leslie10646

would it not have been a hell of a lot cheaper to install a few I-beam barriers up the road from the bridge? Let the trucks smash into them instead - easy to replace a damaged I beam, and the truck driver learns a lesson

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

Kirley, amazing looking layout and models. The thing is, the more wagons you have, the better they look. Thanks for letting me view. Will this layout be at Bangor? Which paints did you use to finish?

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

So excited today after receiving my first GNR(i) wagon kit from Provincial Wagons. A great little kit that I'm looking forward to seeing on 'Omagh North' in due course. Thanks Leslie.

 

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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

Hi Leslie,tried pufferwillies but when I put them in the basket it says they are out of stock.I have been searching the internet but no joy.As regards to yer man,I emailed him asking if he had made a mistake with the decimal point but no,thats what he wanted, plus postage.

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!

The bulk of it to Belfast, by far, Leslie, especially in latter days. I am not sure when the large GNR cattle yards at Maysfields were built, but if they were comparatively late, then it's possible more went out via Derry (or Dublin) before that. I'm not sure where the cattle traffic generated in narrow gauge country went; probably out of Derry until the Victoria Road - Strabane section closed. Certainly the GSWR was carrying cattle for Belfast across the Burma Road for many years.

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

It would be interesting to find out how serious CIE/Merrion St were about taking over the lines. By all accounts both Transport Ministers had a good working relationship and Merrion St was beginning to think in similar terms about the railways to their northern counterparts.

 

The closures worked pretty much in CIEs and the Irish Governments favour by closing down a competitor and diverting cattle traffic away from Belfast & Derry to Dublin Port, so there seems to have been an element of realpolitik on both sides.

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?

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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.....

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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

As the Man who lives at a house called "Pettigo Fair" - the Fair was on the day my wife was born (the family reason), a fact discovered from the GNR Weekly Circulars in the iRRS Archive (the Railway reason) and who never saw Pettigo in railway days - it's awesome.

The late Lance King took a great photo which managed to take in all three trains, as described. I always intended to get a painting done of Fair Day, but that horrid (superbly modelled) shelter on the Up platform was too much.

Now, there is a splendid story of a group of enthusiasts standing on the platform, awaiting the Bundoran Express. They mused over which Class of loco would be pulling it. Drew Donaldson exclaimed - "Gawd, I'd love a P" - for some reason a great space opened up around him on the crowded platform!

Great stuff Glover. Loved the "What if" scene with the single-ended Yankee.

Leslie

There's more. Alloa is also coming to Perth this year. It too is a wonderful layout. The detail in it is such that you can observe it and its surroundings for long periods and still miss wonderful cameos.

 

David

What caught my fun-loving eye was the bowling rink - don't think I've ever seen one on a layout! Or, for that matter the funeral on your Old Blarney!!!

A superb layout - liked the Passenger station especially. Pity about all those strange "boxes" moving hither and yon………

Andy

First of all, good luck with the project. The "Bandon" was a great favourite of English enthusiasts, who expended miles of film on it in the 1950s and 1960s. I have the collection of one such gent upstairs and will look and see if there's anything which would be of interest!

Second, there NEVER was such a thing as the Trans Siberian Express - that name was conjured up by the marketeers of the travel companies. Train No. 1 The "Rossiya" (Russia) leaves Vladivostok each day, just as Train No.2 (same name!) leaves Moscow.

I never travelled on the Bandon, but have made FOUR trips on the Trans Sib - TWO by steam all the way (one from Moscow and one from Leningrad)- one reason why I have travelled behind over 70 Russian L Class 2-10-0s.

Leslie

Good luck in the future, Seamus. As long as your CAF set runs round the loft upstairs, the Toymaster will always be in mind!

Thanks for your help over the past number of years.

Leslie

Well, John, people can't do a lot better on the Book front than a copy of Barry's and your book - they've flown off my table at recent sales do's.

Personally, my copy of David Maidment's "Urie and Maunsell 4-6-0s" was taken for Christmas - a Christmas present made in Heaven for a Timer like me - cover to cover logs of fast runs with Lord Nelsons etc. And, of course, Richard Maunsell was a Dubliner, educated at the Royal School Armagh.

Personally, my Standard request for a pressie is TIME to read, model etc ……

Still, I feel blessed to be still here

Happy Christmas

Leslie

For goodness sake, Beaumont, you could have worn a tie!

It takes a gentleman like Barry to launch a book properly attired!

Seriously, the Book was VERY well received at Warley - literally flying off our stand.

I've had to order more for Thursday's meeting of the IRRS in London!

Leslie

Back from Warley and I think my feet have recovered now! It was good to meet new faces and put names to them. Spent an enjoyable hour with Leslie and Richard at the IRRS stand and it was good to meet Kieran Laggan of that famous junction.

Good to meet you, too, Mick.

In my opinion, the great thing about Warley IS the opportunity to meet loads of people you would not otherwise meet from one year's end to the next. Two close pals are very ill, so it was a joy to see them looking better and with an improved prognosis for their future well-being.

Richard was kept busy talking about (and selling) his famous archival drawings, I sold out of John and Barry's great new book and between us, we signed up four new members for the IRRS.

A weekend well spent!

Leslie

PS Of course, I had the fun of gloating a little when Colm and Co ran trains almost entirely consisting of my wagons!!!! Nice models of the Turf Burner and a Ballycastle Railway 2-4-2 tank where there to see, as well!

Nice to meet Mike.

Bleach Green has just been awarded best 4mm layout in Show.

Indeed you did, Kieran!

Well done Ken and Colm (Ian Sinclair was otherwise engaged!

Leslie

John I hope the Launch went well.

I think I sold my first copy at about 10am - people came up to my boxes of books, looked at nothing else and grabbed yours! They know that Barry and you goodself will have done a good job.

I'll have to order more on Monday!

Leslie