DJ Dangerous

Yes, yes, we need that in the like / react section!

I must confess that I AM one of the clowns (talking more about myself than anybody else, with the benefit of hindsight) who paid over the odds. 077 was the last one missing from my collection, aside from the gouger's dreams, freight grey and NIR, so I paid about €250 for her. All of the rest were between €150 and €200.

I'd say it's more about budgeting. Anybody looking to buy the remaining three will buy the most scarse when they can afford it. A30 is stunning, and A42 is a jaw dropper. You have to see them both in person! Even if all you had for them to hall was a few of John's open wagons (still available), or even some Hornby five-planks painted primer grey, it would be worth buying as those two A's look so good. Why don't you guys have a drooling smiley, like the way you drool while eating sausages. That would be more appropriate here!

It actually IS too bad, when you realise that it's a locomotive, the same as any other, inside an 071 Class shell. The MM 071 is a gorgeous model, don't get me wrong, but under the skin, it's no different to an IRM A Class or a Bachmann Class 37. Once somebody is happy paying €150 for what's inside the body and another €150 to €250 for the body itself, if we break things down, then good for them. Thanks to you, I only use my Sniper nowadays for eBay. Set your bid, walk away and hope for the best. It means that I lose out on a lot of models, but it means not paying insane money that I can't justify or would rather spend on something else. For example, is an 071 really worth two, or even three, brand new A Class locos? To the buyer, in that exact heated moment of madness, sure, but when you sit back to rationalise in that way... No. To anybody longing for an 071, plonk three A's beside a single 071 and ask yourself that question. A bespoke 071 would be different, as you're also paying for the time, effort and materials that went into the work.

Well, technically second generation pretenders, as steam engines were pretenders following the era of the horses.

That's it, on the nail! Old guys are going to remember steam fondly, middle-aged guys are going to remember diesels fondly, kids are going to remember 22000's fondly.

Steam locos are nice and all, but for me, they don't hold a candle to the diesels. The 201 in particular, possibly because it wasn't banana shaped like the previous GM diesels, had a much bigger, more powerful presence. Still love the 071's!

Haven't had time to run the trains in ages, but at least got out a few vehicles today to admire them...

Two Ian Hayes trucks available: https://www.ebay.es/itm/403535218280

Not sure whether it's IE 077 as per the photos or ST 086 as per the description, but it'll be interesting to see what it goes for: https://www.ebay.es/itm/284698669022

Guilty as charged, guv.

The RP25 is the flange depth and the 110 means a tread that's 0,110 inches wide, yeah?

I picked up a few of them last year and the year before, all around the €60 mark. Beside a MM 201, they look rough, but whizzing around by themselves, they are grand. Sound like bags of spanners, though.

MIR 141 and cement bubble!!! https://www.ebay.es/itm/304393347951 Bit expensive for a 141, but I've bought from the seller before and they're decent: https://www.ebay.es/itm/115275885680 Lima 201 at a fair enough price for what they are: https://www.ebay.es/itm/115289769536

Slightly OT, but I reckon that the market is five or ten times what it was when the 141's / 181's were released, over ten years ago, so comparing sales ten years ago to sales today is really apples vs. oranges. The speed at which items sell at the moment is breathtaking - IRM Mags 30% sold on pre-order in five or six weeks, for example. I remember all of the tantrums here on the forum because the Container Liners sold out on pre-order. 121's flew off the shelves in certain liveries, as did the A's. 141's / 181's / 071's / 201's would be no different. Plus, I believe that the original tooling is inaccessible, from reading various posts here on the forum, so IF somebody wanted to do a run, new tooling would be required. That's not knocking the original run - they are smashing locos, very highly detailed, and they are buttery smooth runners.

Oh, please! You only say that because you guys have had your on run of them sitting in a container in Dublin the last two years, held back just to troll us, along with the forty foots of Laminates, Mk4 sets, 22000's and the twenty foot of motorised floating B&I ferries. Sure every few months, when he manages to wipe the tears of laughter out of his eyes, Fran posts pictures of a "new" tooling sample that has been sitting on the ledge in his bathroom for a couple of years, and then spends another few months crying with laughter at the reactions of all of us here on the forum, frothing at the mouths. Every time I mention two-tone green 1990's Dublin buses, he glances over at that twenty foot and laughs so hard that he starts coughing and says to himself "ah, they can wait a few more months for those" ...

Wow. Just wow. What extra underbody detailing did you add, and on what bogies does it sit?

A third of the run gone inside the first month! Outstanding!

Looked like he was going to accept even less...

Because IRM are holding back their P47!

I hope it's gonna be very secure!

Murphy Models 183 about to go for €200 here: https://touch.adverts.ie/toy-cars-trains-boats-planes/model-railway-murphys-models-181-no183/26247024 Best price I've seen one at in a long time.

I'm guessing that IRM will tease us for as long as possible before a monstrous climax of 1990's two-tone green Dublin Bus, the Holy Grail of model buses. So what else is coming in the Olympian range before then? A yellow and blue pair will be a no-brainer, as will a blue and cream pair, but might the rare ones also appear? Like the Heinz and Chef pair? Or the learner bus and the tree-cutter? Or a Swatch and Esso pair? Or the black and white Wedding Bus and the "It Could Be You" bus? How about a Bartons and Gormanston pair? Or a Nite Link and Premier Inn pair? That's about three years worth of bus foreplay before the big one.

I saw two lovely CMA CGM babies sitting outside Decathlon in La Laguna earlier... Are these in a revised livery with Seaco and Seacell added? They are slightly different to my C-Rail CMA CGM HC's. Is this the guise in which they currently run in Ireland? Maybe @ttc0169 or @MOGUL could confirm? If so, do you have any plans for a run of them, @Arran?

What would you suggest, to improve the model's appearance?