Jump to content

leslie10646

Members
  • Posts

    2,307
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    46

Posts posted by leslie10646

  1. The February edition of the Railway Modeller has an "insert" of the first ever edition of the magazine (about A5 size (at 1/6 - under 10 Eurocents to the youngsters), published  in October 1949.

    On pages 3 - 6 is a description of The Irish International Railway and Tramway System described by "Mr and Mrs Cyril L Fry. Even then, the railway had SIXTY locos and FIFTEEN trams.

    By way of contrast, the February 2022 edition has an advert from some bunch called Irish Railway Models promoting their A Class diesels - which weren't even a gleam on Oliver Bulleid's eye when the first RM was published!

     

     

    • Like 3
  2. Seeing your B47, which is a weird enough looking bomber - when are you going to try a B36?

    I couldn't believe my eyes when James Stewart flew them in the film Strategic Air Command.

    Of course, Jimmy Stewart was the perfect star for the film, having piloted Superfortresses in WW2.

    In 1 in 48, the wingspan of a B36 would challenge the width of any room in your house?

    For those not in the know, have a look for the film on the internet - there's a pic of the B36 bomber there - SIX props and two jet engines - a a crew of a mere FIFTEEN - even had six sleeping berths .........

    On the other hand, maybe, don't try, otherwise you'll not finish your Spoil Train!

    • Like 1
  3. I hate to correct the Venerable JHB, but My Man, Michael Rayner, through his Smallbrook Range does a brake van which is close to one of the BCDR brake vans (I think it was one of his LSWR "Road Vans").

    Kirley, formerly of this Parish, got one for his Junction and I believe Patrick Davey may have done one also when in his BCDR Phase.

    When I first met Michael, I was in my Dapol Phase and I challenged him to produce a GNR Brake Van kit (originally only sold RTR!). While it replicated the superb SSM kit, it was a lot easier to build and it must have been OK as I've sold 161 of them.

    The GSWR one was chosen for the reasons JHB mentions above - they lasted forever! If you take time with the kit, it makes a wonderfully antique piece of rolling stock which you can certainly run behind even an A Class - which someone has made a nice model of .......

    PS Even I have ordered one of Mayner's brake vans - a bit of variety is nice!

    • Like 2
  4. 1 hour ago, Lambeg man said:

    Sorry to go back over old ground, but I recently bought the "GNR(I) Road Motor Services 1925-1958" book by Sam Simpson. To my surprise and delight the book covers Railbuses as well road vehicles.

    image.png.9adeaa4bfbe63f1882c73d0c1de68fc1.png

    Off topic, but this was one of the best books I have read about the GNR(I) - a lot about the how the railway operated, was managed etc. Highly recommended.

    Ernie, I hope that you escape the dreaded Virus. Keep away from the "weemen" perhaps?

    Leslie

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  5. Hi Meathdane

    Apologies for the state of the website, I've got other things on my plate at the moment.

    The Bulleid Corrugated Wagon kit is my best seller - over 350 of them out there, including very fine ones built by my two pals above! (the Brown Envelopes are in the post, Lads).

    If you'll e-mail me at

    lesliemcallister@aol.com

    I'll invoice you for as many as you want!

    Regards

    Leslie

    • Like 3
  6. 10 hours ago, Mayner said:

    I was wondering if you were able to get the 2-4-0 go!

    Better still Broadstone-Belfast and Portrush trains over the Kingscourt-Castleblaney and Armagh .

    The Midland's plans to extend north from Kingscourt to Armagh and link up with the NCC was blocked by the GNR Carrickmacross  branch.

    I keep going back to Kells-Cavan as a missing link that could have kept Cavan and Monaghan on the map with direct Dublin-Cavan-Monaghan passenger service after the Border Lines closed.

    Yes, Mr Mayne, I did post her moving under DC control somewhere back in the mists .......

    Chipping is the next issue!

    Those "missing links" keep enthusiasts amused for years on end -

    When Colonel McNaughton (late Inspecting Officer of Railways) gave a talk to the IRRS in London he recounted how he, as a young subaltern, with a colleague, was told to change into civvies during WW2 (The Emergency to my Southern Brethern) and sent to survey the possibilities of a link from Kingscourt to Carrickmacross - in case our German cousins invaded the Free State - when another rail link would have been useful to assist the Brits to help their Empire brothers (and sisters) to kick them out again!

    They reckoned a couple of weeks would do the trick!

    • Like 1
  7. Railway rolling stock DID get to strange places - the CIE Open wagon which I did in my "Dapol Commissions" Period was a GNR four plank with a Snail slapped on it and photographed at Courtmacsherry by John Langford. CBSCR fans - take note!

    • Like 3
  8. Thanks, John.

    White's Law applies. (for those in the dark - when it was pointed out that something shouldn't have been on David's "Old Blarney" - he boomed "It's my layout and I'll run what I like on it!"!

    It's your railway, so run what you like on it!

    Wait until you see the GAA specials from the Midlands to POrtadown - hauled by your 2-4-0!

    • Funny 1
  9. JB

    The Enterprise set is Worsley sides on donor chassis, then superbly painted and detailed by a Brass Coach friend of mine - oft to be seen at exhibitions beside me - aka the IRRS Drawings Man, Richard McLachlan. The Buffet is from Silver Fox and a pretty decent job, I thought? You all know where the (non-sound) A Class comes from! The silver A Class looks better in the flesh than any picture can relate.

    The Mail train is more fun - Loco by Daniel Wu of Hong Kong from the SSM kit - almost a quarter century old - renovated by the King of 4-4-0 Suspensions, Alan Edgar. The coaches are three Richard Ellis-Hobbs 3D print jobs and the final Y5 is from the Provincial Wagons kit, superbly finished by Our Own "North Eastern Steam", who did an admirable "scumble" effect. (PS I have one for sale!).

    Glad you liked them - they reflect all that was wonderful about a GNR(I) train.

    • Like 2
  10. 811963524_IMG_1063(1).thumb.jpg.b14a7136ebd18f034f2c415164d762f9.jpg

    After admiring Mr Beaumont's (very dirty) selection of locos on The Harbour - I thought I'd show a shed-ful of CLEAN locos.

    Apologies for the German turntable!

    To aid you identify them, a snip of video?

    NCC No.97 Earl of Ulster (Colm Flanagan)

    00 Works UG (un-numbered)

    SSM T Tank ( as yet un-numbered)

    The Engine of Engines Class VS No.207 Boyne

    Class WT  No.10

    Class AL (Northstar)

    00 Works "101" Class No.131

    Class T Tank No.64

    00 Works Class U No.205 Down

    ANOTHER SSM T Tank

    Class PP No.42

    00 Works CBSCR No.5

    I'll do another snip later with ONLY GNR(I) locos!

     

    • Like 9
    • WOW! 4
  11. Hi Murph

    It was a pretty short run and is nearly sold out.

    If you're in the UK, you can buy it from The Syndicate (PM me), if in "Europe (meaning the Republic)", then the RPSI is an option, as they send from within the "borders".

    Happy New Year from Big Bad Brexitland - historians will pillory Johnson and Co just as we do Chamberlain, although he was not the only culprit by far!

    • Like 2
  12. 58 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

    Superb pics.

    Am I the only one who, after seeing so many excellent colour shots, just scrolled past the black & white ones?

    Atmospheric as some of these could be, I just could never understand the preference some have for B&W over colour. We don't see in B&W.

    Always thought the bright blue station colour scheme in the 1990s looked utterly ghastly - so garish. Clashed badly with the orange and black trains.

    Grouch-like as all of the above sounds, brilliant photos with good colour rendition too, and well composed and sharp. Hopefully Pauline has some more!

    Ah, Jon, ye've sold yer soul to the Divil -

    B&W film (and results) was Light Years better than Colour until mid sixties, at least.

    That said, as Pauline demonstrates, colour is massively useful to the modeller.

    Good colour film would have settled what GN Blue looked like, or, indeed, the green of GSR Green (on the 800s)?  A pity John Ford didn't find an excuse to get John Wayne to Ballyglunin via Belfast and Cork?

    • Like 2
    • Funny 1
  13. On 28/12/2021 at 8:21 AM, Noel said:

     

    PS on addressing note programming 121 as a loco address is treated as a long address by some DCC controllers and a short address (ie <128) on othe DCC systems due NMRA ambiguity. For example program 121 into a loco on NCE is not addressable by say a Z21 or Lenz and visa versa. As recommended above to mechanically diagnose a loco try on DC first with the DC blanking plate to illuminate all possible DCC causes.

    Hi Noel

    Yes, I HAD read that far in the manual - the Digitrax programming feature offers FOUR different programming systems - had anyone on the forum tried changing the Loco address on a Sound chipped 121 - USING A DIGITRAX CONTROLLER? Mine's a Zephyr, with the option to use a Duplex handheld one - just to make it simple the job is done differently on each of the two!

    Still got a dead 121. The shed pilot has been busy rescuing it!

  14. Ernie

    Glad to see that they didn't keep you in and hope that the treatment is successful.

    John Dewing, a photographer of considerable note, left a note to the effect that the IRRS should have the use of his Irish collection of photographs, which Mrs  Beryl Dewing handsomely incorporated in the agreement when the collection was sold to the Transport Library. Hence other photos of his which have appeared in the Journal recently, brilliantly presented by Ciaran Cooney.

    John was a delight to chat to over a pint (after IRRS London meetings). I was delighted to use his photo of No.133 entering Cahirciveen as the Frontispiece of Steaming in Three Centuries.

     

    • Like 3
  15. Amazing that this should have cropped up today. My 121 won't move at all, after an attempt to program it to its running number (tried both "21" and "121") -

    I had been running B121 as "03", so tried reprogramming it (on my Digitrax set-up) to "121" - the address appears to have been written OK, but after putting it back on main line - one dead loco.

    By the way, tried programming it on both my "Zephyr" and the radio-equipped hand-held job - both times with loco on a Porgramming track as we are told to.

    More than one person on this forum said they wouldn't touch Digital with a barge-pole - maybe they're right?

    It's been one of this days - I won't bore you further.........

    (Signed) Haggard Pensioner, Frimley, Surrey

  16. Hhmmmm, just a year since the last post on this.

    The GNR's Christmas traffic was so heavy that CIE are helping out with the bread train . (Taken on phone balanced on the Armagh Line facing Portadown Jct, while twiddling the knob on the radio controller!). The T Class tank is in the coaling stage headhunt at the roundhouse , the Park Royal is on the Down Dublin line which runs around the back of the roundhouse (with a grey B121 at the head of the train. A30 is having a rest - actually as it's an original A Class, it has probably expired .........

    I'll post a few more trains when (if) my Son comes on Christmas Day and there is someone to hold a camera and another to drive trains - it gets pretty hectic having three trains running on the double track - No.207 on the Enterprise chasing No.172 on a Christmas parcels train on one track, with the Class UG running a local on the Up line (yep - three controllers!).

     

     

     

    • Like 6
  17. To date, my customers have been lucky, to get kits, but don't try BOOKS!

    We've just had a parcel returned to us (£10 of postage down the drain), the An Post docket said "unrecognisable customs code", or some such - my associate posted it, so I don't have the exact wording. Needless to say the Royal Mail aren't terribly helpful, suggesting that we send it again - are you kidding, another £10 on books worth £20?

    As someone said earlier, exports UK to the Republic are reducing, because they're well-nigh impossible.

    And here am I trying to raise money for a series of charities (like the RPSI, IRRS etc) .........

    Time to retire and concentrate on being a grumpy old man!

    Leslie

    PS My late father was a Customs Officer (UK) so I can hardly start smuggling now ........

    • Like 4
    • Funny 1
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use