leslie10646

Thanks, David. It takes a Master Modeller to appreciate the better things in life! Leslie

Well, what can I say - mine aren't! My prices have dropped in line with the collapse after Brexit, as you'll see tomorrow at Raheny - most of my kits, which would have been around €30 before will now be around €25 at the exhibition. Scale RTR wagons, built from those kits, which were €50 are now nearer €45. Good time to clear my stock out for me? Leslie PS Thanks, in anticipation

Des Takes you to spot the ones they missed in the wagon! Interesting idea. I could do a vote on which kitchen cereal is nearest and put a handful in every kit? Leslie

Des Thanks for the order - you're first in the queue! If you're at Raheny, you can judge between Lentils and Pearl Barley for loads! I raided the kitchen on the suggestion of Lord White of Old Blarney. Leslie

Hi Harry and friends I'm waiting for the postman to deliver the worksplates for my H vans, prior to departure for Raheny, so I have a bit of time for research. I mentioned the Christmas 1958 extra worked by No. 800 - 3.40pm ex Dublin. She was FOLLOWED by No.801 on 4pm perishables extra. Apparently, No.800 was failed with leaking tubes at Ballybrophy and was replaced by a diesel, at which point the enthusiasts on board removed themselves from the train! What happened next must have been heart-breaking for Bill McDonnell (who tells the story in The Journal) and his two, un-named friends - one was sure to have been the late and lamented Drew Donaldson. When No.801 arrived with her train of seven four wheel vans, No.800 was attached as pilot! The three pleaded with the guard to be allowed to travel, but to no avail, so the only known example of a train DOUBLE-HEADED BY 800s went unrecorded, both by stopwatch and film - it was too dark for a photo! It appears that they only worked thus as far as Thurles, where No.800 went on shed and languished until August 1962 when she was removed to Inchicore. Now that rail tour you mention. No.801 was used on the Joint Tour of Ireland in 1961. On 5 April 1961 she worked the train from Cork to Mallow only and I suspect this was the last time she was used. Just five coaches and a four wheel (tin?) van. In The Journal, Jimmy O'Dea mentions that No.801 continued working occasionally on goods and beet trains until the end of 1961, when she joined her sister at Thurles. In 1962, she was also moved to Inchicore. So, during a school railway society visit, that's where I saw the pair of them, on 30 August 1962 - TENDER to TENDER. There's a photo somewhere. I expended an entire 120mm film that day - 12 shots!!!! No.801 was cut up early in 1963. I hope this casts a little light on the latter history of these impressive looking engines. Leslie

Order this weekend from me and you'll have them before Christmas. No money need change hands - just tell me how many. For such orders, I will fulfil them at not more than €28 a kit - a bit less for multiples, if I can save on postage.

Richie I've passed this on. He actually has GSR and GSWR books, plus Midland. Leslie

Hi Mike That message has been passed on. Richard only ever holds a few of any book at a time and prints on demand, so get to see him early. The GN ones have your name on them, but you need to decide which GSWR, GSR, Midland books you want. Thanks for the interest. Leslie

At no noticeable extra cost, I've done a bit of research in the IRRS Journal. No.800 ran the 1540 (Sat only) Kingsbridge to Cork in the summer of 1956 band 1957 (I am pretty sure a 400 Class was used on occasion)and worked her last passenger train - an extra - at Christmas 1958. I acknowledge the posthumous help of that lovely man David Murray in finding this out (IRRS Journal Vol 9 Page 270). Leslie

I suppose I'd better let you see what the whole wagon looks like? The chassis has been specially made to reflect its parentage - an earlier CIE container chassis. which, as every schoolboy (girl) knows had a different brake arrangement on each side - as you can see in this piccie of Big and Little Brother. We hope that you like it! Leslie

Well spotted, Des. Actually, there is a source for MODEL Sugar Beet, see:- http://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/truck-load-sugar-beet-oo-juweela How many stray beets do you think I should sell with each kit, Des? All part of the service. Leslie PS JB, NO rats on offer!

Ah, Richie, you discovered the same photo as we did! And, yes, you'll get the bracing in the kit.

To slightly misquote Crosby Stills and Nash - "It's getting to the point, where YOU are no fun any more….." I knew I should not have shown any of the corrugations! Next question - what song am I quoting? When they sang it (their first ever performance in public) at Woodstock, it brought the house down (in a manner of speaking, as they were singing in a field, of course!). Leslie

Will be on show at Raheny. Leslie Provincial Wagons

Time to put up a photo the Ballast Flat complete with the Railtec Transfers applied (very badly by me). Steve has done a neat job as a single transfer suffices for the Work's Plate (complete with the wagon's number) and the usual stencilled number. I'll have a supply of the kit at Raheny for just 22 Euros. Feel free to reserve one by PM or via my website. I have only had twenty made to date, so grab it while you can. A useful little wagon, whether for use with a pile of sleeps, or ballast; or, as I show here, delivering a new Landcover to a farmer ..... Leslie

Harry, I understood from Ron Pocklington that John was simply an enthusiastic photographer, rather than the official one. That said, between John and Ron they recorded the progress of the locomotive from the day they arrived right through to the trials on the Cork Main Line. I might add that John photographed Ron beside the boiler - the most significant part of the engine which existed when they turned up; the tanks had also been made - looked like progress, but wasn't - no work had been done on the actual ENGINE, which John and, more importantly Ron, set about designing and then building! It's a remarkable story. Leslie

Yes, Frank that's an interesting model - DOES IT GO? David, yours looks super too. Brass built locos look the Bees Knees - it always seems a pity to paint them! I had my last loco photographed before being "adulterated"! Leslie

John Click was with Bulleid at Brighton. Later he was working at the Testing Centre at Rugby when Bulleid asked Roland Bond for the loan of a couple of guys to TEST the TB. The full story has been told to me by Ron Pocklington who was the other guy sent to Ireland. When he and John Click arrived in Dublin they found that they had been sent to test a non-existent loco! The pair of them first had to build the thing! Full story was told by me in a talk entitled "The Third Man" (given to RPSI in Belfast and IRRS in London). - it's time I came to Dublin and gave the talk at Heuston? Leslie

It looks like I've been banished to the corridor (Stand W) - BUT I notice that you can't get in or out without passing my stand! Do call by and see (buy!) my latest four kits - two are brand new and deliveries are filling up my local post office! The prototypes of the next two will be on display. Guesses on a postcard, as the BBC used to say! Next to me - come and admire my pal Richard's superb coach-building skills. He will have books of drawings from the IRRS Archive - now including GSR and MGWR prototypes Leslie Provincial Wagons

From little Acorns grow mighty Oaks! Good luck with your next step upwards. Leslie

Good luck with the Launch and, of course, sales. Looking forward to selling it to the exiles over here. Pity it won't be in time for the Warley Exhibition! Leslie

The little Ballast wagon is thanks to Patrick Dillane in Ireland's Other Island - across the Atlantic - who spotted a photo on the Internet of the wagon with an Austin 1800 on it, sitting in a siding somewhere. I sent the photo, and a little suggestion to Michael who sent me a photo of the finished KIT about two weeks later. Happy Days. Leslie

Oh, it's the chassis Michael created for the corrugated wagon and I guess he has reused his Master on the successive wagons. Same logic as the IRM guys will use on their Ballasts and Bubbles, except that this is a resin kit of course.

First take a Bulleid triangulated chassis: Add a corrugated body and you've got one of several thousand of these iconic wagons; Add a steel van body and you get an H van (two above, of different eras) Finally, (for the moment), add a crude wooden platform and you get a Ballast Flat, which as well as its "proper" use got used to carry cars, or farm machinery, to Backwoods Ireland in the 1960s/1970s. 50 of these wagons were built using the chassis from H vans. I'm waiting for the transfers to complete the job. All available at Raheny in a couple of weeks! Leslie

Our H Van as it would have appeared in broken wheel days. The body is a bit on the red side, but you will get the idea? The kit comes with BOTH Snail and Wheel, plus correct numbers - as you can see here. Leslie