meathdane

I did it the good old fashion way, I had an old Hornby wagon with the massive wheel flanges and while the clay was wet I ran it through, cleaned off the wheels and ran it through again, did it a few times and It was perfect. 

Word of warning, if you're going to sand down Das, the surface layer will be dry after a day or two, depending on humidity and temperature, you want to leave it a week odd before sanding I find, to allow all the moisture to dry out completely, otherwise it's a task to get a smooth finish. 

Post a few pictures whenever you can, curious to see how you're getting along with this project

Managed to do a little bit with the new distillery I was peer pressured into working into the layout. Decided to go a little further and expand upon it. 

To me a distillery on its own doesn't make sense, so I've decided to put a little station/halt, in my mind the distillery would have sprung up, with the advantage of a local rail link to bring in skilled labour from further a field, then naturally expanded into rail service as the industry grew and there was a greater demand for the import of raw goods and export of the fine stuff. 

So using my advanced, top of the line photo editor on my phone and finger, I've illustrated the plan here. 

Red is the platform, possibly with a raised station building on a bridge going over the tracks. I've yet to decide. 

Green is a footbridge

Purple is Road access

Turquoise is road Bridge. I'll move it to where ever the headshunt will accommodate

Orange is Signal building 

Pink is signals for the platforms. 

Blue is going to be a now unused goods shed that the distillery originally built before expanding operations to take a short siding directly to the building. 

Yellow is the original distillery building

Black is a storage shed and grain unloading dock built after the original distillery to cope with increasing demand. Likely going to be a half brick, half corrugated building, with a lean to to cover the vans as they're unloaded

Hopefully this all makes sense

Tracks will extended beyond points to give a headshunt and the loading track. All will be laid on 4mm cork. 

I've yet to figure out where I am going to place in coupling magnets. More than happy to hear any suggestions

Thanks all! 

Glad to hear you're on the mend Derek, take care of yourself

10 hours ago, Mayner said:

The Gulf Oil Whiddy Terminal was basically a tranship point for crude oil arriving by Supertanker from the Middle East and smaller tankers distributing the oil to British and European refineries. Even if the West Cork remained open (& a pipeline existed between the Youghal Branch & the Whitegate Refinery its likely that the refinery would have continued to receive crude oil by sea being more convenient and cost effective than rail.

Had Bantry remained open its likely that the Whiddy Terminal would have lead to an increase in general goods traffic in a similar manner to Tynagh mine boosting Loughrea branch traffic although it did not transport the output, with ships supplies (food, consumables & spare/replacement parts) arriving by rail in H Vans. 

Grain wagons were just as likely to transport animal feed as malting barley and could be transhipped to a lorry for delivery to a customer.  There is a photo in the National Library O'Dea collection of a grain wagon being unloaded at Fermoy using a small portable conveyor to transfer the load to a lorry, no need for a pit or a silo!

Bantry Station was the towns second station, the original was on the hillside on the Cork side of the town near the current Hospital former Workhouse and seems to have been abandoned after the extension was opened, possible site for goods station or stone built 19th Century flour/feed mills or even a distillery,  Middleton and Bandon had major distilleries why not Bantry? Alman's (Bandon) seemingly dependent on the US market closed because of Prohibition wiped out its major market, a lesson for us all today?

What if Bantry survived into the Railplan 80 era most likely traffics would have been trainload fertiliser running for a locoa Co Op as required, Bagged Cement  weekly tran possibly serving Bandon, Dunmanway? and Bantry (railhead for Skibereen)

Another potential would have been a weekly Bell Liner conveying frozen fish from Castletown Bere (or possibly move the fleet to Bantry), at one stage CIE operated a weekly Bell Liner from Sligo conveying fish traffic from Killybegs (possibly 20' Refrigerated containers)

On a practical note I'd recommend laying permanant track on cord or a dense foam underlay (I use camping ground sheets), the resilience of the foam allows for more reliable running and a lot quiter than laying track directly on the baseboard.

Some great ideas, I have plenty of containers, including Cie 20s l, Lyons, Harps and a few others. I would certainly like to give them a run over Bantry. 

The track is being laid on 4mm cork, you can see it poking out on the track leading to Bantry, I'm in the process of laying and cutting track, then itll get the cork treatment. 

I think you've all convincede that a distillery is the way to go, I may have to use short radius points to get it in, but I think I can manage it, it may be simplified, using Bantry as a drop off point and a pilot loco to shunt it back up the line into the distillery, and shunt from the distillery into Bantry for formation into a train. More to think and consider. I do have about a foot more I can extend the baseboard to give me a little more room to build the distillery 

29 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

A Guiness factory in west cork???? That has to be treason of the highest order!!!

 

north cork Murphy’s, south cork beamish!

Thought we were going alternative history, you know, only the good stuff, or Shtuff as ye say

3 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Fertiliser maybe? Always liked those bogies….

I do have a rake of 8 Ferts that need use, part of a special occasionally

4 hours ago, Westcorkrailway said:

When it comes to Bantry, you could delve into alternate history. It never had a dedicated oil train as whiddy island was constructed after it was built. 
 

Cattle specials also spring to mind, and beet was loaded here too of course. 
 

there was a few mills in the area too, a lot of them powered by good oul waterwheel in the 1960s!

I was considering it, I have a few bulk Grains, hence the idea of a distillery, could have Hs and grains servicing it. Plus licence for some private owner wagons. Possibly even a Guinness distillery, to use my Guinness 40s in an alternative world where a Cork based brewery still used the rails! 

@Mike 84C you're a bad influence you know! 

Did some track laying. 

Hmmm'd and hawww'd about putting a distillery or a beets siding on the extension, but decided against it, there's enough operation on Bantry to keep me occupied, so just a small single track continous loop. The second line is a run to the small fiddle yard, disguised as a widening to double tracks, which connects back to the single track, and can double as a run around or storage siding when needed. Going to have a smaller runaround in the fiddleyard for smaller trains. 

Thanks all

1 hour ago, Tullygrainey said:

Most decoders are built to a common standard and as such will work ok with your NCE Powercab. I use the NCE system and have never encountered incompatibilities with any decoder. Most decoders also come with some variety of plug attached but as you're planning to hard wire it - and given the limited space you have to work in that's probably the most compact way to do it - it doesn't matter what sort you buy as you'll be cutting the plug off anyway. However, avoid the ones described as 'direct'. These need a socket to plug into which would take up space.

My first criterion when buying decoders has always been size because I'm usually cramming them into small spaces. The range from DCC Concepts contains some of the smallest I've come across.

Alan

Great stuff Alan, thanks again! The man himself to the rescue, I may have to name it Alan after yourself when it's all said and done

First part has arrived, the new 5 pole motor, which actually fits the current chassis and mount, so great success there! Will be using wires for the connections from pickups to decoder, back to Motor. 

If anyone has any suggestions for a small decoders that would work in the limited space of an 040 and is compatible with a NCE powercab, I would very much appreciate the suggestions

Thanks all! 

2 hours ago, Tullygrainey said:

Looking forward to watching this develop. I've hacked a fair few of those Hornby 0-4-0s but probably not quite as extensively as you're planning. A  few suggestions for parts:

 

Buffers: Alan Gibson (workshop) : Part No 4908 Early GWR Dean buffers. I've found these a good match for some Irish locos.

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/

 

Hooks: Brassmasters etched hooks and chain

https://www.brassmasters.co.uk/3-link_couplings.htm

 

Smokebox door wheels : Wizard Models MT260

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/buildings/mt260/

Gearboxes

You'd do no better than something from the High Level range but I suspect the difficulty would be fitting one of these into the Hornby chassis

https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/gearboxes

 

I've also used Hornby outside cylinder spares from Peter's Spares to sort the lack of crossheads on the Hornby 0-4-0 chassis

https://www.petersspares.com/p/hornby-x8834w-class-28xx-2-8-0-loco-valve-gear-set-weathered

 

Alan

Thanks Alan, 

It is ambitious alright, but if I'm gonna try, I'm gonna really try! We'll see how this all goes, it could very well End up going wonky. If it ends up being half of the quality you put out, I'd be a very pleased man! 

Thank you for those links, exactly the kind of parts I reckon I'm going to need for this project. Though lamp irons are oddly awkward to come by. Most recommended etch is OOP from Markits, the owner of which passed away last month sadly, everything else seems to be coming up either 0 guage or wagon ones! 

59 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Sounds like a great project Dane - and if it essentially freelance, so what? Looks like it is more about the journey than the destination and what a fine way to have some fun & gain experience. 

 I did much the same thing in 0n16.5 a few years ago and it was really worthwhile in terms of how my skills developed.

Thanks David! 

Hopefully it'll come along, should be a fun little piece to try and learn! Gives me a good basis of wiring, quartering, light kitbashing, and getting a chassis running, plus expanding my toolkit! 

25 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Great plan and fair enough! Prob lots of top tips on RMWeb on the chassis. It’s not implausible to suggest that 101, which never actually left Swindon in reality, was regauged and  transferred to Rosslare as part of the GW’s pre WW1 commitment to cross channel traffic. Come the GSR, the loco gets an Inchicore makeover….

I was thinking along those lines, possibly a local distillery purchase, loaned to the GSR during busy period, company goes defunct/transitions to road haulage and the GSR purchases it and allocates it to Bantry and surrounding areas as a light mixed traffic/shunter

Arrives at Inchicore after transport, reboilered due to internal issues or The emergency causing oil rationing, hence the new chimney and dome, enclose the cab at the distillerys request and a handful of minor modifications, and we have the GSR 101S (Swindon) 

Not thinking too deeply or too worried about the history, this is just an exercise for the fun of it

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

First thing to think about is - what is the very nearest Irish loco it looks like? Or look at a company eg MGWR or GSWR and identify the ‘house style’. Key thing here is probably the cab, which would be a nice little plasticard exercise. Add a bunker while you’re at it. Chimney off a Dean Goods or similar will give a GSR look. NE or GC locos in UK had a door wheel, just like Irish locos, so you may find a 3d printer who can knock some of that stuff up for you. Many Irish locos had heavily riveted smoke boxes, so do look at sorting that. 
 

In terms of chassis, an ideal opportunity to make your own, with some simple suspension. Not that hard to do and will give you immense satisfaction 

Some great stuff on there as always Galtee, i did forget to mention I am going to enclose the cab and build a bunker, old one has been lost to time, but like you said, great practice for plasticard! 

As for the rest of the body, part of me does want to keep it looking as Hornby 040 as possible, kind of an ode to where many of us likely started, the other half of me wants to go off and do exactly as you suggest. I contemplated moving the dome further forward, not unlike ones seen on J15s. I do need to look into the chimney, at the very least it needs a new top (plasticard practice again? I am going to more or less sand the surface smooth and look into riveting it up myself, and that would include the smoke box. 

As for the chassis, I get where you're coming from, part of the exercise is to try and get the current chassis running as close as I can get to perfection, and as I said in the original post, realise the potential of the Hornby chassis. The other part of this equation is I don't think I have the experience or tools to build a chassis, I have been watching other build and my skills at soldering are not there yet, I am looking into building a couple of smaller brass kits before taking on and potentially ruining an expensive loco kit. If I was to build something, I'd love to try a Bandon tank kit for Bantry. I'd much prefer to put in that kind of effort to build something more prototypical

I think in this instance modifying something existing is easier for my purpose, tools and experience

Time for a new project! 

I've long considered how far you can take the old Hornby pocket rockets. I decided I'm going to try and see, learn some new skills and bring my first "Irish" locomotive back to life. The victim is going to be my old Hornby 040 from the Irish Freight set. 

I have purchased a 5 pole motor that should work (in a perfect World), I may have a look into the feasibility of a small flywheel, going to order a DCC chip + stay alive and, change to Kadee couplings, I'm going to consider adding in a lights depending on how busy the internals become. On top of all that I am going to try my hand at detailing it. 

But my main concern first are the wheels, they seem out of true and gauge. The metal bands seem to be coming off the wheel inserts so they'll have to come off, so if I have to sort them out, while the wheel is off and axle out, I'll upgrade the drive gear to a metal one and install metal bearings too because, well, why not? I want to take this as far as it can possibly go! 

And for all those who are thinking why not just buy a new chassis and stick a chip in it, I absolutely can, and may just go down that route if I mess this up, but I want to try and see what I can accomplish with it, and see if I can make something that runs better than it did before. 

So I do have a handful of questions, 

Looking for recommendations to find some Irish-y detailing parts,

Lamp irons + lamps

Buffers 

Hooks

Sandboxs

Shunting tools

Whistle

Handrails + standoffs 

Smoke box handle

Mechanical wise

Worm drives

gear

Bearings

Or recommendations of a new gearbox I could try and install

Looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks and any recommendations! 

Thanks all! 

Dane

Scenic extension/fiddle yard/continous loop area built for Bantry. 

Base board legs need a little reinforcement and some gaps need filling but temporary track laying can begin to figure out a plan proper

Starting the run in process now that I've a working layout! 

A15 ran in

A3r is being run in

On the list after are

A39r

A42

A46

B131

B147a

B165

Than onto the less appropriate locos for Bantry

B181

B185a

078

203

210

Thankfully a rolling road makes life easier! 

And we are live, A15 on test duties, so far so good after a good track cleaning session! Great to have bantry up and operational. Now on to remedial work in the garage and then it's extension time! 

Hi all, 

I was approached by a member of the Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival who are very keen to have some Model railway layouts at the festival. The event takes place during the last weekend in September, the layouts will be in a secure building with barriers and volunteers to help manage the crowds. 

Unfortunately with my work schedule, I will only be present for one day, though I am hoping to have Bantry present on the Sunday at the very least. 

If anyone would like to have their layout present, the festival would love to have them and be very grateful, seemingly there is interest in the community to see these displays. If you would like to have your layout of any size, scale, or outline involved, send me a message and I will get you in contact with the events team. 

Thanks, 

Dane

Guess the 800s will be making a cameo on Bantry. Maebh and Maca ordered. Fantastic looking model, and from the videos I saw, a great runner too! Well done to IRM, can't wait for the next 10 years! 

7 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

 

35 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

https://www.accurascale.com/blogs/irish-railway-news/park-royal-update-october-2024-decorated-samples-revealed

 

https://www.accurascale.com/blogs/irish-railway-news/icr-update-october-2024

Great stuff! Apologies must have missed that update! 

15 minutes ago, Bob229 said:

I wonder will there be an update on the ICR units

Or the Park Royals, be lovely to see how they're getting on 

20 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

You could work Bantry like youghal (which in theory it could and in my opinion should have been) where Mixed goods work up to the 1973 and excursion and beet working until the mid 80s perhaps 

I may just, the majority of my stock is too late for Bantry, with the exception of Hs, Grains, cattle,Tankers and Corrugated opens. 

I've a full rake of Ferts, Guinness, Gypsum, and 40s. 

Could very conceivably see in an alternate timeline a fert and Guinness unloading at the goods shed or Gypsum for export at the pier. My collection is eclectic at best, I've a little of a lot, never had a clear direction until now, which will influence my buying decisions. But as for what I have, 

Rule 1

3 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Seeing things like supertrain mark 2s on the layout is quite something, considering I’m used to seeing 6 wheelers and laminates 

That'll make up part of the "what if" rail tour set. It's there because it's my most derail happy piece of stock, and if it runs happily over the joints all else will! 

On the flip side, can't wait to see what type of aneurism is caused when I run a grey 071 with a rake of 40s into Bantry

23 minutes ago, Signal Post said:

Saw your plan for a roller door on shed. We had some problems with rodent infestation of our garage (shed) some time ago and got a rodent control company out to look at it, one of their comments was that rats can get in anywhere there's a gap and one such place would have been the top of the roller door (there always needs to be a sizeable gap when the door is closed to allow for the door rolling up onto the roller when opened, also the same gap will allow a lot of air in during winter etc. There is apparently a type of brush type sealing that can be fitted but how good this is I don't know. Also the fact that I'm sure that you'll want some heat in the shed in winter to control temperature and humidity of layout might suggest an alternative type of door which would be easier to seal.

Anyhow delighted to see Bantry getting a new lease of life, the more layouts we can have in Co. Meath the better.

Appreciate the comment, I am fortunate enough that the shed is well insulated though unheated. We've never had an issue with rats, due to our very diligent head of security, Mr. Teak, my cat, and his second in command, next doors Fluffy. 

This was a working garage used for body repairs, so there are a pair of steel doors on the shed, the only issue is theyve degraded in the 30 odd years since construction and need renewal. The cracks are miniscule cracks in the mortar courses that allows bugs and plant life in, I'm looking to seal it with spray foam and Tec7 over the top just to keep them out 

The Idea of the partition wall is to allow the layout area to have a dehumidifier running. I want it built with proper damp proofing and insulation to help and a properly fitted door to separate the layout completely from the main garage area

Final Bantry scenic board went up on Saturday, all lined up, no derailments, signals added back and attached to servo motors, Wiring all connected up, NCE powercab should be waiting for me when I get home, started to add in vehicles and small scenery items and posed a few bits of rolling stock. 

Productive weekend, and it gets busier from here. Contractor coming in hopefully next week to level off the stepdown and build a partition wall, roof cleaners on standby for the shed, meeting an artistic friend of mine next weekend who'll hopefully agree to paint a back scene on the walls surrounding Bantry, and in talks with a crowd to get a roller door put on the shed. 

Few small cracks in brick and wood work to fill in, need to relocate a socket to a more advantageous spot, and finally, get building the permanent extension. 

Lots of work on the horizon but seeing Bantry built and ready for action will be worth it