Warbonnet

Put a container flat under them and I'll celebrate all over my credit card!

Have a kit at home that I'm going to use on a GP40, will send you some pics later on or tomorrow.

They also own a number of passenger rail franchises. Chiltern, Arriva, Cross Country, Grand Central...

Yep it's amazing that despite looking quite different in many ways how much American locos have in common with our own GMs, even externally as you're finding out on your 201

I agree Rich, but the livery is probably not as well known as the others and fewer people may have seen it in real life, resulting in fewer fond mermories. I tend to be interested in what I remember or have nostalgia for in Ireland and the UK, rather than present day (except when it comes to American stuff, that comes down with the models being so impressive.) I wouldn't be surprised if others think along similar lines too. Just a thought. I have no real memories of seeing 201s in NIR blue, so probably wouldn't get one. I do however, remember seeing NIR 111s in Connolly and travelling behind 112 when on loan to IE, so they'd be on my list. I would plump for a 121 over them too, especially an IR one to run on push-pulls and 124 and 134 in IE doubling up on cement bubbles, once again going off my nostalgic memories!

Quite possibly, the MIR 80 kits built up could go with them too. Maybe PM could commission some Bachmann Mark IIs ala the IR/IE ones too. I wouldn't be an expert in NIR rolling stock though, would they be similar to the BR Mark IIs?

Interesting points about 208 and 209, but another factor is the relatively short time they ran in NIR livery before they were repainted into Enterprise, limiting their scope. Always thought they looked good in blue though. There is also the relative lack of rolling stock for them to run with without having to resort to finding the Lima NIR Mark IIs or repainting. The 111s on the other hand have been around much longer in NIR livery (of various guises) so maybe there will be scope for these being released later on. I would like one in late 80s/early-mid 90s guise to run alongside IR stock. Just need to get some coaches to go with it! No original Enterprise 201 is the puzzler for me, been around a long time, seen all over the country on all sorts of stock. Would pick one of them up.

Absolutely, think this was discussed elsewhere on the forum too. Also the lack of yaw dampers shows good research! We never doubted him for a second.

I vaguely remember attending the show in the 1980s as a child John and loving it. Seems so long ago now. Who ran that show? The current one is on the ground floor. It is a very nice venue, but tends to get very warm due to the glass ceiling!

Great deal!

Thanks Rich, sadly the few pics I took of the layouts were blurred! Thankfully Richie got a good selection and posted them on the show thread.

He was holding court with a load of people every time I was there Rich, couldn't get near them. Heard that the Mark IIs are currently in production though.

What a wonderful day for a exhibition! A scorcher of a day saw the crowds come out in force for the MRSI show in Dun Laoghaire. The town centre is a great venue for such a thing, with easy access via car, DART and bus. The amount of people there was very encouraging which is great to see, especially with a lot of youngsters there too. There's some life in this hobby yet! I was keen to finally have a look at the forthcoming Murphys 071s, and man I was not disappointed! Pretty much all of the planned locos were there, so I was able to fight the crowds and swim through their drool to have a look. Since the pictures came out I was excited but a bit apprehensive at the same time. The overall shape of the loco is bang on, it certainly looks like an 071. I was bothered by that bodyside radiator grill though, it looked a bit coarse and protruding. I looked at some of my American GM locos with a similair pattern grill and they looked much better when moulded in plastic. However, when I looked at them today they didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought they would. They most certainly are not a deal-breaker. I have a feeling that 082 would be on my shopping list, the real one is a real screamer and I love the look of the nameplate on the model, it's a superb bit of printing. It was pointed out to me though that 082's cabside numbers should be white with a black shade, not the other way around. I have since looked this up and it appears that the info is correct. The IE logo also looks a little big on the side, but I'm no expert. I hope it's not too late to correct them! It is a good solid base but needs a lot of work to bring it up to the standards of the latest releases. Was also great to meet some guys from the board, catching up with fellow mods Anthony and Dave, meeting new faces like Glenderg (and seeing him at work!) and ttc0169 and others. Also ended up manning a MRSI table for a while, Dave saying I'd be fine and not too busy. Ended up selling some of the 50th wagons, helping countless vote for their favourite layout and reuniting a lost child with his parents! Hope the show is on again next year. Well done MRSI and the council, roll on October.

And...

Some pics from the show today. They look fantastic in the flesh. Even the side grill didn't bother me as much as it does in the pics. Roll on October!

Make sure you stick up the video here. Lovely day for it!

According to Baby GMs post up above: Will bring the camera! EDIT: Tis on the MM homepage too.

Looking forward to seeing these tomorrow.

Hi all, spotted this over on rmweb, scroll down to the bottom of the page, new 20ft Bell containers in 00 scale. Look quite nice http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49934-c-rail-irish-modelling-proposal/page__pid__573399#entry573399

Should be there tomorrow between 12 and 2 if anyone is around? Dave, you there in a professional capacity or just to hang around?

A thread on all the old shops around the country would be great.

I thought that a blog might be in order. It will mainly contain small bits and pieces that I'm working on to fill time before I finally get some sort of layout sorted. I have the stock, now I just need some track and some space to run it all on! Someday soon hopefully. Anyway, I'll be mainly working on American stuff, with some British and maybe even some Irish stuff thrown in along the way. My first port of call is centring around two box car kits. One is a Accurail 50ft Conrail boxcar and the other is an Atlas Trainman 40ft Santa Fe boxcar to fit in with some of my older motive power. I'm not really one for sticking to one era or railroad, but the right stock will have to run together at the same time. I couldn't have steam running past some SD70s and GEVOs! The body of the boxcar was bowing inwards so although I knew the chassis would help reshape it, I added some plastic-card bracing too. Underframe detail is quite sparse, with the bare minimum added. It could be further enhanced with brass wire to replicate tubing etc at a later date, but there's also day to day handling, and as I want to build up rakes of cars for longer trains I can live without it for now. This can also be said for removing moulded detail like grab irons and installing wire replacements. Maybe I'll eventually get around to that as a fully fettled car can look fantastic when kitted out and weathered. I did do some upgrades, replacing the godawful plastic couplers and wheels with Kadee products. This was my first Accurail kit and I would defo buy some more. I'll be keen to try the Atlas one too to see how good it is. If it is anything like their RTR line of stuff it should be lovely. More on that another time.

I thought that a blog might be in order. It will mainly contain small bits and pieces that I'm working on to fill time before I finally get some sort of layout sorted. I have the stock, now I just need some track and some space to run it all on! Someday soon hopefully. Anyway, I'll be mainly working on American stuff, with some British and maybe even some Irish stuff thrown in along the way. My first port of call is centring around two box car kits. One is a Accurail 50ft Conrail boxcar and the other is an Atlas Trainman 40ft Santa Fe boxcar to fit in with some of my older motive power. I'm not really one for sticking to one era or railroad, but the right stock will have to run together at the same time. I couldn't have steam running past some SD70s and GEVOs! [ATTACH=CONFIG]2204[/ATTACH] Anyway, first up, the fairly simple Accurail box car, based on a car from the 1970s. Here is the kit as it comes, American kits are nice simple affairs, easy to sling together when you're watching telly. Here's the kit, you get a choice of doors to suit your modelling period.I went with the later ones. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2205[/ATTACH] The body of the boxcar was bowing inwards so although I knew the chassis would help reshape it, I added some plastic-card bracing too. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2198[/ATTACH] Then the steel weight was glued to the chassis, and the doors were added to the body. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2199[/ATTACH] Underframe detail is quite sparse, with the bare minimum added. It could be further enhanced with brass wire to replicate tubing etc at a later date, but there's also day to day handling, and as I want to build up rakes of cars for longer trains I can live without it for now. This can also be said for removing moulded detail like grab irons and installing wire replacements. Maybe I'll eventually get around to that as a fully fettled car can look fantastic when kitted out and weathered. I did do some upgrades, replacing the godawful plastic couplers and wheels with Kadee products. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2200[/ATTACH] And the finished product, went together nice and easy, very good quality parts. Okay, so it's very basic kit building, but for a novice who is looking to gain some confidence they are perfect to start with, and I find them therapeutic. I have a 30 litre storage box full of such kits from Athearn, Roundhouse etc. to keep me going! [ATTACH=CONFIG]2201[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2202[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2203[/ATTACH] This was my first Accurail kit and I would defo buy some more. I'll be keen to try the Atlas one too to see how good it is. If it is anything like their RTR line of stuff it should be lovely. More on that another time.

And... Fans! And to demonstrate just how big it is, here she is beside a 181

Enjoy!