leslie10646

John I won't start with Appocryphal stories that if they ran out of the correct blue that they went to see what the local hardware shop had ......... On a more sensible note - how the blue looks will depend on whether you're looking at it in sunlight, or under the lights over your layout? I suspect the latter will have a lot to do with how any GN loco looks? The proof will come when one of us claps eyes on the final product. I'm waiting for the demand for my cheque! Leslie

The model looks very promising. As for the colour - if you look at the "Construction" section, you can see the bodies, which appear rather lighter. So, it may just be the photography? Anyway, I don't think any two GN engines were really the same blue, for many reasons - including exposure to the sun (when it appears!). I'm waiting for a demand from 00 Works for my money, which I will be very happy to shell out! Leslie

Actually, Patrick, if you go into their website and click on "Construction" you'll find a lot more pics of the U Class, including one of a batch of loco bodies, ready painted and lined. The Underside does show one disturbing feature - the coupling appears to be screwed to the pony truck and is NOT attached through a NEM Box - which would allow the customer to easily change the coupling to one of their own choice. Still, I assume that's "sortable". Like Nelson, I like the website which is informative - even with a nice video of one of their earlier locos. Leslie

Well, Bren, it's a pity you're not going to model the rest of the station, as your work is absolutely terrific. Not many people attempt a major station front like this and you've done a terrific job. There are few comparative models around, but one I know is of the Anhalter station in Berlin, which is part of a model in the Technical Museum in that city. Your work is every bit as good. Don't forget to model Wayne Sleep climbing the front, as per his role in The First Great Train Robbery! Are you going to attempt the train shed? Congratulations Leslie

Loved the tunnel allusion, Boskany - not before Monday, please, as I'm leading a group to Switzerland, via Eurostar! Leslie

Just a quick reply, as I'm on my way to the Embassy to collect my Irish passport. (Dave, don't have a heart attack!!!!). Sorry, Nelson and other young Britons, your elders have voted without thinking of the consequences to their children and grandchildren. My son said everyone in his office is devastated. Maybe like electing a pope, you should not have a vote over a certain age? Meanwhile, never a better day to buy my wagons as the pound has taken a bath and I calculate Euro prices "on the day". Leslie

When I asked if my "U" Class would be ready for my birthday, I was told it was due at the end of June - watch this space!

Hi from one Grandad to another (there's a clue in my site name!) That is one excellent piece of modelling - well done. While I would be the first to adulate the Blessed Oliver, most of the detailed design work was done by Ron Pocklington and John Click - I have given talks on the subject, having met Ron and got the full story. Ron designed a single ended version, but Oliver was too taken up by the issues of the (awful) British diesels which he had forced on him to be interested in taking an interesting idea forward beyond the CC1 prototype. Leslie

Well done Kieran. Looks very nice. How many wagons will she pull? Nice wagons, by the way - oops, I shouldn't have said that, should I? Leslie

A quick look at the Internet shows a slight improvement in share price. The Finance Director has been appointed CEO and they appointed an interim Finance Director to fill his post. James May says save the company - one way to do that is to buy their stuff? However, model railways aren't much of an investment - but if you choose an item which subsequently "in demand" you can always eBay it at a profit! Like Noel, from my great age, I bemoan the tendency of youngsters to have their heads stuck in their mobile phones (attempts to ban them at family meals failed miserably), or their iPads - my 7 year old grandson did, however, leave his alone as we travelled on the narrow gauge in Wales last week - a glimmer of hope. I'm happy to relate that when my younger son helped organise a mass playing of "X Wing" (the board game!) in Birmingham last weekend, there were 200 plus players. Leslie

A rake of 24? How big a house do you own!!!!!?????? If these guys can do three for €110 for or a little more, they would be very good value for what you are getting.

Steam Dreams Emerald Isle "Emerald Isle Explorer" at least gives you steam haulage, for a bit less?

Just to say that I will have good supplies of both my new GNR(I) van kits at Bangor on Stand 10. AND my next wagon, which should prove useful to those modelling "Down South"! A good time to buy with Euros - for example my Bulleid open kit is now just €27. I look forward to seeing lots of you there. Leslie

Kieran YES! I look forward to seeing you then, DV. Leslie

Unfitted 10 ton van Fitted 10 ton van These wagons were based on the 1921 Railway Clearing House design intended as a standard van for Irish railways, but, as far as I can discover, only the GN built them (as Diagram 13). Two hundred of them were rebuilt (by the simple expediency of adding an second skin of wood inside! And a 3" tongue and groove floor!) in 1938 to Diagram 14 as unfitted Bagged Cement vans. See the upper illustration. Of course, these vans would have been superseded by the 1954 vans built for cement traffic, (my first wagon, for those of you with long memories) but would have remained in service as standard vans to the end of the GN. Kit £23. The second rebuild was in 1943 when a hundred further vans were rebuilt as fitted vans for use on passenger trains. This was to diagram 17. These vans were finished in the distinctive bauxitge livery, denoting their vacuum brake fitted status. See the lower illustration. Kit £24 Both are available for immediate delivery. There's a story to this pair of kits - at Warley in 2014 - Alan Edgar presented me with a trio of ten ton vans (about a quarter longer than my existing 9 ton van), based on a master he had created for a Resin Modelling course. Using this master, Michael Rayner has added a suitable chassis to created not one, but two new kits. Thanks, Alan for a great master! I offer a modest discount multiple orders, as I save on the postage! Euro price calculated on the day you order - never a better time - the Pound seems to be worthless!

Good luck with the kit Kirley. My model of No.176 was built in Hong Kong by a guy who had never seen a seat loco (although he'd bit lots of kits!). That said, mine doesn't like 2 ft curves, so make the centre axle with lateral play if you can. You've reminded me to give it another go on the layout - I think it's languishing in a box! Leslie

John That's interesting info, to thunk that those vans lasted over thirty years. Now you can understand why Mark did the Dapol banana van in brown with a CIE roundel, albeit with the "N" suffix to the number. I haven't done a Dapol wagon for years, but as they offer a cheap and pretty accurate model of an Irish wagon, I am toying with the idea of doing another run of the "cement' vans, in a later CIE livery with the roundel, rather than the snail. Any feedback on possible sales would be welcome! Price under £15, post paid. Later today, you'll get photos of the next two PW vans! Leslie Leslie

Hi Mike The night goods had the heavy Class SG3s on them. I must try and count the number of wagons they took over the Wellington Bank on the mainline - that was more or less continuous 1 in 100 for close on ten miles!!! Regards Leslie

Good morning Harry. No there's no news, nor will be. Various false starts - I was looking at a SG3 - GNR Heavy Goods, but my modeller seems to have lost interest in such a project. We had hoped to do a body on a J39 chassis. Another contact was looking at a UG, 3D printed, but was having fun finding a chassis which would sit inside the Class UG profile. Then, of course, this happened - 00Works are going to produce a RTR Class U and Class UG, and at the price they're quoting, I, for one, will simply join the queue to get one of theirs! I'd love to have an SG3 - the meaty GNR goods - but you can't have everything. Now, having said that - Des, does your SG kit make suggestions for producing a SG3 from your kit of the smaller boilered engine? Maybe we could do a resin body and use that with the SG kit? Wouldn't be RTR of course and you're back in the queue for some modeller to build it (two years plus?). Sorry it's not good news, but I hope that the 00Works people get the orders and are busily making the locos now!!!! Kevin, in reply to your query about having a good job of painting a GN passenger engine blue, fully lined, I was recently quoted £250 - £300. Mind you, the guy was the best in the business! Leslie Leslie

Pre 1975, when loose coupled was the order of the day, a brake van was essential - thus a train of loose-coupled four wheeled wagons on a layout based in the pre-fitted era cannot consist of a loco and a line of wagons. Having a brake van at the end is the same as having a locomotive at the front; if it's not there, the train ain't moving anywhere. Now it's different if they are fitted - like the beet four wheelers in their later days, but four wheeled wagons were never fitted en mass in Ireland anyway, back in the day. So if modelling pre-1975, a brake van is a must. But also variety. Not only did trains not consist of a line of the same type of wagon, many trains rarely had two wagons alike. So, a goods train heading to Portadown in 1965 could have (and I saw them often) something like this: Locomotive NCC brown van CIE H GSR wooden van CIE palvan BCDR van Bullied corrugated GNR van with flying snail GNR van with UT in faded paint Three grey bubbles Flat wagon with load under tarpaulin CIE H GNR open wagon with snail GNR open wagon with "G N" Bullied corrugated NCC origin goods van in UTA markings Courtaulds (NCC) open Hhmmmmm, I'm delighted to say that over the past nine years, Provincial Wagons produced about half of the consist of this train. I'll try and post a picture on my VERY unfinished layout! Leslie

The wagons were "rebuilt" earlier in the 1960s. I can't open the file in which I have a description of the traffic. It ceased in 1966, when the contract was lost. Leslie

The manuscript exists and on the very computer I am typing from. I've had it for many years, but always was diverted from sorting it out. It's been pushed agin by another publishing exercise which will take the next year of my life. However, I can tell you that it won't help you much on the query you raise - the rolling stock chapter is sparse. Russell Currie really only took the story up to about 1965. I have done a replica Courtaulds wagon in my Provincial Wagons series. I note that there isn't a picture of one in my "previous wagons" section, so I may add that later. I did it with BROWN strapping, which was how the UTA painted them as the wagons were renewed and mine certainly has a "C" prefix to the number, as per prototype (I have photos of several so numbered. My wagon is a four plank, but there were many six plank ones as well. Leslie

Kevin I'm not quite sure what you mean by a reference book, but no-one has published a book on Irish wagons. I did three runs of the 16 ton van - which are very close to the Dapol Banana van - so there are about 500 of these vans on various layouts. I was thinking of doing another run, maybe in the 1970s CIE guise? Anyway, I have the full number list of such wagons, in my copy of the GNR Wagon Book. I'm afraid that wagon info is dotted all over the place. I know that the IRRS Archive has a copy of the GNR Wagon Book, but as for CIE, or GSR, I'll have to investigate. Leslie