David Holman

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!

Works a treat! No point in wasting time and money on figures when all that is needed is an overall impression. Same applies in 7mm where you can easily spend a fiver on a single, unpainted, figure. Thankfully, Slater's do cheap and cheerful people who likewise don't mind their limbs trimmed to fit. And whisper it quietly, master coach builder David Jenkinson often never bothered with interior detail at all.

A slight change of plan with the make up of the mail train - I'd been seriously considering making it an all parcels train, but in the end decided to go on the 'traditional' route, with a 1st/2nd composite, an all third and a passenger luggage brake van. This means the centre birdcage brake third is probably going to end up working in my 1950s period. So, what I've done is to repaint my 1950s composite in what I hope is a reasonable representation of MGWR brown - and await, with baited breath as to whether it passes muster! It is a Hycote Ford Russet Brown, by the way. Being back dated, the coach roof needs altering to include the lamp tops and the glazing still needs to be put back, but couldn't resist posing it with the D16. Meanwhile, have made a start on the 'passenger luggage brake van'. This is a scratchbuilt, plastikard body, which will eventually go on a standard Alphagraphix chassis. The vehicle itself is No 80, which has a birdcage roof on one end, rather than the centre and am using IRRS drawing No 43 which shows it had a mail compartment at the other end, with luggage in the middle. Not sure whether this means it had equipment for picking up/dropping off mail bags on the move, so would be grateful for any info on this, please. It certainly appears so, as the mail door is both inset and inward opening. However, I certainly won't be disappointed if I don't have to make the gear! The prototype seems ideal for my Belmullet line, with the train as a whole able to cater for all passenger classes, mails and a fair amount of luggage space. Construction has followed my usual practice of a 20thou outer skin, over a 40 thou inner, with strips of 40 thou at waist and cantrail level to enable the lower tumblehome. Microstrip deals with the panelling.

Seems that the only source of 7mm whitemetal castings are JPL Models in Manchester.

Correct! Another preservation opportunity gone missing - if only.

Have been trying to get hold of some whitemetal W-iron/axlebox/spring castings and discovered that Graham Jones of Northants Model Railway Supplies succumbed to the dreaded Covid at the end of January. NMRS produce a fine range of whitemetal castings, including stuff like buffers and cab fittings and Graham was always friendly and helpful, so we can only hope his business will be taken on by someone else. Another sad loss.

Looking great, but never underestimate how long it takes to build a coach - a bogie like this could take nearly as long as a loco. Looks worth it though!

That's the one!

Remember seeing a Dutch or Belgian layout which not only featured opening doors, but passengers getting on and off too! It was a sort of puppet theatre type layout - small/narrow, but deep. The 'train' was a single railcar, which shuttled back and forth. At the front it was large scale (hence the opening doors/animation), then it disappeared off scene, reappearing as a smaller scale model going the other way, repeating several times until it must have been N or Z at the back. The scenery complimented the gradual reduction in scales. It was wonderful to watch, being set at eye level, while hidden underneath was a plethora of electronics of course!

After the [mostly] enjoyable marathon that has been the construction of Wolf Dog, the loco has been put to one side, until the number and name plates arrive. There are a couple of finishing off jobs still to do, but I'm saving them for now. So, on to the train! By and large, I do not have drawers full of unmade kits, but I did buy two Alphagraphix/Tyrconnel six wheelers for this project, along with a couple of six wheel chassis kits from the same source. One coach kit is a birdcage brake third, the other is an all third. At the moment, I may not use the latter, as I've always liked the idea of 'non-passenger' coaching stock. In addition, the Tyrconnel six wheelers are quite heavy and though my G2 2-4-0 will pull three of them, it is a bit of a struggle and I fancy it will be the same for Wolf Dog. Hence am going to leave the all third for now and scratch build a full brake and a TPO, using plastikard bodies, which will hopefully be a bit lighter. One of the reasons for the proposed line[s] to Belmullet, was the idea of Canadian Pacific Mail Steamers calling there, with parcels and letters then being hurried forward by rail, probably gaining at least a day over the sea route. Maybe passengers might have wanted to do the same, but I suspect that would require some first class accommodation, so instead this is very much just a mail train, with just two compartments [seating up to 24] in the brake third. So it was this that I started on first and in the space of four afternoons, or about 10 hours modelling, the kit is largely complete. The model is far from finished though, because coach kits required a lot of detailing and this is no exception. I mostly just followed the instructions which in typical Alphagraphix fashion are not always conventional, but certainly work - a tribute to Roger Cromblehome's clever thinking. The first thing to me made is the birdcage compartment, after which the passenger and guard's compartments are tacked on either side. At first sight, it seems like a recipe for nothing to line up straight, but everything does, as long as it is assembled on a nice plate surface. The same goes for the chassis, where, rather than using a solid piece of brass or plastic as a floor to build the sole bars on to, instead, you make up a sort of ladder from, and then everything hangs from that. The only downside I've found is that this frame is a scale foot too short for the body, probably because this coach is 31ft long over the headstocks, as opposed to the standard 30 ft of most other Midland six wheelers. Easily sorted with a small fillet in each corner. The final part of the kit is the 'Cleminson' type chassis, which uses two lengths of 0.9mm brass wire to enable the three axle units to flex. So far, so good and it seems to roll well enough.

Thanks John. Kicking myself now, because was at all the Chatham Shows in the Dockyard, right from the start, yet have no memory of this fabulous layout. Trawl the archives folks, it would be great to learn more of this master builder and his work. A reminder too of Brian Monaghan's fantastic photography.

Just been talking to Gordon Gravett who tells me that Dave Walker died recently. Only met him once, at the St Albans show a few years back, but he was a very talented modeller who had a spell doing Irish broad gauge in the period when it was Richard Chown, Tony Miles and not many others. He subsequently moved on to other railways, but feel sure there will be folk here who will know of his work and fill in some details.

Nice one. Will certainly look forward to seeing it in situ.

Fantastic, sounds great!

Great start and an interesting prototype. One to watch.

A little gem. Continues to amaze me how plain, ugly even, buildings can make such attractive models.