leslie10646

You'll all think I've got daft, bringing this up so early, but I do have a good reason. Are any of you aware of any Irish layouts planning to be there? If so, which one(s)? Please. I ask, as the Warley Club has given me an early opportunity to say where I want to be with the IRRS stand and it's useful to say "near xxxxx Irish layout". I know Andy Cundick is attending with one of his layouts, but are there others? Thanks Leslie

John M, I don't know where to start - the Class 52 build is looking terrific - the late Drew Donaldson would have wept tears of joy, for as we oldies know, the great 7mm modeller had a great affection for the GSWR's locos. Then, just to rub it in, TWO Midland 2-4-0s! Always a treat to see these locos coming together in the hands of a great modeller. Happy New Year (in Maori) Leslie

Get your DJs and black ties out lads and your shoes shined. Good luck!

Nice work Phil. Don't engines look terrific in unpainted state? The little CB&PR tanks were pretty little things. When I showed the late Lance King's piccies of the C&L recently, it was 10L which was on the connection he used from Dromod to Ballinamore and back again in the evening.

Dare I say it but Provincial Wagons have done both vans. The GNR one is one of the 130-odd 16 ton bagged cement vans built in 1954 for the Drogheda cement factory. It was my first wagon and I had to double the order (to 200) after the first night I put it on my website. I bet Mr Bracken can help you with one, but not in bauxite - there are 350 of mine around in various grey liveries. The H van is still available as a kit from me, so those of you who don't have an aversion to kits know where to come! As it's Christmas, I'll let you have them at €28 (£24) until the stock runs out. Another Euro off for each additional kit bought. Leslie

Greetings, Patrick. I think that's the longest train of my corrugateds I've seen. Who makes the sugar beet models? I have been shown such sold by "Ten Commandments" here in the UK. Like the storage system. I have the same problem and will investigate your solution further. Happy New Year.

Ditto, Lads, thanks for the Card. Super picture - not too often you can photograph Irish railways with in a decently snowy scene (thank goodness!). Merry Christmas to you all from a damp Surrey! Leslie

Good evening MAK I'm 99.99% sure that is not a H&W loco. They only built eight and four were for NI (BCDR and NCC) , none of which looked like that, in fact the H&W machines had a certain family likeness, quite unlike this loco - see - http://www.theyard.info/engineering/trains/trains.asp At a guess, it's a British industrial of some kind - where was it taken?

There's quite a bit on the Internet about the current status of 50.007 and 50.049, so I won't bore you all here, just have a look at websites like the Fifty Fund, or the Fifty Alliance. GBFr paid for the repaint and have trained some drivers to drive the locos, which appear to be based at the Severn Valley Railway.

During my talk on Lance King's travels in Ireland, I showed a pic of Phoenix on the CDRJC. A scholar like you, David, will recall that when the CVR was in trouble, Henry Forbes was one of the "helpers", helping himself to the Atkinson Walker tractor for a hundred GUINEAS, re-engined she outlasted the CVR by a couple of decades. Still, I suppose if we have pubs called Dick Turpin here, why not a pub in Ireland after a corporate asset stripper? (Only joking, you CDR men - he was a man with an eye to a bargain!).

Health Warning - taken on a handheld mini-camera by a rank amateur simply enjoying watching trains and in very windy conditions, so turn sound down! Anyone like Hoovers? 50014 and 50049 in GBFr livery pass Pangbourne with two barrier wagons on a wagon move from Kidderminster (SVR!) to Reading Traincare depot today. A one-off working. They came back about an hour later LE, but I messed up the focus! MVI_1649.m4v The Class 60 on the oil tanks is a regular working around 1400 from Theale Murco sidings. Sorry about the wind noise, you can just about hear the 60 purr through. Those bogie tank wagons might make a nice model, lads? MVI_1651.m4v

ABE is not a single bookesller, but covers hundreds of booksellers, so you'll find the book elsewhere without doubt. Usually, I'd offer to provide one through The Syndicate (so helping Irish preservation), but our trade price is what some other sellers are selling them retail at! Wordery - see earlier post - is still offering it at under ten quid. Looks a nice book. We sold four out of the five we took to the IRRS meeting last Thursday.

Hi Angus If Manchester takes off as an Area, I'm sure I'll be putting in an appearance there! I hope to get to the meeting in February and I'll prevail on the powers that be to at least put up a rolling slide show of some of the Photos. Leslie

Like David, I'd be interested in more info, ttc. It DOES look a neat job. I note that your video was accompanied by rock music, was that to cover the noise of the thing? I'm not being cynical - my Fleischmann job (thirty plus years old) is pretty noisy!

Come and see me fall flat on my face this Thursday at 7pm at the Calthorpe Arms! I'll be giving a first cut of the late Lance King's fine colour images of the railways of the Republic at a time of change - 1957 - 1963. My talk is followed by the Branch AGM, so I'll be on for about eighty minutes. Although I start with a quick look at the Co Donegal and the Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties, most of the show will be of short visits to CIE lines like the branches to Ballaghaderreen, Ballina, Banagher, Clara, Edenderry, Kenmare, Loughrea, Tullow and Youghal. I also plan to cover a fair bit of the Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway. Even a few diesels have crept in, but MGWR types in service, a few GNR and the inevitable J15s. Even a shot with 800 and 801 in the same frame. It would be nice to see some of you living in the SE of England on Thursday. Leslie

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!