leslie10646

Mr R, Did you have to do Classical Greek as part of your studies?

Yes, Noel, a Happy and Blessed Easter to you all. I have many wonderful memories of Easter steam in the 1960s (to Warrenpoint and POrtrush), but the most memorable (sorry to return to the real reason for the Day) was Easter in Shanghai in 2002 in a church where the English speakers sat upstairs with headphones on for the translation and the church was packed with Chinese Christians half an hour before the appointed hour. And boy, could they raise the roof. The first hymn - as in Christian churches everywhere - "Jesus Christ is Risen today". Christos Anesti!

Enough for this Day. But not without lighting a candle and raising a drop of "Bush" to the only railwayman in the family. Great Uncle Gabriel (a locomotive fireman in Canada) fell during the great Canadian attack on Vimy Ridge in 1917 and died of his wounds 103 years ago today. At least, unlike those poor NewYorkers seen on the News today, he has an individual marked grave. RIP

Back to Albert Quay for a moment. In the 1970s, I watched a load of slide evenings at the IRRS London by Lance King and the venerated gents known to us all as "The GLO". They always referred to the loco area as "Rocksavage" so, regardless of any evidence to the contrary, it'll always be Rocksavage to me. I'm sure if someone looks up Colm, or Ernie's books on the "Bandon" they'll see it in print? ------------------------------------- Wrenneire, Sorry you're going GaGa with the lock-up - you should know all about that anyway, if anyone does? Keep fit during House Arrest like me. I'm not allowed out of the house as I'm in an "at danger"group. I keep fit running up and down the 25/30 stairs from where I'm sitting (and where I have my modelling tray) to the loft, where the railway is. Every time I cut something out - I'm up the stairs to see if it fits, then back down again. Before you ask - it seldom does and as for right angles - don't make me laugh!

Great stuff, Mountain Man, 7mm DOES have its advantages in that you can see every detail and with your skill - we do!

Damn, you've discovered my secret - now you'll wanted the kits cheaper! I feed them good Isle of Wight grass - never a Chinese takeaway.

Ah, Jon, nice to see a Bulleid-chassised PW flat used as such! We did my KIT from a photo of one with a new car atop it. I suppose you could bash the resin body of my Bulleid open to get that "worn top" impression. Any views on how heavy a hammer (this competition is not open to RTR people). The pair of corrugateds trying to produce baby corrugateds in the background of one of the shots is pretty easy to set up! Back to ballasting and working on Richhill upstairs in a very warm loft!

Well done, JHB, you've completely stumped me!

Very well done, Eamonn. As I explained in an e-mail the SLNCR cattle wagon kit came into existence when Michael realised that he only had to make two new moulds to move from GNR production to SLNCR ones. The GNR one is nine years old this very day - the first one rolling off the line on 5 April 2011 - they were all sold built then! At 230 wagons, they were my second best seller - helped by the fact that Old Blarney and I have TWENTY each. In my case to run the Enniskillen Shipper, which was the big train of the day on the Armagh Line - yes the Midland cattle went over the SLNCR, then the Irish North to Clones and then the Ulster Railway via Armagh and Portadown Jct to the boat at Belfast. I'll get the wagons out of storage and put a video on the layout thread. The SLNCR wagon has a nice old fashioned look to it, I think. Still got some of the kits upstairs (hint!).

I liked the three tiered rack - very neat. As you will have noted I was selling the foam inserts for the RUBs at Blackrock (a Million Years ago) and have used them to store whole trains until the sidings are down for them. Different topic, Eoin, is that a Dapol motorised track cleaner I saw in one of the boxes? If so, are they any good? Greetings from a now sunny Surrey!

Eoin, Phew, that's a relief, as PWs come in bags! But it is the sensible way to do things. When I remember to be organised, things are in different Really Useful Boxes (I have dozens of 4L and 9L ones) - the trouble then is that I don't remember which one has what in it - except I label them and put them away with the label visible! Two weeks into Lock-down and I still haven't tidied up!

As Noel says, when I saw the subject and the writer of this thread it was a must to have a look. Great stuff and a lesson for those yet to try brass (not one-eyed me!). Does Des really provide his kits in nice WOODEN boxes! Or, as I suspect, it's just your neat way of doing the work? Greetings from a cloudy, cool Surrey - the Government can't even get the weather forecast right!

A, Mountain Man, that's the trouble with brass - it looks so nice that you don't want to cover it up!

The promised video of the shunt! Again, turn the sound down!!!!! Shunting test.m4v

NEW ONE-PIECE CIE CONTAINER AND RELAUNCHING THE SKELETON Previously, I produced a 1970s CIE 27101 series Skeleton Flat for 20 foot containers. Normally some lead shot is imbedded in the resin at casting time, but it caused some issues with the flanges of the I-section from which the solebar is made. So, we have left out the lead and the result is a much cleaner, more detailed result. There is a price to pay, of course, the resulting wagon is rather light (10g rather than 20g for the “old”) and, I thought, certainly too light to run empty – solution – well, run it “full” that is with a 20ft container astride it. To overcome this and also to provide a different heavier version of my CIE 20ft container, I asked Michael to produce a one-piece container – so no building to do, just undercoat and paint it, then add the transfers. The new container is 30g, an increase from the kit-built one (20g), so provides nice ballast for the new skeleton. See photos below. Not the correct colour of course, simply used to show the detail to advantage. In the event, as I'll show in a video in my next post - the skeleton runs well even unloaded, at least at reasonable speed on my iffy track! If you prefer an even heavier 20ft container flat, I also offer the flat with a floor (in effect the chassis of the double beet wagon – which used the earlier 26xxx container flats. Flat, or skeleton kit £22 post paid One piece container £11 postage extra Either wagon plus the container £32 post paid The two versions of the flat together, with a new container in undercoat and a finished container This a chunky container! But retains the detail of the earlier kit-built container

Hi MM Thanks for comment and encouragement to get my finger out. Ex digitate! Mea culpa. As we say in the North - ye're dead right. Working on it!

Ah, the two Davids missed my point but they did hit a sore point - that you can never find what you want to do an apparently simple task. I have an ex HMSO Index book on my desk marked "Where things SHOULD be" - a source of much merriment to one visitor. The reason for my shame which will be obvious when you watch the bit of video I'm about to put up - track down (VERY badly in some cases), absolutely no scenery, not even platforms or ballast! Turn the sound right down, or you'll be deafened - that's me talking behind the (shaky) camera Intro to the JUnction.m4v I forgot to mention what the other bit of double track was - so listen on - Armagh Line.m4v Finally (you'll be relieved to know) where the expensive stuff is kept - mainly hand made (by others) - and YES, it needs a building! Roundhouse.m4v Roundhouse.m4v

Proof that not only is a model railway never finished, but in this case - barely started! My model railway philosophy is exactly that of the late Drew Donaldson - have stock, run the trains to timetable and to heck with scenery. I like to run trains and over the last quarter century I have built up a considerable loco fleet (mainly steam, although I have supported others in their diesel activities), about twenty GNR mahogany coaches and (I have no idea really) about a hundred Irish goods wagons - the reason I started Provincial Wagons was that I needed goods stock. So, this is NOT for the lovers of layouts (believe me, I admire their work, but it's beyond me) - it's for running my trains! First its home - my loft - converted eight years ago - gives a whole new meaning to clutter (I still have hundreds of Star Wars figures belonging to my boys, endless suitcases, boxes of books I saved in case I ever got a chance to read them) and shows what a nightmare modern house roof beams are to the would-be modeller. At the far end you can see the original Richhill GNR(I) cabin diagram with the station below it - well - the correct track layout is there. Portadown station (again, more or less the correct track layout and nothing else - not even platforms) is to the right under the eaves. There is a bit of running line on the left side with loops off each line and the actual Junction, roundhouse, goods yard are behind me. You can see my desk in the middle of the floor - it should be for modelling, but apart from a couple of clamps, useful for cutting rail etc, that's the limit of activity there. The Provincial Wagons stock drawers just to the right of it. I put this up in shame, in the hope that if I live through this dreadful virus, some progress will have been made.

Hi MM No.184 is built from a SSM kit indeed. I bought her to resell, but having seen her and run her, I think she's here to stay until I am called to account ........ POrtadown got a lot of Gaelic specials from the Midlands in the 1950s, so it must have been a Sunday (?)

Ah, JHB, I only found out that a family member had worked on the railways when I looked up the enlistment papers of my Great Uncle, who died of wounds the day after the great Canadian attack on Vimy Ridge in April 1917. "Previous employment" was listed as locomotive fireman! I haven't managed to find out which railway, or for how long - he was forty years old and, of course, a volunteer with an Ontario regiment - so there would have been other jobs before that. Gabriel was probably born at "The Cavan" the name of the townland where the family cottage stood and from which I saw my first trains. My grandfather was stationed at the top of the lane from which you could see Richhill station - when a train set off towards Portadown - there would be a loud shout and the "little boy" would be brought out and held aloft to behold the Great Northern at work!

Rob asked: Just wondering what the best quality / most realistic Freight Containers (OO Gauge) 40ft or 20ft, that people think are out there? For 20ft ones - mine of course! See "News" Enterprise held up" Leslie

JHB Did the Go-Faster stripes make E421 run any faster, or did it break down before a GPS could register a speed?

MAQ03205.m4v BREAKING NEWS! Enterprise Express held up at Portadown Jct To allow CIE test train coming off the Cavan line to take precedence. Actually, it's old news, as it happened yesterday (news carries slowly). CIE was testing its new 20ft container skeleton (ultra light) to see how it ran in loaded conditions. Rather than risk tearing up a valuable mainline if there was a derailment, they used the old line through Inny Jct. Having just taken over the GNR, the new management didn't worry about an express taking Northerners home from a day's shopping in the Capital. Apologies for the vile video - the clicks aren't my brilliant rail joints - it's the SLR auto exposure doing its nut. Oh and DON'T look at the layout - I run trains, I don't do scenery! Full explanation later - this will do for today!

The prat in the middle is now in a Concentration Camp for giving his Heil with the wrong arm. Keeping happy in my Third Age.

You're right, it's the similarity of concept which amused me - as often happened - the Irish were there first