David Holman

Guess every large city has its less pleasant areas. On our first trip to Ireland, we'd stayed in a wonderful castle/hotel for our last night, but then had to find our way over the Wicklow Mountains to the ferry at Dun Laoghaire. Well before the days of sat nav or mobile phones and we first got lost in the mist going through the mountains only to them find ourselves in the sort of council estates it was best not to stop to ask the way. We'd spent all our Punts and I was convinced we were going to miss the ferry. Finally got to the port and were waved on with some urgency as the last car and had barely time to switch off the engine before the ramp was up and the ship was away. The next ferry wasn't until the following morning... It was only a five day trip, but we saw a bit of everything from mountains to bog lands, sunshine and soft days, Mrs O'Leary's guest house and that fantastic castle hotel. Lovely people and (I've since discovered) wonderful railways too. Just needs a classic bit of preserved railway - preferably a good narrow gauge run as well, plus a tramway, etc. Not much to ask!

Whoever built all these certainly knew what they were doing. Single maker or more than one/separate painter?

With only a few feet of track to do, ballasting must become (almost) enjoyable! Seriously worthwhile here as it really looks the business.

My first thought was Warners. The Allypally show is run by The Model Railway Club (capital letters because it is the original/first one), but all the funding and legal side of things comes from the publishing company - including professional stewarding, the latter on the anal side of pedantic at times. I would imagine the costs of hiring the NEC will be similar to that of Allypally = eyewatering. I asked Nick Freezer (son of Cyril and one of the Club organisers) about this once and his comment was "Don't know and daren't ask!" Back in the day, the Chatham Show needed to take in £20 000, just to break even. About half of that came from trader's fees and the rest from ticket sales. Our fees for traders were around a quarter of what they were charged at Allypally. Therefore easy to see why the Warley Club wanted out in the end. I wonder if Warners are doing the new show on their own, or getting help from volunteers? They certainly have plenty of experience of running big shows and it may well be that this is the future of such events, so long may they prosper.

Thanks folks, have filed that idea under B. Quite how Gordon did all his Reseau Breton stock on Pempoul like this is beyond me, but that's a master craftsman for you.

Side chains - the Spawn of Satan Seems ok from the picture below? A piece of three link chain, with a hook on one end and a fixing loop in the buffer beam on the other? Well, not for me it ain't and while normally I wouldn't waste space on items like this, I've simply felt the need to share the pain... For starters, every vehicle needs four of the poxy things. This involves separating three links from a longer piece of chain, then opening the link at each end to fit a hook and loop. Both the latter come on various etches lurking in the scrap box and which are destined to lurk some more too. One possible option might be to use the 'eye' below, but to be honest, beyond maybe fitting them to my locos, I really can't think of a reason to do it - and remember, I work in 7mm scale. On top of that, the chains are not going to be connected on the layout, so am caused to wonder why bother? I did [mostly] finish a Donegal open the other day and managed to get most of the materials I wanted at Tonbridge yesterday, so have every reason to put the side chains back in the drawer marked 'Do Not Open' for a while - and maybe forever!

Don't know if I'm in a minority on this, but I much prefer to watch preserved trains go by than ride on one. As Mayner says, much depends on the experience too. For example, the Bluebell Railway is good because it passes pleasant scenery and has at least one summit in the middle. Likewise, the North York Moors. The Kent and Easy Sussex is pleasant and certainly does a fine job of recreating the days of Colonel Stephens. However, the only real gradient (a steep one admittedly) is from Rolvenden to Tenterden and this is the only time you see and hear trains working hard. Going out from Tenterden is very low key. The Ffestiniog and for that matter the Durango and Silverton have the same 'problem', albeit with dramatic scenery to compensate. Enjoyed my trip to Silverton, but less so on the way back, but my favourite memory was waiting at the crossing just outside Durango, with the morning train whistling its way out of town before attacking the start of the gradient in very fine style. I think, with so many preserved railways to choose from this side of the water, some sort of theme is essential to bring non enthusiasts along. If you don't have the scenery, you might need to get creative, as per the Nene Valley with its continental stock. At least Ireland has its mainline steam tours, but the lack of much in the way of tourist railways is a shame, especially with so many failed ventures to look back on. If it had survived longer, the Hill of Howth tram would probably make money as a preserved line today, but it is hard to think of other options that might make a living. Over here, you actually expect there to be a tourist railway every few miles down the road - and indeed they often are! It seems general folk in Ireland are far less interested and breaking that chain will always be difficult nowadays.

Thought as much. Have also wondered if the CVR Unit had actually been used by the Donegal, whether one of two of the former's brake vans would have gone with it, to make lightweight goods possible.

It is a sombre fact that when state pension from the age of 65 was first introduced, the life expectancy of the average working man was just 48... Now 'they' complain that we are living too long and the older generation are a burden on society! An answer to that is in the wonderful book 'This Thing of Darkness' - the story of Captain Robert Fitzroy's voyage with Darwin on the Beagle. When they reached the tip of South America, they noticed that there were no older folk among the local tribes people. When asked if they moved North to avoid the cold winters, the reply was they weren't there because they ate them!

Bodies are all plasticard, apart my resin cast one. The chassis for this is a Branchlines etched brass kit, correct for CVR wagons. Still available, even though, like the two CVR coachex, they date from the late 1980s. Swilly and Donegal wagons are on Alphagraphix whitemetal chassis kits. These are discontinued, but if you email Roger (see the website), it is possible he may still have a few. The ones I got are all nine foot wheelbase, but it is a simple matter to cut them down, or even extend. I use Slater's wheels in these and Branchlines 14mm in the others. The latter use 2mm brass rod for the axles to suit both 21mm gauge and magnetic uncouplers. Not (yet) got round to building CVR 4, Jim. Maybe one day...

I seem to have been flitting around various wagons over the last week or so, starting several, but not able to complete anything due to shortages of micro strip. Hopefully, I can put that right at the Tonbridge show on Saturday. Another problem has been trying to decide which Donegal wagons I want to build. The background to this is that the makeover I want to do on Fintonagh sees both Swilly and Donegal trains share the tracks - either as separate sequences or combined. Swilly is fairly easy - a passenger train and either a mixed or a freight. The mixed had been favourite, but finding a pictures and plans of 4 wheel brakes is leaning me towards the latter now. I have three Swilly wagons, but going through various books, I realised I had the means for several others, in the form of my Clogher Valley stock. Two or three of these won't need much work, other than a bit of new lettering. They even seem to have kept the original 2' diameter wheels when they went to the Swilly and, I'll argue, could have been ideal for my bit of fiction - as will an unfinished scratch build of a CVR butter van. CVR stock went to the Donegal as well, of course [Cavan and Leitrim too], who saw the vans and opens as ideal for working with their railcars. However, compared to the CVR's 10-15mph speeds, on the Donegal they were expected to run at up to 40mph, which their small wheels, with narrow treads, soon caused problems, so most got rebuilt with 2'7 wheels and vacuum brakes, becoming the well known 'red vans'. At least one open wagon seemed to retain its original chassis, so one of my opens is due for a repaint. For the red vans, I have several unmade Branchlines CVR chassis etches, which, with a small amount of fettling, will take 2'7 wheels. I also have two sets of my own resin castings which can make a couple of vans - though Slater's corrugated plastic is very much on Saturday's shopping list for me to make their roofs. Progress on the above is shown below: the one on the left will become a Swilly van, while the one on the right uses the resin castings and 2'7 wheels. The final pictures show a Donegal sliding door van - one of two that need micro strip I don't have - plus alongside it a not dissimilar Swilly van. Deciding on motive power for my Donegal trains has also caused much head scratching. CVR railcar 1 will be repainted to become Donegal 10, while the Atkinson Walker tractor will be rebuilt and repainted as Phoenix. The 'Unit' also went to the Donegal, but only got used for spares, it seems. However, in my version of events, it will find use hauling goods - probably with one of the CVR brake vans and a mixture of stock. I have been thinking about building a Class 2 4-6-0T for this work, but they had all gone by 1937. However, I hope to build another railcar, either 6 or 7, which can also haul a couple of wagons if required, with Phoenix acting as shunter. As I'm already on Plan D [at least!] for all this, no doubt things will still change, but it feels good to be able to repurpose so much of my CVR stock. Might the Sharp Stewart tanks also have found a home on my Donegal-Swilly Joint line? Who knows - though they were pretty worn out by the CVR's closure.

Back in the day, there were rumours of Stanier 8F 2-8-0s bricked up in abandoned mines and tunnels as standbys for a/the apocolypse. These days, we'd struggle to find enough coal to power them...

Some have also gone to Nigeria.

Is there a project all these gems are part of?

The Donegal was noted for mainly using a brake 3rd coach at the end of its freight trains, but when Phoenix went off on its forays (mainly to pick up wagons from the border), was a brake van of some sort included and if not, was a guard present and if so, did he travel on the loco?

I just file the rail in a vice and keep comparing against the plan/drawing. Haven't found it a problem, but with plenty to do, a jig will certainly help.

Recently, I was very taken by Tullygrainy's fully scenic shelf test track. Such a splendid idea to combine the chance to run in locos while enjoying seeing them do so in a proper setting. Plus, as the man said at the time, having such a thing next to your workbench makes an ideal foil for those times when building projects are not going as well as they might, because seeing your models trundle back and forth has to be good for the soul. In addition, I feel for those on this forum who have collections of locos [large and small], but nowhere to run them and dislike the thought of so many models sitting on shelves, not doing what they are meant to. So this is now a bit of a mission to get a few more engines running, because I really can't see why everyone shouldn't have space for one of these! My own needs are for 21mm [3 foot gauge] and 36.75mm [5'3] track in 7mm scale. My workbench sits against a blank wall, with about 5 feet of space available. Hence, my design will form a piece of dual gauge track, inset into a quayside, looking out across a sea inlet to low lying land on the other side - a blend of places like Wexford, Cork, Sligo and so on. The aim is for it to be as simple as possible, using a 6 inch/15cm wide bit of shelving as the 'baseboard'. This will be fixed to the wall with a couple of shelf brackets, but will sit about an inch out from the wall, with a gap to the back scene - probably a sheet of painted hardboard - fixed to the wall, so that the inner edge can represent a quayside, complete with a few mooring bollards. Track will be code 100 flatbottomed rail, soldered to a minimum of copper clad sleepers. Ground surface can then be built up close to rail level to represent a quayside road, with edging stones on the inner face [next to the wall]. Narrow wings each end should help to frame the picture, which will hopefully provide a nice backdrop to photograph my models. As for operation, without any hidden sections are each end, it makes sense to consider a shuttle unit that incorporates a gentle start and gradual slow down, rather than a sudden start/stop. I do have one of these, but couldn't get it to work; however our Club electrics wizard as said it should do and [hopefully] will work on a completely isolated piece of track. We will see - eventually... The chances of this little project getting started any time soon are fairly slim, but I would love to see others take up the challenge, even if it is only via suggestions for other themes - eg multiple tracks or different settings. Food for thought? I hope so!

Interesting concept too, especially in larger scales and certainly food for thought and all the more remarkable in 2mm scale.

Never trust your pride and joy to run well first time in public, especially on someone else's tracks. I should know, with a drawer full of t-shirts to my name... Sir Henry wasn't exactly happy that day either, though (fingers crossed), after tweaking the headshunt point and levelling the track across the baseboard joint, all should now be well for both locos. We can but see. Aldershot in October, or Chatham in July, maybe? Enniskillen certainly looks at home in its namesake setting, as does coach No9. Worth investing in a couple of shuttle units, a la Tullygrainy? Or a sound system - decent speakers under the baseboard should do it. We had a little RTR early diesel mechanical shunter on the club O gauge layout on Tuesday. The sound chip even features gear change noises. Ideal for the railbus... Always been good at spending other people's money!

Worth going back to page one of this post, showing the early days, track plan and so on. Now in its 12th year, it is one of those layouts that clearly stand the test of time - and keeps getting better!

Remarkable and wonderful on so many levels. It is rare to see urban scenery like this done so well.

Early last year, Alphagraphix kindly supplied me with a range of discontinued kits and castings for Swilly and Donegal projects. Among them were two resin and white metal kits of Donegal wagons, which I've finally got around to doing more work on. I'd put the major parts together, but before I went further, it seemed a good idea to try and find out what they were representing - I know, impetuosity can be a middle name... As far as I can tell, the high sided one is a transhipment wagon, designed for easier movement of coal and minerals, with the body able to be transferred to a suitable broad gauge wagon via rollers and the mixed gauge turntable at Strabane. The one plank, dropside wagon is shown carrying an Austin Seven and as I happen to have a model of one of these, it will make a nice load. Finishing the one plank only required the addition of brake gear, but I'd made several mistakes with the transhipment wagon, not least that the wheel base should be shorter. However, getting the castings apart without damaging them looked difficult. On top of that the cast resin body is 18 inches too short. After a bit of thought, the solution has been to chop off each end of the wagon and insert two nine inch sections to make the overall length right - though the wheelbase remains too long, so I will have to live with that. After a bit of sanding and scribing in the plank lines, a spray of grey primer is all that is needed for the body livery, while lettering is the usual white gel pen. Couplings still need fitting, while I need to make some more coal dust and decide how the Austin should be secured.

First met Gordon and Maggie at the Chatham Show, sometime in the early '90s. In those days, club members were asked if they cost host a couple of exhibitors. We'd had Barry Norman a couple of years earlier, but knew little about the Gravetts. Next day, was treated to Ditchling Green and our exhibition manager commented that 'You went down well last night'. Reason? A bottle of wine was ready and open when they came through the door and have been privileged to be friends ever since! Gordon really is a master craftsman, able to turn his hand to anything, while Maggie is very talented too, some of the buildings on Pempoul are hers. Genuinely nice people too.

Yes Alan, it is on loan to a museum of model railways near Ashford in Kent - a project started by Cliff Parsons of Gresley Beat fame. Several other gems too. Gordon has since moved on to a couple of cameo projects: Arun Quay - a stunningly atmospheric shunting yard, based in Sussex and now a new Reseau Breton project which is just as good as anything he's done in the past. Makes my efforts look very ordinary, but always inspirational in everything he does.

Fabulous work, Ken. Shows what a great investment you've made in developing your CAD skills. Everything is so neat and clean - well worth the time and effort.