leslie10646

Well, I've made it across the Irish Sea this time! If any of you who have ordered from me will be at IRRS tonight, say "Hi" and you can take your goodies home - we need space i the car which is full to the roof! Leslie

I certainly agree, Keith. I've watched some of my customers buy my earlier Dapol-oriented wagons and then sell them at double, or even treble the price. But two HUNDRED? I think that's about a hundred-fold hike?

Hi Paddy I do a kit (five parts - soon to be replaced by a single cast) of the 1970s CIE container. Comes with transfers to decorate it with Broken Wheels, correct number range, TIR etc. I'll have some at Blackrock on Saturday. €13 each. I'll also have a few built containers, complete with 20ft skeleton flat. Stand 11. Hope to see you (and others!). Leslie

To quote my website, re the corrugated open - "The illustration is of the prototype wagon which clearly shows the unusual triangulated chassis, patented by Oliver Bulleid and his chief draughtsman at the Southern Railway - Lionel Lynes. " I notice from your link that the application was made in Oliver's name only and note the date! The day BEFORE nationalisation of the Railways. Oliver wasn't in favour - was his application that day a last blast of the trumpet for the old Southern? I wonder what Lionel thought of his boss doing this? Much the same as "George B" attaching his name to the Howden-Meredith wheel, when, I understand, it was Mr M who thought up the idea!

Faithfully represented on the Provincial Wagons kit of this wagon. And the 1953 van ("H" van) and our Ballast flat ..... Oh, and maybe our PalVan. Thanks to the four of you who got in touch! Come along at the weekend and buy one! You'll love how Michael has fashioned that delicate brake gear!

I second that. Ballyconnell Road is in another league. I first saw it at Guildford about 5/6 years ago; I'd parked on a two hour slot and after spending the two hours just walking round and round it, taking in its utter Great Northern-ness, I had to move the car to a "proper car park", tell the other half that she could spend longer in town ...... Welcome Steve, Mick and Co. to Blackrock! Great to have over at last! Leslie PS DON'T MISS IT!

Thanks, Flange for the explanation - I suspect you're right! And Yes, NIR, I was aware of the triangular chassis, which put the van on my radar (as three of my kits feature that chassis). The question remains - HOW MANY OF YOU WOULD BUY THEM (and an idea of how many)! PLEASE! Michael is even older than me and I want to put his skills to good use! If I have time, I'll put out a sheet out at Blackrock and you can tell me what you'd like to see - if it was built after 1970, tell the IRM lads! Back to packing orders! Thanks for those of you who told me what you want for the weekend! Leslie

Hi Flange (sorry, I don't know your real name!) Those are super models and if a Parkside kit does the trick, it suggests to me not to bother? just how much hard work did you have to put in to produce these excellent representations of the "Real Thing"? Thanks. Leslie

Fields? JHB, reminds of the famous photo of The Lads against a hedgerow when out surveying.

Now you tell me Jon! Well, the cattle wagon transfers are WHITE and the numerals stencilled. Anyway, you can hardly tell with a number that's 2mm high?

Dare I say it, but I have one come back to me when I purchased a collection. Available at Blackrock, €17 to the first taker. I'll have other early Dapols commisions of mine - likke the GNR conflat with furniture container. Dinner's ready. Must go!

Thanks, Kevin! The "PALvans" by which I assume we are all talking about the sliding door jobs, series 26001 - 26500 (just checkin' ....) were introduced in 1964 (I'm quoting Oliver Doyle and Stephen Hirsch from their invaluable little booklet Locos and Rolling Stock of CIE and NIR (1979). Noted for having had three different end designs!

Careful what you wish for JHB! Ah, but be careful what you say, Mr Mayne! "I suppose if there is sufficient interest the next step is to design a fly away cab as an 'add on" for the original kit for those that want to build the loco in its original condition" Well, I'd prefer one, so there's ONE! As for a Class L 0-6-0, well ........ Probably not the best time to tell you that I've had to replace my 13 year old Smart Car (its DCC chip wasn't reliable any more) with a five year old one, so I'm impoverished! Keep up the good work, John!

Now, the price for the "next wagon" now known as the "new" wagon - The kit will include a SMALL one plank Snail - more of those to be seen in photos - but VERY fiddly! I'll stick in some bigger ones if you buy more than one! A range of legitimate numbers as well. Talking of which - Single kit £29 €33 Five pack £140 €160 Ten Pack £275 €315 Don't ask me about a Six-pack - I never did get into keep fit! Euro prices are as per the recent "mid-price of €1.15 to £. Might be a lot less by morning, if Boris gets his way. Personally, I'm cheering the man with the unpronouncable name! I'd appreciate statements of interest for delivery of this, or any other kit at Blackrock - two thirds of my stock of this wagon is covered by existing "interest", so please let me know and your name's on the kit(s). No compulsion to buy, it just ensures there's still one (some) for you to buy! Thanks for looking. Leslie

Just noticed this (sorry, it's the age thing!). Now, there's a GOOD IDEA! I was scratching my head on what to do next. Two issues - WHO would buy them and how many - remember these are KITS not The Lads RTR ones! and, of course, have The Lads plans to do them in the next five years? If you are interested in the "Pal" van - send me a PM and I'll start counting! Thanks. Leslie

As usual, David, heartiest congratulations - it looks terrific and interesting to see models of motive power I've only seen in photos. I'd raise a glass to you, but then I noticed that the layout includes the TEMPERANCE Hotel!

Sorry, Ed, I didn't see this to reply. Yes, I have a good stock of cattle wagon kits, ready to smuggle into Ireland for Blackrock (ah, it's before Brexit, not smuggling!). The stock is two thirds spoken for, so if any of you guys want them, PM me, or e-mail me. I'll update the cattle thread shortly. Sterling is £29 each , £140 for five, £275 for ten. Multiply that by the mid rate and you'll get my Euro price - €1.15 to Sterling a moment ago. As for the Bullied corrugated opens - I have a decent stock ready, but they're by far my most popular wagon. H vans aplenty ....... Leslie

Thanks, John, for the very informative piece of background, which was news to me. By a strange coincidence, I was reading an article in "Backtrack" about the end of steam in USA - ten years before UK, almost to a day. Like the UK, some of the steam locos being scrapped were barely five years old. Again, CIE was ahead of the game had the wits to bite the bullet and replace the lot, which were Earlier, you mentioned Dan Renihan's articles in The Journal, which are well worth a read, as Dan had enough experience of the various classes to write a couple of books! When I've got my set of IRRS JOurnals to hand, I'll try and list some "required reading".

Good Lord, the Irish in the lead again! Common sense!!!!

The Metrovicks were considered to have a very good electrical system ..... Am I right that the "AR" kept their British electrical systems when re-engined?

Gents No surprise to read those comments on RMWeb - the Irish have been leading the way in diesel models ever since Mr Murphy produced his double-ended Yankee! Well done!

Thanks for the master class, Eoin, great to see real model engineering! I have had similar work done to my 00 Terry Mac's S Class which after a lot of work will now pull eleven GN coaches. I went shopping for bits with my loco man - it's a Black Art! Watching Mr High Level Gearboxes picking out all the little parts to do the job was an education.

I could send you a log of one in 1965, when it took over from No.207 at Dundalk en route to Dublin. I quote from my comments in the log of 207's run to Dundalk (with 10 bogie coaches, about 350 tons). "No.207 was declared a failure with a hot box at Dundalk and the journey was completed hauled by A Class diesel electric locos. A19 did pretty poorly, only managing the forties to Drogheda, falling to 40 at Kellystown and 59 after. She failed at Drogheda and A27 took over, struggling to manage even the low fifties! Mind you, they were still with their original engines then." Sorry, the best thing any CIE engineer ever did was send money to La Grange to re-engine them! The rebuilds appear to have done good service, although by then I was living in England and my train timing was behind very foreign steam engines. All that said, I've got a silver one on order - they were as much an iconic part of the scene as the 121s were to be - thanks for the update, by the way, Dave. We've got a St Patrick, so what name will young Paddy take?

I was talking about the Crossleys, of course. The "R" version was a totally different business! The Blessed Oliver wanted to buy American originally, at least his successors sorted thing out!