Irishswissernie

That doesn't look like the my corrugated sheet, I have great piles of Slaters plasticard unfortunately without numbers! The one on the left is the 4mm corrugated, that on the right is probably actually planking and corresponds with the one that Broithe has uploaded. The corrugated sheeting isn't flat on the back and I always used it with plasticard support i.e. built the building shell in the same material so that it could be glued together with mekpak to stop the corrugated sheet warping when painted Ernie

There has been quite a lengthy discussion on NGRM about the current position at Backwoods, there are rumours that the business has been sold. This is a copy of a post on that site: (( As some customers may already know, my wife Jen has developed dementia which is steadily progressing and I am now her full time carer. For this reason I chose to suspend trading of Backwoods Miniatures in December 2016 as I no longer have time to devote to the business, and her care must be my sole priority. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers who have given us such loyal support over many years. It is planned to transfer the business to a new owner and this process is currently ongoing. Pete & Jen McParlin)) When Pete first started producing Irish NG prototypes many years ago I purchased a large number of kits covering L&LSR, CDRJC C&L locos and about 20 wagons. Most of the loco kits had parts missing and a note saying these would be forwarded in due course. None ever arrived and the kits sat in their boxes for years before I moved them on through my mate Geof Poulter at Contikits I am pretty sure that the brass castings etc were produced by Ian Young of Sans Pareil models (I understand he is doing the same for the forthcoming 00 Works 0-6-0 - a chat with him at my Daughters wedding last June) Ernie

Had a quick look, might be one of these. Top one Tralee, lower Killarney - a few more trees around nowadays! Ernie

Voted; but nowadays I';d settle for a strong cup of tea

Its great what you have done for Irish modelling; now we need someone to champion the cause of models for the North of England and Scotland railways. The GWR , Southern and the English constituents of the LMS are well covered. NER J27,s NBR J36 and J37 all lasted until the last years of steam NER G 5 0-4-4ts migrated to London and Scotland and a replica full size job is under construction. Andrew Barclay industrial 0-4-0st served all over the UK. What we don't need is more obscure LBSC tanks and SE&CR 0-6-0's that mainly didn't leave their tiny (by NER & NBR size) pre-grouping company rails. If we have to have another SE&CR loco why not one of the Great North of Scotland 4-4-0's that they purchased (D40) when the GNS couldn't afford to pay for the whole batch. Rant over !!!!!! Ernie

I was going through the CJB Sanderson negative collection held by the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust and in it there are 3 Irish images, 2 of F501 and one of 6T . Quite a surprise as I can't imagine someone would travel all the way to County Clare from eastern Scotland and not take any other Irish Railway photos on the way! Ernie

Yes Ernie

Thanks for you kind comments Rich! I have been pestering Dave Dunn at the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust to check through the Trust Files for more Irish material with some success. Hopefully I should have some more before the end of the year although it will be mainly 1950's - 60's and probably steam. I do have some black & white negatives from 1977 which should be appearing in the next hour or so. Ernie

I'm looking at doing some 'bubble' weathering and have blown up a few details from my photos. I have added them to the Miscellany album on flickr for anyone looking for inspiration! The right hand wagon at Limerick Works is probably a step to far but I could perhaps use one of my previous bubbles built by son Alan from his 3D printed body/Dapol chassis. He used some unusual weathering techniques on these including tooth paste which then developed some kind of mould over time. Ernie

Received my first order for Packs A B & C here in Haltwhistle (Centre of Britain according to the Town Council) this afternoon. Stephen at IRM in response to my query regarding my second order for Packs C & D says all outstanding orders are awaiting pick up by the Courier today. Outstanding work boys! How are you going to fill your weekend? Ernie

112 at Waterford 12 years ago, slightly more than 12 in tow! Memories! Ernie

Thanks for the re-assurance and quick reply (I have already e-mailed direct) I am thinking of ordering another 2 seats but couldn't remember which 3 I had already ordered! Ernie

One slightly worrying problem has come to light this evening when I went on my Irish Railway Models Account to check which sets I had ordered is that it says I havn't ordered any whereas I have in fact ordered and paid for 3 sets back in May. Hopefully this is just another problem with the new web site and I have emailed them direct to sort things out. However it may be prudent for anyone else just to check their accounts to see if their orders are registered. Ernie

A few of Stranorlar in my Flickr album: Ernie

I have gradually added more of the JW Armstrong images from the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust (many thanks to them for permission to use.) This one of a Tablet Catcher in operation needs the location identified,; not much to go on unfortunately. Ernie

Yes I always watermark the photos on flickr (unless its some of the photos taken today with little value), unfortunately you need to watermark the photos on or near the interesting bits! Items off my site that were nicked were trimmed to cut off the watermark. I still have a fair number of JW Armstrongs images from the early 50's to upload when I get time. Ernie

3 or 4 photos in my Flickr GNRI Album may be of use. is the first Ernie

Yes, this is the most likely explanation, I thought nothing of it at the time but then I had been up since 5am and had to sort out my own breakfast at the Ballykisteen Lodge B&B etc. As for locked gangway doors, I regularly caught a service from Basle to Zurich Flughafen at Brugg which had a double deck First Class coach in the single level set. Its connection was/is at the upper level,but it was always in service. Swiss double deck sets often had a single deck Driving Trailer at that time also in regular service. I have added another rarity on Flickr from video stills - a 2 coach Push/Pull set on the Limerick shuttle. Ernie

The Cravens was in use; I traveled in it from Limerick Junction to Portarlington. I didn't notice that the corridor connection would be locked as I didn't need to switch coaches. As it was a warm day 18th June 2003 (found me diary!) the lack of heating didn't twig either. Ernie

Cravens and other non air conditioned types never ran in service with "supertrain" types, though a very small number of instances of older types being towed out of service behind a Mk 2 (but not Mk 3) set did occur. This reminded me of a trip I made on the early morning (I think about 6am at Limerick Junction) Cork to Dublin in June 2003. The set normally compose of Mark 2 Air conditioned stock had a Cravens at the head end . It was in use, you can see the windows on the doors are open. A couple of 'stills' from my video Ernie

Its probably just Flickr, I've just been on and its working OK. Holidays and weekends see a large increase in 'hits' so it may just have been heavy 'traffic'. There have been over 8,000 hits today on the 4,000 odd remaining images, compared to 10,500 for all yesterday on 32,000 plus. Ernie

Just a quick up-date on the Archive, I have had problems with images being snipped, copied and even prints sold from some of the England/Scotland/Wales collections and this has upset some of the photographers/copyright holders. I don't need this hassle and I also don't want to cause distress to the copyright holders particularly at their time of life. I have had no problems with the Irish Archive so this one will continue with (hopefully) new material from time to time.The other Archives (Isle of Man & Spain excepted) have been closed. Ernie

These were empty, came in from the east the day before and stabled overnight in the old Ballinrobe platform. The van could well be 24850. I think the last number is a 0 Ernie

I think it could well be Headford Juntion, I have a view looking the other way on Flickr. It would seem to fit! The photographer also did Killarney, Tralee and the line to Valentia so it would fit. Thanks Ernie

I have been uploading a few more images from the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust courtesy of Dave Dunn. This is a JW Armstrong original listed as Claremorris but it isn't! Any ideas. Ernie