murphaph

That's great stuff. Makes for some very interesting modelling possibilities, especially the fact the locos had to be shut down and restarted in the running shed.

Great information again Paul. Did they enter from the Heuston side and exit from the country side and then head to the long siding beside the running shed to wait their next turn of duty in Heuston? Did they ever refuel or do running repairs on Connolly locos or was that all done over in the Connolly loco shed only?

Great info Paul. Yeah I think CIE owned right up to Jamestown Road at one stage. The boundaries of the properties strongly suggest that anyway, as do some tracks leading into those properties. But I think CIE probably sold the land and then those buildings were built by the new owners as they don't really align with the tracks if you get me. In case anyone is wondering, I'm thinking of modelling about half the depth of the running shed and the to wheel lathe building (using some artistic licence to bring the latter somewhat closer to the mainline). Dropping Portarlington from my plans and including the works would bring a whole new dimension to my layout, with urban grime galore and the excuse to haul DARTs should they ever appear in RTR format There's also at least one pic of a Hunslet parked in front of the wheel lathe with a solitary NIR MK2 coach. The daily oil train working gives the excuse to run a brake van in the 90's too so that's particularly good info! Lots of modelling possibilities. Lots of light engine workings as locos shuffle back and forth between Heuston (which would be off scene) and the works. Does anyone know where exactly the refuelling was done? Was it inside the running shed?

Look after yourself Ernie! Take care.

It's all very personal alright. I don't care about misplaced sockets (maybe I should but that sort of thing just doesn't bug me) but the wrong track gauge does my head in. I have probably set myself up for a world of hurt but I have to try the 21mm route. But as Jonathon says, rule 1 always applies and the track gauge doesn't bother many people in the slightest and that's fine too I guess. We're a broad church thankfully

And it happened overnight too because I only started buying Irish stuff last summer and I managed to get all the tippex 071s and the 3 NIR ones at "normal" prices. Nowadays I could not justify buying a single 071 at these prices. I would just have to wait until MM does a re-run or "some one else" does a new version at some point over the coming years.

I tend to agree. Where a particular socket was at a particular point in the life of a particular loco is something that just doesn't interest me. It's nice when manufacturers go the extra mile but I would not like to be paying for all the tiny tooling differences between particular locos at different stages in their lives. There's just too much variation to model sometimes and remain cost effective. The guts of the 201 are sound. It has good mechanics and it captures the angles and dimensions of the prototype. The liveries are clean and crisply applied. I don't think there's an awful lot that could be done much better.

080 is fine work indeed. Great stuff.

Someone bit: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/165243339390

Super pics! Does anyone know how often the train ran? I'm guessing fairly frequently if Inchicore was refuelling all the locos departing out of Heuston. Or did they fill those large tanks in batches? I've just figured out that the building behind the A is not on Irish Rail property but facing onto Jamestown Road and that my late father used to buy stuff off the place that was in there.

That's interesting about the refuelling moving to Heuston in 2000 only. Prior to that did locos head to Inchicore between turns? Did the fuel oil tankers have those Alexandra road to Heuston markings prior to the refuelling moving to Heuston or did they say Alexandra road to Inchicore works or something else entirely?

Same seller selling what appears to be a third 112 lol. Each time they get a little dearer... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115159450980

Did the oil transfer train ever make regular trips to Inchicore Works? Were/are locos fuelled at Inchicore or more at Heuston?

The answer to both is presumably money. Freight trains tended to operate at night a lot back then, so they could squeeze a dual use out of the loco fleet by going push pull. Without money from government nothing was possible. The traction motors alone would have required government funding.

Would it really make any difference when the bogies themselves are so far apart? If all 4 left or right rail contacts are interrupted simultaneously then I would argue the problem is with the track. If a long co co (electrically a Bo Bo) stalls then what hope has a 0-4-0 on the same track?

That second one is no longer available, so likely sold for the €440 asking price. I am sure the new owner will treasure it. It almost makes me nervous taking mine out to run. If it falls to the floor it's irreplaceable to me as I couldn't justify the price of one.

Much appreciated PR, the second time was a charm for Amazon. Book delivered and every word read since then. When's the next one coming out lol? Jonathan, have you two ever considered a series of books based on era rather than location?

Doesn't always work unfortunately. The book on back scenes I ordered yesterday was only available from a UK source It will probably get stopped for VAT (7% VAT on books here).

Same seller. I see his logic. He had two bidders prepared to pay roughly 440 give or take a fiver. The losing bidder now gets a second bite at the cherry. Be interesting to see if a bid is placed at 440.

Frohe Weihnachten! (That's the young lad in front of the Lok)

Most customs/postal agencies seem to have the common sense to pad the CN number out to the local TARIC (for example 10 digits long in Ireland, 11 digits long in Germany, etc., clearly not a uniform EU standard) but An Post made a meal of it. Hopefully they have made some changes as returning masses of parcels that other countries' agencies have no problem delivering clearly wasn't sustainable. It is actually damaging to Ireland's international reputation.

Good post David. From my upstairs window here in Brandenburg looking out I see trees, neighbouring houses and directly above all that a grey sky and nothing else. It's entirely prototypical to have the sky completely dominate the backscene. In fact the terrain is so flat around here that even rolling hills would look odd.

112 in that configuration was on extended loan to IE though so it's got broader appeal. The loco got all over the IE network doing all the jobs any other 071 might do. I love the NIR stuff and thanks to specials, most of it has managed a visit fairly far south. I always thought there was something "exotic" about seeing NIR stuff at Connolly, probably because I grew up in Newcastle and was used to seeing nothing but supertrain and later tippex liveried stock from the top deck of the 68 passing Heuston. Seeing a blue 111 and white mk2's for the first time is something I still remember vividly.

That 112 finished at €438 + P&P. I suppose if you want something enough you'll pay for it! https://www.ebay.ie/itm/115143451606

By doing a google image search on that image Broithe, I found the following page which explains the maths behind it. It's an approximate method but for this application more than accurate enough I would have thought! That's really useful, thanks. https://www.themathdoctors.org/making-a-sphere-from-flat-material/ That should in theory be doable in hardboard or thin MDF. The curved sky approach has a very practical benefit for me too. I can set my scenery on the shelf above, forward of the back scene by the width of a hand so that I can get in to re-rail a derailed train on the hidden spiral. That would be much more difficult if the sky was flat to the Y plane and the back scene would likely need to be removable to rescue the train that will some day need rescuing, no matter how well I manage to build the track work.