murphaph

Just as a follow up. I have since ordered stuff from here 3 times. No complaints so far.

Kadees are pretty close to coupled buck eyes as found on the Mk2/3 stock too.

Very impressed with the boxcars especially. The rusty roof in particular is excellent.

There's also the Keen Sytems take on the Symoba product. It's not as small, but it's a good deal cheaper IIRC: https://www.petersspares.com/keen-systems-ccs4-close-coupling-system-4-pair.ir No idea if it would fit under a brake van though. Might be too big. I bought a few for Lima conversions that will probably never happen now that IRM is releasing mk2b/c stock over the coming years. As I have not fitted them to anything I can't say if they are any use.

That was quick. Mine will have to run the customs gauntlet coming out of GB. Might get lucky though as books seem to slip through the letter post system rather than be handled as parcels.

When did the molasses traffic cease?

Hi Robert, I have thought an awful lot about what I want from a layout and changed my mind several times along the way. When the room was originally planned it was ca. 2015 and I have never really seriously considered modelling Irish outline at that stage due to the dearth of readily available RTR stock. I was likely going to go with an N scale US or German layout but well, when I heard about IRM etc. I changed my mind, even though I knew I would get considerably less trackage in the room in 1:76. It's definitely worth it to be able to model something closer to my heart. So then I had to decide what sort of layout I can get in 1:76 in that room, that still gives me what I most wanted from the original. That is long mainline sections, running scale length trains at prototypical speeds. I came to the conclusion that I would need to have the layout use the maximum dimensions of the room to come close to achieving those main goals. I also want to be able to sit at a modelling bench and do some modelling while my trains are running in the background. If I used the middle of the room rather than the perimeter, I feel that would require sacrificing too much layout to achieve. I am fairly sure I cannot do a walk around without a bridge/duckunder (I plan an elaborate welded steel multi-level bridge, how successful it will be in practice remains to be seen!) because in 21mm I cannot do a 180° turn at the end of any peninsula due to minimum radius not being met. This was something I seriously considered as I am a big fan of the typical US basement empire, but they usually have three times the space I have or more. I also have to consider how many modelling years I have available to me. I want to start something I know I can finish and the cameo layout design really appeals to me. I love the idea of the trains being the actors on the stage. The door shouldn't hit anyone if opened the other way. It's the basement landing. The other side of the door looks like this:

Tiled now. I was able to salvage about a third of the tiles used from a previous miscalculation. They still make these "utility room tiles" and they're cheap so I ordered more and although there is a slight colour and size difference, I think I got away with it. Most of the floor will vanish under the layout anyway. The tiles are 30 * 30 cm to give the room some scale. No baby GMs were hurt in the making of this photoshoot: I wish I could just let rip on building the layout but for now it's still "shared space", though I will be more selective about what non-railway stuff can reside here. For example my tiling tools won't be needed again any time soon, so they can go into the attic for now. I'm giving serious consideration to reversing the door so it opens outwards. I didn't give enough thought to it when I hung the doors in the basement. Bit of a faff reversing German doors as they are surrounded by expanding foam and this needs cutting away to free the frame.

What a pic. Could almost be a model.

Did the Suburban liveried 80's ever make it out on the GSW at all?

If you plan to model the era in question at some stage then sure, buy whatever is available when it comes out

I understood the planned batch of 201's only includes the logo shown below on the green & silver model. That logo is much later isn't it? Or have I got my wires crossed and there are earlier logos planned in the upcoming release?

I shall keep an eye open for it. The GSW stuff is more interesting to me as I intend modelling the GSW mainline but I guess GNR stock made it to Inchicore at least occasionally. When was Dundalk works closed actually?

Would the 201's being released by MM next have hauled mk3's? (apart from enterprise EGV's) Are they not all too late livery wise? I'd keep my powder dry there and wait for the inevitable 071 release. Current demand says they would sell well. I have all the 90's MM ones but I'd buy more if someone was to produce them again.

Thanks for the tip chaps! Copy ordered. Rare to get a book for so little money. I've also recently purchased the following but I'm yet to start reading them:

Top notch info as always. Much appreciated I'm considering venturing a little beyond my 90's comfort zone and accumulating a little bit of stock from roughly 1961/1962 to leave the possibility or running an 800 alongside a 121 someday. To this end I'm trying to build up my knowledge of the period, so further questions may well follow lol.

Did the blue and cream GNR coaches see any action on the Cork mainline or did they stay working their old haunts?

Can someone explain to a clueless individual how the GNR coaches ended up in three liveries? Just a delay in repainting them after CIE got their share or is 135 UTA property or something? Trying to learn a bit more about this period of our railways

Very nice man to deal with. Order placed!

The yellow stripes on the sides look very American, although they are vertically applied in the US. Or are the faded side vehicle warning stickers too?

Cheers John, I've just sent Jim an email there.

Ok chaps, thanks for the warning. I will order it without delay from Markle so! Leslie, I'm in Germany, so I think that's my best option

Any idea of current stock levels on Vol 1 Noel? I ask because I definitely want a copy, but was hoping to wait until all 3 volumes are available to save on postage, but I also don't want to miss out by waiting

The railcar is the business. Looks almost German with the three light Spitzensignal.

Anyone able to identify the logos on these wagons? The left hand wagon looks like it has the lower half of a badly painted Chevron logo on the end of the barrel but I doubt that's it. What's that under the grime on the right hand wagon? Almost looks like a train hauled by a cab first 121.