Midland Man

My dad took a night job at Connolly before they stopped the night mail. When I got two MM MK2s it gave him dreaded flashbacks when he had to clean them.

Looks great

Looks great Are you going to spray paint or brush paint?

J15 as it went everywhere but o yeh they already did it!!!WT class is a simple conversion

Today while I foun some of my old German stock made in the 50s. At this point of time Germany was in a mess with it hafted in 2. Both engines are quite small one being a steam the other deisel. Bothe engines got a small service with a grease praised instead of oil. The deisel engine was probaly run down to the ground as there was fluff mixed with oil in the gears and stuck in the wheels probally from being run on a carpet instead of a layout. The deisel will take time to take out all the fluff and not to damage the mechanism. These engines amaze me every time I sea them as Germany was a mess yet they were making engines 10 times better than Hornby. Even in the 80s modelers were still using these engines as there gear boxes were so good compared to a tri ang model of a diesel. Here are some more pics mainly of me cleaning the large pic ups which had got a lot of wear and tear over the years. The gear boxes on these are just deadly. Here the pick ups have been removed. Here the pick ups have got a lot of wear and tear and a once curved surface have become flat. Here you can sea all the fluff that has picked up over the years. The german ahead of there time with lighting on both of the engines. So them hope you all like the pics an the engines as much as I do. MM

Reminded me of Wellington bridge pure class MM

So Detective Midland Man is one the case. First of both the models was made by a Wicklow man but were demonstrated by a Mr p Kelly. Maybe they are they are the same person? Or maybe it was made by a modeler who was from Wicklow and Kelly was one of the drivers for Meadh. Kelly is a name from the west so maybe he wa stage driver for 540 whitch believe is a midland engine a C I think. The models itself may have been given back to the owner and when he/she died they were sent to the dumps. The is a model of Meadh without its tender in 1/12 scale at Belfast history museum that may be it but 540 could be in one of the large collections around the place that no one knows about. Keep diggingeveryone MM

Her it is was one of my first models and painted it when I was about 9 years old that is why it has the sh$t paint job. Looks well with one or two wagons and a small engine in my case Brain Boru but that was bought faulty and does not run anymore so I am thinking o putting in a new chassis with a sur gearbox. By the way I saw Durgort Barbour at model rail Basebord HQ and it looks the peice.

Carriage at banter look like a vintage GWR coach. I have one I modified for a train formations. Did he do any modeling or was in contact with any modeler. Try and get a pic later. MM

German stuff German stuff can be vey cheap to very expensive in price. If you want to get you a lot of money sell everything sepredly at a show or something but on eBay due to shipping sell it in large parts. If you have Marklin stuff that can be sold sepredly as the can cost up to 600 Euros of in good nic. I have two German engines from about 1950 both in good nic . Although I have never run the due to the fact that I cannot find a controller for them on eBay or on Germany I would clean the with a fiber glass pen every once and a while and also give or get them a service with modeling oil as they will be worthless if you can't run them

They look like modified GWR pre1925 stock. I modified one carriage that was GWR and the look great. What is the name of that lovely looking layout and could you put up more pic of it as I do not use the ald Facebook. MM

First of all I have nothing wrong with the layout I think it is to the highest standard amd Basebord Dave did an exellent job and he deserves a thank you. The problim I find is when is the space between the cabaret and the layout itself is far two small and feels cramped when trying to look at the bottom cabinet. That all I find it wrong so if you though if it was that the layout should been American styled yes it woul have been longer but with the layout we have the is really no point. So if anyone is offended by this who work in building Malihide I am sorry. MM

Amazing peice of work can't wait to sea more.

The design was rushed and there is a large amount of problems. I have said before and will say again an American layout would be better space wise and if you swapped the places of the display cases and layout itself this could be achieved with probaly more space left. It also seems that the money left by a certain person(who I can not remember his name) was probaly spent on the wages of the people working at Malahide who don't know one thing about the cottage or the model itself. If I wa I charge it would colon try run by members of the public who know and model railways and have a interest in Frys models MM

Is that the same livery it carried in 1961?(184)

It looks like they spent a prity penny on getting people to work there. It would be a lot better if it was voluntary like clonicility.

Great pics how was he a load of the carriage roof?

First of all this is not about FRYS engines. This is about the engines on the OO gauge track and the over head gauge track. The problim is how long will they last after all no engine can last forever so I have looked at other models and how they make work and last so well. My example is Pendale model railway whitch is one of the best models in the world. On there layout all there engines are hand built with a sur gearbox whitch means it does not need the same amounts of electricity as a Hornby tender. Each is run constantly for several months before being given a service. Meanwhile at malahide it seems that there is two engines being rain 7 days a week 52 weeks a year without any service of such. Over time the engine will begin to become faulty and soon becoming useless. I have seen it a steadfast steam museum where with no service all the engines except one have became faulty with a pocket rocket being the soal survivor. Another problem will be the track cleaning. If the track is not cleaned it will be impossible to work engines and will become useless. I do not know duly on this but if they have some track cleaning they will fine. On this form someone said that this form that the O gauge engines on the engines are not in good nic and are in very poor condition. This was probally the reason they did not build a o gauge American style layout but to build a overhea track soulds stupid the is probaly no track cleaner am the maintenance new for the engines daily will be not given so there was an is no point on doing it. In my mind I really do believe the the engines of the castle layout deserve a place where they can be loved an admired like the Fry colection. Hope you all like MM

Youve just made me relise that there will be a time when ICRs will be nostalgic and that younger modeler a of the future will be asking what was Bord Na Mona like and did the Tara mines operate that way to me everyone models for one thing an that is something they lost. It could be a station or a loco shed or a type of engine but since I am one o the younger modeler a the reason I started was because of Moate the station that I felt I lost to a greenway gone for 25 years (that is the time CIE will let them use it)

Both of you are so right As a person who only remembers 22000 working and the odd 071 as a child the 60s are just that more interesting engines like G2s and D5s just spark the imagination every time I sea a pic of one. Personally I believe interest in Irish railways really ended when the night mail went. That was the last bit of excitement to sea and to sea them unloaded and worked would make you're mind blow.

Thanks Colin You are 100% right on this and have thought long and hard about it and I will need about 5 coaches and 25 wagons as its a branch that the station is modeled on so I am using this principle what goes in comes out, so if the morning goods comes with 5 wagons and a brake the evening mixed may have 3 of the 5 wagons so I wound need that much stock.

Looks so realistic keep it coming

Those were the days...........

Thanks Colin Now for something train formation! So for today something more interesting train formation for the future OO gauge layout. Since it is a branch line the will only 4 trains each way that mean only 4 formations. Here is the order. 1st Morning goods train (up) 2nd Morning mixed train(down) 3rd lunch goods train (down) 4rd lunch mixed train(up) 5th Afternoon passenger train (down) 6th Afternoon goods train (up) 7th evening goods (down) 8th late evening mixed (up) So there will be two goods one and two mixed with wagons being taken off at both yards at either end of the layout. The will also be two special trains for the era 1st 1961 rail tour includes 184 in GSWR green and CIE green stock with silver heating van. 2nd 1964 rail tour includes 186+131(the J15 not the GNRI U class) with GSWR/Park royals in CIE orange. So a big enough amount o stock but will be very small formation only a coach and a few wagons for years mixed trains. So hope you all like. MM

Sorry about wrong class. I got mixed up with the class and thanks to clearing that up. The E2s were used for small suburban passenger working due to the fact that they had really sharp breaks meany coapalings would get broken in two many a time MM