NIR 450 ‘Castle’ Class

Interesting! Many thanks NIR 450 ‘Castle’ Class

21mm? Love the sound of that! Spectacular box wagon bodies, they’re so well rendered. Amazing!

Very impressive, especially for a scratchbuild. Amazing what you were able to achieve. What a beauty!

Yes I saw that, sadly didn’t buy it in time. Which donors did you use George? Good luck with yours!

Elated to find this on my doorstep this morning - I’ve only unwrapped the DMBS sides for now. I think I’ll go for Lima Mk2b or 2c coaches. That’s all I’m saying for now. Can’t wait to have it finished!

That must’ve been very interesting to see it progress. Was that during the first or second attempt at overhauling it? I’ll take a look at your thread, I was very reluctant but after I’d chopped some plastic I just threw all caution to the wind and mistakenly removed a lamp iron! I got about 25% off mine so I was lucky, I know the seller quite well so they gave me a good reduction. Still not something I wished to muck up! Thank you, NIR 450 ‘Castle’ Class Great, many thanks Sir. NIR 450 ‘Castle’ Class

DBSO is going to the paintshop now having been masked. I’m only doing the front half and the rear end, I’m leaving the backs of the sides to compare the elevation and texture of the primer with the factory finish. It also saved me masking all of the windows at once!!

It really would have been, such a shame. I believe it was equipped to be used with the GMs in a way that kept the GM controls in the 111s the same. Would be so much more interesting than CAFs..much better as an express too!

I’ve now decided that I would like to convert this layout into a model bus diorama which won’t be too much work. It was a quite simple skill tester so now it’s not quite what I’d like to use as a serious model railway. I will leave it there. It is, however, still going to be operational, I just don’t plan on using it as often as the new layout. I might post a couple of pictures of the finished diorama in the ‘Buses’ section when it’s finished.

TR Travel’s XDZ5911, an ex-London Volvo Olympian/Alexander R, sits in their depot in Dromore awaiting repairs. This is my fictional operator, no relation to any companies of similar names.

Not much of an update but this morning I removed the headlight which is missing from the prototype and filled in the remains of the gangway connector. I also removed the orange boxes and have yet to remove the jumper cables. The coach’s rear end also needs some hacking away and adding to make it suitable for operation with GM locomotives.

Ok thanks

I’ll give it a go, thank you very much. B4 bogies for Mk2s?

Coinciding with my 80 Class project, I’m going to convert one of Bachmann’s MK2F DBSO units to be NIR’s 8918. I acquired it in August of last year but nerves have put me off up until now, it’s just too nice (and expensive!) a model to ruin. Unfortunately, 8918 and the accompanying ‘Gatwick’ coaches were never used by NIR because of the amount of time it took to overhaul it. It was stored at York Road for 5 years before being moved to the DCDR site to act as a translator between GM 146 and ‘Castle’ 458. At some point, I’d like to re-gauge it to 21mm but, considering it has pickups screwed onto the bogie, this may prove rather difficult. For now, it is in the BR blue/grey ‘Intercity’ livery while I pluck up the courage and source the paint to spray it into the NIR ‘green stripe’ livery. I have started the conversion by removing the gangway as per the prototype but I need to fill this in. Also, the headlight arrangement is different. Nerve wracking stuff but hopefully I’ll manage to pull it off. Wish me luck!

I have decided to start this thread before the parts have arrived. What it will comprise of; -MIR Brass Overlays for Mk2b coaches (link; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aid-To-Scratchbuilding-Kit-For-NIR-80-Class-DEMU-InterCity-Livery/114194340972?hash=item1a96835c6c:g:ZtAAAOSwQNNeaWRU) - RECEIVED 29/04 -Mk2 coaches as a base, probably Lima -Replica Railways 64’ motorised chassis (link; http://www.replicarailways.co.uk/die-cast-chassis/chassis-variants) - RECEIVED -Phoenix paints - RECEIVED -Some other features which I won’t disclose now Overlays are due next week. Once they arrive, I will measure them and work out which coaches I would like to use. I can’t wait to get started! Stay safe everyone, NIR 450 ‘Castle’ Class

Been following this project for a while. Your layout is stunning! The DCC Sound really brings that final bit of realism to one of the best layouts I’ve ever seen! Please keep up the good work, it’s something I can only aspire to... We are so lucky on this forum to have so many talented modellers. Thank you for giving me the inspiration to finish the test layout and move on to my finescale project - only 5 years later! A wonderful showcase of a great Irish layout. NIR 450 ‘Castle’ Class

*You’ll never beat the Irish* “You'll never beat the Irish, no matter what you do, you can put us down and keep us out but we'll come back again, you know we are the fighting Irish and we'll fight until the end, you know you should’ve known, you’ll never beat the Irish” *Covid19* We’ll see about that.. in all seriousness, my sympathies go to all those affected by this pandemic (and future casualties). My household contains very vulnerable people such as my dear mother who is very unwell. I do not wish to cause offense by this comment

It is very reasonable, also offers accepted. I’m from Coleraine originally so I would’ve only ever seen DEMUs, NI Railways is the only stock I had growing up! My dad would’ve been the same in what he saw.

Nice little NIR Blue ‘Hunslet’ with DCC Sound, half tempted meself! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SilverFox-Models-NIR-Blue-Hunslet-DL-Loco-dcc-sound-No-102-Falcon-Weathered/202934194907?hash=item2f3fd212db:g:pF4AAOSwPwpeNzeC

Just wondered whether anyone would know of a place where I could acquire a Great Southern Railway Class 280 Sentinel 0-4-0T (OO gauge). Many thanks, NIR450CastleClass

I will! Looks great, it’ll be spectacular with sound as well..

Saving up for a 121 at the moment but a new camera’s on the list! Pictures are also edited for an ‘atmospheric’ look

1 year after my father (Galteemore) deciding he’d model the lines of our home country instead of German, English and Japanese railways, I am uploading some pictures of what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks. I had quite a lot of old ‘OO’ gauge components and buildings left from my UK-outline modelling which I thought I could put to use. My idea is a branch line of the old MGWR (later GSR) Galway-Clifden railway which could have gone to Spiddal (An Spidéal). This is meant to be a small depot and station in rural Ireland, Spiddal is only a small place so it seems like the ideal choice. I may incorporate the sea into the backscene as it is a seaside village. This is, in no way, meant to represent accurately a specific branch line but it looks roughly like an Irish prototype of an in-the-sticks station. I intend to sell it when finished to make room for a 21mm gauge layout which represents a place to be revealed... Any advice/suggestions welcome NIR450CastleClass