Irishswissernie

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157690426038844 There are a few more in this flickr album which also includes some of the Irish O gauge locos I had at one time. A fair number of the layouts appear to have escaped the camera! Ernie

Not Glengarriff, not much progress there at the moment because the heat in the loft is somewhat oppressive. Roll on the school holidays as in Haltwhistle they normally start the Halti Monsoon season which lasts for precisely the same time as the holidays! However today I was watching some of my old video's now on DVD when I came across a short extract of a layout my son and I started some 20 years ago based on a narrow gauge Sligo & Donegal junction railway in On30 scale I hadn't realised we had progressed so far with the layout until now. Here are some stills, I don't possess the technology or more likely the skills to upload the video! ERnie

If you missed out on the ballast wagons, they didn't always remember them on the real thing! https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/14731171042/in/album-72157646594210844/ Ernie

I'm not really a fan of mirrors for this purpose. One tends to get reflections of bits of the layout room or from the lights. When I'm 'playing' trains i.e. just letting them run around slowly I tend to sit down and get a much lower eye level view as per the prototype so the cut off nature of the buildings isn't evident. When I'm standing to shunt in the yard I'm concentrating on the yard action so the the layout in the background isn't so obvious. I am also partially sighted with some tunnel vision (one of its few or possibly only advantage's!) ERnie

Interesting although sad to see the station now from when I was there back in 2003 & 2005 but I see the tradition of having a dumped wagon is being carried on although I don't think the goods yard tracks are connected now! The Drone is a good way of finding out the roof details. Ernie

This photo on my flickr site I took at North Wall bears out the only one pallet in the centre 2 bays. I also video'd various mixed Liners with around 4 ferts in the consists https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5739848398/in/album-72157626638886303/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5739849932/in/album-72157626638886303/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5768010571/in/album-72157626825629406/ ERnie or even just 1!

I've got that DVD if its the Markle Tara & Clara one; very interesting! Does anyone know how they re-assemble the wagons after unloading (I managed to video the train arriving at the unloader and the loco running round back in 1905) The video shows the last wagon being unloaded and taken back to the front of the train but for the rest does the loco push the train in and after each wagon is unloaded and traversed to the mt siding does the loco then run out onto Alexandra Road and then then pull the wagon off the traverser with the rest of the mts. Ernie

The station overall roof and goods shed complex are now basically done and painted today which is why they have the "wet look" Its about 10 years since I have done any serious modelling but putting it on here is a great incentive to get on with it. A bit like 30 years ago when if I promised to build a layout for a Show then I just had to stick in and get it built. This often meant getting up at 6am and doing an hours modelling before going off to work but at least it got me out of walking the dogs/feeding the kids etc. Ernie

Hurray! Half term is over and the Missus has returned to school therefore work has resumed on the station buildings etc. The Goods shed will be portrayed as having been modernised with a canopy over a widened entrance. Were these rebuilt to form garages for road vehicles does anyone know? Ernie

You could also include the original route of the Fishguard & Rosslare Railway (originally Wexford & Waterford railway I think) south of Wexford which was superseded by the direct route towards Waterford from Rosslare Strand and didn't see much use afterwards closing about 5 years later. My brain hurts! ERnie

The links from the Burma Road , the Sligo, Leitrim & Northern Counties and the M&GWR Sligo line at Collooney/Ballysodare also formed a triangle, although I doubt if they were ever used as such. Ernie

Charleville, Limerick City, Moyasta (West Clare), Greenisland and nowadays Belfast GVS. Ernie

Well er! actually the Sundeala boards are grey to start with! ERnie

Some progress has been made. The station area track, laid and ballasted and the track painted. There has been some adjustment to the track plan. The run round for the bubbles has been lengthened so that a long former cattle bank can be created but now utilised as a Guinness compound and siding, whilst still be long enough for releasing the 'bubbles ' loco and odd wagons. The passing loop at the station has been shortened with a new connection to the running line and the former 'off scene' point now will serve a loco siding/stabling point. Basic shell of the station train shed has been built so that I can check the aesthetics. The sky backdrop has also been cut and glued onto the back boards as this is an almost impossible job once one starts on the scenics in front of it. Its half term next week and the Missus is off from school so little chance of getting anything done for a few days! Ernie

Sorry, I gave up on Exhibiting back in the late 1980's although I continued attending Shows but working on various friend's Trade stands for many years thereafter and also looked after a local model shop when the owners were doing shows, having holidays etc. I have a flickr album in Ernie's Railway Archive of some of the layouts. Thankfully not many photos were taken and those that were are mostly of the same quality as the layouts! hhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157690426038844/page1 I have now reached my '3 score + 10' and being retired have discovered that I don't have any free time any more. Apparently this is a common problem! Ernie

Glengarriff is now up and running or at least the fiddle yards and continous run are working. I have tested various trains/formations and so far so good! A single 141 will handle 21 'bubbles' easily. Work has now started on the station trackwork with some modification to the track plan to provide a locomotive siding. Trackwork here will take longer to lay as I need to incorporate Gaugemaster ballast roll and also Wire & Tube to work the points. The ballast has to be cut and shaped to fit the points. Ernie

This isn't a GNR box; the GNR didn't serve Ballymena. The old Company was the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway which became the Midland Railway, Northern Counties Committee (NCC) after purchase by the English Midland Railway and then part of the LMS. This is the same style of Box at Derry, Waterside. This is more like the standard GNR box, the main difference being that the roof does not overhang as much and isn't shaped the same. Ernie

18 May1963 A38 Railtour Barrack St Ernie

Its throwing it down and there's only me and the dogs at home tonight so I have done a bit more 'feasibility studying' plus adding the back boards to the station section. I can't make the back drop boards full height as if something derails in the back storage loops I need to reach over to get it. A mirror mounted on the wall will help me check that nothing is blocking the loops such as uncoupled wagon, dead mouse or secreted chocolate (All confirmed past causes!) The 2 x 1 stretchers will screw the 2 boards together like a box when interchanged thereby protecting the layout. First photo shows station boards removed . Layout can still be operated as a continous run for testing or just playing trains. Second photo shows 16 bubbles in the 'storage part' of the silo siding. Third photo. Checking out train lengths etc. Fourth photo. The passenger section is at the far end and will feature an Overall roof to disguise the exit. Only the platform ends will be modelled as I don't think anyone has replicated passengers alighting and boarding so basically nothing appears to happen when the train comes in.

A fair number of 4 wheel timber wagon photos in my Flickr albums including Limerick Junction & Waterford https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5768509244/in/album-72157626825629406/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/15390361633/in/album-72157626825629406/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5883304063/in/album-72157627074623032/ ERnie

The station area has 4 goods sidings plus a second loop (apart from the passing loop), the loop is to recess the local passenger as at Claremorris where the Ballina set used to wait between connections at Manulla. The cement silo siding is a loop; it is the curved innner siding leading back to the main fiddle yard and can take 20 wagons. Whilst the bubbles worked mainly as block trains on the prototype, when they reached the terminals they were often split and wagons shunted and re-arranged. At Waterford I videoe-d a set during the day having wagons removed/ and or shunted by 3 different 071 class which in the interim visited the fuelling point. The other sidings in the station are for Guinness, fertiliser or bagged cement. One operation I noticed is that 4 wheel wagons were always worked behind bogie wagons on a train ; noted especially on a mix of Guinness wagons at Claremorris and Waterford and on Containers/Guinness at Limerick Junction. At Claremorris the Ballina branch set and loco shunted Guinness wagons at times with the coaches on one end of the loco and wagons on the other. This was probably to cut down on shunting moves and noise in the middle of the night when the fulls arrived from Dublin. The theme behind the model is that back in the 19th century ore was discovered west of Macroom in County Cork and a port was built between Glengarriff and Castletown Bearhaven on Bantry Bay by the company for exporting the mineral. At the same time the Mining company wanted better transportation by rail to the rest of Ireland and to overcome the problems caused by the Cork & Macroom Company and the CB&SC not being on speaking terms which had resulted in the connection between the 2 companies at Cork being taken out (It was re-instated in WW1 for troop movements at the insistence of the government) Plus of course at the time the Cork City railway had not been built so there was no connection at the time to the rest of the country. The GS&WR wanted a piece of the action so it financed a connection from Kilbarry south west via the cattle markets and Cork North station and then westwards to Ballincolling on the CM&DR. From their terminus at Macroom the line returned to the valley of the River Lee as far as the mine at Ballingeary and then via a tunnel under the Pass of Keimaneigh down to the shores of Bantry Bay , thence via Glengarriff to Castletown Bearhaven. All rather implausible given the gradients involved but I have amended the topography, geology, industry and population where needed to make the line a busy freight network ca2000. The 'Tara' wagons when they come will cover the ore trains from the mine to the port at Seal. Closure of the CB&SC system in the early 1960's resulted in an increase in freight via Glengarriff for the Bantry area and points south plus freight for the Oil industry installations in Bantry Bay. OOPs! Forgot your query Noel. Baseboards and legs etc are 2" x 1" (my usual size used for over 30 years with no problems) and the baseboard tops are Sundeala board. This is relatively soft and can be cut with a sharp carpet Knife. It is braced underneath every 12" The station boards are 1/8th inch lower than the others as they will be ballasted with Gaugemaster ballast (one or two of the points in the photos have this attached still. They are from a previous layout. Well that's enough of tonight's bed-time reading. Lights out everybody!

In late 2016 my wife er sorry I mean my wife and I decided to move house from Haltwhistle (Centre of Britain) to be nearer to our 5 children and their families. As they live in Didcot, Nottingham, Southport, Brandon, Co Durham & Salt Lake City I am still not sure how she plans to achieve this, however this meant the immediate demise of my Model Railway with everything packed away back up in the loft room. 16 months further down the line we have had 2 people view the house and I am not hopeful that this rate of potential buyers will improve. I have accordingly decided to build a new layout but capable of being dismantled and at 10' by 5ft- 3ins easily installed (famous last words) in a new property. I have built numerous layouts over the years and back in the 1980's;90's exhibited 15 different ones at North East England Shows. I also have several different prototype interests Irish, North Eastern Steam, Scottish steam, Swiss and USA short line. I want a layout with shunting interest, fairly long trains (20 wagons) and continous running. The layout would also need extensive storage sidings to hold approx 7-8 complete trains. Storage sidings can be used with any of the particular area/company/country being modelled so only the actual station/yard will need to be inter-changeable. The baseboards are built and I have been checking that the trackwork actually fits the space available.

Yes that looks correct; I have also identified 3 of the others as Thurles and Waterford; thanks. Ernie

I have added another 7 unknown locations to Flickr. This is the link to the Photostream https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/? I have another 50 odd Irish negatives from the 1960's already identified to add in due course with more on the way(fingers crossed)

Release date I understand is 29th February 2019! Ernie