murphaph

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!

A couple of final snaps from Malmö Central before we depart (the section descending down under my feet is the tunnel approach facing towards the Øresund. The bridge has effectively created a large metropolitan area out of Copenhagen and Malmö, with people commuting to work in the other country being quite normal these days. Our train stands assembled and waiting for a green signal:

We then set off into Denmark, across the Great Belt bridge around 5am and made a single scheduled stop on the outskirts of Copenhagen at Høje Taastrup at 6.30 or so. I didn't take any pictures here. Then on to the Øresund Bridge and my first time crossing it by rail and then into Malmö Central (where I am writing this from). Our train has lost a couple of the sleeper coaches now and we have been shunted in the remaining coaches from our arrival platform P7 over to P5 and coupled up to the longer "day train" from here to Stockholm which was shunted into the platform shortly after our arrival. The layover here is a mammoth 2 hours. Plenty of time to stretch one's legs and grab a coffee for €6. The sun is just rising now. Here some impressions of Malmö: Our departure platform showing our wagon 216 now in the middle of the train. It was behind the loco so far: Shunting the day train into P5: Our train standing at P7 still: An SJ Express service to Stockholm awaits its departure time at P8: As Malmö is a terminus station (not actually true since Øresund Bridge was opened and a tunnel for the S-Tog was built) our seats will now face forwards for the remainder of the journey, which is nice as there's actually something to see outside being daylight now. We've been traveling backwards since Berlin but in the darkness and while you're catching 40 winks you don't notice it really. Onwards....

An interesting night. Approximately two hours after leaving Hamburg we arrived at Padborg just over the Danish border where at 2am we were awoken by Danish police checking passports. So much for Schengen. This stop is not a scheduled so no passengers boarded or alighted. The German loco belonging to WFL was uncoupled here and returned light engine to Germany it seemed. The new loco that would take us through Denmark was from Hectorail. We departed roughly one hour after arriving here. This is not an express service by any means but two adults in poverty class (in fairness clean and comfortable and you were left alone to get some sleep) cost €80 from Berlin to Stockholm. Padborg at 2am:

Passing through Hamburg Hbf now, Germany's busiest station with well over half a million passengers a day. On to Denmark now.

So not a €9 ticket but not far off... My wife decided to surprise me today on our anniversary with a mystery tour. Until getting to the platform in Berlin Hauptbahnhof I wasn't sure where we were going. I suspected a night train given the time of departure. I am now on the Swedish private railway Snälltåget night train from Berlin to Stockholm, which is our destination. Arrival time tomorrow afternoon at 14.15. Next stop Hamburg Central at midnight then 6 hours through the night to Copenhagen, crossing the high level bridge over the Kiel Canal and the Great Belt Tunnel/Bridge to get us from Jutland to Zealand. After Copenhagen I get to use the lower deck of the Øresund Bridge for the first time before stopping in Malmö and then it's 8 hours up through Sweden to Stockholm. The loco hauling us is owned by a local to me (Potsdam) based private operator called WFL. Loco is an old GDR electric, class 112 in today's money. I think they were originally class 243, built just outside Berlin in the LEW Hennigsdorf. I expect a loco change at the Danish border.

I think Paddy Murphy already covered the something old, something blue, something borrowed, something blue when he released 112

I suspect so too in the case as this seller listed this same loco for the same price the week before and it failed to sell. Maybe creating a false floor in value as you can do when so few are offered for sale. I just think it's a bit weird this one.

A46 allegedly sold for €399 + shipping: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/314185648038

Ammonias would be very nice indeed.

I'd say the vast majority of the contents including the inner packaging are fully intact.

Awesome Niles, thanks so much

Has anyone got any photographic evidence for 076 & 086 having the small logo on the side?

Something is binding for sure. Does the bogie bind against the fuel tank? It looks very tight.

If anyone is interested in a complete rake of MK1 fertiliser wagons I am selling one of my duplicate rakes for €400 + €16 insured and tracked postage. No offers below this please. It's my best price already. If they don't sell now I'll hold onto them until the MK2 ones have sold out and try again probably. The rake has not been unboxed. Further pics available. PM if interested