murphaph

I actually wouldn't like to be a GB modeller right now. The amount of top drawer stuff AS is releasing would mean passing on this or that and then regretting it immediately. At least with our less frantic pace we have a chance to acquire things we like and then let the wallet recover in time for the next hit.

Brexit made Irish passports desirable in GB. The Deltics will make an Irish* address even more desirable lol. *Or other EU.

That's a lot of non-buyer's regret

The flip side of that particular coin is that if IRM says "we want to release x at some stage" then the "when is x finally coming, you announce stuff but then don't deliver for years" comments start. IRM now has a firm policy of announcing a new model when the first engineering samples are ready and not before as they can reasonably predict the time to market from that point. As was mentioned with the recent Class 89, even getting access to the prototype can pose major challenges so it's unwise to announce stuff you haven't at least got your CAD done on. The basic rule of thumb for Irish models and IRM is simple enough though I would assume....more or less everything will be done eventually, certainly anything that existed in numbers in real life. The one offs are the most difficult to justify but at least of you decide to scratch build a one off you will only make one and not a rake or something. Anything you could conceivably make a rake of I would suggest will eventually be covered by IRM and to keep your powder dry, unless you enjoy making stuff. In which case there's no harm done.

Weinert Modellbau maybe but the prices will make your eyes water. The British are just way more into scratch and kit building etc. than elsewhere in Europe IMO.

He's really friendly on the phone and it works. Bit old school but at least the man takes credit cards and ships outside GB.

Nice to get the feedback so I know I'm not just spamming the forum with irrelevant content connolly. Much appreciated. My next "target", probably next week is likely to be the Zittauerschmalspurbahn or Zittau Narrow Gauge Railway. Zittau is located in the Free State of Saxony, right in the corner where Germany, Czechia and Poland meet: https://g.page/zittauer-schmalspurbahn?share Germany to the north, Czechia to the west and south and Poland to the east. The railway heads south from Zittau, departing from the narrow gauge station adjoining the standard gauge mainline rail one. The line continues to Bertsdorf where it branches in two. Both lines continue south into neighbouring parallel valleys and terminate at the spa resort towns of Jonsdorf and Oybin. During the week trains to Oybin are through running with a change at Bertsdorf required to head to Jonsdorf. Interestingly however they run trains between the two branch line termini, via Bertsdorf without the need to change. The route takes about an hour in each direction from Zittau to either terminus, so I can cover the whole network behind various traction (diesel and steam operate, the steam trains hauling DR stock) and still be home at a reasonable hour. I will again depart from my local station at 5.40 and reach Zittau at 9.56. If the RE2 is running through Berlin again (it currently only runs to Charlottenburg in western Berlin) then it's a fairly pleasant journey with just a short hop two stations and then the RE2 all the way to Cottbus (the RE2 is one of Germany's longest regional expresses) and just one more RB (Regiobahn, or regional train), the RB65 to Zittau. https://www.zittauer-schmalspurbahn.de/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zittau–Oybin/Jonsdorf_railway There is a "hefty" €5 surcharge for a day's use of the network for holders of a €9 ticket. I think I can manage that lol. Normally a day ticket is €17, which isn't bad either in fairness but the €9 ticket means I can get there and back for nothing.

I think you guys have rolled with the Brexit punches better than any other firm in this industry. There was much sticking of heads in sand and some places are still not shipping outside GB anymore due to the increased paperwork.

If Johnson wasn't tearing up the NI protocol a warehouse in Newry might be an attractive option right now.

Hmmm, it seems like these things are pretty rare in Europe. I never really took any interest in them tbh. There are only 11 in Germany. The rest are in Pakistan and Malaysia according to Wikipedia. I assumed they were more common than that, probably because the HVLE is my "local" private railway and they own 9 of those 11 and the other 2 belong to ITL which is based in Dresden, which isn't a million miles away and I have seen at least one ITL example around here too. I will be more attentive in future and if I see one I'll take a snap or two. DB doesn't own any and never has, though the German wiki says the Autozug (Motorail) was pulled by one for a few days several years ago.

Hi Leslie, All the steam I took is included in the €9 ticket. The section from Drei Annen Hohne to the summit of the Brocken is the only part of the network not included. I was actually thinking the same myself today. I'd be surprised if three scheduled narrow gauge steam services meet anywhere in the world like that. Possibly any gauge.

And a couple of the more interesting pics: Nordhausen. The ramp used to transfer wagons from standard gauge to and from the narrow gauge dollies: Hybrid diesel electric tram sharing the HSB alignment: Climbing towards Eisfelder Talmühle: (yes, that's a Welsh flag) Up on the plateau: Elend station: Drei Annen Hohne where all three crossing locos take on water: Departing for Wernigerode behind 99 236:

So as promised a few videos from today:

Thanks George. Today I had a series of very tight connections but miraculously made them all and got to travel south to north steam hauled through the mountains. Worth getting up early for. I will add pictures and some video later from home. Back on mainline rail on the way home via Berlin now.

Off to the Harz mountains again today. Currently on board the Regional Express (RE) 10 from Magdeburg to Sangerhausen, where I have a very tight connection to the RE 9 to Nordhausen. I am effectively traveling around the mountains to the east to travel through them from the south to the north. I have resigned myself to not making the steam hauled train I want so if I catch it it's a bonus. Couple of snaps from Magdeburg Hbf: Staßfurt: Abandoned platform with its GDR era lighting at Sandersleben:

Yep, Dave is right. Just cut the speaker that came with the decoder off and fit to the loco and you're done. The square thing is the speaker+enclosure but the factory fitted speaker in the 071 is probably a better solution. Make sure you don't leave a short by cutting the two wires so close to the decoder that copper strands could splay out and touch each other. If you're skilled with a soldering iron you can just desolder the two wires, again being careful not to leave a short. The safest solution if you're not skilled in this stuff is to cut the two wires at different lengths and then put a bit of electrical tape around each end and tuck the wires somewhere where they can't short against each other or the chassis etc.

Looking well Robert!

I was looking forward to these pics . Home turf!

So finally finished weathering and varnishing these. NIR shouldn't have sent them down the N1 on a dirty February morning to Inchicore to collect some urgently required spares. That's how they got so manky:

I'm in the same boat era wise. But I think I'll have to justify at least one pack to represent the stored wagons being moved to Limerick in the 90's. The bonus being they'll need a lot of rust added!

Yeah that's a great job. Really looks the part.

Hey Brendan, I completely skipped the town this time. To be honest I've been there a few times already in all seasons and I was getting tired and wanted to be on the rails home at that stage! So I just hopped straight off the HSB and into an RE 4 to Halberstadt changing straight onto an RE11 to Magdeburg. I stopped for a quick bite to eat in Magdeburg as I'd never been in the city. I'll go back for a closer look on my €9 ticket. I only saw around the station. I am wondering what other heritage railways I can reach in a reasonable time on the €9 ticket. Interestingly there were several Brits doing exactly the same route as me on the HSB yesterday, making good use of the €9 offer. They were staying the night in Wernigerode. Edit: Here was my plan. I hadn't wanted to actually go to Harzgerode because I was concerned I'd have to stand all the way to Eisfelder Talmühle if I wasn't ready to board. I accidentally boarded the railcar to Harzgerode however but all was fine in the end. Nobody had to stand on any of the trains I took on the HSB yesterday. The weekends are surely a different matter! I may well head back later this summer to cover more sections by steam.

Yeah, can't believe I did about 750kms of trains travel today for €0.

A few pics I'll caption later: Stiege, crossing the modern railcar going the other way on the Selketalbahn (Selke Valley Railway): The Manulla Junction of the Harz Network. There is almost nothing here. There was a closed restaurant in the old station building. No village or town. Disembarked the Selketalbahn and boarded s steam hauled service to Wernigerode on the Trans Harz Railway: Right from whence we came, left towards Wernigerode: Our train arriving out of Wernigerode. The loco will take on water and run around and haul us backwards: On the way through the mountains to Wernigerode: 30 minute break at Drei Annen Hohne. 3 steam hauled trains met here. This is our loco heading to take on water. Our train is in the rear on platform 3: Standard gauge piggybacking on narrow gauge: Arriving into Wenigerode Hbf: Over on the mainline platform for the journey home: Pit stop in Magdeburg with its impressive station facade. Great place to watch freight trains. One every few minutes:

No worries Connolly. I'll throw up the last few pics later/tomorrow. Back on mainline rail now on the trek home via Berlin. More or less the way I came.