leslie10646

Thanks for showing us those, Ernie. I had completely forgotten that she was moved by road to Witham Street (the then museum) - of course, there was no other way! Well done to Mike for, obviously (looking at the general lack of traffic), getting up early to get the photo. I was at Adelaide along with many of my generation of enthusiasts to welcome her. On the Saturday, Sam Mehaffey, the shed foreman, entered into the spirit of the occasion by having a gleaming No.207 "Boyne" in steam. The big VS Class worked the worked the 1235 all-stations local to Lisburn and its return - all three coaches of it - much nicer than a CAFs unit! That Saturday was unique in another way - it was the 29th of February (1964). Not the engines only meeting, for they met at Thurles on the IRRS St Pat's Day tour in 1962.

Thanks for bringing this story to us, John. I agree with George that the buildings have survived very well, albeit it is not a VERY built up area. Good luck to them.

SLIGHTLY better getting Aurora in - "just" £105 paid towards saving the NHS, aka Tory Party funds.

Hi Jon Good to see Aurora's big sister (five years older) when she grew up! The loco looks very well in grey and with the newer boiler - still a Racer!!!! I've put her away until I can get her chipped and she can then run GAA specials from Cavan when the County is playing Down or Antrim? We must arrange a meeting of them in Dublin at the next exhibition if we're spared? Well done New Zealand John - another lovely loco.

Wow, Rails in the Wild West. Good luck with the relaying - I was amazed at how much of this line (which must have been SERIOUSLY scenic) you could still see, as I led tours for GRJ here. Good luck James and the lads (and lasses!).

Thanks, Mr Larne, but it's still a long way from finished - the Gents has to be added, the Up side waiting room (perhaps I didn't give Glenderg the photos!) and a lot of landscaping. I took delivery (yesterday) of some materials to try a bit of embankment - good exercise for my Static Grass toy, which I just love! Back to the Guinness for a moment and a scene which never was, or would be - delivery of Guinness for the Richhill pubs - at the "Beach" - the first bit of platform I tried modelling - the goods shed is a masterpiece from Glenderg - sort of Richie's contribution to Richhill? Sadly, apart from seasonal traffic it saw little business in reality. Time I got a backscene!

You can tell how pleased I am with my new toys and while The Boys have shown us some photos of "what you get", it's not until you actually take it to bits that you realise - You get 450 barrels of Guinness and if each holds 88 pints (someone can correct me), that's just short of 40,000 pints - that's a pint and a half for every day of my 74 years!), five nice cages and a very fine wagon, which barely weighs 50grams - no wonder No.53 ran away with eight on (see Layouts, Portadown Jct). It's all a bit of a change from the old order - here seen with it's little sisters at Portadown Goods - I said it before - VERY well done!

Brilliant progress, 171, you obviously can concentrate on the job a lot better than I can!

Sorry, Jon, the whole lot is for the Armagh District Master's Twelfth Night Party at the Armagh Temperance Hall on 12 July 2020.

GUINNESS at RICHHILL: First a short clip (obviously hand held) of No.53 on an unlikely train. Richhill is still under construction and the position makes it very difficult to film - I must get my photographer son in to do it. MAQ03454.m4v Mr Glenderg, Architect of this Parish, built the buildings - the platforms etc are mine (the difference is obvious. However, it's a clip of his new train, hauled by a loco which would NEVER have been there, pulling wagons which didn't appear until 10 years after the station closed. Then, for those with two minutes to spare, two IRM trains cross, turn up the SOUND! MAQ03455.m4v

In haste - Even worse, but proof that they run very well! MAQ03426.m4v Really is lunch time. I'd better present myself!

Wot's all this then? All is revealed Looks nice - I wonder does it run - sorry lunch is ready - you'll have to wait! Thanks, boys!

Great stuff, Noel and thanks for sharing it. Quiet hint - I've got a further stock in for anyone else needing the right wagon to go alongside their cattle dock.

Warley 2020 POSTPONED until 28/29 November 2021.

VERY unlikely, MM, but it lines up with the 119mph which the Germans took an 05 up to on a special train for the British Association of Locomotive Engineers. Stanier was on the footplate, if my memory is correct!

Like Noel, thanks, Hex, for sharing the electric clip - if only to try and work out what they were saying! How many people can you get in the cab of an electric? The reception committee didn't seem too overjoyed with the effort? That is unlike the reception which the steam 4-6-4 No.05.002 got at the Anhalter in Berlin in 1936 when she arrived after her 125mph (almost level track). Hohne (driver) and Langhans (fireman - he'd earned it) each had a bottle of Champagne in one hand and a glass in the other, while in the foreground the top Reichsbahn bosses were grinning ear to ear. By the way, my No.1 ride in a Time Machine, please! No.2 is Mallard's run to see if she equalled the German engine over a quarter mile and finally, not to be greedy, a run on the Hiawatha pre WW2 with one of the streamlined 4-6-4s - a seriously wonderful looking FAST train, even allowing for American hype! Ah, just to be cheeky, what wouldn't I give for a seat on the Silver Jubilee Press run in 1936 - 40 miles at over 100mph and 112mph several times - on a loco with no speedo! The fastest overall steam run ever.

Popeye, yes, I could, indeed, have used dark grey paint - however, as I liked the result with the dodgy combination which had worked on the platforms, I tried it again. Frankly, that part of the yard will see so little light you would be hard-pressed to determine the colour - my photos are lit by an anglepoise lamp which gives a false impression. Now..... I wonder if that black has dried yet ........

It would be hard to argue with Mr B re an overnight trip behind steam in South Africa - I once sat up all night timing De Aar to Capetown - boy was I knackered next day! Now, for a younger man's taste in locos, Hexagon's list would be hard to beat. A Class 87 gave me my only sub-five hour loco-hauled trip London to Glasgow - arriving fifteen minutes early in roughly 4hrs 45mins (first week of electrics to Glasgow and on The Royal Scot); I'm not familiar with the French job, but the 103 Class on DB are imposing, fast machines and looked terrific with a train of red / cream TEE coaches The Deltic and the A4 speak for themselves I never saw her, but I've seen both her nameplates and have held the one which the RPSI museum now has - that nearly counts? Mr Holman lists locos which have undoubted charm, but this particular Philistine is into brute force, noise and speed.

So, back to the sad tale of the SAND! When you apply Humbrol 66 (described as "Olive Drab") to a surface of sand on Gloss No.5, you should get a nice black-ish colour, as on my platforms - But instead, it came out quite a light GREY, look right at the back of the yard, please ..... Now how did that happen? Same combination of paints (No.5)/ sand (from Andy's sandpit) / paint (No.66) which should come up a nice tarmac-y black. Back to Mr Gravett to see what I'd done wrong. Easy (and very boring) the platforms have a Plasticard surface, on which was painted the Gloss No.5, the sand scattered on that and finally, after 24 hours a coat of No.66. However, Mr G remarked (and I IGNORED) that if you were putting a road, or whatever on a porous surface - to give it a coat of Shellac (whatever that is, especially in Lockdown). The observant among you will have noticed that the Goods Yard has surface of cork right across the place, so, guess what - a very different result! I found a tin of Black and sloshed on a sample, didn't look too bad, so continued..... and ran out of paint, just as I covered the last bit (for now). When does Kernow, Guildford open again? LESSON - read everything the experts tell you, not just the bits that YOU think are important! That's that for 24 hours while it dries.

Wow, this is great stuff and such a wonderful choice of JUNCTION station - I think I'll stop work on mine and watch yours grow! I've always loved that frontage of the refreshment room - I wonder is it unique - well done for including it. Like you, I've omitted the "other line" - to the disgust of my GNR(I) pals, I have omitted the Derry line from what should be a three line junction. The reason is simple - no room AND the family all came from up the road at Richhill, so the Armagh line had to be there! When you have time to spare in a couple of years' time, you can do a cameo of the RPSI boys resurrecting No.184 from scrap condition to a running loco in a month for The Great Train Robbery.

Despite all this, I am making a bit of progress!

Now, the sandy area ..... I was looking at Andy Cundick's Valentia Harbour and was admiring the rough road surface at the front of the layout - so I asked him how it was done. "PVC, playpit sand ant d Acrylic paint" was the answer. I made notes, lost them (naturally) but vaguely remembered the method when I came to simulate roads / loading areas between the sidings at the Portadown Goods. I bought playsand, dried it out and then put it in a bag for a couple of years. That bit wasn't intentional, but when Lockdown began, I started to add "scenery" to the layout and the first thing I tried was that road. It went well until I applied the paint - I used a water-based sample pot from B&Q (remember, it should have been Acrylic) and guess what - the sand lost contact with the PVC and moved all over the place - result a very messy "road". I e-mailed Andy who put me straight! Now, instead of PVC, Gordon Gravett (Grass and Scenery book) likes to use Gloss Paint (Admiralty Gloss, Humbrol No.5), then scatter Talcum powder scattered through an old stocking. Tried it - couldn't make any sense of it. I tried the gloss paint and scattered the playpit sand on it to simulate gravel surfaces on my platforms and I liked the result - hence the sandy area in the previous post. Ah, now that's a bit too much - I usually just blow it off - but it's 18 inches away and I can't bend that far .... So that's what this thing was for - stolen from a wardrobe - quick blast and there's a lot less of it. Leave 24 hours and let it dry - I did remember that bit of Andy's advice. You're probably wondering about the hammer beside the hair-dryer - for banging in an earth for the static grass thingy - I have a pet nail which has more grass adherring to it than on the layout.

Anyway, getting back to the rail built buffer stops, mentioned as a "lesson" elsewhere. I was so enthusiastic chucking ballast in the rear sidings that the stop wouldn't clip onto the ballasted track - so quick change of plan and put the two I had in stock before Lockdown on less-ballasted sidings and then played with static grass (a great toy). Interesting how the close-up shows that my hand-held vacuum cleaner hasn't picked up all the spare blades of grass - nor is the stop as well clipped down as it could be - but with my lighting, you'd never notice it - this is under an anglepoise lamp!. The sandy area behind needs a bit of explaining - but that's for tomorrow.

Noel It certainly does, but appears to have relied on just the two upper hinges, with the wee "ramp" closing up over them. A bit like these modern trains which have all manner of gadgetary folding out when the train stops and the doors open, to ensure that even a drunken passenger couldn't fall through the gap.