murphaph

You're welcome Sven. I was quite surprised too because the last time I went to Sweden it was by car routing Berlin-Rostock-(ferry)-Gedser-Copenhagen-(Oresund Bridge)-Malmö and that time there were no passport checks entering Denmark at Gedser ferry port (the police did look at the car and wave us through) but we were stopped and passport checked entering Sweden after the bridge tool booths. I was actually expecting passport checks entering Sweden again on the train but there were none. I also visited Denmark last year also taking the Rostock-Gedser ferry and there were no passport checks then either. A few more pics from Stockholm on our return via Arlanda. We took the Arlanda express which gets up to 200km/h and has you at the airport in 18 minutes. Non-stop service from Stockholm Central. Not cheap though, 299 SEK for 2 adults. Stockholm Central: This looks like a station but it appears to be the carriage valet station just outside Stockholm Central: A couple more blurry shots taken at speed on the Arlanda Express: And for completeness a few snaps from my home airport station, Berlin-Brandenburg: The buffer stops signify the end of the line for the S-Bahn. The regional and intercity tracks run through the station and trains arrive and depart in both directions. I am not sure if the S-Bahn can be extended without additional tunnelling and I don't know if there is anywhere sensible it could go to from here to be honest. A locally built 481 unit from AD Tranz (taken over by Bombardier before the units were delivered) bound for Spandau on the other side of the city. We would also pass through Spandau on the way home but on a regional train. A regional express to Berlin Hbf. We would not board this but wait for a direct RB14 that took us all the way home without changing. Unfortunately at some stage in the coming years our direct airport connection is due to be lost as the Bahn reorganises regional routes in and around Berlin. This train takes half an hour or so to reach its destination and stops twice on the way. Not quite the Arlanda Express but it only costs about a tenth the price So, that concludes the lesson

Good call. Conversion to an ex-shale Tara is a really good idea as these two fairly unique wagons are let's say, probably not a high priority for IRM.

I adNIRe your optimism. Sorry, I'll get my coat...

I'm sure it's mostly down to increased demand in a growing market. This bodes well for us all in time. Have we ever had a week with so many announcements? And the IRM lads aren't even finished yet! (and PM may have something else to say too, from what some members have hinted at). I just hope that too much stuff doesn't hit the shelves simultaneously or some of us will have to make difficult choices.

I'm not sure a straightforward conversion to the shale wagons is there. The top profile is not present at all on the shale wagons. Removing it would be more than trivial as it's a single piece moulding. The strakes (my new word for the day) are also not equidistant from each other on the shales like on the Taras. An approximation of a shale wagon is as close as one is likely to get without fairly major surgery. The thing is IRM is likely to make the shale wagons anyway at some stage. I can't justify all that work for a wagon that will likely be released in RTR in better quality than I can achieve. I think they are most likely going to be a very cheap way to extend one's fleet of Taras. You could add bits of plasticard to complete the strakes then heavily weather the wagons to conceal any colour differences. I think that's what I will do with them anyway, after renumbering of course.

I thought the 121s and A's would result in some baby GM price moderation but if anything the opposite happened as new people presumably came into the hobby and then demand for the rarer pre-owned models just increased. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens again. Long term it's clearly the best thing for (almost) everyone if there are more people involved in the hobby of course.

Same. I've ordered a rake of kegs and the empty triple pack. Excellent value per wagon (almost as cheap as the Black Friday spoils deal!) and the run is fairly small by the looks of it. I wouldn't wait around too long either. Lyons Tea and Harp containers sadly (or maybe thankfully!) out of era for me.

I was actually hoping that the bargain would also be open to those unable to attend the show. It's great that IRM has remembered its customers in the farther flung reaches of the planet I shall definitely be taking some come Black Friday.

Will there be a bundle discount? Just kidding, that's an awesome deal. Fair play for not binning these.

Ah she was just "resting in my account" so to speak. The original owner, a good friend of mine is the real gentleman. I just handled the advertising and postage

There are still a few gentlemen in the hobby. Not every 141 that changes hands goes for silly money .

I honestly have no idea what Bachmann or any other GB outline retailer charges for stuff as I only collect Irish outline. If they cost silly money I will have to leave them for someone else to buy. Rule 0 (the wife is always right) would come into play

Great news, especially for newcomers who are paying silly money for baby GMs. I have all 9 of the ones appropriate to my era but I strongly suspect I will be unable to resist taking one each of the new release in IR & IE, boosting my baby GM fleet by almost 50%! That the new bogies will be 21mm friendly and scale width is most welcome. I wonder could PM be persuaded to release the bogies on their own as an upgrade to the Cravens and previously released mk2 stock...If anybody is going to be talking to PM at the show, perhaps they could ask?

Those 4-8-4s are very impressive.

If you are patient and persistent, Steve from Railtec will deliver the goods if you provide him with decent examples, preferably with something for scale reference, like the known height of the buffer beam. I worked with him to get the latest NIR 111 transfer packs designed, providing as much photographic evidence as possible as he doesn't like to guess.

FYI from now on his, I mean my posts on railway topics may raise a few eyebrows....even more than before that is.

Cheers Bob, any idea when they were retired? Tour going lovely. Have updated my thread

A few impressions of Helsinki and the Finnish 5' gauge that is now a political issue thanks to Russia. Central Station: A typical metro station entrance but I assume the triangle symbol has the same meaning as in some other places....civil defence shelter. I bet the Finns have kept theirs in working order unlike in Germany: The last one was our ship, the Silja Symphony. She was the third vessel to reach the location of the sinking of the Estonia on that fateful night.

Very nice looking as usual. Any info on the years the containers (tea and kegs) ran in chaps? Any idea why the Harp kegs specifically went in these?

Lol those are two of the fert packs I offered here first. I dropped the starting price by a tenner to try to get the ball rolling but someone might be lucky and nab them for that. There is no reserve beyond the starting price. If they don't sell at that I'll be putting the whole rake back into storage until the current IRM run is long sold out and I'll try again. I'm not under pressure to sell I just wanted to part with duplicate stuff I bought in haste before I knew I could reckon with regular reruns from the IRM lads.

Longer top hat bushings are available I'm sure. As for the rotating axle boxes....not sure, how deep are they? Could they be sanded thinner?

Lol now that you mention it.....

My wife fooled me. Stockholm wasn't the final destination at all. We're now on a cruise ferry to Helsinki so I might see a bit of Russian broad gauge too! A few snaps from along the trip up from Malmö and of Stockholm Central:

Look after yourself Ken. You've been missed. Modelling top drawer as always!