leslie10646

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.

It must be indicative of my minority tastes, that the A Class which I ordered (years ago, it seems) turned out to be the least popular .........

I took the other May bargain - HALF PRICE INTER_RAIL passes! A First Class pass for a continuous month of travel THROUGHOUT EUROPE cost about £325 - the same as a five days in two weeks pass before the pandemic. A three month pass was about £450 and that's what I've opted for, starting (DV) in early July. Sorry, folks, but the "Sale" lasted five days, so too late to grab it now.

Good luck with your 9 Euro runabout, Murph. Back in the 1970s, there was a thing called a Ferientourenkarte, which had to be connected to a return ticket for at least 200kms - it cost, wait for it - £2.50 for TWO weeks. Almost as good as this amazing bargain. I used three of them on my 1970 summer holiday to notch up - 3,150 miles of steam haulage (almost all oil burning Pacifics with lots of 70 - 80 mph running) in Schleswig Holstein 613 miles in Black Forest (mainly P8s - same vintage as Slieve Gullion, but a few runs with 78s, the Prussian 4-6-4Ts) finally, 663 miles with the Hof-based coal-burning Pacifics (Class 01 of 1925, Class 64 2-602Ts, Class 50 2-10-0s) 4,400 miles of steam in 17 days. I'm amazed that the Harz steam railways are included! Have a great month - full reports to be posted here, please!!!

Have a great day lads - as you say, a good backdrop!

Sorry, Noel, NOT that please. As Gmore says, it was a fake livery - intended to be the South Eastern of England livery at the time of the Crimean War. Of course, the black livery was just as fake. Cobh? I thought the "Folkestone" scenes were at Cork? Must watch the film again! No great hardship - should be in everyone's DVD library! Back to the topic - if the orginal 4'4" boiler J15 had sold well enough, Roderick had thoughts on the Z Boiler version (as 186 is) and even the double-doored smokebox version. If steam RTR sold as well as the A Class, then Noel could certainly have his green!

Almost a certainty, I'd say - it was always Roderick's intention! Soooo..... You can all have a RPSI 186?

JB, Glad that you like your little grey J24 - she looks even nicer in green! Roderick seems to like doing 4-4-0s, or 0-6-0s: like Victor, I think that a Midland L Class would be nice (more GAA specials via Inny Jct to Portadown!). Even more a "Cattle Engine"? Mind you, for utility on my layout, the Great Northern's SG3 "Big D" would be much more use - except that none of us has a layout to take 40 - 60 wagons goods trains!

Gents Thanks for the support. Yes, I am certainly still trading. What I don't have is a working website. I'm trying to conquer Wordpress, which is not proving that easy! Frankly, it's tempting to give up as other things command my attention (today it was locating all my Chinese logbooks to help an author with some loco allocation details - happily, they are located and better referenced in my giant "steam haulage" spreadsheet). Still sending out kits - next batch are off to US of A! Leslie

Colin, I'd say that that possibility would have the same odds as the winner of this year's Grand National - in fact more like Foynavon's odds!