leslie10646

I know it costs money to keep rolling stock but the Austrians obviously think it"s worth it. Most major cities have a rake or two of 30 year old coaches for rush hour commuter traffic. They are hauled by any loco. Likewise the Mark 3s.

you bet it did! Loved the video - how did I miss all those locos in World Cup livery? I've been in Austria every year for last twenty!

Greetings from the Tyrol. Did you guys get torrential rain in the last few days? Met my transfer man while passing through Switzerland annd he reports that he'll do any lettering for the cattle wagon so long as it's WHITE! so we'll do the fitted lettering for you, Patrick. Maybe a wee bag with brass wheels and white letters? Great trains these Railjets - good WiFi. Even got a "new" Taurus (for haulage) on the front.

We'll done Jason. You've found Golden Wheels as well as the Golden Fleece! Now I am going to have to be nice to Des and wheedle some outta him! The things you have to do in this trade! m Many thanks Leslie

Patrick The transfer sheet COULD include a lot of things - Snails, Wheels, ranges of numbers (different for fitted and unfitted), the letters you suggest - where do I stop? I'll see what is reasonable and cost effective. The little wheel had Michael and I scratching our heads for a solution. Maybe Eoin has given us the answer! with a tiny but of fiddling you should be able to produce three variants from one kit. Greetings from Cologne. Leslie

Hi Eoin Thanks for the "order" - I hope that pic is one of the earlier whitemetal GN jobs - you wouldn't do that to one of MINE! Would you? A serious piece of modern art - well done. Leslie

Hi Jason Great "Shed" - every man needs one. I may need to re-read this thread if Portadown Jct gets re-located. Fortunately the other potential site has an enormous garden! Slight worry, though - I noticed a MATTRESS inside - has she chucked you out in the cold?

Hi Fishplate7 Don't starve the children, Eamon (took me ten minutes ingenuity to work out who you were!), I won't starve if you just take ten! Thanks for the encouraging confirmation of your interest (it's all in my little book!). Hope to deliver them to you personally at Backrock. Leslie

Put me down for twelve. My dear Jon, I wouldn't dream of putting you down, sending you up, possibly? Thanks for the interest, gents - all noted. She runs as well as she looks - I've just bashed her round the loft behind Bachmann Mogul, sandwiched between twelve strange globular orange things and a beautiful GSWR brake van. I'm sure she'll run just as well behind my A Class when it's delivered (Blackrock, Lads, saves you postage?)

Well, here is Michael's latest work of art, the CIE standard cattle wagon from the late 1940s, early 1950s. There were hundreds of these, built with slight variations. This is the "1950" design, but the "1949" design can be easily made from our kit, just add a few bits of Plasticard in the right places! The Fitted version which survived (although I wonder with how much work?) into the 1970s. Now you can run Fairs specials hauled by your 00 Works J15, or with the Lads' A Class. The second photo shows the planked roof - and in case the photo didn't do Michael's work justice, I launched my drone and took a photo straight down on her! I should add that Michael quite literally got out of his hospital bed and got started on the Master for this wagon. I'm happy to say that he is fully on the mend and certainly hasn't lost his touch! Order book opens in September, but feel free to send an e-mail to the link on my website.

Thanks for these last two comments. Colin, almost all of our kits can be made up as 21mm gauge without too much hassle - they're all scale, so are certainly the right width. Thanks, Dart, re the horseboxes. That's six, I'll start counting! You did see them quite often in photos taken "Down South", so maybe it'd better be a GSWR one?

Anybody into chewing gum? It looks like you can still get it in those 'pillow-shaped' pieces - I wonder if the dimensions are close enough to use as random bags of fertiliser to leave around the place? Actually, sounds a good way to attract the mice - you can bet your bottom Euro-cent they'd find them!

I hadn't thought about the 400s outlasting the 500s - which were much better engines, if you believe the late Drew Donaldson. I can't comment on how good 402 was, but it's notable that Drew had 409 on his famous layout as it was his favourite of a Class which were a poor investment for GSWR - just look at the number of rebuilds, trying to get them right! That said, they were handsome locos! I haven't got a copy of the 101 book here, so will have to look up just which tender 186 ran with. They appeared behind many different tenders latterly.

Back to the A3, for a moment. You are dead right, Mr Holman, an A3 with Witte deflectors is really the job! Now, to the other David's comment on not bothering with what no-one will see (Mr Ahearn's famous layout is at Pendon, less than ten miles from where I am). I always thought that you could save a lot of effort with wagons for the same reason - you only ever see one side on most layouts. It does mean that if you're building a wagon from a kit and one side's better than the other - turn it round (or by numbering the other side differently - two wagons for the price of one!!!!)

Good morning, David (shouldn't you be writing your sermon?). I think the "don't think they can" is the truth (the results I've seen from my kits are terrific), plus the little element of time! The trouble is, if you want stuff from steam-age Ireland, I'm afraid it will always be mainly kits! As I think all my customers know, I got into this because I wanted GN wagons - I resolved that years ago - even to having a twenty wagon cattle train. The obvious next stop was steam-age CIE - hence the corrugated open and the H, both of which have been worth the bother - I'll let you all know when the corrugated passes the 300 mark!

Well, not bad - TWO Merchant Navies I've had runs behind, plus one a`waiting restoration (35010). 35023 gave me 94mph on the last Saturday of Southern steam, my second "ninety" with her. A rake of four will be about the price of a single 35xxx loco! I can get rid of some Euros at Blackrock!

Just a thought Fran, if you put a wee bit of metal in the bale of fertiliser bags, we could get them out with a magnet .......

Thanks, Dart, for the interesting RDS notice. Even by the 1950s, the GNR was running specials from for the punters going to the Show at Ballsbridge, for both humans and four legged passengers - but as an everyday traffic ....... As I said, fifty orders and we'll produce one! I get a very strong impression, fuelled by an e-mail which I received (and a very quiet order book) that I'm wasting my time with kits - that what people want is RTR stuff? Just back from Hamburg to see Miniature World - now there's a model railway!

Apologies, I scanned it to a very high definition, so even cropping it won't get it small enough! If I get a chance to scan it again ....... They were VERY clean, honest!

David (and Ed) If my memory hasn't failed me, these yokes pulled DSER suburbans in the 1950s and were (sometimes) kept spotlessly clean. I have a photo of TWO of these engines at Broadstone in 1959 - I'll stick it up later - too big to load, so needs cropping!

Now looking for Midland cattle wagon drawings ......

Ahh, David - Steam Engine numbers (think about it) - makes the J15 look an absolute bargain!

Very nice, Tony - a superb building exercise. My wagons look nice in front of the shed too!

Very good, David! At the very least a matter for the Ethics Committee (ask your Dad!). Good move, Edo, I look forward to seeing her at Palace East - I've actually been through your local station behind No.151 on the famous outing in 1963, organised by my school railway society.

Horseboxes? Yep, thought of those and of how few I'd sell - they did tend to run singly - except for the RDS Show? Then, which one - GN, GS, BCDR (I could go on). Of course, if I have fifty requests for a particular one, it'll be ready for the next show after Blackrock! Back to Live Meat Transport. After a passionate debate (about thirty seocnd's thought), we've gone for the unfitted 1950 wagon, seen closest to the camera below. If you want a 1949 one or two (the one furthest from the camera), a bit of Plasticard and a shortening of the cross bracing and Hey Presto, you're there. Watch this space! Still open for expressions of interest to encourage us!