murphaph

Very useful!

Thanks George. Is it also possible to illuminate the ssm round post signals do you know? I was also looking at ratio round post (to be honest I think the vast majority of signals around the area I want to model were round post by the 1990s, which is my era) kits. Have you any experience of them re: servo control and illumination?

Are the ssm signals capable of function or purely for decoration? They are beautiful in either case but I need (well, want) servo control for any of my signals (possibly excluding shunt signals) that aren't supposed to be fixed at danger.

Seems crazy to convert two snack cars back to standard while converting two standards to snack cars but I suppose if the two original cars needed major work and would have been unavailable for a prolonged period then it would have made sense to take one of the spare standards and convert that and if only 2 snack cars were deemed necessary then the logical thing would be to convert the originals back to standards. Thank you very much for the details.

How many Cravens snack cars were there when they got their tippex stripes?

Could the change to a large yellow panel have coincided with the renumbering from 113 to 8113 I wonder.

I've already really decided how I'm going to do it to be honest. It'll be using http://www.bidib.org/index_e.html The electronics and computer control are the aspects I feel most comfortable with to be honest. The real modelling is where I have virtually no experience and have many years of learning ahead of me.

I think that's something else. There are things called braking modules I believe to bring trains to a gradual halt at a signal on a standalone basis. Track occupancy is really only required if you have full or partial computer control of a layout. It's a much bigger undertaking. The entire layout needs to be wired into blocks like the prototype (at least as long as the longest train you expect to run usually). The usual way is that the current drawn by the train is detected by some circuity and reported back to a computer control system.

I'm pretty sure the logo was changed with the respray into dark blue though, right? One other possibility is that the panels were originally red but the first attempt at respraying the panels failed with the red bleeding through somehow to give that mottled orange colour. Just a thought. I am no expert on paint.

Did this layout get off the ground at all? I'm also considering something (more) loosely based on LJ. The interesting shunting and varied stock are more important to me than recreating every last detail of the station however.

Yes that's an interesting question about when each loco went from light to dark blue. Anybody able to narrow it down?

I think the red has just faded indeed. It's mottled looking. If it had been resprayed orange even immediately after the first picture I doubt it would be so bleached already by the time the second had been taken.

Most peoples' layouts are no where near prototypical so I'd say it wouldn't bother them if their trains weren't either.

Oh so ONLY 111 had the red ends? It would be really great to know when she lost those red ends to the yellow ones. Did she lose the red ends before the whole loco was painted in the darker livery with updated (more rounded) NIR logo? As for (8)113 I am thinking way down south around Limerick Junction. I know it helped out on beet trains much later for sure (2003 pictures). My 1999 picture shows a Maynooth-Connolly passenger working. Do you know when (8)113 got the large yellow panels? Appreciate if you, or anybody else can shed some light on these questions for me.

Thanks very much for trying so hard

The latter would be good enough for me and modelling purposes but that's an interesting question I hadn't thought of so I'd be delighted to get an answer to both!

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on which MM models are the most desirable (I'm thinking money is often useless and the only way to get people to part with certain models is to offer them something more desirable to them in return). I'd like to know which MM models I should be keeping my eyes open for in this regard. For me the interest lies in tippex liveried stuff from the 90s above all else. Or is it a more even spread simply determined by what we remember mostly from our childhoods?

@WRENNEIRE just for any future visitors to this great list, you might want to correct MM541 to MM5411 if I'm not mistaken.

Much appreciated Dave, that's just what the doctor ordered. Thanks also to iarnrod and old blarney for their efforts. Phil.

Cheers Old Blarney I'm familiar with that MM portfolio page. I was really hoping for a listing with running numbers and brief description (ST, IE, Std, 1st, Diner, EGV etc.)

Can some kind soul provide me with a comprehensive list of the mkIIds that MM has produced? Here in thread for the benefit of all if possible, otherwise per PM. Much appreciated! I'm getting a bit confused here.

Hi all, I'm hoping to lay my hands on some of these lovely blue monsters somehow as and when they become available. I'd like to be up to speed on which of the MM liveries ran during which years. Can someone advise for the following: MM0111 (that's the light blue one with red ends) MM8113 (dark blue with large yellow ends) In my "Irish Traction" book there's a picture of 8113 down south in 1999. Would she have come south any earlier in that livery? I think the red ends came before the yellow ends, right? Until what year did these locos carry the red ends? Thanks a heck of a lot for any information you can provide. I think I know enough about 112 being lent to IE etc. so it would be great if we could focus on the other 2, cheers!

I'm guessing the lads already know what it's going to be. I like a bit of suspense though. Keeps things interesting! I'd be delighted with the chance to buy any coaching stock that ran in the mid 90s.

Ooh that's nice. I'm not a huge fan of the livery but the odd one mixed in like that is a nice option to have.

Was that with a snack car @NIRCLASS80? I have also seen pictures of just the gsv + one standard coach.