33lima

Speaking of yellow things, where's the flying, thumping banana? Aka the Last of the Eighties, aka the NIR Sandite train? Seems to have disappeared from her siding at York Road Works. Indoors, being readied for her next/last Sandite season?

Snapped the hopppers at Central on Saturday, on the way back from the UMRC show:

Still there today (25 Jul 17), as seen through a grimy bus window...

Very nice! A rake of three might have been enough, though...

Pics are up on Flikr, for those unable to make it:

Bleach Green:

https://www.flickr.c...157657599108826

Lisburn:

https://www.flickr.c...157657247251099

Didn't make Saturday as originally planned, but got up today. Highlight of course was seeing Bleach Green, the current BRM piece serving as a nice appetite-whetter. Well no, the highlight was being invited behind the scnes and meeting Colm and Ken whose layouts and stock - and a certain Irish DMU book by the former - account for about 90% of my motivation in returning to the hobby in the last couple of years. Being able to see and snap a fiddle-yard full fo NIR & UTA stock was not to be forgotten. Will post the pics on Flikr; in the meantime here are some of Bleach green, the other outstanding local layout 'Lisburn' and some O Gauge GNR(I).

Thanks jhb. I will be mainly modelling the 1990's - present period and i might pickup a BR class 150 DMU for repainting. I wonder how much of a difference there is between the Class 150 and the IE 2600. I would repaint it in the livery below

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19862[/ATTACH]

You might be interested in this, then, if you can find one second hand:

http://www.marksmodels.com/?pid=6452

Wow thanks for all that info! Are there many current RTR models out that can be directly resprayed to CIE etc?

 

Lima you are truely a talented individual. I especially loved the maroon and white class 70. Your collection is beautiful.

 

Having taken a 20year break from the hobby im learning so much from this community.

Thanks John, too kind!

Re RTR railcars, there's these, from Silver Fox...

http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/nir-ir-ie-2600-class-railcar-aecpark-royal/

...basically, repainted BR Cravens DMUs.

Though too short, you could get a roughly comparable result by repainting a Tri-ang DMU, after cutting away the two cab front window pillars and replacing one, in the middle; and preferably rounding the 'peak' in the cab front (and possibly repositioning the three headlights to more correct positions). Two power car bodies would also be preferable as the AEC power cars all had brake compartments, IIRC.

With just a repaint, a Tri-ang DMU is not bad for UTA railcars 6 & 7, though again, two power car bodyshells would be better than just one; and again, the cab roof peak should be rounded. Stick a Grafar suburban coach in the middle for a trailer. Steve Rafferty had such a set and it looked the part - there's a pic in issue 5 of 'Irish Lines, available here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgbbr6m6jvvi1cp/Irish%20Lines%20-%20Issue%205%20-%201993%20Winter.pdf

UTA and NIR MPD railcars can be made by motorising a repainted Hornby Stanier coach, perferably the compo as the brake third has much too big a brake compartment. All tyou really need tyo do is creat a cab at one end. At its simplest, cut a window either side of the corridor connection at one end, or laminate plasticard over the end to give a rounder profile. Other stuff is optional, like trimming off the roof ribbing or hanging simulated mechanical components under the floor of the power car.

Works drawings of most of the older railcars are in my RMWeb gallery, which with suitable pics can assist in selecting suitable RTR donors: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/2408-uta-railcar-drawings/

Recommended reading would be:

'Diesel Dawn' by Colm Flanagan, covering the early railcars, up to the 1970s:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diesel-Dawn-Contribution-Development-1931-1967/dp/1904242081

A 1990s edition of 'Irish Railways Traction & Travel' by Peter Jones, which covers not only then-current railcars but also withdrawn ones:

http://www.stmarysbooks.com/product/94855/irish+railways+traction+%26+travel/#.VdShOJerEl8

...and 'Irish Railways Locos, Multiple Units & Trams', by Robert Pritchard, to bring the picture up-to-date:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Railways-Locomotives-Multiple-Handbooks/dp/1909431044

Who says railcars/DMUs aren't popular with modellers here?

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2279-UTA-suburban-MPD-set

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3478-Class-80-Builds

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3459-UTA-Multi-Engined-Diesel?p=53934#post53934

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2345-NIR-80-Class-DEMU

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2678-NIR-70-Class-DEMU

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/78-Kirley-s-Projects?p=48753&viewfull=1#post48753

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/4548-NIR-450-class-from-bachmann-150-1

http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/625-GVS-and-Adelaide-lookalike?p=26604&viewfull=1#post26604

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101451-uta-railcars-no6-7/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79300-nir-80-class-demu/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49402-uta-med/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/100199-uta-railcar-no-1/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56180-out-of-storage-some-of-my-old-uta-and-nir-stock/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/87521-multi-purpose-diesel-mpd-build/

..and because a picture is worth a thousand words...

Looking good!

You're right about the cab being too long. It's also too far back - the GA drawing appears accurate in this respect. Ideally the cab needs cut free, moved forward a little and a bigger slice taken vertically out of the rear. I think the front and rear cab sheets fold up from the floor unit which latter can be trimmed accordingly and the rear, then re-attached. Just cutting away some of the excess length at the back will make a difference (you may want to increase the width of the top, open section of the coal bunker, at the same time, to improve the cross-section). But leaving the cab front where it is, means the cab front, the last step in the side tanks and the rear driving wheel centres don't line up right, in profile view.

I would definitely suggest trimming away the little 'skirt' under the footplate/running board all the way along, rather than taking the new plasticard tank sides all the way down to it. It's not that deep, but it's enough to make the big side tanks look too deep, at the front - all the way along, in fact. It'll leave a little gap above the cylinders, unless you can move them up a little, but better that, than deepening/distorting the outline of those distinctive side tanks.

May seem like a lot of bother for comparatively little return but you are already doing a fairly major conversion job and might as well make those few extra cuts that will make all the difference to the accuracy of the finished model, rather than (as I have done in the past!) hold back, thinking 'It'll be near enough!', then wishing after I done all the painting and finishing that I had gone a bit further!

Should be there. Per Colm Flanagan, Bleach Green is to be there, too.

Thanks, guys. I've put some more pics in the albums, including some 'boring' shots of various bits for reference purposes, here... http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/album.php?albumid=52 ..and here: http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/album.php?albumid=101

I was a bit disappointed that the engine for the day had been changed from 4 to 131 in the last few days, but being right behind a GNR(I) 4-4-0 that had been brought back to life by the magic of the RPSI, sort of made up for that!

Some pics of the RPSI's newly-restored GNR(I) 131 in steam for short hops for the Whitehead Food and Folk Music Festival, earlier today (and a DMU, can't have these ancient overgrown kettles taking over the place):

:

Thanks Nelson, I'm sure your WT will set a very high standard.

Re Whitehead to-morrow (25 July) the RPSI page for the open day has been changed to say that 4-4-0 131 is the engine in steam, rather than 4: http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/events/

Looking good - keep the pics coming!

The real no.4 is supposed to be on show at the RPSI open day at Whitehead on Sat 25 July which I hope to get to - shout if you need any detail pics taken, though there are plenty online these days, something I wish I'd had back in the early 1990s when I tackled a jeep, much the same way you're doing.

You'll want to move the whistle to the front of the cab roof and I think the roof hatch was in two pieces with rails front and rear (at least that's what I ended up with). The valve or sandbox filler things on the forward footplate (behind the steam pipes either side of the smokebox) also need hacking off and there were two small rectangular plates welded between the boiler and the top of the water tank each side, level with the filler, presumably to deflect water that would otherwise have flowed down between the boiler and the tanks. Footplate valences also benefit from being cut or filed back up to footplate level, notably behind the front buffer beam and under the rear bunker. IIRC I cut off the complete front footplate and its triangular stiffener plates, and replaced the lot with plastcard, with the buffer beam glued back in front. Ah, the memories your pics are bringing back!!!

'U' shapes folded from stiff florist's wire, with the top part bent to fit the bodyshell, when faced with plasticard strip, make good replacements for the cab and footplate steps, like these:

I think Colm reckoned the fronts of the water tanks need to be trimmed back a bit - but if they really extend too far forwards towards the rear of the smokebox, I can't see it, from studying photos. Colm's WT build article is in the June 2006 Railway Modeller and well worth a read, including some excellent colour pics of excellent models, the Mogul as well as the jeeps. My 1990s effort was in (original) Irish Lines number 7, summer 1994, which article included the works drawing with the correct steps in the lower line of the water tanks - article with drawing available in the NIL archive, here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c8xw456e8ao4ila/Irish%20Lines%20-%20Issue%207%20-%201994%20Summer.pdf

Pics like this one are as good, though, perhaps better:

http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/images/photonews/090131/090131_No4Curragh_PatGantly.jpg

I think if you keep the cab rear where it is, the bunker behind it is a little long, but like you I left this alone, to retain the bit in the middle with the fixing screw! EDIT - now I remember - I actually ended up with a long bunker, because I moved the rear cab forward a little. I did this to avoid too wide a pillar behind the cab door, which you get if you just fill in the 'bite' to the top rear of the cab door. There's a bit of 'excess length' somewhere in the Fowler, and I contemplated moving the complete cab back a little and filling in all the gaps left ahead (yuk!), or cutting back the rear of the chassis block and shortening the bunker, before deciding a bunker that was a little too long was the 'least worst' solution, for me anyway.

Another thing to check is the width you end up with, of the top section of the bunker, above the angled plates; too narrow or too wide, and it can mar the appearance, seen from the rear, of an otherwise good model.

Anyway do please keep the inspirational pics coming!

PS here's a snip of the Irish Lines drawing; actually, my model's bunker looks about the same as this, so maybe I was more careful than I remembered, but then the smokebox/watertank gap is big, not like in the above photo, hence be wary of works drawings:

Have just about completed a second set, finished in surburban sector livery and seen below alongside my original model, from the early 1990s. I think I prefer the Ford Ivory I used this time as cream, in place of the somewhat yellow Triumph Honeysuckle used originally (which I could have got mixed but is no longer on the shelves). The other colour is the same, Ford Monza Red IIRC...or was it Flame Red? Anyway, the new model was made exactly as per the intercity/corporate 'bumblebee'-liveried set, from two Tri-ang Hornby Mk2a TSO coaches and one of their Mk2a brakes. Apart from the livery, the only difference is that this time the Hornby HST bogies in the power car are fitted to a modified and extended HST power car underframe, instead of modifying the coach floor unit. Suburban lettering is 5mm Helvetica Letraset or Eddings rub-down transfers (protected by a light coat overall of varnish), car numbers are Ratio coach numbers, white & orange lining is Model Technics Trimline. NIR logos are hand-painted.

Looking good, have still to tackle one of these myself so it's nice to have a shot of inspiration! Keep the pics coming please!

I totally agree, Noel, you're spot on on all counts. Mind you the most uncomfortable things ever to (dis)grace the rails here were the noisy, fume filled rattling vibrating UTA / NIR "MED" sets, and the 450 "Castle" class, especially in the equally vibrating driving car, as they switched from one of their two speeds ("stop") to the other, "go"!

 

To be fair to the modern railcars, as utterly soulless and bland as they are, the power cars don't rattle and vibrate like their ancestors.

Hmmm...that's not how I remember the MEDs...to me, they were quiet, bright, clean and modern, and we usually favoured riding in the power cars, as as you had a view ahead (provided the driver didn't pull down the blinds) especially after they lost the first class section, up front. The 450 Class power cars, now that was a rattle-fest on wheels.

As for the MPDs and their reputation for unreliability, well, while we were regular travellers during holidays only, we never had any problems with MPDs. Except for one summer ride home from Portrush to York Road. A bunch of football fans got on at Ballymena or thereabouts and from that point on, until some police came over the fields and joined the train where it had halted nearer Belfast, we were stopping frequently due to the beggars pulling the communication cord.

Yes many thanks for the great video clips Nelson. And it did my heart good to see that the UTA ex-GNR AEC set I built 20 years ago for Steve Rafferty, like the BUT ones, is still in commission and running, and in such illustrious surroundings as 'Bleach Green'.

Ivor

Yep, Ivor, and Steve was driving it around himself. I've just supplied him with your "AEC Owner's Manual" (which you did for my "proper" AEC set), so he can work out how to remove the Triang motor bogie and replace it with a Black Beetle!

 

Maybe you'll appear at Bangor?

Hope so Leslie if I remember to screw my head on that particular day! How did you find the Black Beetle? I remember not being greatly impressed by its pulling power. Not sure a single one would manage the six car set in Colm's pic that the old Tri-ang unit is apparently hauling uphill, (IIRC without extra pickups too, which would likely have improved any issues with running); the big advantage being it fits under the bodyshell so no need to mount it in the brake coach, as in Steve's model. Plus it's not quite as ancient/worn. Anyway nice to see model, motor bogie and owner are still on the go!

Ivor

 

I'm sorry you missed it too, as I've been looking forward to meeting my premier coaching engineer for a long time!

 

Leslie

Ditto Leslie, one of these days...!

AND I just realized the maroon and grey BUT set in the video clip was one I made for Steve Rafferty back in the day...recognised it from the still pic Colm posted over at RM web...so I missed meeting Steve after all these years too!!!

Missed it again, darnit! Loved the super BUT set on Bleach Green, I presume one of Colm's. And the spoil wagons...and that D-Day SR layout...great excuse to combine trains with Churchills, Shermans, carriers etc.

Thanks for the kind comments, guys!

Some final pics taken during running trials, which were successful with no adjustments needed, except to the 'sit' of one car. Beforehand I had shortened the arms of the wipers and painted them a duller colour. All done!

Middle pic shows the powered car chassis which, to recap, is a Hornby 'Calder Valley' DMU centre car slightly modified to accept Hornby HST 5-pole motor bogie with DMU sideframes and suitably modified underframe; plus plasticard interior unit.

The variations in colour are down to dull natural -vs- fluorescent lighting.

Finally, some pics of all the MPD cars I've built over the years. From left to right, NIR 3-car set, made c.1991; NIR 4-car set, just completed; UTA 2-car 'suburban' set, started c.1995 but just recently completed; and UTA 3-car set, built c.1994.

...some more pics of individual cars. To recap: the powered unit, with the brake compartment, is 39; the other two dummy power cars are 40 and 42, differing mainly in that 42 has open seating, 40 compartment, with associated differences in roof vent layout. The 'mule' or trailer is 532, which has corridor seating. The latter survived in worn NIR livery at Whitehead into the 1990s, but I'm not sure if she survived the later fire.

Power car 39 (with 45 to the left, from my original set):

Power car 42:

Three-car set comprising (R to L) 40, 39 and 42:

Power cars 40 & 42:

Trailer 532:

Power car 40:

Power car 42:

Trailer or 'mule' 532, again:

By about the time NIR took over, MPD power cars had acquired a tall grill beside the heat exchanger, visible on the LH side of 39 and on the RH side of 40 and 42. When the exchanger was fitted in the early 1960s, the latter two cars lost a row of seats in the front compartment, evident from the smaller leading passenger window on the RH sides. The grill was a later addition, being absent on some UTA era pics. Not only did different MPD batches differ in appearance, they also changed over time, so reference to photos is always desirable, when modelling these pioneering diesel railcars.