Jarl

Clearing a departed relative's house means I have a duplicate copy of "Irish Broad Gauge Carriages - A Pictorial Introduction" by Desmond Coakham. (c) 2004, ISBN 1 86780 175 X Lightly used and in good condition - see photos. I thought I'd give forum members a first shot at it, as my copy is invaluable to me. Looking for £5 plus postage at cost via Royal Mail. I'm in the UK, so postage in UK would be £2.60 Standard or £4.20 Tracked 48 - successful buyer can let me know which they would prefer. Happy to post to Ireland but that costs a bit more: £5.25 International Standard or £9.85 International Tracked - successful buyer can let me know which they would prefer. (Euro conversion rate to be confirmed on sale) If there's a buyer, I'd refer payment by PayPal or bank transfer, could also take a cheque but that'll take longer. I would post when payment received. Details can be sorted out by PM. Michael

Thank you for the info. I was wondering why they would use containers as vans, since it's basically the point of a container to not be treated like that - why not just buy some old vans from BR? And then I started thinking that a metal container is probably less vulnerable to petrol bombs and such than a traditional wooden-bodied van...!? Thanks for the reply @LARNE CABINand a photo that I hadn't seen before. I hadn't noticed the different colours of the bands @jhb171achill; might have to try to replicate that.

I was looking at some old pictures of Larne Harbour station (and @LARNE CABIN's excellent model thread) and in some pictures noted container wagons under a gantry crane in the sidings in front of the main platform. Some of those containers would be the Red Star parcels, which I vaguely remember from getting the ferries to go on summer holidays in the 70s and early 80s to Scotland. My question: Was the gantry crane used to lift containers off the flat wagons for transfer to road vehicles and/or the ferries? If so, noting that it appears to have a single lifting hook, was it a case of running four strops from the hook to each top corner of the container? (Lifting frames strike me as being a more recent tool) If the containers weren't lifted off, does that mean they were used as "vans" and loaded/unloaded in those sidings by hand? With one set of end doors, would that be a rather complicated way to move parcels and need a lot of work? I'm aware of @jhb171achill's question about the design of CIE container gantries, though those look to be a different design than was used at Larne Harbour. However, maybe operating practice was similar. I am considering adding a container siding and crane to my work-in-progress layout (not very much progress so far...) Thank you in advance for any information. Michael

I'm always impressed by your work. Do you scratchbuild the seating units? Are they adapted from something? Michael

Two of the "broken wheel" versions arrived in today's post, and they are very nice. Thank you, Leslie. Those of you getting yours at the show over the weekend have something good to look forward to... Michael

Very appealing, Leslie. Please let us know when they are ready to buy, and l would be in the queue with my money clutched in my grubby paw, too. Michael

Yes, I remember Leisureworld. In fact, when going through model stuff recently, I found a few items with Leisureworld price stickers! A visit there was usually an effective bribe to get my brother and myself to not moan too much about the other boring shopping that my parents did insist on doing when we made trips to Belfast from the bucolic depths of Co. Down in the late 70s/early 80s. Michael

While I'm glad that's the case, and l have been impressed at the rapid responses to emails in the past, please don't any of you guys burn yourselves out. Not while there's still lots of lovely models to be made! Michael

In his interview on "World of Railways" earlier, Fran teased new IRM "left field" items. So, is it cows?

This is a lovely layout, with superb structure and scenic modelling. I liked the write-up in New Irish Lines. Very importantly, you seem to enjoy the process (bar the usual hiccups along the way). Thank you for sharing it with us; I hope there's a chance to see it in real life at some point. Michael

An excellent model and excellent customer service. I had emailed IRM with a question about delivery last week at a silly time of evening, and got a response very quickly; some midnight oil burning going on there. And the model itself (A12) - superb. Smooth-running and both detailed and robust. I had a couple of friends over yesterday so we could drool over admire it. They are british-outline modellers and I'm pretty sure Accurascale just sold at least one more Class 37...

Well done to IRM. These look great and fill a big gap (the same goes for their Accurascale cousins for the BR modeller). One grey/blue pack ordered, with much thanks and anticipation; something of quality for 111 to pull at last.