DJ Dangerous

I have a Bachmann DCC set which I'll steal the controller from. It only has ten functions, so I'll miss out on any other functions on the pre-programmed chips for now. I'll eventually upgrade to a better DCC controller, but it will facilitate the transition with minimal cost, so I can keep buying Ballast wagons... Sorry for embedding URL's to Spanish retailers, but they were my bookmarked ones. The reference numbers will be the same for the LokProgrammer and LokPilot chips so you can find them on eBay or wherever.

Are you going to keep it a secret which one?

That sounds like a challenge! From speaking with @murphaph, there are cheaper options for making the progression from DC to DCC, such as using a LokProgrammer (€150 EURO or so) and some very basic LokPilot chips (about €24 EURO each). These chips only offer four functions, and don't offer sound, but do mean that your DC locos will become DCC locos, so you CAN enjoy the lovely DCC sound and functionality of the new A Class running alongside them! This is the route that I intend taking, slowly, with a mix of DC lines and some DCC lines, gradually moving to all DCC.

Same for the 121's, don't forget them!

Wow, very very nice. Next year is gonna be another expensive one, but well worth it!

No harm in highlighting that the Spoil and Weedspray loads can be removed and replaced with @Arran's C-Rail containers of choice, effectively making them 42' Container Liners.

For those of us abroad, buying locally probably makes more sense from an environmental point of view. Once we're spending more than we can afford with Murphy Models and IRM, supporting Irish sellers over foreign ones, we're already doing our bit. Until the money runs out!

Much as that might sound hilarious, I can tell you that from the perspective of anybody in the same position as Murph and I, it rings true. The time, effort and money that we have both been pouring into catching up, plus the disappointments along the way when things aren't as described, makes the real cost at least twice what it would have been, if not more, for many of the models that we've tracked down. We are so lucky to be involved in the hobby right now, and to have made as much progress as we have personally with what we have caught up on. Any modellers of the Irish scene today are luckier than ever, literally speaking, with the RTR options that we have seen, and are likely to see. This is a weekend to celebrate. IRM have survived five years in what must have seemed like a dark, deep, chasm in mid 2015, have offered too many amazing models to list, have upped the bar every time, with more detail, technical improvements, streamlined operations, never mind conquering the UK market, and now, a week after their fifth birthday, they launch thirteen new packs in one day! That has to be their biggest launch, yet. Every launch will delight some and disappoint some, as everybody has their own preferences, but I for one think that this weekend is one to sit back and congratulate IRM, and thank them for what they have done for all of us. Everything will come with time. Take a bow, lads, take a bow.

I'd say it's down to the practicalitites of production. Having ten different running numbers for the Taras, twelve different running numbers for the Gypsums, and at least 32 different running numbers for the P42 Flats, has to be more than any other manufacturer has offered, let alone for the Irish scene, and such a young manufacturer, too! As we have already seen, every extra run so far, Bubbles, Flats and Ballasts, has had new running numbers, so it seems obvious that IRM operate in that way. The next run of red Taras in a few years time will have new numbers, I'm sure, but I'd guess that eight new numbers would be more likely than twelve. If the running numbers are that important, re-numbering or weathering out some of the numbers must also be an option.

Yup, IR livery Ploughs and Bundles gone, but there are still loads of IR livery Ballast wagons available outside of the bundle, and €100 per pack is great value! I've never seen the IRM site so frantic, even when the Container Liners were released, it's like a frenzy of purchase pop-ups today!

Were the original run of Ballasts IE livery? I have one pack of the original ones procured second-hand through the forum, and I'm assuming because of the yellow wheels, and todays IE's being Packs D, E and F rather than A, B and C, that this is the case.

Oh, don't worry, I've already ordered mine!

I was also wondering will the Bundle offers change when those last few IR Plough vans are out of stock? There were only 30 left at the start of the week!

Cross-posting with @Warbonnet, but it's an amazing enough announcement to warrant being published twice!

Just awesome! These are gonna look so amazing behind the 121's and the A's! I think that it's time to sell my spare kidney...

As per the title, FREE Murphy Models Herpa Mercedes Sprinter Vans from Marks Models! https://www.facebook.com/MRSIExpo/posts/106002337969104?__tn__=-R

Surely you mean Zero 1, the SuperTrain of control systems?

Is that a grey 2016+ 071 in the background??? Modern image??? I'll bet that you have a secret rake of yellow Spoils to run with it when nobody is watching!

What a lovely dispay of motive power! Is that NIR 208 a Lima or Murphy one?

@murphaph is a pro with those cardboard containers... I have a few of these cardboard ones in the post, but may forward them on to him for assembly because he's so good...

Now that's an exellent photo, and again, more valuable information, thank you! Not long now and modellers will be able to recreate that train!

Wow, that is impressive! As an aside, were the Mk2D's ever hauled by locos still in black, or only by SuperTrain locos and later? I'm sure that @Irishswissernie @jhb171achill will have photographic evidence if so!

Incredibly detailed reply, thank you!

Were the Murphy Models InterCity Mk2D's the same internally / cosmetically as their SuperTrain counterparts? As in, would MM5236 (IE Standard Orange Roof), MM5210 (IE Standard Black Roof), MM5217 (IE Standard Black Roof), MM5219 (IE Standard Orange Roof(, MM5201 (ST Standard), MM5215 (ST Standard) and MM5223 (ST Standard) all be the same apart from the livery? MM5202 (ST Standard), MM5214 (ST Standard) and MM5224 (ST Standard) were repaints of the earlier ST coaches, I believe.

How are the 121's being transported? Not by road, I hope? Photo taken in Lithuania this morning...