David Holman

Given we can now have ourselves scanned, so that miniature versions go on the layout, the options are endless, it would appear!

Hope the crew had some clean underpants with them!

Forgot about that railcar, Ken! With improved printing technology, you'd think Shapeways could do better by now - or maybe they are? The lesson still seems to be that, unless you have your own, quality printer (or know someone who does), these models are best avoided. That said, the price of 3D printers is getting ever cheaper, so maybe one day, we will all have one on our workbench, just like our printer-copier next to the computer. Could be very useful for some things, but nobody is going to produce a 3D printed working loco chassis any time soon, methinks. In the meantime, I'll be sticking to tried and tested methods - occasionally literally! Thanks for the advice folks.

Came across this as one of the small ads in this month's Railway Modeller. Designed by Simon Dawson, the website links directly to Shapeways, so am guessing folk here may know of it. My interest is mainly 7mm scale 5'3, but this site covers other scales, while the Shapeways catalogue is pretty large too. These are of course 3D prints, so are body only and therefore producing a working model is definitely no gimme. The catalogue includes: Guinness Hudswell Clarke steam and diesel locos GSWR class 90 & 99 0-6-0T, also with the carriage section 101/J15 0-6-0, both boiler types SLNCR Railcar B Ford railcar - Donegal version, converted to 3' gauge Dublin and Blessington Drewery tramcar GNRI railcar B GSR Clayton steam railcar GSR Sentinel steam railcar GSR Drunk battery two car set MGWR 4 w coach MGWR 6w brake third, third and first coaches MGWR horsebox DSER Ashbury van For me, the Ford railcar looks the most interesting, as in Donegal guide it has a brief trial on the Clogher Valley and comes in at just under £40. A chassis wouldn't be too difficult. The 0-6-0 and coach is £80, but will need a lot of work, methinks...

Well done, Andy!

Needed a couple of goes then! Ain't taking off without a bridge over the M11 though...

An almost daily feature of my childhood as I lived close to several of their bases. Hunters, Provosts and Lightnings too. To stand next to a Vulcan is quite an experience! Duxford is perhaps THE place to go - how they squeezed the B52 into the American hall, let alone land it there is the first place was a real feat.

As an antidote to the woes of the world, I urge everyone to check out the link in Mayner's post above and then just wonder at the vision and sheer output of this remarkable man. Check the links within the post too - there are yet more photos, though sadly the website no longer functions.

Brilliant! Thanks for this link, John.

Wow, what an occasion that must have been! Nice to see Shannon on Castle Rackrent.

Oops! Thought I might have been provocative... For my late 50s period, 0-6-4Ts and railcars were all that was left. Had the ex GNRI 4-4-0 and 0-6-0s lasted longer, would have been very tempted!

Midland Great Western Railway The Sligo Leitrim offered a slightly limited range of stuff for me to model, but there are many MGW temptations in the Alphagraphix/Tyrconnel catalogue. First up was the the E/J26. This is a super kit for anyone interested in getting into 7mm scale. The chassis is a single etch, which just folds up and you can easily have something running in a couple of hours. The kit is designed for 32mm gauge, but by reversing the top hat bearings, you easily get the correct back to back for broad gauge. All in all, this little loco took just over 40 hours to make, including painting & weathering and is a very good runner. Next came the G2 2-4-0, a more complex kit, but nevertheless following the usual AlphaG principles. I added extra detail to this one, especially around the smokebox, while it also required a bit of TLC following a serious crash when it fell off the baseboard and hit the floor about a metre below! Damage was fortunately only cosmetic. Another good runner, it benefits from tender pick ups, as well as on the loco. Haulage is a bit marginal though, with three six wheel coaches being about the limit - but then that is all the room I have, so its not a problem. My third MGW loco, also an AlphaG kit is the J18/9. Very similar to the G2 and probably an 0-6-0 version in some ways, there are a lot of common parts, so guess it was a worthwhile enterprise. Not [to my eyes] as pretty as the G2, I still harbour doubts about whether the boiler diameter should be larger, while the Green Bible tells us there were a fair few variations within this class. However, it runs well enough and usually gets rostered for my fish train. Will stick with my 1950s period for now, though I do have some early 1900s stuff too, but will cover this later.

Not a Scooby, JB. Took me long enough to find out what prototype they were based on! Curious choice, especially with Richard tending to favour the WL&W, whereas [I believe], the D&M became part of the MGW. As for why he built two... Photos of Castle Rackrent show at least one of them as part of the 'Mail Goods', something I've tried to replicate on Belmullet. Hauled by Shannon, it made a nice train - more of which anon on my Collection thread

Fabulous! Thank you.

Dave Walker - another pioneer. I had dinner with him once, in the company of Gordon and Maggie Gravett, plus Andrew Burnham of Continental Modeller. It was at the old St Albans show. Dave was into Gauge One by then and it was another opportunity missed. I sometimes think I must go around with my eyes and eyes closed!

It pains me to say that as a long time member of the Chatham & District Model Railway Club, I have little or no memory of Adavoyle being at the Dockyard show. However, the year in question sticks in the mind for other reasons. We had lost the use of the Fitted Rigging House (a vast area of warehouses fronting the river) so for reasons best thought at the time, decided to hold the show in a large marquee, set up on the 'pea shingle'. This was a parade ground type area which proved far from level, or indeed stable. Needless to say, it chucked it down that weekend and the tent leaked, damaging at least one layout. I was doing a model buildings demonstration that year, so had little time to look round and hence missed Adavoyle, which must have delayed my entry into Irish models by several years. As for Richard, he was well known for turning up with things of interest to share and I believe even took a layout to shows by train, though not the epic Allenedac of course! When I met him at the Manchester Show, I got an invite to take Arigna Town to Glasgow, which I couldn't do and hence missed the chance to have other Castle Rackrent locos on my layout. At the time, I think I had the only other 7mm scale Irish broad gauge exhibition layout and then Richard died the next year - a huge loss to the hobby.

Gold dust! These folk are so important to our hobby and it is wonderful to hear more about them.

A good painting deserves to be properly framed. Layouts likewise. Am sure Iain Rice would have approved.

When Richard passed away, his executor did indeed circulate lists of all his stuff, inviting sealed bids for whole layouts and individual items. I believe his 3'6 gauge Norwegian layout went to Norway, while at least part of Castle Rackrent went to the 'barber's shop's museum in Manorhamilton, so may be on display there. Richard could build on a grand scale and I sometimes wonder what happened to his French layout with its vast two metre high viaduct? It would be great to hear more about his work and indeed the man himself. There were a couple of articles in MRJ and photos on the internet, but can't help thinking we ought to have more on this forum. Drew Donaldson and Tony Miles too, for that matter!

A couple of pictures of stuff I got from Richard's estate. This is Shannon, after I'd done a bit of restoration work. The model is close to 50 years old and was built by Richard for the original Castle Rackrent that he built in his bedsit! Appeared in the June 1975 RM. Not sure it was ever cleaned, but beautifully made & will relate more when I get to that part of my collection. Suffice to say it must have run many, many actual miles over the vast system he built up - as the state of the tender wheels below shows: Looks at that groove in the tread! Quite why he built the Dublin and Meath brake vans is anyone's guess, but they are certainly nice models, constructed from wood rather than plastic. And here's the 101, alongside Shannon. Quite why Richard never built it is a mystery, but it remained untouched for 20 years until his executor offered it to me at Guildex back in 2018.

I did indeed - the wonderful WL&WR 0-6-0 Shannon, plus his two Dublin and Meath brake vans. Later, I got an unbuilt kit of a J15, plus a signal and some wheels. All have threads on this forum, either in my Work bench section, or the Tribute to Richard Chown thread. Met him once at the Manchester show, when we ran his Sligo Small Tank, Lissadel on my Arigna Town layout. He seemed a lovely guy and definitely one of my heroes. Didn't just do Irish stuff either. French 0 gauge, Norwegian narrow gauge and Brecon and Merthyr among his many interests!

Love how rock steady all the stock is on that video - possibly even better than the real thing!

Fascinating stuff and looking forward to seeing things progress.

Not as hard as you'd think - especially the straight legged versions for the wagons. Went on to make a small herd of full legged models (it's written up somewhere on here), though my most recent one is Maggie Coulter's Goat which is either on my Clogher Valley or work bench threads.

A joy, as ever.