leslie10646

Heavens, that's nearly as big as my loft! Who built you the cabin? I may have to relocate Portadown Jct!!! Good luck. By the way, the "start small" is a good idea, but I just got stuck into the 21ft x 17ft straight away, built a double track main line leaving points for later bits and gradually built it up. The advantage was that I could run trains sooner. The bit about what holds your interest is also a point to bear in mind. If you're into scenery, then start small. I admire other peoples' scenery but just want to run trains.

And me, Bob! I'd forgotten my 7mm activities as I'm in the 4mm house! I hope that you are well. Your locos look great on my little shed layout, which I hope you've seen? Leslie

Folks, take note of John's comments on the "bits" you need - a huge addition to the cost - £5 for two axles of wheels, another couple of quid for couplings (more for some types), decals at least a quid a wagon, usually more like two and to keep the price that low you're buying a hundred and might never sell that number of wagons. Pre-1970 wagons are always going to look expensive beside Accurascale's ones, but that's the price of playing minority sports?

I must see what colour mine is - way outside my period!

Hi @Maitland. First, good luck with this interesting project. Like @jhb171achill, I'll have one too, please! @Past-Avenue is giving you good advice, straight from The Stables, if not the actual Horse's Mouth. His work to produce my two cattle wagons and the van was done as a single print and the results were quite excellent. (Still available from me, of course!). Our good friend @Mayner has used a 3D printer in Hong Kong and I can attest to the total excellence of their printing. But rather than face the Slings and Arrows of the taxman, why not persuade @Past-Avenue to do it? What about it Enda? I think they'd sell.

Yes, Darius - keep to the Day Job! You're not @Old Blarney or I who run whatever we like. I'm planning a "Southern day on Portadown Jct! Nothing wrong with NIR Disease-als!

Much better! 18.201 really is the Biz! You will knw that it was built, in part with the frames off a 61 Class tank? Actually 61.002. Now, I can loan you 61.001 with the four coach Henschel Wegmann train - perfect for the Larne Boat train .......

Now, George, surely everyone knows Eeyore? I thought that Stephen Moore's Eeyore-like rendition of Marvin the Paranoid Android was perfect.

@Fran and Co really do get high marks for this vehicle - pity it isn't like the irish articulated one - which ended up steam-hauled! It has certainly evoked plenty of comment. I had no idea that there were so many of them and for so long! A pity that I already have a GWR steam railcar - but with its outside motion it was more like the GNR one! Drumm? With A1 and 3D, it's a matter of time? Still we mustn't rub it in to the English that the Irish thought of it first. And then there's the Sainted Paddy's BEMU ........

Yes, Darius, but a Württemberg Pacific - HORRIBLE looking things! If you have to run the DR double deckers, I'll loan you my HO model of 18.201 which actually did haul those coaches. Or an S3/6 would look good - can loan you that too - or even the S2/5 Atlantic. I'll come round .......

Despite the name, apparently these Gee gees were always MARES!!!! So tube arrangements might be more complicated?

The working model of "Dick" the horse, had better come with: a) Tram b) little boy as driver (see below) c) Class PP and suitable train for diorama background. 1957 view by Lance King, copyright IRRS.

I'm not with my copy of "Here be Dragons" - Phil Girdlestone's biography. Phil did a lot of work improving steam locos and I think the oil-firing of the FR engines was in his time - however, if I'm not mistaken they burned quite awful sump oil mixed with lighter stuff and if the mix wasn't right, the loco didn't steam. They were all converted back to coal but that was because of the price of oil!!! It cost half as much to use coal! We need to start digging the stuff up again in UK and not burn American forests in our power stations!

Oil firing chucks out even more filth - you should see a German 01.10 in full flight! The Swiss line at Bauma uses BRITISH smokeless fuel - a super idea as it buggers up the photo for non-paying photographers ....... But then we are all photographers of RPSI trains because they're booked out in minutes of going on sale. Now, the Flirts. You guys with a vote in the Republic, demand that EVERY TD is sent to Switzerland to ride on theirs AND THEN REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS. The British" version don't come up to the mark at all. You can tell that I'm having a bad day - two hours trying to book an important X ray for my partner - don't live in Reading! Have a nice day Y'all.

Obviously time I sold mine .......

Well done, Patrick. I look forward to seeing you! Lance took great slides - I can't c comment on the commentary!!!! Leslie

Some of you will be aware that I've stayed on a few days to give a talk - so the risk of blowing my own trumpet - "With Lance King In Ireland - 1957 to 1970" Wednesday 1st April Leslie McAllister pays tribute to his late friend Lance King who faithfully recorded, in colour, the last days of steam haulage in Ireland between 1958 and 1970. In this talk, Leslie will concentrate north of Dundalk on the lines of the former GNR and NCC. With many exquisite scenes seldom seen in public, it will be a fitting end to our meetings season. This is one of the Belfast season of public meetings. It starts at 7:30pm and finishes by 10:00pm. Parke Hall, Orangefield Presbyterian Church, Castlereagh Road, Belfast, BT5 6BH." I can't say what the talk will be like, but the images are top class. From GNR steam in full flight, through the last SG3-hauled goods over the border to the Spoil Trains (which Lance took exquisite photos of). Come along and remember to say hello, please. Leslie

Thank you to those of you who gave Enda and I a busy morning. We hope to see more of you on Sunday afternoon.

Lettered examples of my new cattle wagons. Well done Enda for producing them in double quick time. Just off to set up and I hope sell some at Bangor tomorrow. Thanks Leslie

Lettered cattle wagons. GNR: and SL&NCR

Can't recommend this too highly, Ciaran has done a brilliant job of restoration and does his research for talks very thoroughly. Unhappily, I'll be the boat to Belfast .......

I am repeating myself here, but to make sure that the word is out ...... Just a heads up to the kit builders. I will have VERY few kits at Bangor. As things stand, I think that I may have had my last kit from my producer. A fairly big order went in three months ago, but I got no feedback until I was told a month ago that the moulds were inaccessible and that production of my latest batch wasn't possible. Bearing in mind that some kits do not sell in numbers to make the cost of 3D printing viable, some wagons may now be in the collectable bracket! This is what I have, which you can PM me to either reserve and pick up, or I will extract from the box and post it to you later. Unhappily, it may be that when they're gone, they're gone! Thanks Leslie

I have to back up @west_clare_wanderer's comment. It's a great resource. Thank you to you tax payers in the Republic for underwriting a great resource! When I was cataloguing the late David Soggee's superb slides, I found a sequence around Palace East and could not work out what was happening. Off to OSI maps, where I blew the map section up and up until I could nearly count the sleepers, could see the exact layout and work out a solution. Better, I think, than ours over here! Honestly never tried the UK one!

Just a heads up to the kit builders. I will have VERY few kits at Bangor. As things stand, I think that I may have had my last kit from my producer. A fairly big order went in three months ago, but I got no feedback until I was told a month ago that the moulds were inaccessible and that production of my latest batch wasn't possible. Bearing in mind that some kits do not sell in numbers to make the cost of 3D printing viable, some wagons may now be in the collectable bracket! This is what I have, which you can PM me to either reserve and pick up, or I will extract from the box and post it to you later. Unhappily, it may be that when they're gone, they're gone! Thanks Leslie

And it was! Ken on great form as always! Lots of scenes which I hadn't seen before with an excellent commentary from Ken.