leslie10646

Ugh, Broithe, please don't remind me of those claustrophobic passenger unfriendly apologies for trains, with their ultra high seats ensuring very little view. Mind you, they are a LITTLE better than their diesel sisters (also introduced for Virgin by people who should have known better) - the VOMITERS (sorry, Voyagers!). Mind you, things have got worse with the latest horrors foisted on the people of Britain by an uncaring Government - the 800, 801, 802s with their rock hard seats and spartan interiors. You don't know how lucky you are in Ireland with CAFS, Rotems, etc.

Yes, a very decent deal indeed - just wrong colour. Anyway I'm delighted with my dozen ORANGE ones which run very nicely behind my J15. Good luck, lads, with both your sales.

As ever, good to meet old friends and make new contacts. Warley has always been good for networking. Picked up my VS Class, which was having surgery, pulls eight coaches without any effort now! And a hand-made Christmas Present of a GNR Belgian Brake. Robert, the Club's "Great British Steam Locomotive from Cradle to Grave" was one of the best pieces of interpretative history-telling I've ever seen. A brilliant model - well done to Ian Carter and the Club. Very pleased to see Harry back on his feet on Sunday after his illness on Saturday. I had a great chat with Paddy also, not so much on single-ended Yankees. I'd had that at Blackrock. I suggested to him that the miniaturisation which made it possible to put so many features into the B Class was all down to an American President with Irish roots - John F - who kicked off the Moon Race, which dictated that things HAD to be smaller. Talk about unintended consequences?

Their website says cheap postage on £20 plus - did you manage even BETTER than that? A brilliant price - it's LESS than normal trade! Enjoy. Leslie

Ed, If you were attending Warley, we'd sign you up with great pleasure AND give you a free Journal. Applies to anyone else who visits us at the weekend. Leslie

Great stuff, David, I had missed the name when I perused the layout list. I look forward to admiring it again! Actually, I see the Irish are within whispering distance of one another! Well done the Warley guys for creating another Irish Corner. Leslie

Wow, I had no idea when I was photographing 37.800 at Pangbourne on Monday that the Lad's were busily announcing their model of the class! Now there's a Good Omen for you? Or part of The Great Eternal Plan (as we Presbys say). She wasn't making a lot of noise as she flew by at about 60mph, but I do have a great memory of two of them roaring past me at Frimley on the South Western mainline some years ago. One of the most successful Modernisation Plan diesels. Good luck with the launch, guys and massive sales of the model, which I'm sure will be well up to standard! I might even buy one! (Not sure how I'd explain that at Portadown). Leslie

I certainly shall. Today, I went train watching at Pangbourne (it counts as a walk and getting some fresh air on a God-given day) and as a train went by with those sliding top bogie wagons used for carrying car parts, among other things, I thought about you guys! Amazing to see 37.800 go by Light Engine in Rail Delivery Group livery - must be sixty-ish if a day? I hope that you have a successful show, demonstrating that you can outdo Hornby, Bachmann and Heljan. Leslie

As usual, the Irish Railway Record Society will have a stand at the NEC this weekend - Stand B57. Richard McLachlan will have several new books of scanned drawings from the IRRS Archive on sale. Of note are his books of architectural drawings of Heuston (it was Kingsbridge when the drawings were made); Amiens Street and Derry (GNR). I believe he is working on a Broadstone set as well. Plus old favourites of carriage and wagon drawings from the larger companies. We'll have a couple of slide shows going on monitors, showing drawings but also some photos from our collections. Something for everyone. Remember that his "books" are available on disc as well, making it easy for the modeller to zoom in on some detail to get it just right. I won't be selling Provincial Wagons at the show, as it's a society stand (and therefore free), but if you want some of my wagons, let me know via the website, or a PM and I'll bring the kits along with me. By the way, I now have the CIE cattle wagons back in stock! Finally, I will have a small quantity of Irish books, new and out of print, on sale. Warley is always very busy on the Saturday, but Sunday is MUCH quieter - a good time to miss the crowds and see, or shop, for the best in our hobby. Hope to see some of you there. Leslie (and Richard)

Oh Eamonn, you've made my lovely brake van dirty - almost as dirty as they seemed to get latterly! I have one photo where the blessed thing was BENT at one point - must look for it! Terrific. God bless Andy C who first made me think of that particular van. Thanks for posting it - a work of art!

The next meeting is on Thursday 14 November 2019 in the Calthorpe Arms, Grays Inn Road, London (near KingsCross). Hope to see a few of my "English" friends there. Leslie “Downpatrick and County Down Railway” by Robert Gardiner 19.00 – 21.45 in the Function Room of the Calthorpe Arms, 252 Gray’s Inn Road LONDON WC1X 8JR. (The room is accessible by stairs only.) DCDR Chairman, Robert Gardiner, reviews the railway’s history and updates us on recent developments. From inception in 1985 with just a ‘field’, the DCDR has grown to become the only full-sized operational Irish mainline heritage railway Initially a new station building and workshop were constructed, and a line built to Inch Abbey including reinstatement of a river bridge. More recently, a new Visitor’s Gallery has been constructed to view the workshop, the former Bundoran Junction Cabin re-erected on the railway and an 80 Class railcar acquired. BUSES TO THE CALTHORPE ARMS Due to restructuring of the central London bus network, two bus routes passing by or close to the Calthorpe Arms have been changed and are no longer auseful means of getting to our meetings. Route 45 (King’s Cross – Clapham Park) no longer serves Gray’s Inn Road. It has been curtailed to operate between the Elephant & Castle and Clapham Park only. Route 341 (Waterloo – Angel Road) used to pass through the junction between Gray’s Inn Road and Theobald’s Road. It has now been diverted away from that location (to a more direct route). Other routes in the vicinity remain unchanged. For further information, please check : www.tfl.gov.uk

As usual, no notice and NOT in Ireland! I'm speaking to the Fleet U3A transport group on Wednesday at 2.30pm in the Baptist Church Hall, 64 Basingbourne Road, Church Crookham, GU52 6TH. If any of you are retired and living in Hampshire, then you might find it entertaining! See my new thread on the IRRS London meetings too, please! Leslie

Come on, Colin, it's your railway - no need to be so pure! If I have As, Bs and Cs on my supposedly steam GNR(I) 1950s layout .......... You have to support these good men who are moving the goalposts in Irish Railway models?

Did ‘Truro’ manage the first 100mph? Does “Mallard’’s record really stand scrutiny? And now, did ‘Sir Henry’ manage 60? Neither Truro nor Flying Scotsman for that matter was the first steam loco to 100mph. That was 2750 Papyrus which did 108mph on trials pre-"SIlver Jubilee". There is no doubt that the GW engine did a very high speed that crazy night on the Bullion train, almost certainly just into the nineties; "Scotsman" only did 99mph according to CJ Allen, later amended by the LNER to 100mph. As for the "Duck" - three very brave men equalled the existing World Record of 124.5mph. That's what the LNER claimed at the time. The record was two years old and held by the German streamlined 4-6-4 05.001 - it was only during the War (Emergency) that the British claimed the World Record based on the dynamometer car roll of 126mph - for 108ft!!!! As one very wise man said recently, there were dozens of very fast runs which went unrecorded by we omniscient timers - the Lord knows, but the real speed record might be over 130mph! And the "Ton" done years earlier that the 1930s. It gives us all something to tlak about on cold winter nights, while enjoying a beer! PS Angus - the JInty is coming on nicely!

JHB, my lack of believe is based on 55 years of timing trains and a certain cynicism about Irish railway "tales"!

Coming along very nicely, Eamonn, the effort will be well worth the result - a delightfully antique and long-lived brake van! Thanks for sharing the "work in progress". Plenty more, where they came from for those of you who haven't got one yet!

Now, who has got twelve of our double beets? Ah, Mr R - and bought two years ago at Blackrock - nice work - it is gratifying to see the wagons in use - THANKS!! Like Noel, I loved the overall scene. Leslie

Of course, today, people use a GPS which HELPS, but isn't always accurate - they don't like wooded areas and can give false readings over a short distance - which is why I still have my electronic stopwatch out (allowing pretty accurate times for every quarter mile) and then I compare notes before deciding just what speed we're doing. Going back to the original story, I don't think I'd have been that keen riding on a SLNCR 0-6-4T even at 50mph. My fastest speed with the preserved No.27 is one the THIRTIES!

Well, as a "timer" of trains, I thought this was not accurate and I even compared notes with another specialist. It IS wishful thinking. In steam days, most of us timed using a stopwatch between the quarter mileposts. Thus, we took a speed every other quarter and if a milepost was out (remember they were placed according to twenty lengths of a chain and if a bridge got in the way, it was often placed nearby!). Errors weren't always obvious using this method of timing and one could be deluded into believing what seemed fast, wasn't quite so fast. One pal of mine is still convinced that we did eighty MPH in South Africa, when we were actually doing 75. Fifty, I could believe .......

Broithe I'm sure that if you can count the number of IRM wagons you have in your collection and it equals what their computer thinks they've sold you - you'll get the job! Good luck (BY the way, I got chucked out of Uni for failing Pure Maths) Leslie

Every day on the way to food and stuff I passed Ardmore, by the MRSI chaps, I'd snap a look and then run off! Today I got to spend some time there chatting with Brendan, George & Harry and took a few photos of their amazing creations;- Hear, Hear, Eoin - I thought the rolling stock on the layout was terrific - mind you I missed the "Big Brothers" of my cattle wagons. I will confess to a particular liking for the GNR(I) T Class tanks - super model of a lovely prototype. Thank you, indeed, SDMRC for another great exhibition. And to those who dropped into Room B and made the trip very worthwhile for me. I might also say, it's a nice compliment to my master modeller, Michael, that his latest creation sold out! In the end, I succumbed and bought a couple of Tara Mines sets, as the wagon is very well executed. Photos of the quartet behind a GNR(I) 0-6-0 in due course! The A Class is awaited with pleasure. Dave, before you arrived yesterday, I sneaked around to "yer Shop" and bought an AEC set (in blue and cream of course) from Chris. I'd tell you how nicely it runs, but I have to get it "chipped" first! Richard and I are back in Saint Patrick's Other Island after a smooth overnight journey via the Big Boat and happily pretty empty roads! I've come back to an inbox with more orders! Happy Days! Well done SDMRC and thanks for having me! Now, what date's Warley ...........

Hi Noel, Thanks for not interrupting JHB in flight, as he was signing me a nice cheque! But sorry not to have had the chance to say hallo! I've sold out of the cattle wagon! Well, the order which I asked Michael to fulfil by the Show (which he did with honours). Patrick had the last five! Mind you, I'd bought a couple of Taras and the packs of Ferts with the numbers of my favourite Merchant Navies! Never fear, there'll be another batch waiting for me in "Pettigo Fair" when I return on Wednesday - I'll fulfil any requirements at Show prices post free. Plenty of other kits of CIE wagons in stock to whet your appetitie -corrugated opens, H Vans, double beets and, of course the GSWR brake van! Come and see my ex-GNR(I) Class Y5 passenger van! Great to see so many of your guys again - hope to see a few more tomorrow! Leslie

Now you know why I spent two hours looking at it the first time I saw it in England. Worth coming to see, without a doubt, but lots of other fine layouts on show, so come along. Congratulations to Steve, Mick and Laurence who carried off the modelling prize this evening. I emphasised to them that they were in very select company and last year's recipient was the incomparable Michael Delaney of MRSI.

Having battled through the Dublin traffic (how do you guys manage it every day?), actually Richard, God bless him, was driving; you'll find us in: Room B on Stand 11 As well as my kits - I have quite a few Ready to Run wagons newly built from my kits, including CIE sundries container on a 20ft skeleton; some second hand ready to run wagons made from my kits; early Dapol wagons of mine; a Bargain box of second hand weathered Dapols - mine and Mark's - just €6 each; some storage solutions for your rolling stock I look forward to seeing some of you over the next few days - I don't want to carry the stuff back to Surrey! Leslie PS Richard will be talking about / demo'ing brass modelling beside me!