David Holman

Here's a photo. 65 coaches at an average of day 25cm each = 16.5 metres, including the loco. Full size, a train like this would be over 1.3km long and weigh around 2600 tons. Would a real Deltic manage this? Did read somewhere that a model pulled a breeze block (on a wagon), but no idea how this compares with the weight of last night's models. Either way, very impressive.

Beautifully crafted!

At the Chatham Club this evening we had a preplanned haulage test of one of the 00 Deltics. The main layout offers a large oval with 4' radius curves, so more and more coaches were assembled until an actual tailchaser was achieved with no less than 65 bogies. The Deltic was completely unphased by this massive load and had we the room, nobody would have been surprised if 100 bogies were pulled. Will post a picture later.

Looks SO familiar! What is it about even the simplest jobs that seem to need half the contents of the tool box? Love that jig you are using to assemble the cab. Home made or commercial? Either way, time and money well spent.

Very much admire the ambition, but many a project has foundered because it all took too long. Probably the biggest question to consider is - are you mainly a builder, or an operator? Galteemore and I were talking about this at a show on Saturday. We will happily play trains at exhibitions, but at home, it is all about making stuff. If operation is your thing, a big project like this will take a long time before you ever get to see things moving and even longer before it looks like you want. My advice is always to start small and make something you can finish in a reasonable time scale. When I was working full time, I could generally complete a single baseboard (bare wood to track laid, wired and scenics) in a year. Therefore, starting from scratch and using commercial buildings, stock and so on, a small layout could easily take 12 to 18 months. If you are keen on a big project, aim to break it down into smaller pieces. Find a section of Harcourt Street that would make an interesting diorama and build that. It can then be incorporated into the big project but if interests wanes you haven't wasted any time while still gaining valuable experience. Sermon over! As to measuring stuff, large scale maps can give a good idea of station site sizes, while your own stock will tell you what space you might need too. For example, using feet and inches, a coach or main line loco will be 60ft = 10 inches, so loco and five will be 5ft long. Therefore you will need up to 20ft/6m, just to model a terminus to fiddle yard, because a train needs to run 3x it's own length to feel right. As for other dimensions, study photos (plenty on Google) and use people to get a rough idea of height, or indeed railway stock. A coach will be about 4m tall. Also, standard doorways are usually about 2m, though grander entrances will be higher. Overall though, this hobby is more about the journey than the destination. We finish a project and immediately want to start a new one! So, take your time, study what folk are doing here, if you can, join a local club and most of all enjoy the ride. Being creative is a great antidote to the stresses and strains of the modern world, even if it does get frustrating at times.

A bit bigger than your stuff, Angus, though we did have the delightful 2mmFS 'Freshwater' layout [IOW] next door. Always impressed by how well these tiny models run.

Just one picture, which [sort of] paints a thousand words - most of them rude... A lot of effort [and expletives] have been expended on this short bit of track in the last week. The upper line is [fingers crossed] now ok and the new sleepers & rail are being repainted. However, the Y turnout has been a real pain in the primary orifice, merrily derailing every wagon that went over it. I say every, though there are only ten in total for both periods [two wagons and a brake for each train]... A combination of all the check rails at the Vee [frog] end and adjusting the back to backs on the wheels got that sorted, but the point blades were more stubborn, requiring resetting the tie bar below the baseboard. Even then the wheel flanges were catching the open blade, riding up and derailing. Tortoise point motors don't allow a bigger gap, so had to resort to fitting a check rail just in front of the upper blade, which seems to have sorted the problem. Have since gone on to test the two short freights that shunt the left hand siding. Two wagons and a brake are pulled into the loop & then pushed back into the siding to pick up two more wagons already there. All five are then pulled back into the loop, then reversed again so that the brake and latter two wagons are parked beyond the Y. The loco can then push the two incoming wagons into the siding, collect the out going ones, then run round and depart. All this is done via single electro-magnet [operated by a push to make switch on the control panel], currently marked by a small piece of masking tape on the right of the picture. In principle, this works well. In practice, the Alex Jackson couplings need careful setting up. Mainly, this involves making sure the hooks are at the right height and dead centre. However, the dropper wire, mostly hidden behind the wheels, also needs to be just the right height to be pulled down by the magnet. A millimetre too high and it doesn't work [even with 15 volts instead of 12], a millimetre too low and magnet and dropper embrace, potentially causing a derailment. However, slowly getting there, though the two coal wagons still need attention, as does one end of the brake, note the masking tape again. Knowing when to stop and leave it for another day is very much the mantra in these things! Really nice to take Fintonagh out and have a day with Galteemore and his son yesterday and get away from this for a while.

It was great to have GM & his son's company on Saturday and even better to have two accomplished operators. Think I can finally remember how to pronounce Leitrim! Many thanks for a lovely day and some fine pictures. The loco inside the shed is a first, not least because it only just fits...

Now that is a stunner. Waiting for an excuse to have a model railway built around it, methinks. Cavan station is a little beauty too.

Doing that today, as it happens - rail cleaning, that is... Fintonagh has a day out at the De Havilland club's show in Welwyn tomorrow. Galteemore is on duty with me too, so no excuses for not pronouncing names properly!

Fab. Wish I'd remembered to label my E class F and R. Would have saved me having to unsolder the bunker... The simple ideas are the best. Nice rolling road too.

7mm ones are bad enough for me, so these are nothing short of alchemy! Always great to see your work.

The lady of the house was away singing in Glastonbury over the weekend [choral society, not rock band], so this gave me an opportunity to set the layout up in the living room. There was a lot to do, because it had yet to be paired with the old Arigna Town/Belmullet sliding & rotating fiddle yard, nor had it been set up on the trestles I've built. I also wanted to add the fascia & pelmet, plus do a trial fit of everything in the car. Not entirely successful it must be said. It took ages to get the layout properly set up, while the pelmet and lighting proved a pain as well. Once I did get everything sorted, a major problem showed itself with both tracks across the baseboard join showing a distinct ridge, which promptly derailed all my six wheeled coaches. Not only that, but a bit of a dog leg in the platform was in exactly the right place to make coupling the AJs impossible. And there is a kink in the tunnel. And the uncoupling magnet in the platform was in the wrong place. "Apart from that Mrs Lincoln, how was the show?" Words that rhyme with rugger and rowlocks spring to mind... Then there was fitting it all in the car. It does. Just. The main issues being the extra stock boxes compared to Fintonagh, plus the Acla and the pier fiddle yard. Anyway, after a major tidy up before herself returned, got the layout on the workbench & discovered that the problem with the track across the baseboard joint was that some card packing I'd used to level things up had swollen because of the dilute PVA I'd used for ballasting. Serves me right for not sealing the surface beforehand. The only option was to to remove the rails and then lift/replace several sleepers to get down to the offending underlying surface. Removing a long section of rails along the platform at least enabled me to sort out the dog leg, while the uncoupling magnet has been moved too. None of this actually took very long, though reballasting and tidying everything will no doubt take significantly longer!

A model with real character & love the paint job.

Indeed, already on to that! Clearances on the splashers are fine, but the frames need half a millimetre taking off each end to fit inside the buffer beams. Still waiting for the motor hear box though...

Looking at my recent rail atlas of Britain and Ireland (you can never have enough maps), see that the triangle created South of Kilkenny is double track on the new North to South arm, even though all the other lines leading to it are single.

Static grass applicators are great, though you still need all the Woodlands stuff as well to create weeds, bushes and so on. What you don't need is a mini vac, as it will not be strong enough. An ordinary vacuum hose with a handkerchief over the end of the pipe collects the fibres better, though you may need to invest in a really cheap mains one. It will keep the domestic authority happy though! Try an internet search for static grass applicator, as there are cheaper versions, though the "proper" ones are worth the money and you will want to use it for other projects, not least because it is fun and easy. The original Noch puffer bottle comes in handy for tight corners too.

I'm sure all kit and scratch builders have aspects of the process they love to hate. Anything fiddly for one - especially if it requires more hands than you were born with - and various times during construction when you find something doesn't sit right, no matter how careful you've been. Add in my latent ability to fit anything 'handed' back to front and rude words are inevitable... The footplate starts off simply enough - a nice flat etch, with just the outer sides of the four splashers to bend up. The inner sides have to be cut from the fret next, but tabs and slots help you solder them without too many problems. However, the splasher tops are the first items where you need more hands. If I was making several engines with 4'6 drivers, then it might have been worth cutting some sort of inner shape from wood, to rest the tops on, but I just tend to plough on, getting singed fingers and broadening my vocabulary. At least bending the brass to shape is easy. Tip: always use a smaller diameter rod than the curve you are creating. Turned out I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by leaving the tops until after I'd fitted the inner tank sides. These give you something else to rest the part against & having originally fixed them about half a millimetre out, I had to take them off anyway. However, before that comes the cab front, then the inner sides of the tanks. Next is the cab rear, which needs the coal plate adding & best then not to solder it back to front as I managed! Notice the simple tools which can help no end - lolly sticks or bits of thin ply to stop fingers getting singed and the all important sprung hair grips to hold things while you are soldering. Being aluminium, these are ideal as this metal is pretty much impossible to solder. I've never been very neat or tidy with soldering and use far too much of the stuff, but it helps a lot if you can do most of the main seams from the inside. Likewise only spot solder long seams to begin with, as joints are much easier to redo if [when in my case] you get it wrong to begin with. The cab sides, bunker and tanks are large etches, needing just a single fold for the tank fronts. The latter are radiused, but a series of half etch lines on the inside make this nice and easy. The rear bunker piece is done the same way. Just as well, because the next steps are to fit all the beading and the piece that goes round the cab opening is a right swine to fit. Trial and error, singed fingers and more rude words again! So, there we are. About five hours for these bits, taking us up to eight in total, with at least an hour less if I'd got things right first time...

Excellent! Many thanks to you both. Looks like I will need to include it. Notice that the 2-4-0 also has twin headlamps on the buffer beam! As ever, the IRM community comes up with the goods.

. Building the Alphagraphix kit and looking at photos for details of original appearance, when noticed the curious pipe around the front of the smokebox. It appears to come from below the footplate and am guessing may have been copper. Any ideas? Isn't on the ex works picture in Rails to Achill and removed by GSR days. Indeed, happy not to model it, if removed after 1903 or so! Interesting details on the front buffer beam, with two lamps there. Any other info on when first built welcome too. The chimney is clearly different, also the smokebox door (both in the kit), while the hand rail on the left hand tank is missing.

See that it is 100 years since the closure of the Castleblaney, Keady and Armagh railway between this first two places. The line had only opened in 1910, but was a victim of partition. Passenger services continued from Armagh to Keady until 1932 and freight until 1957. If you thought that was short lived, the line from Birr to Portumna Bridge only lasted from 1868 to 1878

I feel your pain! Looks very good to me, Alan and is similar to the system used on the North Star Swilly small tank kits, though being 7mm, they use side control springs (think they are the same as used in plunger pickups, so tiny), plus a bigger spring on the vertical pivot. The system works well and have since replicated it on my Large Tank and the D16. Wouldn't want to try it on 4mm though... Really fine work.

You have to buy the broad gauge axle as an extra, Ken. Must have spent a fortune over the years as they are £5 each. Rumour has it, Slaters will exchange one for the other, though not sure they'd be happy to take my 30+ spares all at once... The official back to back is quoted as 33.98mm, though that has always been 34mm to me. Works well enough with Code 100 rail too. The carpet monster eats 7mm stuff too, Alan! However, it is a very forgiving scale to work in, especially when doing broad gauge. Very addictive too, mind...

Norman Johnson did the Blue Bible, for the GNRI, though it doesn't appear to have a list of sheds.

While going through my Irish Rail Atlas, noticed that there could well be quite a few 'big' anniversaries this year, or indeed other times too. For example, it shows the Dundalk, Greenore & Newry line opening between those first two places in 1873, which makes this year its 150th anniversary. Feel sure there must be others, including ones when lines or stations closed and likewise there are folk out there to fill in the gaps!