leslie10646

Peter You're getting good advice from these gents. I'm track laying at the moment and run more or less every combination of loco type, coaches, WAGONS through new points and track, fast and slowly - easier to fix things before ballasting (whatever that is!) etc. I don't think you need buy longer locos, except they're in your game plan - merely what you plan to use. So, in my case, BoBo diesels (dead easy!) 0-6-0s, 4-4-0s and 2-6-4 and 4-4-2 tanks. It is the latter which is giving me problems as it mysteriously loses traction after one of my points - almost certainly my terrible lack of track laying skills. Good luck. Leslie

The postman brought a very welcome letter this morning - a demand for payment for my Class UG from 00 Works. I knew it was close, as a friend had received his letter the other day. Well, I've paid by bank transfer, so I hope to post piccies within a few days. Watch this space! Leslie

Sorry, Patrick - on 15 February you did e-mail me to say they'd arrived! You've been busy - some guys build my kits months after getting them (even YEARS!!!!). Leslie

Patrick First, I now know that you received that parcel OK! You've been busy - they were only sent to the US of A on 2 February! Also, thanks for resolving a stock control issue - I wondered WHY I had so few corrugateds in stock! I've still got some, the rest of you who fancy copying Patrick! Leslie (Provincial Wagons!) PS Lovely job, by the way!

Come on, John! They're NOT coffee stirrers - THEY'RE MODELLING STICKS! Every modeller knows that and I grab a few every time I succumb to an expensive coffee. Dozens of potential uses - Patrick's is a new one!

Certainly an impressive setup. NOT the same trains each time, so there was some deft changing going on off-scene. It suggests a large fiddle yard - which is understandable when you see the SIZE of the layout. Noel - it's busier than Clapham Junction!!!!

Despite Richard McLachlan, the IRRS's drawings man, being in Munich, he has replied! "I carry around copies of all of my electronically published books (a few of the early ones are very much printed only but will be updated in time). The same disk has a set of Journals except for the last 2 or 3 years, and other useful stuff. Start with Journal No. 2 - side corridor 3rd coaches were not used on the first (Enterprise) train. There is no evidence of any diagram of it with any form of kitchen. Both Stephen Rafferty (the blue book published by The Syndicate) and a similar exercise conducted by Gerry Beesley from official documents in 1975 simply show that the one example appeared in 1946 as side-corridor, went to CIE, stayed as a 'steam' (or diesel loco) coach and was scrapped in 1972. Both Steve and Gerry agree on the scrapping year. No mention of any catering use, such as Tea Car. In Journal 24, there is a long article on catering vehicles by L H Liddle. No mention of coach 220 - the only K24 ever built. I have to conclude that Desmond may not have been right or somewhere along the way to the printers K23 got changes to K24. The second use of K23 was for light-ish capacity catering vehicles created by rebuilding some of the the original K23 workmen coaches. Don't know if this helps but my drawing books and Gerry's work are straight from company info. Liddle also probably had a lot of direct live information from the GNR. I suspect a misprint."

Mike Richard, who produces the IRRS drawing books is abroad at the moment. I'll get him to answer this on his return. My memory is that he has full details of what got converted to railcar trailers. Leslie

This business of resurfacing roads has its railway equivalent. Network Rail (and probably good old IE and NIR) "improve" the ballasting on lines, effectively raising the trackbed. No problem for the usual boxes going under bridges, but steam locos with higher chimneys? I remember one of the preserved King Class locos arriving in Paddington without either its chimney top, or was it the safety valve? Progress, don't you love it?

That's precisely what Network Rail has done at Pangbourne on the GW main line - and probably elsewhere. There's s beam across the road about 3/4 yards in front of the bridge carrying the four track main line - so any lorries would be given a haircut! And the trains keep running! Leslie

I must set up a photo of twenty behind a 0-6-0 (and van). My Man (aka Michael) used Halfords grey primer, if my memory serves. Kieran's cattle dock scene makes the whole aggro of producing kits worthwhile - note the open door! Leslie

The Peco above baseboard point motors are a result of the initial decision to operate the points using 'wire in tube' but unfortunately I couldn't get it to work. My incompetence ! Actually, I was relieved to see how well they blended in, as I've got a dozen of things, as yet un-used, upstairs. As you say, digging holes in the baseboard is no fun, but worse is getting the wiring done. I did manage it once, courtesy of Oliver, my younger son - he's a lot more pliable (and patient) than I. Leslie

My pleasure, Tony. You'll need a SLNCR one, too - plenty of those in stock!!!!! Glad Andy could help out re the pointwork- like many "exhibitionists" he's very quick to share all manner of little "tricks" and methods which he uses. Note to Exhibition managers in Ireland - Andy has four (?) Irish layouts and it's not fair that it's only we "weeping exiles" in England who see them!! Leslie

Mike A quick answer re The Enterprise. A couple of photos in Tom Ferris's GN pictorial Book show a brake at each end, in one case of a SIX coach train and, yes, the guard would have based himself in the rear van. As for "normal" trains - many photos in that book show a single brake on a train. Remember that in former times, sundries traffic was a big earner for the railway and those vans were needed (not on the Enterprise, mind you) to carry parcels and other commodities. My GNR Working Appendix isn't where I am, so I can't read up the "rules" or suggested practice - but when the train had a single brake van and it was at the front of the train, that's where the guard would have been. JHB will give you a better answer than I, but you will get a pretty good idea of the make-up of trains by viewing the literature. As an aside, I was at York Road depot one night when Foreman Billie Steenson was supervising the make-up of the 5.55pm express to Derry - a set of MPD railcars in those days. He listened to the make-up of the train suggested by the yard shunter and broke in to say, "No, put No.xx at the rear of the train, for it has a toilet, otherwise the toilets will all be at the front of the train". Happy days when the "men" knew their job through and through and DID consider the passenger? Leslie

Patience, Old Boy - put the set into eBay on your wish list, or whatever they call it these days and it will eventually appear at a sensible price. If you give me a mobile phone number and I see one at a MRly Ex over here, I'll give you a call and let you know the price. I would have thought a hundred quid tops? Leslie PS I needed a C Class for conversion, but would not pay £130 for one. Got one last weekend, brand new, for £70. All things come to he who waits ……..

Northman Get Googling!!! See - http://pufferwillies.co.uk/uk2ecommerce/department/coach_packs/ which struck me as a very good price! Regards Leslie

Youse guys in the Dublin Area - don't miss this! Dick is a great speaker and was on top form when he spoke to the IRRS in London after his retirement. Retirement means he can let a few stories out that wouldn't have seen the light of day when he was El Supremo!

By the way, Glover, your "plan" to build a GN terminus in Sligo ain't a million miles from others' ideas. Ballyconnel Road is / was on such a line - pity it's 3mm to the fut, otherwise you could join the lot together. Happy Days!

Yes, John, I was aware that a lot of West of Ireland cattle were "exported" through the North, there were detailed instructions for them to be detrained (at Colooney?) and watered and fed! - The question is WHY? You would have thought that the cattle-loving Midland would have taken the lot? No doubt taxes were involved - anyone know the answer? Hey, Glover, bet you never thought your line would provoke discussions on high finance? Leslie

John B You're the man who will know this - How much of this west of Ireland livestock traffic went out via Derry, rather than Belfast? Leslie

That's an interesting observation, John re the relationship between the Dublin and Stormont ministers. However, your comment about the benefit to CIE is clear enough for the IRRS Journal makes an interesting comment re the position in 1956 versus 1957 (after the closure of the SL&NCR) and I quote - "Some interesting figures were recently quoted at Stormont. Cattle exports from the West of Ireland through the port of Belfast in October 1956 amounted to 3,300 head. The corresponding figure for October 1957 (in spite of the presence of UTA lorries at all Western fairs) was 188 head!. On the other hand it has frequently been necessary, since the SLNCR closed, for CIE to run specials of stock from Sligo to Dublin for shipping". So, the Southern Minister probably wasn't too concerned as the traffic could be dealt with by other means and, as the next few years were to show, the days of line closures in the Republic were upon us, dieselisation or not. That figure of 3,300 head of cattle equates to about 120 a day, or twenty wagons worth? So, the twenty cattle wagons I have set aside for the Enniskillen Shipper, when it eventually runs in the loft, is just about right? Now, that's taken me away from checking the latest load of kits, so Patrick in far-off Ohio will have to wait another day!

Patrick You're a great advert for my wagons - I should say MICHAEL'S - as he makes 'em! I just prod him into doing them and provide the drawings / photos (he finds a lot himself!). Still, not a bad result for a couple of septuagenarians? When I send you more stuff, I must send you the Railtec transfers of the builder's plates for your vans. Steve did these for my little Ballast Flat ad when I saw how good they were, I had him do some sheets of suitably numbered plates for the H vans. If you let me know which numbers you have, I'll send you the plates to make your work even more beautiful. Keep it up - great video, by the way - loved how "helicopter" effect of leaping over the tunnel! Leslie

[quote name= My Irish GNR(i) styled signal cabin will sit in front of the DPDT switches so they won't be seen from any likely audience' date=' should I ever go public! To be honest, I'm still undecided about point control..... help? [ATTACH=CONFIG]26674[/ATTACH] Tony Andy Cundick has a mind-glowingly simple and effective way of changing points on Arigna - it uses cheap switches such as you show, but attached to a piece of stiff wire with an adjuster on it. I can't remember if he uses it on the Broad Gauge Valencia. I'll PM him and get him to post his method which deserves a wider audience! Leslie

You're right Leslie about the shelter; it was horrid! It was added I believe in the early 1950s at the request of the Lough Derg clergy as a small act of kindness to the pilgrims returning from "doing the island" : two nights/three days of living on black tea and dry bread, in their bare feet. Different times..... [ATTACH=CONFIG]26676[/ATTACH] Most of the platform, built largely from cardboard is from a previous layout and looks a bit scruffy, in the photos anyway. The shelter was built from corrugated plastic and Evergreen girders. It needs more seats ( 'sheer luxury,lad'). Cheers, Glover Having been unkind about the shelter, it is very well modelled - thanks for the tip on how it was done. Now, my whimsical mind says - what else does it need? - oh yes, bankrupt Glover by suggesting that he put a scale size crowd on each platform - one lot lot pouring off the Express from Dublin (and a line of Jim Poot's PS1s waiting to take them to the island?) and another (tongues hanging out in anticipation of the buffet car waiting at Clones) about to get onto the Up Express - say 400 painted figures at at least £3 each - heck you could buy a couple of dozen U Class to pull the trains?

Thanks for that, David. It shows it to be an excellent "exhibition" layout - lots going on, so spectators (especially younger ones) don't get bored and get a good impression of our hobby. Worth a trip Up North to see it! Leslie