leslie10646

I know it's after Twelfth Night, but thought I'd really wind you up with my pressies! Like John, I got the thick socks - same reason! Then (bought by me, but paid for by them!) a 5 BEL set (rich elder son) a 4 VEP (very forgiving wife) I bought my grandson a 2EPB. WHY? Half price at the London Transport Museum in October, when I was there selling for the 171 Appeal. The sun shines on ....... Sooo, a Southern electric layout is being built in the parts of the loft where the GNR can't reach! Talking of the GN, I eventually got a complete circuit down on Christmas Eve and ran No.207 (BLUE built 1947, NOT the other thing!), a L12 brake/3rd, two M1 vans and a M2 van, with one of my own 9ton vans on a Christmas mail relief! After Christmas, I linked up the Digital controller for the first time and ran No.53 round - complete with sound chip - better than xxx - well almost - serious chuffage, clanks, shovelling sounds, squealing brakes. It was planned to amuse said grandson, but it amuses his Grandpa even more! By the way, Dunluce, your Lankie Tank looks just lovely - I wonder how close the chassis is to a Class JT? Happy New Year all Leslie

Before you all get too excited, mayabe you should wait and get reports on next Thursday - I'm not THAT good! The talk wouldn't really fit with what Charlie sets up for the RPSI Belfast meetings, but there is at least on Model Railway Society who meets? Wait and see what people think after Thursday - silence will tell you all you need to know! Must get the talk finished!

I know. I'm waiting to see if, amongst the huge drawing collection that was transferred from Inchicore, there are any covering the "S" class 1938/39 Dundalk rebuilds..... Dear Mr Clare (if you're the Earl, please say so and I'll address you as "Your Grace") The answer to this is YES. You can buy a set next Thursday in London, if you tip us off to bring a set. If memory serves, Richard has done the VS, S, T tank and the B4 tender - he'll have them on display / sale on Thursday. He's even done a A4 laminated reduced general arrangement drawing which looks nice on a layout room wall (£4 each, if memory serves). Leslie

Less of this talk of groupies, I'm in enough trouble with my wife! Mr Clare, you will be most welcome in London, you'll be fleeced financially at the door! Theoretically it's a fiver for non-members, but as it's a AGM night and you only get a half evening, chuck a few quid in the pot. Just don't tell our chairman I told you that. We DO need the fiver on most evenings, as we have a lot of speakers over from Ireland. Richard McLachlan, with whom I am theoretically giving the talk (he's been rather busy with family matters, so it was left largely to me), is giving a talk based on his drawings research to IRRS in Dublin on 10 April. He may let me put in a bit as an addendum, as I'll be with him, en route for the Bangor exhibition. Talking of Dylan, which we weren't, one of the groups who play at Danny Mann's in Killarney do a wonderful send-up of Dylan singing the Patriot Game!!!! Serious point to finish, the IRRS London welcomes non-members and we even have an offer of reduced price membership in place at the moment. If any of you come, do say "Hallo". Leslie

Dear Kerryman When I started work on Portadown, I asked Colm Flanagan about this ballasting thing. He recommended cork underlay, but also said he used the Gaugemaster stuff for curves. So, I did exactly that for my first circuit. When I read your thread the other day, I rushed upstairs to the loft and ran both a 201 and a Class WT round with the same results - the foam Gaugemanster stuff is a BIT quieter - a definite change of sound. This is laid on a plywood baseboard with quite deep framing, which COULD produce a noisy result - but with either of these solutions, it's pretty quiet. So, take your pick - the Gaugemaster stuff ain't cheap at over £20 a roll! DON'T use the Peco stuff, which crumbles to sticky dust after about 15 years - having been used on the previous German layout (which, needless to say got nowhere during my working years). Of course, you couldn't tell at all the difference at all if you're running sound locos - you're so busy listening to the lovely chuffs and clanks that the house could be falling down .......... Leslie

At the risk of being branded a self-publicist, I'm giving a half-evening talk on "Irish Railway Modelling comes of Age" to the IRRS London Area at 7pm, on Thursday 16 January 2014. We meet at the Exmouth Arms, 1 Starcross Street, London NW1. I will be covering the period from when everything was scratch built through to Murphy, McAllister and Co with their RTR stuff. I have illustrations of some erarly Irish modelling and of more recent layouts. I hope, if we can sort out the technology, to show a few film clips of Adavoyle when it was in its prime! We'll have some models on display as well. If you're in the South East of England, come and have a look! Leslie

Heavens, aren't you guys all members of the RPSI anyway? I only joined the evening the Society was founded - I have photographic evidence that I was there! AND the IRRS, which has an archive beyond your dreams! Charlie Friel will be giving his 50th Anniversary talk in London on 16 October 2014. Leslie

John is right to remind you gys of the joys of Irish Railfans News - I just happen to have a bound set here on the shelf above my head. If you really want some entertainment about how the railway used to be, take a look at the CIE weekly notices which the IRRS has in its archive. One copy I looked at had EIGHTY pages and the first 40 pages were the cattle specials (all worked by steam, too!). Those were the days .....

You're quite right, of course, but Richard McLachlan has given the RPSI the drawings for the tender, so all we need is the money! By the way, we have the full drawing set to built No.211 (or a new "207 Boyne") - anyone got a couple of million? Once the RPSI has a third tender, it will be difficult to resist the temptation to have THREE blue 4-40s? A livery put together in Heaven, or was an angel guiding George Howden and his team when they came up with it? Leslie

Naturally, I started here (sorry, I mean in Northern Ireland) - in 1963, using a wrist watch! As for my best speed, that was Class WT No.10 on 9 April 1966, driven by Timmy Crymble. The train was a football special to Ballymena from Belfast and we did 83mph near Muckamore (just before Antrim). It explains why one of my two model WTs is No.10! Good averages were hard to come by and I never had a mile a minute run Ireland. However, on one immortal day in 1965, Alan Robinson drove No.4 from Ballymena to Antrim (11.7 miles) in 11min34sec - surely one of the shortest ever mile a minute runs, anywhere - the top speed was 80. As luck would have it, I had been on the same train a week earlier - still I don't begrudge my friends who were there! My best average was probably 17 August 1966 with No.10 again! She was past her best and very rough to ride on - I was on the footplate with Sammy Sloane from Antrim to Belfast. There is little doubt he was intent on scaring the life out of me - it worked - the writing in my logbook is all over the place! We did that run in 21min59secs for the 19.3 miles - 52.6mph. Doesn't sound like much? BUT, the first TEN miles is all uphill (1 in 200 or worse) - run off in the low sixties with a minimum of 57 and a top speed of 70mph - I was sure that he was going to do some tremendous speed down over the curving Bleach Green viaduct (where you regularly prayed hard, as you approached it in the low seventies!) - but sanity prevailed! A very light train, but what a train - FOUR North Atlantic Express coaches! A month later the University authorities had the good sense to chuck me out for not working hard enough, or indeed having the brainpower, and I moved to England to begin accumulating 10,000 unrepeatable miles on Southern Region behind nearly half a century of Oliver Bulleid's wonderful pacifics. Now to run the story off, I had runs with all eighteen Class WT, the 46 Bulleids at the end of steam now number over fifty, thanks to the preserved ones, but my biggest "classes" for haulage are the Russian "L" Class 2-10-0s (75) and the Chinese QJ 2-10-2s - over eighty of those! I must get the logs "written up". Goodnight all. Leslie

When I'm not commissioning wagons, I'm "timing" steam trains - I have logs of more than 100,000 miles with steam over the past fifty years and in 25 countries. Last Thursday's run from Newcastle to York gave me my fastest ever average speed start to stop - 72.5mph, beating the 72mph of the run in June. The maximum on Thursday was 94mph, when he eased to avoid doing a ton (and getting the sack!). I only made it 92 in June - several times. Saturday's runs were more measured, as the Powers that Be apparently took a dim view of the 94mph! We did 92 agin and just missed a 70mph start to stop average by a whisker. Previous to this year, I DID have one 70mph average speed run - in 1967 during the Waterloo Sunset, West Country 34001 "Exeter" ran Basingstoke to Woking in just under twenty minutes. That night we did 92 at the appropriately named Fleet and 95 at Brookwood - a place I regularly catch trains from (I live a mile from the line today). They were amazing days to experience, but June's run was simply the best - "Silver Jubilee" running but with a train half as big again. I would hang up my stopwatches now, except that, by God's grace, I may get timing THREE BLUE 4-4-0s in 2015! Floreat Vapor! Leslie

Well done the Lads! Only won the Mayor of Sandwell's Trophy for Baile Cois Farraige! It is awarded for "the exhibit that he/she (she this year) has enjoyed most during her visit to the exhibition". Little wonder that SHE enjoyed it as there was a crowd 2/3 deep in front of the layout, delighting young and old throughout the two days. Well done, MRSI and well deserved in your Golden Anniversary year. Leslie

Well done the Lads! Only won the Mayor of Sandwell's Prize for Baile Cois Farraige! There was a crowd 2/3 deep in front of the layout, delighting young and old throughout the two days. In stark contrast to the 40/50 foot long Fremo layout behind us which had almost nothing happening on it and no-one watching it, apart from its operators - it looked beautiful, but exhibition layout it was not! Well done, MRSI and in your Golden Anniversary year. Leslie

Seamus, I agree with you that the Oxford blue and cream looks just great - you even saw it behind steam, when the trailers were "mis-used". I told Ivor that I would run the intermediate cars behind steam and suggested he do me some flush-sided mahogany ones - which, bless him, he did - the panelled ones came later! Ivor, you did TWELVE in all - the catering vehicles were the restaurant car in the BUT set and the tea car in mahogany. I'll find more photos of the coaches (and put them in the correct thread!) - but I must get to church! Another problem with getting old is that you realise you have a lot more sins to ask forgiveness for! Like not running Ivor's stock a lot more! Never was Plasticard better or more skillfully used! Leslie

No, I wasn't - it was on the other side of the hall, but thanks for the heads-up! I thought it was brilliant, but the name escaped me - it'll knock 'em dead at Warley - a model railway with a difference! I wonder how many of the English will know that their great great grandparents' taxes paid for the original? Dave, you're right about the growing old bit - not only the loss of memory, but the aches and pains when you crawl under the layout! Leslie

Dear Clare Man Just to encourage you and you are certainly getting there .... Ones I had made earlier (by a guy called Daniel Wu in Hong Kong, who had never seen a steam engine in his life, but had built about 20 DJH kits before tackling Terry's kits (as they were then) - he was very complimentary about the quality of the kits and it's great that Des is keeping this flag flying!). First, the engine of engines - No.171 (actually, my Engine of Engines is No.207, but she's somewhat late now!) - and a shed full, four of the locos were built by Daniel - two Class S, a QL and a SG2 - the others were built in England and are two T tanks and a SG. Like my railcars - a very lazy bunch they are, most having barely turned a wheel. However, the SG2 is being run in between Portadown and Richhill on the days I venture into the loft! Leslie

Ah, found the photos on the Mac, so here they are - This shows the AEC set with the two end cars of the BUT 9which is four cars, the intermediates being an open and a restaurant car. And "Full Frontal"!!!!! The full AEC set. The bad news is that the AEC has never turned a wheel, but has languished in the showcase, as the layout never got started! However, the BUT set has lapped David White's "Old Blarney a few times at Perth two years ago. Finally, a Class G1 panelled mahogany coach - 33lima got the mahogany quite brilliantly, I thought? Hope you like them - I certainly do! Leslie

Sneer, sneer, it's behind me in the showcase!!!! 33lima built it for me over ten years ago, you should see the BUT set he did for me....... And then there were the Mahogany coaches ......... I'm sure I put photos up on the site years ago? Ivor, I have some wagons for you? Leslie

Hall 5, NEC Birmingham Opening times: Saturday 0915 (Advance tickets only); 0945 - 1800 Sunday 0915 (Advance tickets only); 0945 - 1700 I will be running the Irish Railway Record Society stand - E05 - where you will find Irish books, recent and out of print; IRRS publications, including back-number Journals; AND Richard McLachlan's brilliant reproductions of the steam loco drawings from the IRRS Archive. You can even JOIN the Society - all Irish modellers should be members! There will also be a small display of models from our respective collections. While I will not be selling Provincial Wagons at Warley, if you wish to order wagons and pre-pay them, you can pick them up at the stand and save on postage. We are located beside Baile Cois Farraige (E04), so maybe I can persuade the boys to run some of my wagons? Also Dun Ut Riain (E03), which sounds Irish to my Northern ears - but I can find no reference to it on the Internet! Quite a little celtic enclave? Éirinn go Brách (even after today's showing against Australia!) We look forward to seeing you there. Leslie and Richard