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2996 Victor

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Posts posted by 2996 Victor

  1. 10 hours ago, Mayner said:

    The Plough Vans were introduced in 1904 for use with the new ballast hopper trains Padraic O'Cuimin notes in Wagon Stock of the MGWR that 4 Ballast Vans 42,43,46&48 were introduced in 1883 one of which 232A was in Departmental service in 1970.

    A number of GSWR Ballast Brakes from the same period survived into the 1960s in use of lifting trains, they were long wheelbase outside framed vehicles with a birdcage look out at one end and a large compartment for accommodating the men and their tools, possibly doubling as a mess and sleeping van. 

    The 1883 Ballast Vans are not listed in POC's list of MGWR GAs drawings and diagrams and do not  appear in the IRRS Compendium of MGWR Goods Vehicle Drawings.  Intriguingly his schedule of drawings includes a Diagram which he prepared of a 1874 ballast wagon with "Guards Compartment" in .

    It might be worth asking Richard McLaughlin whether POCs personal MGWR archive was bequeated to the IRRS.

    1690627204_CastleRackrentStationBuilding.thumb.jpg.3ffe2aa5a39749178a1e52167bc87188.jpg

    Richard Chowan's No 11 may be a model of one of the Incline Brake Vans built by Metropolitan for the MGW in 1883, POC had no particulars of their appearance but they were listed as 1 compartment 4 wheel vehicles.

    Hi John,

    many thanks for your comprehensive reply, most imformative as always! The photo of Richard Chown's brake van is intriguing: presumably the incline vans were used specifically on the cattle specials to the docks? The 1883 ballast vans you mention sound like what would be necessary to accompany some ballast opens in a PW train - I'm afraid I've only got the first page of POC's Wagon Stock paper, so apologies if you've had to repeat some information!

    Many thanks as always and kind regards,

    Mark

  2. 19 minutes ago, Midland Man said:

    I took them off the model to see and yes they are 12mm apart so scale wise they are. 

    Yes that was what I was thinking as well problim is the plaster card ain't square so the roof will be kind of bent.

    MM

    You could use bargeboards to disguise any small discrepancies between the walls and the roof?

    Best regards,

    Mark

    • Like 3
  3. 1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

    Yes (and the C & L, a century ahead of their time, painted at least a couple of open wagons YELLOW for ballast trains!), the beige colour would have been current in 1900-05. Certainly after 1925, but possible as early as the mid 1910s, they became standard grey with white lettering.

    It would seem that they had black lettering when beige; I do not know whether the chassis was the same beige, or black. It was usual, as well known, for Irish companies to paint wagon chassis the same as the body colour, but there some exceptions.

    As for the lettering, I cannot be sure, but it is possible they only had the normal "M G W (number)". Most old photos of most maintenance vehicles I've ever seen tend to have "P W DEPT." rather than "Engineering" - and in a model I'd be more inclined to go for that - or, even, only use "M G W" and a number, pending anything more specific turning up. Sorry that's the best that I can do!

    I assume a ballast plough would be the same beige, or possibly the brown that some vans were then. It would not be green.

    I will have a poke about tonight and see if I can find anything else.

    Hi Jonathan,

    Thank you so much for once again coming to the rescue - I thought you'd have the answers!

    The distinctive sand-beige livery with black lettering may have been considered sufficiently different to discriminate between traffic and PW stock without PW Dept (or similar) branding, so I'd say your suggestion to just use the MGWR and number pending firm evidence is a good option. I can see a short PW train being on my list of things to build!

    Did all PW brake vans have ploughs - presumably there's a drawing somewhere.....

    By the way, are there any stock books in existence that give running numbers?

    Thank you once again for all your help and advice.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

    • Like 1
  4. 4 hours ago, Midland Man said:

    Don't have a clue of the colors but I suspect it was grey. The problim is I am only really  good on the midlle of the midland but I can tell you what would pull it along and that would be a MGWR B class 0-6-0 whitch would have been never on a branch for two reasons 

    1. When the midland used them it was only for the mainline.

    2. In the 20s the midland got the great F class or cattle engines as drivers called them. These took out every 0-6-0 tender apart from. The L/LM class ( they were basically turned into J15s by the GSR with superheated Z boilers).

    Hope This will help in any way.

    Hi MM,

    Thank you for the extra info, very useful as always, and although the later period is after my preferred era, it's always useful as well as interesting to know what changes took place and when.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  5. 1 hour ago, Midland Man said:

    The powers can was on the Breatland track layer and would have never been on branch lines.

    Hi MM,

    Many thanks - understand that as it was far too big (and far too late for my chosen period), but what I wondered was whether the Power Van would have been in the sand-beige livery Ernie Shepherd's book mentions, as the form and colour of lettering could/would be a clue to MGWR PW wagons in general.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  6. On 4/30/2020 at 3:41 PM, 2996 Victor said:

    Dear All,

    I'm returning to the question of ballast wagons, and the 3-plank in the HMRS link above, dated1894.

    I have yet more questions (!), which hopefully the erudite among will be able to help with - Jonathan @jhb171achill and John @Mayner will, I'm sure know the answers (no pressure, chaps!).

    Ernie Shepherd gives details of wagon liveries in his book, of course, and we've already touched on these in this thread. He states that PW wagons were painted a sand-beige colour, which I've seen mentioned in other threads on this Forum. I would like to assume that this was the case for many years and would be appropriate for my my era!

    That being the case, presumably the lettering would have been black? But what would that have consisted of? Presumably "MGWR" and the vehicle number, plus "ENGINEER'S DEPT" or "PW DEPT"? In the photo on page 101 of Ernie Shepherd's book, is Power Van No.1 this livery?

    Thanks in advance for your thoughts, folks!

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  7. I meant to add that the basic materials I use are styrene sheets, strip and sections of various thicknesses, mostly Evergreen although there's a fair amount of Slater's Plastikard, too. For assembly, I use solvent adhesive for styrene parts, MEK for preference as its not too strong, but if I need a bit more oomph I use PlasticWeld. Any other materials that need to be joined to my wagons are fixed usually with cyano and occasionally with epoxy. For smoothing, I have various grades on fine sandpaper, some well-worn, and for filing my preference is to use a wood-cored emery board, such as women use for their nails, as they are strong and file a straight, flat surface. To cut the parts, I either scribe with the Olfa P-cutter and snap, or use a Swann Morton scalpel and No.10 or 10A blade.

    A small update on the loco coal open box wagon builds with the addition of corner plates, which are made from two widths of Evergreen strip, 10thou x 80thou and 10thou x 100thou. I cut off over-length sections of four of each width per wagon making sure that one end at least is square! The narrow sections go on the ends of the wagons, with the "square" ends at the bottom flush with the top of the headstocks. They are set so the edges line up flush with the corners of the wagons but with no overlap. The wider section strips form the faces of the corner plates on the wagon side, and again the "square" ends are set flush with the tops of the solebars. Bearing in mind that these strips are 20thou wider, they are set so that their inside edges are 2mm in from the end of the wagon, giving a narrow overlap of 10thou over the edge of the end plates.

    I'm afraid that all sounds a bit confusing - a sketch or two would probably be clearer, but hopefully this photo should help:
    http://IMG-2269.jpg
    Although the corner plate strips have been trimmed to length, you can see the light behind the overlapping edge.

    This photo shows one wagon has had its corner plates added and trimmed to length, while the second one is still a work in progress with the Evergreen strips to one side:
    http://IMG-2265.jpg

    Wagon corner plates were pressed steel, of course, and should have a rounded fold. The way I achieve that is to gently file the overlap down til its gone, and then file a small 45 degree chamfer onto the corner which is finally rounded off to a small radius. The trick again is to not overdo - photos are the best way to get a feel for how much to file away. Hopefully this photo should show the slight radius to the finished corner plates:
    http://IMG-2279.jpg
    Its easier to finish the corner plates before adding the end pillars or side strapping, as the latter just get in the way!

    Anyway, back to the bench!

    Kind regards,

    Mark

     

    • Like 6
  8. Dear All,

    many, many thanks for all your kind words and encouragement, if my efforts can in some little inspiration to others to have a go, then I'll be happy indeed!

    MM, thank you - I'm just doing my best! I started scratchbuilding goods stock probably thirty-odd years ago and was building kits before that, although there was a long break in the middle, and really its all a matter of practice. The greatest trick I found is to take my time, take maximum care marking out and cutting out parts, and get the basic structure square and to the correct dimensions. If I'm not happy with something, I just try again - I've scrapped more models than I care to think about!

    At the same time, I've also found its important to set a standard to work to and to stick to it for all my builds - it's all too easy to get caught up in super-detailing to the Nth degree, but it can become a millstone when one vehicle takes three weeks to finish and you've twenty more exactly like it to build! As someone once said, strive for excellence, not perfection! I'm no expert and I'm certainly not saying my way of doing things is necessarily the best way, but if I can help with any hints, tips or advice, please, please do ask a question!

    I'm planning on a brake van soon, and its progress will be on here - watch this space!

    With kindest regards,

    Mark

    • Like 3
  9. Dear All,

    in case anyone's interested, I've posted my workbench thread here, and its also linked in my signature. I hope it'll prove to be useful, and I'm always open to hints and tips for new and better ways of model making, so please don't hesitate to add your posts and photos there as well as here.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

    • Like 1
  10. 5 hours ago, Mayner said:

    I think Mike is referring to this one

    EAD7BBFC-4520-43DC-B3E3-B6711806DAD2.jpeg

    The vents or whatever their purpose were a standard detail on MGWR Standard Covered Wagons and would have been very small for unloading grain.

    Its just about possible bulk grain was carried in these wagons and discharged through the doors, just as boxcars were used in the States & Canada up to the widespread introduction of grain hoppers in the 1980s.

    http://catalogue.nli.ie/Search/Results?lookfor=ballysadare+mill&type=AllFields&submit=FIND&filter[]=authorStr%3A"French%2C+Robert%2C+1841-1917+photographer"&filter[]=format%3A"Photo"&filter[]=digitised%3A"Digitised"

    The overhead gantry above the sidings at Ballysadare opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities.

    Hi John,

    I'm afraid I've no idea what the castings are that @Mike 84C is referring to, although at first I wondered if they were label boxes for consignment labels, then looking at the shape of them again, I wondered if could they be drains for washing out after the vehicle has been used for livestock, but I suspect they're too far up the vehicle's sides.

    Thanks for the link, those photos are full of atmosphere and great detail on the convertibles, including useful numbering!

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  11. My first project on here will be the scratchbuild of MGWR open box wagons, using the drawings in Ernie Shepherd's book, the first two wagons will be completed as locomotive coal wagons which from the photograph in the book show some detail differences to the drawing.

    So here goes:

    First off is a photo showing my copy of Ernie Shepherd's book, some notes made for dimensions, together with my TV and the corner of my weathering tray!
    http://IMG-2216.jpg

    The second photo was taken during preparation of the sides and ends, plank lines and door outlines scribed in on both sides! The base material is 30thou plastic sheet, this scales out at approximately 2-1/2", which was the common thickness for side and end sheets of wagons in the late-Victorian era. I use an Olfa P-Cutter to scribe the lines as this removes a sliver of plastic rather than indenting a line which usually causes a distortion. Used with care, by angling the P-Cutter its possible to create a prototypical chamfer on the top edge of each plank. The first set of sides/ends are cut out, the second set are in strip form, and three more sets are still on the sheet.
    http://IMG-2221.jpg

    The third photo shows the first two sets assembled; these will be the loco coal wagons. I use simple butt corner joints as its far easier to keep the length of the sides and ends correct than if you try to file a chamfer where its easy file too much and accidentally shorten something! I use the grid on the cutting mat to keep things square, and add the floor afterward having measured the internal dimensions of each wagon individually.
    http://IMG-2224.jpg

    Photos 4 and 5 show one wagon having had its floor, headstocks and solebars added. The floor is a bit of a cheat in that its cut from Evergreen 100thou (2.5mm) spacing V-groove sheet, 40thou thickness. Its cut 2mm narrower than the internal width of the wagon body, the edges being made up by a strip of 40thou square which is intended to represent a curb rail. Before adding the headstocks and solebars, the underside of the wagon body/floor assembly was sanded smooth on a flat surface so that the underside provides a flat base to mount the headstocks and solebars. These are cut from Evergreen 60thou x 156thou strip, the headstocks are wider than the wagon body, and these are cut over-wide to allow for filing down to the correct dimension using a template.
    http://IMG-2262.jpg
    http://IMG-2260.jpg

    Thats it for now as it's time for dinner - I'll post up some more photos tomorrow showing how I create the corner plates.

    All the best,

    Mark

    • Like 6
    • WOW! 3
  12. The time has arrived to start a workbench thread for my projected MGWR branchline terminus layout, where I'll be building wagons, carriages and eventually locos, plus of course structures and the other little bits and bobs that go into creating a hopefully convincing model railway.

    The period I'm interested in is 1900-1905. This is the timeframe I usually go with, and my other projects are almost all set in this period of transition from Victorian to Edwardian eras.

    My standard gauge projects, Great Western Railway in Somerset and Cambrian Railways in mid-Wales, will be to EM Gauge Society standards. I'm a member of that Society, and for consistency's sake I want to stay with EMGS standards but using the correct gauge for 4mm/1ft scale of 21mm. While I applaud anyone who can create a convincing model railway, no matter the scale or gauge, personally I think its particularly important to use the right gauge as this is such a characteristic feature of Ireland's broad gauge railways.

    I've always found that one of the more difficult aspects of model-making is setting the standard to work to consistently. Unfortunately, I'm not a fast worker - continental drift is quicker -  which means that while I strive for excellence I don't want to take forever to achieve it! Thus, I've reached the point where my specification for A N Other Goods Wagon will be:

    21mm gauge, EM Gauge Society standards
    Etched axleguards with whitemetal, plastic or 3D-printed axlebox/spring assemblies
    Rigid underframe (fit inside bearing compensation unit if necessary), although I may compensate.....moving the goalposts already!
    Improved brakegear if a kit
    Sprung buffers
    Couplings - ? - I haven't decided yet but they must be unobtrusive

    So that's the preamble out of the way, and we can move on to something that's hopefully a bit more interesting!

    • Like 5
  13. The Historical Model Railway Society has a number of MGWR drawings and photographs, including such gems as:

    Open Cattle Wagon, 8ft w/b, 14ft 2ins o/b dated 1885
    Ballast Wagon, 9ft w/b, 15ft o/h dated 1894
    Covered Goods, 8ft w/b, 14ft-2ins o/b dated 1895

    There are also quite a lot of other goods wagon and carriage drawings available, although as there aren't thumbnails of these it's difficult to tell exactly what they are, as well as photographs of mainly the locomotive stock. Unfortunately (and I say this knowing and taking into account that the HMRS is run entirely by volunteers in their spare time), the drawing and photograph service is slow at the best of times. At the moment it's completely shut down, of course.

    There are also some drawings in "19th Century Railway Drawings in 4mm Scale" by Alan Prior: a GS&WR convertible, and an open cattle and a coal wagon from the Ulster Railway.

    As an aside, there's a rather nice open cattle wagon kit available from 5&9 Models, but its not an Irish prototype, of course!

    All the best,

    Mark

    • Informative 1
  14. 10 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

    Some issues  are still available from Wizard Models at a fair price - https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/?s=Rail+model+digest+&post_type=product - 1 2 and 6 feature David Malone’s stuff. Seems like remaindered stock rather than s/h.

    56A1B83E-0EF5-4257-8114-DCB4B82EC508.jpeg

    These magazines are well-worth seeking out, and not just for David Malone's articles. As far as I know, there was a Preview Issue and six numbered issues, and unfortunately that's as far as it went.

    David Malone's "Modelling the Irish Broad Gauge" articles appeared in Issue 1 (Part 1: A Bit of Background Blarney), along with a separate two-page colour spread, Issue 2 (Part 2: Building 5ft 3ins PW), Issue 4 (Part 3: Signalling) and Issue 6 (Part 4: Irish Goods Stock).

    Definitely plenty of useful information in these magazines!

    With kind regards,

    Mark

    • Like 3
  15. 13 hours ago, Mayner said:

    The MGWR covered cattle wagons were quite different in design to other companies cattle wagons and made up a relatively small proportion of the livestock carrying fleet with over 1613 Convertible & 450 Covered cattle wagons in service in 1924.

    Some of the cattle wagons were vacuum piped and later fitted with vacuum brake gear which indicates that they are likely to have been used for urgent traffic running in passenger and mail trains.

    The Midland tended to go through phases of rebuilding open cattle wagons as standard covered wagons, eliminating the type by 1885 then building small batches between 1885 & 1895. 

    Unfortunately I have been unable to find a good close up photos of the MGWR covered cattle wagons or find a drawing or photo of the open cattle wagons.

    1820007979_MGWRCattleWagons29042020.thumb.jpg.0008b7ee356d603bbb03caf0066bc0c8.jpg

    Upper photo un-credited, lower photo ©L&GRP 22486 Loco No133 "Titian" both photos appear to have been taken at the same location on the same day.

    Jack Kennedy's photo of  129 "Celtic" one of the MGWRs largest and most prestigious main line passenger loco on a cattle train at Athenry illustrates the relative importance of cattle traffic on the Midland compared to other Irish railways, as Jack once commented the MGWR would not have been interested in "The High Speed Train" (IC125) unless it was capable of hauling a cattle train. The Midlands express passenger locos had relatively small 6'3" driving wheels compared to similar GSWR & GNR locos to improve their ability to haul mail and cattle trains, the D & K Class 2-4-0s & F Class 0-6-0s were true mixed traffic engines with 5'8" driving wheels similar in concept to the Scottish "Intermediate" 4-4-0s similar to the North British "Glen Class" & Highland "Loch" Class.

    Nice to see the photo of the 1898 MGWR Guinness Wagon, these were basically a lengthened hard topped version of the Standard Covered Wagon or convertible.  Some of the more modern 10T covered wagons introduced for Guinness traffic in 1915 may have carried Guinness labelling, these wagons were similar in appearance to the Irish Railway Clearing House standard covered wagons used by the GNR(I) & SLNCR and the Provincial Wagons kits.

    Hi John,

    excellent photos, thank you! The dedicated cattle wagons are an interesting design, and its also interesting to note the convertible marshalled next to a cattle wagon in the first photograph. The idea of using convertibles for general goods traffic and livestock seems a bit alien to me, having been brought up on English railways! The limewash around the louvres is characteristic, isn't it? The side view in the second picture could be used to create a drawing if necessary, working on know dimesions such as wheel diameters and the known dimensions of "Titan".

    The cattle wagons look quite familiar in their design - I'll have to see if I can find anything similar. London & South Western Railway seems to ring a bell, for some reason, but they could equally be similar to most English cattle wagons with the exception of the GWR, of course. I'd certainly like to include some open cattle wagons in my fleet, but if they were camera-shy and no drawings exist, then that's off the agenda, unfortunately.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  16. 19 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

    Yes, a few observations about the above photos, which i forgot to add.

    They DID use a shorter wheelbase then - not just vans, but cattle trucks and open wagons too. Also, a more pronounced curve to roofs, which were a lot lower. Look in the pics above, many of which date from the 1920s and later. NEWER wagons were higher, with roofs flatter.

    Photos 1 & 5 show "soft-tops" as the railwaymen called them, or officially convertible wagons. I am unaware of these being used in any country outside Ireland; hopefully someone might educate me here on external examples? The top photo of the DSER one (a long way from home at Achill) shows where the open centre part has been subsequently covered over.

    Like conventional vans, roofs were timber, covered in heavy canvas, sandwiched in between layers of pitch. This was then painted - I did this myself on early carriage repairs at Whitehead in the '70s. But economy often resulted in corrugated iron replacements - these were especially prevalent on the County Donegal Railways but can also be seen here.

    In photo 5, you see the three stages. In the middle and older "soft top". To the right, a van of the same or slightly later period. to the left, a later one still, more in keeping with dimensions used from about 1915/8 onwards.

    The purpose of a "soft-top" was that with a tarpaulin across the middle bit, it could be used for general goods, as a goods van, but with the tarp removed it could be used for cattle. 

    Being a primarily agricultural country, with no huge coal or iron ore mines, no massive steelworks, oil refineries or the like (we did not HAVE the minerals and raw materials in the ground!), cattle was the mainstay of most rural Irish railway lines for many decades, so these wagons made sense to build economically.

     

     

    Also, the third last pic shows the difference between "ancient" and "modern" dimensions very well.

    Hi Jonathan,

    again a wealth of information, thank you! The use of "convertibles" is all but unknown on English railways - occasionally some vans, usually as part of a larger "lot", would be fitted with a sliding roof door. The architypal assymetric Midland van (a la Slater's kit) is a type that springs to mind, and I understand that some of the GWR's tallest (8' high) wooden vans were so built, although I don't recall seeing a photograph. Dedicated cattle wagons were more the norm. Interestingly, having seen how the percentages of open box wagons stack up against the convertibles, the opposite was the case in England with numbers of opens far-outweighing covered wagons.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  17. Dear All,

    apologies for not having posted sooner, especially after all the fantastic info you've all provided - I was otherwise engaged yesterday afternoon and evening, and didn't have time last night to respond! So I hope you'll all forgive me for having been quiet.

    20 hours ago, Midland Man said:

    I been a member for 3 years now and I have to say the indfomation is priceless. Ernie Shepard is a member a rights in th journals quite often. As for MGWR stuff a lot of it will be in older journals with his can be bought for penny's second hand. Cart wait to sea what you make as from the English stuff you have a lot of experience. My favorite thing about model railways is that unlike Hobys like golf or cycling you're wealth is not about what kit or expensive bike or driver you have its what you know that is you're wealth not what you got. Keep it up.

    MM

    MM, I absolutely agree, and what you say about the model railway hobby is spot-on - it's a community thing with the sharing of knowledge, both of the prototype and how to reproduce it in miniature, and it's great to be in the company of like-minded folks!

    15 hours ago, Midland Man said:

    Unfortunately the book has a lot of CIE photos and quite little MGWR. Check out the Ken null colection as that has a lot of MGWR in MGWR days. Have you put up the work bench tread as a lot of people (in my mind a lot of people but you never know) would really like to sea so of the modeling and learn tips( that includes me) in painting excetra.

    That's a bit of a shame, but I suppose that only a limited number of period photos actually exist - like all these things it's a question of whether an enthusiast with a camera happened to be in the right place at the right time. I haven't put up my workbench thread yet, hopefully in the next couple of days, but I'll make a note of it on here when I finally do!

    All the best,

    Mark

    15 hours ago, Angus said:

    A question about the DSER van in the first photo are the doors a different colour to the body of have they just been recently replaced?

    I have a spare bought by mistake if you want a copy?

    Hi Angus,

    Many thanks for your kind offer - I'll PM you, if that's okay!

    Best regards,

    Mark

  18. 36 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

    DC4DE33F-348A-4E49-A36D-7EF937940CFC.jpeg

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    Fantastic photos, thank you! So much of huge interest - the convertible goods wagon and the butter wagon in particular are full of atmosphere and useful detail!

    Thank you again and kind regards,

    Mark

    • Like 1
  19. On 4/28/2020 at 1:48 PM, jhb171achill said:

    Hi Mark

    For the period you are modelling, almost all wagons and rolling stock, unfortunately, would have to be scratch-built, if accuracy is required.

    If you have got Ernie Shepherd's book, you will see the typical "soft-top" convertible van which abounds. Some open-top cattle trucks might still be seen, though they were meant to be covering them up. Only open wagons were broadly similar. Horse boxes - you are aware of the kit. Locomotives - again, scratch-building, I'm afraid.

    If you ever heard of the late Richard Chown's "Castle Rackrent", a famous "0" gauge layout, he did all that, and some sixty years or so ago to boot. His layout was primarily WLWR-orientated, though of course this line met the MGWR at Athenry, Claremorris and Collooney. But it gives a nice flavour of the period.

    I'll post some photos in a moment - all taken from Ernie Shepherd's book, the IRRS "picture album", and "Rails to Achill".

     

     

    Dear Jonathan,

    Many thanks for your posts, and especially the photographs!

    I'm happy scratch-building, although I'm not a fast worker! Any (good!) kits that are suitable are consequently extremely welcome, such as the JM Design horsebox and meat/fish van kits.

    I do have Ernie Shepherd's book, and I'm hoping to be able to get a copy of the IRRS MGWR Picture Book.

    The open-topped cattle wagons would be a distinctive and interesting addition to the roster, if drawings are available - perhaps in the Broadstone Series or the IRRS Compendium?

    I've certainly heard of Richard Chown and Castle Rackrent - I seem to recall an article in Railway Modeller many moons ago that I was extremely taken with. It may well have been Castle Rackrent that originally sparked my interest in Irish Broad Gauge!

    Thanks once again for all your help and advice!

    With kind regards,

    Mark

    • Like 1
  20. 50 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

    Can’t advise on the cattle wagon till I access my library later, Mark. The convertible wagons definitely were out and about and would have been seen on the MGWR. Egg traffic off the SLNC, for instance, was quite significant. 

    Fabulous, thank you @Galteemore, that's brilliant!

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  21. Dear All,

    In the interests of keeping things going while I am scratch-building some MGWR open box wagons (my workbench will magically appear when I've got some photos worth posting!), I wonder if I could have some advice about the kits currently available?

    I'm in touch with Des at SSM and hope to order a couple of his MGWR convertible goods wagon kits, but I'm also interested in some "foreign" wagons. Somewhere we briefly discussed the likelihood of other companies' goods wagons being found on MGWR metals, the answer being definitely so. So, in that vein, and given that I'm planning on including livestock specials, would the Provincial Models SL&NCR 7ton cattle wagon be suitable for the 1900-1905 period? And likewise their SL&NCR 7ton covered goods wagon? Sadly, their GNR cattle wagon is to a 1938 pattern, so way too late for me!

    Thanks as always for any thoughts and ideas!

    Stay safe and stay well,

    Mark

  22. On 4/25/2020 at 5:34 PM, Jack O'Brien said:

    Hey all,

    Due to the corona virus I have a lot of spare time to model.

    I'm currently working on a MGWR 12 ton locomotive coal wagon and I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of the MGWR timber wagons as there were none in Ernie shepherds book. Any pictures of  other 'unique' wagons like the butter vans or the 40 ton bogie rail wagons. I will post pictures of the coal wagon later. 

    I'm just starting a scratch build of one (or two) 7ton Loco Coal wagons, so I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with this project and the hopper wagon.

    With kind regards,

    Mark

  23. 2 hours ago, Midland Man said:

    The Broadstone series is quite mixed in dates as you have the 1899 serious good wagon with the brand new(in 1920 I  think ) goods van. Can not wait to sea the work bench and will your layout be a show or home layout?

    Thanks, MM, that's good to know.

    I'll pop a link on this thread when I create the workbench one. Close of play today saw two wagons-worth of sides/ends assembled but without floors, plus three other sets of side/ends scribed out. Trouble is, I do work quite slowly.....

    The plan is to make the layout exhibitable, although whether it will be worth exhibiting will remain to be seen!

    With kind regards,

    Mark

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