It carried 2 single tracks, the near one went to Ryde and the rear one to Sandown. The girder span on the right pivoted upwards to provide a clear route for the sailing barges to reach the warehouses in the distance. The Fairlie view at Porthmadog also shows the old Britannia Foundry in the distance (the building with the letters on it. This was demolished in the 1970's or 80's and replaced by an appalling Tax Office building which in turn has been demolished and a new Premier Inn is being built on the site. You will have a choice of 2 superb views from its rooms. Either up the Glaslyn estuary towards Snowdon or towards the sea with the Ffestiniog/Welsh Highland station in the foreground. A bit better than the Travelodge on the Industrial Estate which actually has frosted windows on the rear rooms to blot out the building and scrap yards.

OK A quick look as I am awaiting the onslaught of the grandchildren and no 2 son and his spouse who have gone to destroy Beamish Open Air Museum. No 3 R.A.B (not RAB C) one of my favourite programs but definitely not PC these days. 5 Mersey Railway somewhere on the Wirral (not Liverpool Overhead Rly) 6 Liskeard with the still open branch to Combe Junction and Looe passing underneath. 7 I think this is Bude Canal with the goods only branch. Smashing shot! 8 Newport IOW looking the other way from the previous photo and 9 is Newport with a train entering the Freshwater line. 11 Portmadoc or now its Porthmadog with the Fairlie standing where the coal stage is today. 12 Ravenglass 13 Portmadoc 14 VOR looks like Devils Bridge.

Here are the answers from the Haltwhistle Jury (where he knows them!) 1. Newport Isle of Wight. 2.Montreux 3 Spiez BLS 7 Brienz BRB 11 WAB Kleine- Scheidigge 12 Spiez BLS 13 Kleine- Scheidigge JB 14 Spiez BLS All the above except No 1 are in Switzerland and the spelling of Kleine-Scheidigge not guaranteed. Last time I was there there was a giant Teepee with rock music blaring out. It was the same on a Sunday morning on the summit of the Rigi but with some pop group practicing (off key) Sort of destroyed the peace and tranquillity .

Having missed seeing the Irish narrow gauge railways I tried to make up for that by several visits to the Isle of Man starting in 1970. I have also collected a fair number of views from the old days. This is the Collection of some 1200+ views. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/collections/72157719627780099/

You can still do this by train if you go to the Isle of Man , that's Port Erin not Peel. Its a pity the line to Peel didn't survive as well then all the major centres on the island would have had a rail connection of some sort. The Peel line track bed however is now a footpath with some of the infrastructure still there including a rail mounted crane at Union Mills.

Did some tidying up today and had a look at Glengarriff which has taken a bit of a back seat whilst working on Four Masters Bridge. I actually ran a train very gingerly as nothing has ran for several months and some of the track in the fiddle yard has been re-arranged to connect the new sections. Ran a gypsum as per the Kingscourt trips/speeds and took a video to check what needs sorting. The back drop needs a good sprucing up! 376691376_2021-07-31GlengarriffGypsum.m4v

Mine was advised by New Zealand Mail to the Royal Mail and they provided full tracking once it reached the UK. It will probably depend on the delivery address Country as to whether their individual Mail Systems offer the same facility.

Well if Madame ever finds out how much the items in the loft cost the temperature would be over 100C . Mind you hopefully this will be after I have 'gone below' so I will be enduring temperatures way above even that!

Van has arrived and road er rail tested on Glengarriff - looks great. More views on the Glengarriff topic.

New JM Design Brake Van arrived from New Zealand today. Looks great, no extra charges from Customs etc and only took 2 weeks to get here.

This L&LSR trespass sign was still in situ at Letterkenny 27 June 1968. The company was still running bus services then . Is that the paint scheme in use during the railway era.

Correction Britain from Above https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/XAW027080

Thanks for confirmation of where I thought it was

My Brake Van according to the Tracking has now reached Qatar so hopefully depending on the customs at Heathrow it should be arriving here soon. At least it will be acclimatised to the weather, it was 32 Centigrade in the loft yesterday slightly more than the 30 degrees in Qatar er oh that was in the middle of the night though.