leslie10646

Yes, that looks the ticket, all right. Probably cheaper than buying a house with a big enough loft - especially as modern ones have so many struts - Ouch!, that's anther time I've bashed my head motorising points on Portadown Junction - I'm black and blue!

They're here ready when you are ....... A pleasure to help a master builder!

Change of plan with Provincial Wagons. Lorna McDonald will be there with my kits - we've still got some stock in the Republic! Go along and support her please! Leslie

Hi Dane Looking very good. Excellent for a first go and nicely weathered. Leslie (PS the money's in a brown envelope - thanks for the plug - I think they're a great wagon and worth the effort)

Galteemore said, ref the Valentia line: These are spectacular photos - having cycled that route I know that it’s the equal of the Scottish west coast routes for scenery, and these show that. Just wish he’d visited Ireland ten years earlier! My visits to the line were as a Tour Manager (I bet JHB has done it loads of times for the same reason!) - as you begin The Ring of Kerry you follow the railway for miles. I even noted that the famous sheep farmer who demonstrates his dogs at work had the line high on the hillside behind his farm. Then, of course, as you enter the town, a quick right turn down to the old station and a view of the viaduct at Cahirciveen. What a tourist run it would have been if it had survived! Thank you "Ernie" for this unending flow of delights.

I remember that my Dad told me he was saving up for a Ford Eight to replace his Austin Seven when war broke out - he was, by the way a RUC Constable in Garrison at the time. I don't know what happened to the original Austin Seven, but when he could afford a car again (after getting married and starting to raise a family) it was a secondhand Austin Seven. I see Oxford do one in 4mm, so I must get one to stick on a road near Richhill.

Darius, as Galteemore says, your output is remark - not just quantity, but QUALITY! Apologies for not commenting earlier. Loved the green Brown Van, as Jim says a rarely photographed van - the one photo of one I have in my "background" files belongs to someone else, so I can't reproduce it here. I'll look in other files. You can one "in the flesh" at the Whitehead Museum in the maroon form. Still got a good supply of the kits upstairs! Darius - I may have missed them, but how did you get on with your rake of Spoil Wagons?

Wow - Think of the model railway you could have on the third floor after spending €10 - 20 Million rebuilding it! Anyone know an Oligarch?

Thanks, John, for reminding me about these! When I returned to Irish model railways (while I was still in Hong Kong, where Daniel Wu did a seriously good job building four locos from SSM kits for me), I bought quite a few of these whitemetal and brass kits. The SSM brass kit of a GNR brake van remains a Class Act if you can build brass! The whitemetal kits are fine if you want to run short trains (for they weight quite a lot). I ended up giving mine away - which in the case of the six plank opens might be a bit of an own-goal as no-one (me included) has done another in lighter material. Now maybe that's what I should try instead - for the GNR had four and six plank opens by the score! PS John - the vans look very good indeed!

Good morning, JB and everyone else!. An impressive solution to the "Convertible wagon. You are quite right about the source as you will see if you look here! A Slater Midland Railway Coke Wagon (Kit No. 4026). On eBay at £15.74 post free to UK I've toyed with doing such a kit for several years as variants ran on several different lines. I look forward to seeing the outcome! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362638072280?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=7101533165274578&mkcid=2&itemid=362638072280&targetid=4584826055637460&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=412354546&mkgroupid=1299623041023876&rlsatarget=pla-4584826055637460&abcId=9300541&merchantid=87779&msclkid=429d2e4f23961330e6b64c53afa762e3

JB I don't need a website - you're doing all the work for me! Great stuff - the 1953 vans (as I referred to them) look splendidly unloved thanks to some very effective weathering. Leslie PS you need some cows for your wagons, or are they only loaded on Fair Day?

Still available as kits from You know Who! The weathering on the two vans is very effective and I like the plain plank touch.

I watch, open-mouthed, your procession of kit-built stock, Darius. The older Southern EMUs were a real blast from the past - loved the 2HAL unit. We had EPB units on the Bracknell / Reading line in the 1980s and when I went up to London, I knew where to find the de-rated 1st Class section which had seats you sank into. Made your Standard Class trip a lot more comfortable!

I had to smile at the reference to an old DC controller. My DCC controller lacks an outlet for accessories, so to control my turntable, I have leads from my H&M Powermaster controller - bought in 1964, I think! To control my points, I do use Digitrax's expensive kit, but, hey, why leave the money for my boys to drink away?

Hear, hear. I have one of those GNR buses from George (in a box upstairs. I must stick it on the Richhill forecourt). Recommended supplier.

Yep, back on line in every way, thanks. The electrician fixed it in about 2 minutes - very embarrassing - but top marks to him. I know for another time!

"Don't mention the War" Well, not in Torquay, anyway .......

Hey, JB, none of these remarks about the Knights of the Stop Watch - a massive percentage of the RPSI founders were timers! All praise to the Society, who usually manage to get us on the right side for the mileposts! The other method is to hunt in groups of EIGHT - four Timers on one side, four non-timer mates on the other, so a table for table swap is possible when the mileposts change sides! Of course none of this is necessary in the GPS world - you start the GPS at Zero miles, glue your eyes to it, noting the speed every quarter mile and never look out of the window - gone are the days of coming home face black, shirt in need of laundering from a day of squinting into the darkness for near-invisible mileposts. If the Lads had modelled the early diners, we could have the smell of frying steak as Galteemore's revered Dad provided a steak dinner with wine to the particpiants on a ECS run!

Very kind of you to say that Alan! I'm sorry that I won't be seeing all my Irish pals! Now, the Website - this is VERY boring! (I could bore you longer if I told you about blowing every socket in the house yesterday when using my Proxon Drill!). I can send this thanks to a 15 metre extension cable from one of the working sockets (in the kitchen) to the BT router - I lost even my landline as without power "Digital Voice" doesn't work! My old phone worked fine! Progress - don't make me laugh! The website was costing me a lot of money for little return (as I say, it's a hobby). I tried a "pure" Wordpress site but realised I would have to re-enter everything, so- I tried to convert to Wordpress while still on the 1&1 "system" which was a tenth of the cost of my Website Builder one - 1&1 said they would keep my old site up while I converted - they didn't. Hence the reduced website which you can see, but it proved less than intuitive (on 1&1 anyway). This bit is less boring ...... I tried to access the site myself a moment ago by putting "Provincial Wagons' into the browser and got up a page - http://provincialwagons.com/welcome-to-provincial-wagons That tells you everything you need to know - my e-mail address! It came up first on my browser - the other one People know me pretty well. All they have to do is send me an e-mail and I'll send lists of available kits, invoices, pictures, even kits themselves (!) and for one lucky gent on here recently two RTR GSWR brake vans! So, guys, drop me a line and I'll do what I can. Regards Leslie

Hi Alan Yes, I love the name. Regrettably Brexit / Covid has put paid to Bangor where I'm concerned. People can buy from me direct at any time. My / our usual route was via Holyhead - Dublin so that we could drop stuff off for the IRRS Archives, etc etc. After Brexit, that's a non-starter when you're carrying "goods" - yes, I know hundreds of others do it, but PW is a hobby, and it is probably all too much aggro for a relatively small return! We considered Cairnryan, but as well as the £300 cost of taking the car over is 425 miles EACH way just to get there. At least Holyhead was just 5 hours most of the time! I even considered Sail Rail, via Cairnryan (and post the stock over beforehand) but the timetables are all over the place. In a month's time, that could change, but who knows? Sorry to be missing it and the craic!

Yes, a very fine looking model. Well done. A certain Drawings Expert has my kit of the loco (and one of his own) - must chase him! The rolling stock looks familiar......... The layout itself, which you are coy about, looks top rate! More, please!

Instagramus et Twitterus sunt labor diaboli. David - nemo te ducere audeat! Steve - Drew Donaldson te maxime laudet. I'll leave Galteemore to reply in Classical Greek! Pax vobiscum. Valete Leslie

Yep, I remember driving towards Farnborough - ONE of my local stations - and, of course, close to the Airshow location. One of these Viggens flew, it seemed, along the road at a few hundred feet and just tipped over and cruised in to land - pretty impressive. As much fun as having the giant Antonov (as in Class 201 delivery vehicle) do a turn over my back garden! Thinking about it, there was probably a model 201 in the attic of my house at the time!

I'm watching Charles Friel's excellent talk on the RPSI's bogie Guinness van. In one of the slides - there was an open wagon being hauled out of the Guinness Yard WITH A STENCILLED SNAIL on the side! In 4mm would you notice?

Not sure about STENCILLED Snails - but presumably not this? https://railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=767