leslie10646

Good luck with the build of them. Mind you, they are probably the easiest to build kit we did! They'll look great behind one of Paddy's B Class!

Come to the talk on Friday and you'll see a lot more. A terrific set of illustrations!

That is me, YES!

Well done, @dropshort105 - more and better scenery than I have put on Portadown Junction over a period of fifteen years!

We've just finished a rehearsal for Friday's talk and I think I can promise you a great evening's entertainment and, indeed, education! David Richardson aka @Galteemore will describe the 12 inches to the foot SL&NCR in some detail in the first half, illustrated by many super photographs, many of which I hadn't seen before. In the second half, the two Davids - Richardson @Galteemore and Holman aka @Colonel will share their experiences of not just modelling the SL&NCR , but indeed of modelling Finescale 7mm Irish Broad Gauge generally. An opportunity to hear two masters of The Craft. We'll have time for questions afterwards when you can seek advice, or share your own experiences. Register NOW! This is not a meeting to miss! ONLINE MEETING ONLY FRIDAY 16 JANUARY 2026 @ 18:00 - 20:40 "Sligo Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway – Real and Modelled" by David Richardson and David Holman David Richardson and David Holman share their love of this little railway and their modelling of it. The SL&NCR was perhaps the quintessential Irish railway. Engines bore names and not numbers, archaic rolling stock, and a gradient profile that a rollercoaster engineer would shy away from. It attracted plaudits from Hamilton Ellis for its aesthetics, and from R N Clements for its engineering. On a journey down the line, the two Davids tell the story of how the railway defied the odds, only finally collapsing when its larger neighbour took away its raison d'etre, and tell what it took to recreate the Sligo Leitrim in 7mm scale. The meeting will be held online by Zoom only, please register by clicking the following link: REGISTER HERE When you double click on this it will give you a "URL" - paste that into your browser and follow instructions to register. You will need to fill in your name and email address only. Zoom will immediately email you the link to the meeting and will also send a reminder about an hour before the meeting starts. Alternatively, open Zoom on your device and enter the following : Webinar ID: 839 0871 4883 passcode: 682482 Those watching on Zoom are invited to make a voluntary donation to support the activities of the London Area. Click here to donate. We suggest £3/meeting or you may prefer to make a single donation to cover the whole season. The exact sum is at your discretion. Payment is by GooglePay, credit or debit card. You do not need to register or set up a Square account. Any last minute changes to the meeting arrangement will be communicated to those on the London Area mailing list only. Should you wish to be added to the London Area mailing list, please email london@irrs.ie. It is ESSENTIAL to check whether your Zoom app is up to date before logging on to the event. If the Zoom App is not up to date, the link may not function correctly.

Jim is too young to know, but the MEDs were all over the NCC, at least as far as Cullybackey and even occasionally Portrush. This one is by the Late Lance King, so copyright IRRS. The shot on each side on the film was a Spoil Train! On one wonderful day in 1966, there was a rash of MED failures and I managed 19 steam runs on the Larne line - and that after not setting my alarm for the 0647 and its return Boat Train, which would have got me over twenty! So keen was I to try and "time" everything moving, the shortest run was 2.35pm Greenisland to Jordanstown with No.9 pulling TWO bogie caoches. George Houston got No.9 up to 37 mph on the 2min 58 second run. I'm glad that I did it, for No.9 was to be one of my lowest mileage "Tanks". Of course, No.4 is my highest today, but at the End of Steam, it was No.6 which was in the lead, but as she went to the Great Steam Heaven, she was quickly overtaken.

Good luck with the rerun @Warbonnet, they look very well and with no inflation deserve success.

Patrick - NOT mine - it's one of Lance King's - he took some mind-blowing shots of the Spoil Trains, about a dozen in the book "Steam's Last Challenge" by my pal Joe Cassells.

No, no, no. We want to keep the price manageable! Accurascale certainly has the ability to do these things, but keep it simple! Sides, roof, chassis with wheels and couplings and a choice of a few liveries is what we want @BosKonay, please!

Thanks, Ernie. My money is still on the 1909 van, built to Diagram No.43 (later 144?). My copy of the Wagon book, as scanned from the IRRS copy and in Richard McLachlan's series of drawing books, shows the doors in a very different combination, albeit in much the same positions. The GNR was very good at little changes, which DID get recorded in the wagon books, but not on this occasion it seems! A nice prototype for @Galteemore, even if it isn't at Enniskillen?

Quick reply to @Mayner. I agree that my price mark is low, also the point about the variants. However, my suggestion sought to cover the two obvious gaps - the basic luggage van, which was everywhere for a decade at least and the heating van which was also there for much the same period. Only trying to help you guys. At 80 I can't suggest that I have a personal interest, but if announced, my order would go in. So what about the other 1,757 of you out there?

Provoked by a comment on another thread by @jhb171achill, I am going to start a "Crowd demand" scheme for someone to take up. Virtually EVERY diesel produced by Saint Patrick and The Boys trailed four wheel vans around behind them at some point in their lives. And lots of local steam trains! I suggest that there is hardly a member of this forum who would not buy a ready to run Luggage Van, Heating Van double pack if someone would move themselves to produce it. Come on you entrepreneurs - a pack with a simple luggage van and the Heating van variant for say €100-ish would fly off the shelves. AND you have several liveries to offer - what more could a manufacturer ask. Members of the Forum - stand up and be counted - we won't get these important vehicles if we don't demand them!

Well done @Mol_PMB for getting the interesting Skibbereen photo. What a train? Most photos of that era on those branches show an old bogie coach as the passenger accommodation, so a string of six wheelers is quite a find.

Thanks for these, Ernie. No.56's train would be worth blowing up, to help identify the brake van behind one of "my" 10 ton vans. It looks a bit like a six wheel 1909 25 ton brake van with Guard's, Luggage and Drovers' compartments. No less than 28 feet long. Has anyone ever attempted a model? It obviously survived into my period.

Ah, @Darius43, all you need now is to get Modellu to cast you a model of the late Lance King (complete with two Rollifexes on a hand-held clamp) and set him on top of the tunnel taking memorable photographs of Spoil trains here ......

The simplest solution of all is to use COVERED vans. While I can't offer statistics, even in the steam era most goods trains seem to have been covered wagons - just look at the photographs which do exist. That said, Andy is quite right to suggest using tarpaulins - somewhere on this site there's a photo of quite a string of corrugateds at Kilkenny covered in tarpaulins. Of course, in the North, we could have a nice bit of variety with conflats and colourful bread containers!

Ernie Thanks for these. Isn't it extraordinary how many photographs were taken (mainly by Englishmen) of this little railway? Possibly even more per mile than even the Fontana Horse Tram! Oh that they had expended more photographs on main line trains of the big companies?

Bearing in mind the prototype, Kevin, I thought it was for @Patrick Davey's next Co Antrim layout ........ A very nice model, well done.

Your Broad Gauge - "first trip out" - a new layout!!!!??????

Folks An unmissable date for folk on this forum and an opportunity to hear two major members speak about their models. 1800hrs on Friday 16 January by Zoom only. The real railway will be covered in the first half and the modelling in the second (about 1915 on). @Galteemore and the Colonel are talking about the Sligo Leitrim and modelling it, illustrating it with their models. I'll post more details later when I have the Zoom info. There is no charge for Zoom attendance, but a donation is appreciated, please. Please put it on your diaries - I expect a sell-out for such a distinguished pair of contributors! Thanks Leslie

Southampton MREx was the first thing written into my 2026 diary. Even more compulsory attendance if it will have TWO Irish layouts! What are you bringing this time Andy?

It being the Season of Goodwill, I will say that the CIE version of the 800s looks very nice and is tempting. I am unsure of your reference to these ladies as "Goddesses", my understanding was that they were ladies from Irish history? I'm sure that our resident Gaelic-speaker @WRENNEIRE can give me the Chapter and Verse?

PM sent.

@DJ Dangerous, you're forgiven. People, Dave sent me a photo of him in action tending to his poorly cats - but (at the risk of being politically incorrect) I also saw his "beautiful assistant". I should have trained as a vet ........ @Galteemore - you're dead right, I wouldn't have dared comment about Drew's cat! Paul, those must be the best builds of my vans. Simply super.

I've made a note on my files .......