murphaph

Thanks for the kind mention Tim. They look great. It's really nice to see pics of them "out in the wild" so to speak I am happy to make more up for anyone interested. Just drop me a PM.

So, a follow up to 111 and the sheared off LED3. Replacements arrived over Xmas and one was soldered in today. It's a pretty close match for the original, certainly to the naked eye it seems almost identical. I post the packaging here so if anyone is looking for replacements they can use this as a reference. Before: New 0603 SMD LEDs: After installation: Testing: The two outside LEDs should be closely matched. The centre one is for the headlight.

I reckon this run will sell out fairly easily.

I might go into the city tomorrow and take a gander at that H0 one!

And Anhalter is just one of several terminus stations in Berlin that no longer exist or at least not in the form they did (for example only the U-Bahn station remains, for example at Görlitzerbahnhof): Anhalter, Potsdamer, Görlitzer, Lehrter (on the site the current Hauptbahnhof was built after the remains of Lehrter were demolished), Schlesischer (nowadays Ostbahnhof), Stettiner and Hamburger Bahnhof. Görlitzer especially was a nice station but it had no chance of surviving as it ended up just inside West Berlin with its tracks heading to Görlitz in the GDR near the Polish border. The German wiki page shows some pictures after the wall had been built. There was a gate in the wall to allow freight (and only freight) to pass through the wall, with a gantry for GDR border guards to stand on and keep a watch out for would be escapees. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Görlitzer_Bahnhof Stettiner Bahnhof was renamed to Nordbahnhof by the GDR after the government recognised the Oder-Neiße line as the border between the GDR and Poland. Stettin was in Germany before the war, but now it was in Poland so it was politically incorrect to refer to it in this way and it was renamed to the bland Nordbahnhof. Nothing remains of any of the terminus station either, only the underground S-Bahn station still carries the name Nordbahnhof today: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Nordbahnhof I used to alight at the S-Bahn station every day and there are (purely decorative) tracks laid into the paving outside with the names of the destinations no longer served carved into stone "sleepers".

Merry Christmas from Munich Airport Tower... Extremely clear view of the Alps including the Zugspitze. Christmas day is a good day to visit as there's relatively little going on and they don't mind kids asking questions. Pics of the tower equipment are forbidden.

They look lovely. Are any of the IR ones going to have silver window frames?

I have a feeling they are the better option to be honest but that is a decision for @DJ Dangerous to make

Thanks a lot for all the kind words folks. I had intended doing a full rake of Vic Berry coaches but well, IRM relieved me of that responsibility lol and sure it means I can do something else instead. I will still do the mk2a plated over centre door resprays as these are pretty unlikely in RTR for the foreseeable future. Here are 112 and 113 with handrails applied. The windscreen wipers go on after the weathering is complete. I am wondering whether the original chunky plastic ones or etched brass ones from SSM would be better to be honest.... 111 has decided to be less cooperative, somehow losing the top of one of the leds In the pic led3 should also have a yellow top like the other two warm white leds). I have ordered a warm white 0603 replacement led to fix it before it is reassembled:

Those are cracking memories to have photographed. I have a handful of pictures of treasured toys that I probably lost in the back garden later on, but nothing like that!

What an absolute masterpiece.

113 going back together first. I struggled trying to prevent light bleed. I don't know if the donor bled light too but I took this back apart a number of times to get it right. The trick is getting the black "electrical tape" light blockers in the correct position. All three of these will have a driver fitted at a random end. Marker light surrounds painted with a cocktail stick: The handrail holes all need to be opened out slightly to accept the handrails. I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary but ho-hum.... Driver happy at work despite having no legs: Once I have reassembled all three I will begin weathering them.

There's a thread on those Murphy Brothers wagons somewhere on here.

Inspirational work and an invaluable thread for anyone hoping someday to tackle a kit like this. Thanks Eoin!

Yep, enquiries@chrisdyerfairs.co.uk. Chris is an absolute gentleman to deal with and if I was UK based he would be the first port of call for IRM stuff that is no longer available on the IRM website. If you mail him he will be able to tell you if he's expecting to retail these coaches and if he has any left.

Usually Marks Models retails IRM products but you might want to get your name on the list if they are retailing these. In the UK Chris Dyer Fairs usually stocks IRM products.

No worries Kevin. It looks like we may get another bite at the Irish Cement cherry. I suspect those are likely to be very popular among newcomers to the hobby who missed out first time. They were the ones I wanted the most anyway and I was delighted to get pack H when I did. Yeah the wagons are fine and they match the picture on the website. It's the description on the website that has a discrepancy and this discrepancy is also to be found on the packaging but I strongly suspect that they were all like that and it's of no importance. I was going nuts here though because I took out one pack G to display in my display case but I could not figure out why this one wagon was there or where it was coming from as it's not listed as one of the wagons in any of the packs I do own (C,D,G,H) lol.

I think they are probably all like this Kevin. I just never noticed as it was immaterial up to now. Upon closer inspection the image on the website shows what's actually in the box. The listing on the website differs by one wagon and this listing matches the print on the packaging. https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles/products/irish-cement-wagon-multi-pack-g

Quick question about the original run....I am doing some "stocktaking" now that a re-run may be on the horizon. I bought a bunch of duplicate pack G's to renumber but will probably just sell those on now, just keeping one pack and buying new numbers instead. Maybe I missed it as I returned to the hobby after these had been released but my pack G's don't contain exactly what's printed on the box. All 5 packs that I have contain the following wagons: 25064 25127 25136 According to the packaging and the website they should contain: 25064 25136 25178 It looks like in my packs the 25178's are always missing, replaced with a 25127. 4 of the 5 packs I have only just opened now to check. Was this the case for every pack G made or just some? I don't really care what running numbers are in the box but if I am selling them I would like to know if they were all like that, so I can mention it in the ad. I will obviously list the actual running numbers and mention the fact these deviate from the packaging but if they are all like that it's less of an issue when selling.

Cheers Robert, I will be aiming for this look for 112: That's before it was on long term loan to IE (which is when it seems to have started accumulating orange bits!)

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to Q2 & Q3 very much now!

Pack A Irish Cement was very hard to find and I never managed to track one down. It is the only IRM item I never managed to catch up on. I would buy a pack A in Irish Cement in a heartbeat. I would also buy any white CIE roundel ones with new numbers.

Detail being applied to the 111s in advance of another clear coating and then reassembly can begin before weathering starts. The detailing isn't random. It was inconsistent on the prototypes too.

Facebook groups are likely to be the first port of call for many getting into the hobby. I am a "forum guy", being a member of several, but the vast majority of humankind does not know what a forum is

BCK and BSK refer to the original British Rail donor coaches that were converted by BREL to GSVs for CIE. A BCK was a Brake Composite Corridor coach, so roughly half the vehicle had the functions of a brake van (caboose) and the rest was a mixture of 1st and 2nd class (that's the composite bit) and it was a corridor coach in the passenger compartment, so corridor with individual compartments, rather than open seating. A BSK was almost the same except all second class, no first class compartments. The exterior of the GSVs looked slightly different, depending on which donor type was used but they were functionally identical. The Dutch refers to the design of the wagon which was from Werkspoor in the Netherlands, with the vans being built under licence by CIE in Dundalk. The slab sides give the continental European heritage of these things away immediately. The bogies are Werkspoor types, unique on Irish rail. They were only used with these vans.