leslie10646

On 22/6/2026 at 6:56 AM, Paul 34F said:

A wonderful shot of Bundoran Junction.  It would make an interesting layout, due to the arrangement accessing the Bundoran line, plus the associated shunting and splitting of trains.

Paul

Yes, Paul, what a remarkable place to make a layout of - it would take up an impressive amount of space with its sweeping curves and dealing with THREE entrances / exits, more or less at right angles. A challenge for someone with a very large house?

The late Norman Johnston and Charls Friel gave it ten pages in their brilliant book Fermanagh's Railways in Colour. COLOUR photographs of it should appear in a forthcoming book.

A couple of years ago you could have bought the building for under £200,000. The former tea room would have been perfect for a layout! The sale included the entire area of the triangular junction! I couldn't persuade my other half to up sticks - too far from the ROH, Covent Garden!

See:

https://www.eadiemcfarland.co.uk/bundoran-junction-station-house-43-old-junction-road-kilskeery/580626/slideshow/photo-2

Gruesome watching tonight, but I will say it out loud that in sixty years of watching England, I have never seen a better England performance as that in Mexico. They deserve their semi-final place for that alone.

Whatever Real Madrid paid for Bellingham, IT WASN'T ENOUGH!

I look forward to the THIRD Battle of the Falklands .....

I bet  @Galteemore is the only one who knows whhen the first one was?

Good morning all - must get to bed - I'm on duty at church in the morning!

On 4/7/2026 at 12:44 PM, Mayner said:

 In a way some 3D prints are not unlike some of the more 'challenging/ropey loco and stock kits produced in the past by MTK, El Crappo & Jindenco/Falcon brass. Interestingly some resin manufacturers now produce 'machinable' 3D print resins.  Like the kits of the past modifications to fit the chassis, could be down to design or material or to keep the customer occupied.

A modeller who largely pioneered 3D printing for model railway use in New Zealand has transmissions parts (gears and flywheels) and gear boxes 3D printed in aluminium from his own CAD work and I have had lost wax brass castings produced from my 3D CAD work (brass details castings JMD 52 Class /D17 (buffers, raised firebox step ring etc).

I was lucky/spoiled in that the Auckland 3D print shop that produced the prototypes for the JM Design CIE Goods Brake in 2020-1 produced consistent high quality prints in a suitable resin, down side was printing 'small scale models" was more bother than it was worth! 

Eventually selected a Chinese print shop that consistently produced high quality prints using a similar resin,  after trialling print shops in New Zealand, Singapore and China main issue was original Auckland and current Chinese supplier used a suitable resin (stable and not too brittle!)

Protototype and production models printed with separate roof body and (rigid) chassis (detaiul added in production version) no sign of warping/distortion after 5 years. 

One piece Chinese printed wagon chassis. (this was a spare/reject on of the brake levers broke most likely during clean up stage)

 

Having had a few of @Mayner's kits through my hands, I can testify to the excellence of his Chinese "printer".

On 4/7/2026 at 12:48 PM, Past-Avenue said:

Bray Train Fair tomorrow 5th July.
I'll have samples of the 1950s CIE cattle wagon with me. 
4 version's available
Flying snail in dark grey, 
Flying snail in light grey, 
Cie roundal in light grey Fitted,
Cie roundal in redie brown Fitted. 
For those who have some provincial wagons one's these will add to the variation of a goods train.
These Cattle wagons will be available on the website in the next few weeks. 

All current website stock avaliable at the show 
Enda
Ckprints.ie

Great stuff, Enda.

Good luck with the new wagon.

Leslie

No, not individual sales, but people populating my database. sales amount to 5,875 items and I have doubtless missed quite a few at shows etc.

The 500th gent was ordering one of @Past-Avenue's  nice CIE Brake Vans, as it happened.

When I have time, I'll be adding Enda's new wagon to my website - another wagon based on one of my kits - and very nice it looks too! He'll be selling them at Bray, I think, this weekend?

I forgot to be polite - THANK YOU to those of you who have bought all those wagons / containers etc etc

Sorry, guys, not quite retired, even now, by the Grace of God,  I'm eighty .......

Hhmmm, I'm not sure if I should admit to this.....

My grandson for some reason couldn't get his infant mouth round Grandpa, so I became known in the family as "Kaka" - DON'T LOOK UP THE MEANING !!!!!!!

So "Kaka" I am and I have a Brazilian football shirt with that gent's name on the back. I wore it one night when Brazil was playing on TV and the silly sod got sent off.

No worries about England getting far, their defence is non-existent.

Of course, they need Northern Ireland's captain to play for them. When Conor Bradley played for Liverpool against Real Madrid, Conor saw Mbappe off the pitch!

They breed real men in Castlederg .....

13 hours ago, dropshort105 said:

Finally got em running right.

 

Very nice, of course, BUT!

Time that you reprimanded your station staff for not lighting the signals.

Of course, I can't talk - not a single signal on POrtadown Jct, my drivers have telepathy ...........

Thanks. They sold out before I could move! I'm not wild about buying things completely unseen.

Order sent this morning!

I've just noticed that I have several thousand points - I should buy something else ........

It was with great regret that I got the news from Facebook this morning that David Wynne, a member of the South Dublin MRC and passionate N Gauge modeller, has died after a stroke, from which he never regained consciousness.

Although he didn't contribute to this forum, as far as I remember, he was omnipresent at exhibitions, North and South, showing his continental layouts in 2mm scale. Many of you will have known him, have met him and have enjoyed his quiet good humour and enthusiasm for his chosen smaller scale modelling.

My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Margaret and daughter Shirley at this very sad time. 

We have lost a staunch supporter of the hobby.

May he Rest in Peace and Rise to Glory.

Well, Paul, you can get them now - just ask!

Brake van the business.

Just a Heads Up folks.

With the Accurascale Hunslet diesel appearing, they mentioned that for a while they hauled the former Magheramorne Spoil wagons on another contract to reclaim land from the sea, it provoked some interest in my kits of those Spoil Wagons.

They were used for a time as permanent way wagons as well.

The good news is that I hope to make the kit available again, as the moulds have been found.

I have an order to get the ball rolling, but are there others who want some - speak now, or ..........

PM me if you are interested, please.

Semi-retired, Leslie

Well,  @jhb171achill, you've written the history of the line?

14 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

KR Models has this morning sent an email to its subscribers that it has gone into liquidation and that those who have monies tied up with them for pre-paid models will need to seek redress with their credit card company (if they used them for payment), otherwise they will be unsecured creditors and most likely receive nothing.  

I have several of their models: GT3 (great), Fell (works ok, which is apparently an achievement), 4DD (rather nice after some fettling) and Leader (so far all the wheels are still on, which is also apparently an achievement).

All in all a sad end.

Darius

Yes, it's sad that they couldn't make their business model work.

Like Darius, I have a Leader (thankfully still OK, but not run for a few months) and the 4DD, which is iffy, but an interesting model to have, even if likely to end up in a glass case .......

Anyone need a Dutch Van?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/206222490353?_trkparms=itmf%3D1%26aid%3D1110006%26rkt%3D8%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26mech%3D3%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebWithV11WebTrimmedV3VisualRankerWithKnnV3AndUltBRecall%26pmt%3D0%26amclksrc%3DITM%26sd%3D287396553835%26sid%3DAQALAAAAEO7uXXtyosI%2FWQ0cM%2BQVmZ4%3D%26itm%3D206222490353%26noa%3D1%26brand%3DFox%26asc%3D20251106135231%26ao%3D1%26rk%3D6%26pid%3D102961%26b%3D1%26mehot%3Dnone%26lsid%3D3%26meid%3Deacc2865f8e64eec8d338fc7d380a1b3%26pg%3D3707833&_trksid=p3707833.c102961.m5053&mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m164382.l178272&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=64409ff2eb8d457cbf0841111ebfc855&bu=43025934942&ut=RU&exe=0&ext=0&osub=-1~1&crd=20260616044322&segname=11021&recoId=206222490353&recoPos=2

Obviously the real thing, as it's from Silverfox.

Great to see the shot of Macmine Jct - a place which saw CIE steam until very late on.

You could model it very well with a couple of J15s, an AEC set and an A Class, a few coaches, a dozen wagons .......

I only had steam through it once in pre-RPSI days - on the famous RBAI Railway Society tour in 1963 with No.151 - we were already a couple off hours late by then!

This one's for @jhb171achill probably?

Did we conclude that this:

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/oxford-rail-or76scs2003-cowans-sheldon-15t-crane-gwr-no-6?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=Oxford Rail Announcement&utm_id=01KTRCE3KC5H9XK2W7975FDA6G&_kx=94TVSTwJKaw1u9s0VI6GSrlZad3yB7CBtaw17rSe4OjqnSFePN1n7xZw98DdvMB7.RXkVMS

was close to a GNRI breakdown crane? If so, it's a pretty good price.

Thanks, Darius,

Well spotted!

I'll follow your example, buy one on eBay and get it painted, if I can persuade my workshops to do it!

I think @jhb171achill has gone down that path, although I haven't seen it at Dugort Harbour.

Hi Darius

I presume that the MAK is a Roco V65, seemingly minus Hand rails? 

Looks the part!

Thanks

Leslie

I'm pretty sure that I said I'd be interested too, @GSR 800.

I told my potential builder I'd leave him mine as well as pay for the building, but hopefully I'll get to run it a few times .......

On 13/5/2026 at 10:48 PM, IrishTrainScenes said:

Connolly - Adamstown & return? 

Now, now, PATIENCE!!!!!

And the calorific value of the coal which they got. I believe tests of turf as well during the "Inconvenience".

Hey, @jhb171achill, why buy the book when you've displayed most of the contents here?

Its photo content is probably more valuable than the text, which, I think, was repeated in The Jurnal in due course.

At the time, though, it was rightly considered a book to have.

See that you put piccies up, @jhb171achill - I have three IFM ones and don't want to buy more if they look massively different - but a Snack car might be nice to have .......

On 30/11/2025 at 10:06 PM, GSR 800 said:

"...And we've a tender full of round coal the like of I havent seen in ages and the train isnt too heavy.."

"...Peter curls up on his box and has a sleep and for once I can fire in real comfort. She's burning next to nothing, the injectors are good, it's on the old tender with the flat tank so you throw down instead of lifting, the night is fine - in fact it's the sort of thing that never happens these days."

 

Excerpt from the IRRS Journal no.203, Clements on the Midland.

I'll just mention that that article wasn't even the tip of the iceberg - I have hundreds of pages of Bob's travels to ponder in my dotage. I was going to write something, but the other gent beat me to it.

Great models @GSR 800.

@Mol_PMB makes a lot of good points (sorry), the bridge definitely looks skewed, so that's a big clue.

I suspect the biggest clue is the lattice signal post - which Irish railway had such posts? 

Speak up you signalling experts!

Yes, Paul, I was going to bring up the carriage trucks in a later post.

The one with a "fence" is quite like a GNR flat for bread containers - I had wondered if it could act as an alternative flat for my bread containers - if they fitted between the fences. I'll have to wait until they come out and try one ......