David Holman

Completion of the workshop gave me the opportunity to add some better lighting. Talking to Gordon Gravett over the summer, he told me he was experimenting with LEDs for layout lighting, so decided to have a go myself. Arigna Town was lit by 8x 6watt Clipspots, which generated a fair bit of hear [as you'd imagine] and were probably too bright for the effect I wanted. So checked out the LED Hut website and put in an order for 2x 5m, 72 watt LED strips, one in warm white, the other cool white. Also requires a 150 watt transformer. Not cheap... Have fixed the LED strips to a thin batter, which hinges like an old fashioned expanding wooden ruler. Hence can be fixed to the underside of my bookshelves, or bolted to the gallows brackets supporting the fascia at exhibitions. Now, very much appreciate that colour is in the eye of the beholder, but [to me at least], the effect is sharper and more like the bright but cloudy day I was looking for. Much closer to the fabulous pictures Andrew Burnham took for the forthcoming article in the Modeller too. However, not sure if it shows on the photos...

Only just stopped laughing... Is that a sample or it the latest product of the still? As a cocktail, could add a dash of Birchwood Casey gun blue, a smear of Vaseline and maybe a smidgen of flux paste. Light the blue touch paper and stand well back. Speaking of funny, check out the link below to RMweb. A small piece of genius in response to an MRJ article using EM profile wheels to make P4 running more reliable. The title says it all: http://captiongenerator.com/25206/Hitler-is-not-happy-with-Model-Railway-Journal-234

What you can't easily see is the bottle of meths on the shelf behind the puller drill. Medicinal purposes only, of course, track cleaning sometimes too. Goes well with Pringles....

Probably won't be long before the work top is looking untidy, as I am not the neatest when working! The hardboard and MDF sheet is on there for a reason... The Pringles tubes are very useful for storing wire and microstrip, while the lids make very good mixing pots for glue. However, there is one very well known modeller who uses the tubes from single malt whiskey for his wire and strip. Real class! No kick plates (told you the units were cheap), but hear what you say and may have to fit some. However, there is useful storage space below. The light posts, longitudinal support beams and other longer bits of timber are kept there, while the trestles, for exhibitions, fit nicely behind the units. Cunning plans, as Baldrick would say. Sadly tis a freezer not a fridge. Have to go to the kitchen for that.

By no means unique - I can remember seeing one used at Newark Northgate in my spotting days. It probably replaced a four legged 1hp version & no doubt there were many others around too. Making a working model might be interesting, though the 7mm scale layout 'End of the Line' had two R/C lorries, so presumably not impossible.

Things have been quite on the model building front recently, because my workshop has been getting a long overdue makeover. Formerly it was the integral garage to our house, but around the millennium, it was converted into the present workshop, with an internal door to the house and linked to the central heating system. It wasn't the biggest garage [less than 16x8], so has been much more useful in its present form, while also making loading layouts into the car far easier than when my modelling was done in the spare bedroom upstairs. 14+ years later and it was looking pretty scruffy. In addition, have not one, but two layouts stored/displayed in there was putting space at a real premium and it was a complete Chinese puzzle every time anything needed moving. So, bit the bullet and sold my 0 gauge layout, Eatonswell last month and was able to use the proceeds on a complete make over. This included new flooring, a repaint and the installation of new [cheap] kitchen base units to increase and tidy up storage. Around 4.3m worth of cupboards and 2m or drawers has cleared a lot of stuff from the higher shelves, so these are now mainly books and magazines. Spent a fortune on smaller storage from the 'Really Useful Box Co' which has enabled proper organisation of the myriad of bits & pieces we modellers crave and acquire, while tools are also better stored and more easily accessible. A further bonus is that I've been able to build a display cabinet to house some of my models. The pictures give an idea of what has been done and include a couple of areas given over to exhibition plaques. The ones over my workbench are the early Chatham Show ones - beautiful cast bronze affairs, made in the Dockyard foundry. Hopefully, can now get back to modelling - have a set of open wagons on the go, plus a parcels van and brake van. Will be nice to work in 7mm/ft for a change!

Agree with the others. No escaping the fact that ballasting is a chore, so best done little & often. Alternatively, what about the foam ballast strip and bases? Good for running & sound insulation, while with a bit of careful painting, can be made fairly realistic too. Beware real granite, as it can turn green with PVA glue. Woodlands Scenics the best for me, and always use a grade finer than might be suggested - so 00 for 0 gauge, N for 00 and finer still for N.

Uckfield went well, gaining runner up in the public vote for best layout. What makes the show so enjoyable is the warm welcome, excellent balance of traders and high standard of layouts. Add in a very knowledgeable audience & it makes for a fun weekend. Spoke to several people with first hand experience of Irish railways, including one who had rode the Sligo as a boy. Lots of people commented on how nice it was to see an Irish themed layout & several times found myself musing with folk about what other 7mm scale, broad gauge layouts there were. we could all name Castle Rackrent [a brief report in the new MRJ on its 40th birthday], but got stuck after that. surely there must be more? The new loco, Lark, acquitted itself well & the only problem was when Fermanagh somehow had a lead to the motor break off, stopping it rather abruptly. Otherwise things ran nicely & the only derailments were operator error. Likewise the new fiddle yard. Slightly scary when turning it, as the track table has to be pulled right out to do this, but we soon became confident in its use. Next outing not till Easter next year, at York, though have had over 20 enquiries now for other shows, mostly in the south of England.

Coakham book is indeed a gem HF. If only there was a wagon book too....

Iain Rice, in one of his many books on model railway design, came up with a 'rule' that I have always found appropriate. It is to ensure that what ever trains you have, they are able to travel at least three times their own length on your layout. Hence if you have a train one metre long, you ideally need a three metre run on your layout. Therefore, on Arigna Town, with its four, equal length baseboards, the fiddle yard of 47 inches [old money] gives loco and six wagons which does not look out of place on the scenic section. Have used this rule with several layouts and numerous plans & it really does work.

Good on yer! 21mm looks fab.

Don't think I have any info other than what is already available on the website, Des Coakham's carriage book, etc. However, would certainly be interested in your book if you can get the material. Likewise a wagon book. The latter is particularly lacking - even a broad brush generic history/review would be a help, though from what I hear many plans and records have been destroyed. Shame, because in Britain, there seems to be a book for every company, while Irish fans are forced to peer into the background of any photos, looking for snippets of information.. All power to your elbows!

Arigna Town's second outing is coming up in a few week's time - at Uckfield Model Railway Exhibition in Sussex on weekend of 18/19 October. Come and say hello if you can make it. The new 'sliding & rotating' fiddle yard will get its first full test, allowing more stock & greater flexibility of its use. First time out too for 'Lark' my latest loco - a Tyrconnel kit of St Molaga the T&C 0-4-2T. Sadly, doesn't look like my new rake of coal empties will be there as am still waiting for underframe castings. Likewise an SLNCR parcels van. Bodywork done and another serious full scale weathering job proceeding on all six vehicles, which am photographing as I go along, so you will see how they were built. Slight issue this morning though - was trying to create 'faded maroon' for the parcels van by adding light grey to BR maroon. Unfortunately has dried a decided plum colour. Words like bother and oh dear muttered... Looks like next big project will be a total refurb of my workshop. Very fortunate in that the missus allowed me to convert our former integral garage, which is now centrally heated, properly lit, plenty of sockets etc. However, that was about 15 years ago, so now needs a serious make over. Am also going to sell on my BR 0 gauge layout, Eatonswell, to make more storage and display space in my 'den'. Hoping to start late October & will post progress as I go along.

Can only echo all the other comments. Will make a very original and atmospheric layout. At the Chatham Club, we did something similar in 7mm scale, so was 26' long, but it got lots of interest at exhibitions for being a bit different. Am sure it will be fun to operate while all the buildings will frame the view really well. Like everyone else will look forward to following its progress. Great project - good luck with it - deserves to succeed.

That is one fine wagon & a very subtle paint job too.

So far, so good HF. A little hesitant on first run post completion which was disappointing as had been fine unpainted. However, one wheel was covered in paint and one pickup wasn't touching, so not bad for two wheel pickup! A clean and a bit of adjustment and it now runs pretty well. Should improve with use. Interestingly, needs 50% on the controller to achieve same speed as the Small Tanks on just 25%. Only three foot drivers though! Happy with five opens and a brake which is the coal train.

A couple of pictures of the new loco, sharing the coal train duties with the J26. It is assumed that the J26 brings the empties into Arigna Town, where Lark is waiting to take them up to the mines. The j26 heads off light engine & brake van, to return later in the day to pick up the loads which Lark has brought back down. As you can see, this is one tiny engine. Just 21 tons, it is about the size of a box van and dwarfed even by the modest dimensions of a J26...

My latest Tyrconnel kit is now complete. The little loco has taken around three weeks to finish, but overall probably about 50-60 hours work. Of this about a third was basic construction, another third faffing about adding detail and fine tuning the mechanism, with the rest on cleaning up, painting & weathering. Though mainly built 'out of the box', I've added a few extra details, not least an attempt to replicate the cross head driven 'pump thing' on the right hand side. Other bits included extra piping/taps on the footplate above the 'pump thing' and detailing the cab, where the backhead had just etched on impressions of water gauges, piping etc. With its big windows and side openings, there is a fairly clear view inside, so I thought it merited a bit more. My only other departure from the instructions was to use a Branchlines 40-1 gearbox and Mashima 18/30 motor. This drives the rear axle, rather than the front and is [mostly] hidden behind the tanks. With only 4 wheel pickup and no compensation, I'm a bit concerned about keeping the wheels clean, but the chassis folded up absolutely square and [fingers crossed] the little loco runs well and is more than up to the five coal wagons, plus brake that it is required to pull. I've stuck to black for the livery, as per T&L's St Molaga, but have graced my loco with polished boiler bands and smokebox door furniture. It also has a different name - 'Lark'. Those in the know will realise this is one of the names given to the E Class/J26 0-6-0Ts and my previous Tyrconnel kit had spare sets for all of them [including Gnat & Wasp]. The reason for Lark is that I fancy that when the Arigna Mines Co were connected to the branch from the SLNCRT at the start of the 20th century, the looked around for a suitable small engine and the T7L's Hunslet fitted the bill admirably. With [i imagine] skylarks being a feature of the moor and mountain above Arigna, it is but a small step to the loco's name. However, the plates are only held on with blutack, so it could easily morph back to Molaga if ever the desire to built a model of Courtmacsherry gets the better of me! The photos show the model pre and post weathering & I think it is interesting to compare the two. Black engines are, well, very dark and can be somewhat featureless without a bit of titivation. The name plates, red bufferbeams and polished pipework help, but extensive dry brushing with a mix of Humbrol grey [64] and Metalcote gunmetal has toned things down a bit and highlighted some of the details. Will also post some pictures of it on the layout in that section.

Thanks Paul. Seeing Robin's version and reading his article was the inspiration. The one thing I didn't pick up was that two way drawer runners are needed for my version. Only found out when realised the table would not slide fully over... Beat me round the head and I get there eventually!

Many thanks Minister - the third links is especially interesting.

Can anyone point me in the direction of pictures of Timoleague & Courtmacsherry Tramway's 0-4-2T St Molaga, please? Am building the Tyrconnel kit & want to add as much extra detail as possible. Only photos I have are low three quarter views of the right hand side. Am interested in knowing what the crosshead driven piston thingy was on the right hand side. Associated pipework very vague and no mention of it in the kit. Also, who was Molaga? Google indicates the local church named after him/her [school too], with a possible link to bee keeping as well... Thanks.

After a summer break, life returns to the workshop with the arrival of a new loco kit - namely Tyrconnel Models St Molaga. This tiny loco ran on the Timoleague & Courtmacsherry Tramway until withdrawal in 1949. My Arigna Town history assumes that the Arigna Mining Co then bought it to run on the branch. Alternatively, maybe Hunslet built another one and supplied it new? Either way, the light axle load [less than 8 tons], would be ideal. The model will be no bigger than a standard box van when complete, but with a Slaters Manning Wardle 0-4-0T, Springside GER 'Coffee Pot', plus the MRJ scratchbuild project for Wantage Tramway's 'Jane' under my belt, I'm no stranger to small locos. The Tyrconnel kit costs £80, though by the time wheels/motor/gears are added, this can easily double. It comprises several sheets of brass etches and a bag of whitemetal castings, plus a decent set of instructions which includes a scale drawing and several photos of a kit during construction. To begin with, I thought it was going to be a breeze. I spent a couple of hours cutting out the main etches [helpfully numbered], then next day got the footplate/cab/tank unit soldered up. The basic chassis soon followed, so after about 8 hours work, things were looking promising. Then things ground to a halt. This is not the fault of the kit, but my preference for 36.75mm gauge and adding more detail. You'd think with the wider gauge, there would be more room to play with, but the fold up chassis is designed for 32mm gauge. The instruction suggest using the crosshead/piston rod unit from a Hornby Princess & though I'm sure this will work well and save a lot of time, examination of the drawing & photos showed that there is some sort of pump driven from the R/H crosshead. This together with the inevitable tight clearances between the crosshead and the leading driver's crankpin resulted in a lot of head scratching and experimentation before I could get things right. Ended up making new cylinders from top hat bearings and brass tube. If anyone can shed any light on the pump [or whatever it is], please let me know. Am sure that if I had just followed the instructions and built the kit out of the box, it would be in the paintshop by now. This is a very well thought out kit, but once I'd identified some extra detail, the challenge of taking things further was too much to resist!

One very important point to remember is that, of all the aspects of the hobby, creating scenery requires the least skill - at least to start off with. Using, cork/polystyrene tiles, papier-mache etc as a base, then covering it with some sort of plaster/PVA/poster paint mix, will soon get you started. Consider doing a small diorama or practice piece first & you'll soon gain confidence to do larger areas. You won't waste much money on materials either.

Very impressive. They deserve to do really well.

Any idea what the Courtmacsherry terminus looked like? With so many Tyrconnel models available, this could perhaps make a very nice 7mm scale layout.