leslie10646

Hi Colin see Jon’s reply with which I agree but my GNR brake would been seen to 1965. Also see North Wall’s post above which is accurate - I can supply these kits by return. I’ll be back for week or two next Wednesday, then I hope to be back Interrailing in Europe - at least the €9 tickets will be finished and people can get on trains again! Greetings from Aalen, Baden Wurtemburg - TORRENTIAL rain here tonight - makes home look like a desert! Pray that it stops, please. I hope to have my first run with a Class 23 for 45 years tomorrow - I traveled behind fifty of them in 1970s. Super little 2-6-2s, built 1950s. Leslie The Site has just raised my “status” to Veteran! I should think so - at 76 I must be one of the ten oldest contributors! Thanks.

Great work, Paddy. The LED strips are great for layout lighting.

Yes, I’ve got “Bomber” on tape - chilling to hear what a single cannon shell could do to a Lancaster. A brilliant book about the futility and nightmare waste that war is. Before the War the Germans had a superb railway system, electrification under way …… not that the GB railways were lagging. Without the war we might have found out how good the 800s were?

Great layout - congratulations to all concerned. great rolling stock, by the way - MORE Provincial Wagons put to good use! Greetings from Austria where I am at the moment

The Work of The Devil, Patrick, yon Faceless thing. I’ll have a look!

Hi Majestic I have had a lot of fun with the website which I must close down. You can my kits from me by emailing me on lesliemcallister@aol.co I’m Interrailing at the moment, but back in UK on 1 September. Almost every kit in stock. Glad that you thought that the kits produce good results! Leslie ————————— Email me on lesliemcalliister@aol.com and I’ll send pictures when back from Austria / Germany on 1 September. Yes, I’ll be at Raheny but let me know your needs before - I have been known to sell out of some kits! Leslie

Hi Majestic I have had a lot of fun with the website which I must close down. You can my kits from me by emailing me on lesliemcallister@aol.co I’m Interrailing at the moment, but back in UK on 1 September. Almost every kit in stock. Glad that you thought that the kits produce good results! Leslie

Actually, Ivan, it's not having the railway mags on the top shelf that's the issue, it's when they are on the bottom one and I can't bend down enough to reach them!

Ernie Garrison Branch? I wonder if my Dad used it much getting to his barrack at Garrison as a constable in the RUC in the late 1930s and early years of WW2 (that bit is true!). Model railways are great - we can make the story up as we go ....... The layout looks great. That river bridge is very nicely done.

I particularly was amused by the photo at Portrush - the loco appears to be starting, as the drain cocks are open and there seems to be steam around the chimney - but there is a gange right in front of the engine, so obviously not. The pose of the foreman ganger is priceless!

Yet there it is; and not even 00 scale. In 0 gauge, as above posts point out, there's almost NOTHING Irish KIT-wise, never mind RTR. Come, come, JB, Alphagraphix has produced quite a few Irish kits - locos, coaches and wagons and now KMCE of this parish is doing his bit for the 36.5mm (?) folk as well. There is a post somewhere here of me suggesting a scan of one of my Brown vans and its re-creation as a 3D print (it WAS a very hot summer)......

Aahhhh.... So I shouldn't buy one to increase my loco stud?

Thanks for the link, Declan. I lead five Great Railway Journeys tours round Connmemara, pointing out just how much of the line was still there. If any of you boys need an excuse to visit, take the Missus to Moycullen (Connemara Crystal is on the station site) for a bit of cut glass then on to Jim's little, soon I hope BIG, line.

Dane, You need a copy of "Across the lines" compiled by Charles Friel where a lot of Dundalk men talk of their railway experiences - a lot of them worked in Barrack Street Goods. Good luck with the project - I see a few more kit sales to you ......

Robert and JB have hit the nail on the head. It's a great record of a remarkable operation. The selection of photos is seriously good - a great credit to Charles Friel who largely looked after that side of the exercise. As Robert says, a useful reference book on how to "weather my wagons! I've been informed that The Syndicate has been sent a supply, so you can buy it from us (UK customers only), the money still goes to the RPSI, but if I send some out, it'll save John Friel at the RPSI a bit of work! Just PM me or e-mail me on lesliemcallister@aol.com and I'll take it from there

My pleasure, Darius. It makes the buildings that bit unique. This example could be found in 1930s Castlederg, courtesy the estimable Mr Cundick.

Ernie Those two NCC shots of John Dewings are really delectable. A Scotch engine with its ancient tender on a long goods, as well! Lovely

Great stuff, Phil. The Harz really is "Something Else". I first did it (bar The Brocken, of course) in 1988 when it was in East Germany. Isn't Drei Annen Hohne the place to be? - not sure if anywhere else in the World where in 2022 you'd get THREE steam locos on timetabled trains together! Surely the steam isn't included in the €9 ticket?

Indeed you did, Andy! You can see the Great Man himself in this shot of the engine shed, after Close of Play - Well, not actually Close of Play as the Steventon Village Hall is right next to the Cricket Pavilion and after the exhibition closed I enjoyed a very ENGLISH hour watching the Holy Game and drinking a pint of Doombar, in sunshine.

Well done Robert! Just a little update, the Euro Price is €22.10, post paid.

With both my RPSI and Provincial Wagons hats on, may I draw attention to Joe Cassell's brilliant new book on the Spoil Trains. Available from the RPSI shop: https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/shop This lavishly illustrated new book, by lifelong RPSI member Joe Cassells, details the life and times of the Spoil Trains, and the men who worked them. Between 1966 and 1970 more than 4 million tons of quarry waste were moved from Magheramorne to the shores of Belfast Lough to form the foundations of the M2 motorway. And it was done by the last steam locomotives in these islands. Joe relates how the contract was originally drawn up, including the building of 70 dedicated wagons by Cravens of Sheffield. These incorporated a large opening side door for quick unloading at the Belfast end of each trip. At Magheramorne quarry, two extensive loading banks were built. Joe describes the heroic efforts of the maintenance staff, working in primitive conditions by present day standards, to keep the locomotives moving. The book is based on previously unpublished information, and sheds completely new light on many facets of the Spoil Train contract. After the contract ended, the RPSI preserved locomotive No.4 in running order. Since 1970, No.4 has hauled special trains all over the Irish railway system Softback, 21 x 30 cm, 80 colour and 70 b&w photos, 5 maps, 98 pages. £15 plus £1.50 postage (UK postage). AND YES, IT IS LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED. But then I would say that as there are ten photos from the late Lance King's collection which I am still cataloguing (about 5,000 slides!). I might add that Lance is just one of about twenty photographers who brilliantly recorded this remarkable Finale to mainline steam in these islands. Joe has done a great job researching this and I cannot recommend it too highly. Just to mention that the Provincial Wagons Spoil wagon kit is still available from stock, as is my Brown Van kit – there are several photos in the book which show them! Support the RPSI and buy a copy!

Great work Daruis -Scalescenes should pay you for demonstrating that these downloadable kits can be made to work - BRILLIANTLY.

Phew, that's a relief! Keeping on a DSER theme - I really meant this for "Barrow Street", but folk can see it here. Lance King captured Grand Canal Street sidings from the Boat Train on 5 June 1964 - a treat for BnT A Class lovers? Copyright IRRS.

Ye Gods, Ernie! Did we bid AGAINST each other for the Casserleys? I thought that The Syndicate had bought all the non narrow gauge pre WW2 negatives! Thanks for putting up the John Dewing shot - not a commonly photographed place AND that stock! John cycled a lot, so it's probably really in the sticks! Hope that you are as well as can be!

Still available from Provincial Wagons, but you have to paint it yourself. We DO supply the transfers. Completely agree Murph. Very much a missing link. I've toyed with the idea, but as it was a certainty that "The Boys" would do it, I didn't. Measured one up years ago. PS I'd buy some too, as they'd look nice on my 20ft flats.