leslie10646

Jon You're right about the lining, but there's a simple answer - dirty the engine a bit, then you'll not notice it! Roderick has ignored my pleas to do an extra short run, so if any of you want one, you know what to do.

Oh, Joy, this new container ISN'T the same as the one Michael did for me two years ago! Take a look at mine on my website - http://www.provincialwagons.com/cie-wagons/ So you can have a nice mixture of containers AND we have a 20ft flat for you to put it on! Mine looks very bright (it isn't really, just my lousy photography), but I've no doubt that the weather-beaten types among you will have a field day mucking them up - mind you the 4mm to the foot graffiti looks quite a challenge! Loved your weathering, Richie. Leslie

Good luck with the "Knitting", young man. I look forward to seeing how you cope trying to photograph trains under the wires - a perennial problem for enthusiasts of the 12 inches to the foot railway! Congratulations on a superb layout.

Boris Johnson is complaining that it is a ruse by the Irish government to divert attention from him. Rubbish! 7601 works in No.10 Downing Street and it's a ploy to get the headlines away from BoJo. But if it's true - Good Luck, Paddy!

jhb171achill said: Much as I hate to say it, given traffic requirements on Irish railways, railcars are unfortunately the most efficient way of doing things. If IE were starting this again, push pulls as on the Belfast and Cork routes would be another way of doing things. Jon, of course you're right where a lot of Ireland is concerned, but there are exceptions. Several times in my lifetime I've heard railway engineers, who sounded as if they knew what they were talking about, say that over five coaches, loco haulage was better. It will be interesting to see how the TPE loco plus coaches thing works out. Our German cousins obviously think it has some merit as within the last five years they built five car double deckers, capable of 125mph to be loco hauled on non-high speed line routes. I can testify that they are very comfortable trains to travel in.

If Jon meant those fine British products (What am I saying? - I hated them in the 1960s!) with bodies by Park Royal, then you're dead right. The intermediates of my AEC and BUT sets spend time being pulled by blue 4-4-0s! Or did he mean having done an A Class, an E Class, followed by a C Class was the way to go............. Then you could have verbal fisticuffs over whether the E should be with or without tent. And the digitally controlled option to derail at 40mph?

Actually, to get the true picture of these locos as they were when delivered you'll have to buy three. One to break down halfway down the Gullet to Kingsbridge, one to fail on the train at the platform there and one to take the train out. No kiddin' - I had the story from the late Ron Pocklington who was explaining why the Blessed Oliver took so little direct interest in the Turf Burner - he had to contend with this sort of thing regularly. As we often say - "you couldn't make it up".

And it's a good excuse to secretly collect models of what we used to think of as "the enemy". IF I ever get Richhill finished, you'll have one of Jim's PS2s with a "Carrickmore" blind up on it (a former home!).

Actually, Patrick, when I saw the bus, I thought you were modelling the Ballymena and Larne's Ballyclare branch!

Now that I'm back home, I can give you an idea of what I was talking about. 1144 034 at Telfs-Pfaaffenhofen last week after doing 87mph en route from Innsbruck. The loco is over thirty years old and the coaches about the same vintage as the Mark 3s. All available in HO from Roco etc .....

Re the wagons which appear to be on peoples' Wanted lists - you can have FOUR of them tomorrow, as kits from me. But, if you want them RTR, get in touch and I'll put yours in the building list! Glad to be of service ......

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!!!!)