David Holman

Very much good enough for the model press! Would make an interesting article, especially as something that isn't the usual branch line terminus. With all the adverts for models of Irish diesels, it would be great to see them in a proper setting. Plus, as we all know here of course, it is a layout that operates really well too. RM pay about £35 a page, including pictures, so not to be sniffed at either. They like as high a resolution as possible for photos, but are happy to turn sketch plans for track layouts into quality art work. Then there is the best thrill of seeing your own work in print. Go for it!

George is right - would definitely grace the pages of the model press extremely well and certainly deserves a wider audience.

After an abortive attempt to hand letter the tank wagon as 'Irish Shell' [best not to ask], did an internet trawl and came up with a nice set of self adhesive 12.7mm vinyl letters. Admittedly not exactly the right font, but they look the part and were simple to apply, so can now get on and add the strapping and other detail.

Only just noticed this thread, so must pay more attention, as would have been useful with my mail train 4-4-0! Having seen numerous mentions of balancing such locos via weight on the tender draw bar, it was really interesting to see it properly explained, so many thanks John. Was starting to think I may have to go down this route with Wolf Dog, but the small size of the ABC motor/gearbox has enabled a fair bit of lead to be packed around it in the ash pan. Add in a couple of inches of 18mm solid brass road in the boiler and some more lead in the firebox and it was at last able to move the three coaches. Whitemetal crew help too! Have included my lineup often of the century locos on the fiddle yard table.

Thanks Mic, that's very kind of you, but have solved the problem by adding a piece of solid brass rod to the boiler. Mayner's post in the Tutorials section on balancing 4-4-0s came in useful too.

Oh my... Certainly won't be doing that on my tiny lathe, but inspirational all the same.

Ok, here's another. An egg and a chicken are sitting in bed, sharing a post coital cigarette. The chicken says, 'Well that solves the riddle then!'

Sounds splendid. For me, there's a lot to be said for smaller projects - they are easier to complete, there is still plenty of interesting operation/play value and you can indulge in more than one fantasy. If you do get bored with one, build another!

Best read with a French accent. Pierre is a fighter pilot and one day he takes his girlfriend Mimi for a picnic. After a while, things get amorous and they start kissing, though Mimi is a little perturbed when Pierre pours red wine on her face. Pierre! What are you doing? I am Pierre the fighter pilot and when I kiss your rich red lips, I must have the red wine to accompany them. Things develop and Mimi's top comes off, though she is surprised when Pierre pours white wine over her bosom. Pierre, what are you doing? I am Pierre the fighter pilot and when I kiss your milky white bosom, I need the white wine to accompany it. Now things get really amorous and Mimi's drawers come down. However, she is horrified when Pierre pours brandy over her and sets fire to it. Pierre! What are you doing??? I am Pierre the fighter pilot and when I go down, I go down in flames!

Thanks both. Still pondering the turntable, though at the moment am hoping the extension rails won't be too noticeable once I've worked on the ground cover. However, the rails actually stick out a good 2cm (three scale feet), which must be dubious in real life. A Kitwood Models 11.25 inch turntable would fit, though the motor would project below the bottom of the baseboard frame, not ideal for transportation. Also, at the moment, the kit is unavailable. Moving the backscene a bit might be necessary if I go along the Kitwood route, but it all adds up to quite a bit of surgery. Still, no shows for a while yet, so plenty of time to ponder.

Lovely stuff.

All sorts of factors can affect running Tony, but temperature and humidity can cause problems. Living in a centrally heated workshop, Arigna Town never liked cold exhibition halls, while the unsealed concrete floors of the No 5 Covered Slip in Chatham Dockyard were a nightmare at shows there - folk were cleaning rails and wheels several times a day. In my experience the other key factor is how many pickups the loco has, with the basic rule being 'as many as possible'. Bo-Bo and Co-Co diesels can be great if picking up on all wheels, whereas short, four wheel locos will always be less well off. Those Kato and Atlas American diesels were light years ahead of British outline stuff for years with pick ups on all wheels and no doubt flywheels too. At shows, always enjoy watching American N and HO layouts - not only do the locos run well but the stock does too. Anyway, building a layout for the grandson sounds like a fine way to occupy Lockdown!

At long last, the Mail Train is almost finished! The marathon began back in November, with the loco largely complete by mid March - around 100 days and probably 180-200 hours construction time. Somewhat surprisingly, the coaches have only taken three weeks or so. Ok, one only needed a repaint, another was a kit, with just the PLM van being scratch built. There are still a few things to do, not least that Wolf Dog awaits its name and numberplate. It also needs some more lead in the firebox/boiler, as it currently can't pull its train! However, fingers crossed, am fairly confident all will be well - the loco itself runs just fine, but sheet lead is not something you order through the post! This week has been spent doing the lining and lettering on the coaches & I'm very grateful for the support folk here have offered. As Ken says, above, information is scarce and much is down to guess work, though JHBAchill of this parish has been a huge source of help. So, the [posed] pictures show Wolf Dog arriving with its train and is later seen in the platform alongside my 101 class 0-6-0. The latter is not exactly a big loco, but the 4-4-0 looks very dainty alongside. There are individual pictures of the coaches too. However, all is not entirely well in the loco depot. I'd checked that Wolf Dog would fit on the turntable and though it was always going to be a tight fit, I didn't see any problems. Unfortunately though, the loco's buffers are very long and foul the back scene. So, after a pause for a few rude words, it was a case of how do I get out of this then? Ideally, the turntable needs to move about half an inch in from the back scene. Well, that ain't going to happen and nor is the back scene going to be moved half an inch back either. Kitwood Models do a very nice laser cut turntable kit of a slightly larger diameter, but I really don't want to do major surgery on the baseboard. The answer [for the moment anyway] has been to add about half an inch to the turntable rails, by using fishplates and soldering small pieces at each end. This has meant clearing away the undergrowth around the turntable, which isn't pretty, but hopefully can be tidied up later. The main compromise is that the rails project about a scale two feet beyond the end of the deck. Clearly not right, but hopefully not too noticeable. Whether I can live with this remains to be seen. Either way, I'm pretty much 'Mail Trained out' for now, so am looking forward to doing something different. There is the oil tank to finish, the scenery certainly needs tidying up around the turntable and the baseboard fascias are long overdue a fresh coat of paint. That's model railways for you - always something new took keep you busy. And of course, many, many thanks for all the positive comments - they really do inspire you to keep going.

Really looking the part now. Comparison with photo of the prototype shows how well it is working out.

Could easily start salivating over the Swilly, though in a perfect world would want to do it in 10mm scale, so little short of a big lottery win needed to make that happen and I don't buy tickets...

Phew! Thanks everyone and especially Jonathan because Rails to Achill is very much the inspiration for both the train and the layout. Will continue to proceed with caution. The IRRS drawing does indeed have the VR logo, with a crown, or in this case, squiggle, between the two letters. There should also be the words 'Post Office', but hope I can be excused that one, as there is absolutely no chance of putting anything legible in the space - not by me anyway!

Throwing myself on the mercy of the court! Have started trying to do something with the lining and lettering of the coaches & have to say, it is proving challenging for a number of reasons - mainly to do with what might be right. Thus far, have tried using a gel pen on the panelling. Not too difficult to use, though I fear the ink is water based, so will have to be careful when handling. Whether this is correct or not, I have no idea, but let me know what you think, please. For me, a bit of lining certainly lifts the overall 'brownness' of the vehicles. As for lettering, this is proving a real headache! The PLV has the MGWR letters done from an LSWR sheet, with the G applied by hand via a dipping pen with the gel pen ink rubbed on the nib and then a small degree of shading from an 02mm black marker. Hmm... The rest is likewise cobbled together. 'MAILS' is applied by hand, as above, as is the 'VR' logo [remember, you good folk were still part of the British Empire then - though not for long!]. The two middle doors should actually read 'Passenger Luggage', though I've substituted 'Luggage Compt', while the guard's compartment just reads 'Guard'. Both of the latter are Fox SECR waterslide transfers. Trouble is, these are gold, shaded red, while the others are gold, shaded black... As for the passenger and brake coaches, need to know whether the class was indicated by word or number, though have the impression it may be the latter. So, will await opinions with baited breath! Over to you...

Doesn't matter how many locos you build, there is something wonderfully satisfying when they run well. Makes all the hard work worthwhile and certainly know what you mean in the 'pathetically pleasing' comment. Small pleasures but oh so nice! Nothing in Enniskillen's movements to suggest any issues with the chassis, so should be a joy for years to come.

There's a lot to be said for short wheelbase stock. In my BR modelling days, three 50' coaches took up the same space as two Mark 1s and a van, while early Irish wagons can be as little as five inches long in 7mm scale, whereas an H is around six. Can add an extra wagon to a given train length, which is very handy when space is tight, while they certainly look far better on tight curves.

That's the one, John and as you say, not easy to interpret. Took a lot of studying under a magnifier to work out what was going on, though Des Coakham's book on broad gauge carriages has a picture of a stores van that looks like it may have started life as something similar, so was very helpful. Indeed, the DSER mail van bodywork wasn't a million miles away either. Unfortunately, don't have room for a fish van in this train, which is 42.5 inches long and the fiddle yard is only 43. Wolf Dog is very tight on the turntable too. However, have always liked non-passenger rolling stock and built a fair bit over the years. When the club can open again, I have a B17/3 (Nottingham Forest), which looks very nice at the head on an eclectic mix of what was known as a 'stock train' - bogie and four wheel parcels, fish and standard vans, plus a couple of six wheel milk tanks. Lovely!

Chipping away at the mail train coaches this week, plus a bit more pondering on the make up of the train. The first picture shows the current plan, which is to have the birdcage brake third at one end, the PLM at the other and the 1st/2nd composite in the middle. 'Rails to Achill' shows a J26 shunting a centre brake from one end of the train to the other at Achill, so presumably they preferred to have the brake van at the rear? This would be rather complicated at Belmullet, and while it would be an opportunity to use the station pilot to shuffle things around, at the moment, am going with a brake at each end to keep things simple. Of the coaches themselves, not too much work needed on the Composite, just replacing the glazing, plus changing the roof to have oil lamps. For the brake third, there was the glazing [some of it involving complex shapes, plus the roof details. As for the PLM, this needed W-irons/springs [whitemetal], Markits buffers and door handles, plus roof and glazing. The oil lamp tops still need adding. As for the paint job, as already mentioned 'Rover Russet Brown' has been used for the body, while the under frames still need painting black on all three vehicles. However, am still pondering over the lining. There's not a great deal of information I can find - thus far is that it was 'gold', though exactly where it was applied is not clear. The Dargan Royal Saloon offers some hints and I'm working on the idea that the panelling was picked out on the waist line, but whether anything else got treated have no idea. The plan is to use a gold gel pen to do this and you can see a couple of panels so treated on the composite. Any thoughts/info welcome, please!

Hang on a minute! Surely an urgent meeting of union reps and personnel departments needs convening here? Every good office space needs a corner (or shelf) for all important R&R, so if not room for the rail depot, hopefully a space can still be found. Cite mental well-being and the gentleman's prerogative of never needing to grow up, but find room for a railway! Joking aside, hope you can.

Wow, how fab is that? Suspected something special was brewing and so it has proved - well done you! Can think of easier locos for a first scratchbuild, not least ones with a few less rivets - however, very worthwhile in the end, not least because it looks so 'right' and has all the presence of these fine locos. A great day at Rosses Point too!

An extra touch of class... And I miss it. No excuses, but for what is a fairly simple scene, there is so much to take in and it all looks just so convincing. Must be a pleasure to lose yourself in!

Well, how fab is that? Great modelling, quality operation - though was there a SPAD in there? Who cares? Lovely!