David Holman

As it is a slate roof, I'd be tempted to use either strips of photocopier paper, snipped every 4mm, or one of the downloaded printed sheets.

Top quality running! The track looks really good too.

Fantastic! Reeks of atmosphere and feel sure Pat Whitehouse must be lurking somewhere.

Good to know there were slips, Paul. As for the backscene joins, nothing fancy here, I just hide them behind trees or buildings. Another trick on a painted backscene is include a church spire or similar, with the join between two angles coinciding with the baseboard join. Easy on a made up layout, where you can choose where to put things, but less so if copying a prototype, where there may be no convenient view blocker to use. That said, the backscene doesn't have to line up with the baseboard joint, while following the likes of Gorden Gravett, one could always use roller blind material to make a full length backscene. Bit of a faff to set up at shows though. Check out my Fintonagh thread where I've used many of these tricks to hide the join.

31x10? Sounds wonderful! Enjoy!

Thanks Eoin, have been looking at the Banggood site, so much checkout Arcueurotrade too. Another bit of learning as I go along!

New Toy I now own a lathe! Ok, probably a good idea for proper workshop people to look away now, because this is certainly no Cowan's, or even a Unimat. And it is small too, with a footprint barely bigger than a sheet of A4, but it only cost me £200, a third of the price of a Unimat or Proxxon and, fingers crossed, will do what I need. Had spent several weeks before Christmas musing over this 'mini lathe', which comes from the land of Amazon, aka China. The bed is max 135mm and the largest diameter it will turn is 50mm, but given that what I want it for is to do things like chimneys, domes, buffers and so on, then this should be more than enough, plus it is rated as man enough for brass and aluminium. It took me several weeks before I took the plunge, because I couldn't decide whether it was better to: a] do nothing, because my model club has a proper lathe b] spend real money on a 'proper' lathe or c] take a chance on this basic machine In the end, another Lockdown sort of forced my hand, as I can't see me getting down the club until Easter, plus the reviews I read of the Proton and Unimat machines didn't suggest that spending the extra money would ultimately do any more than this model. Time will tell... I wasn't expecting it to arrive for at least another week, so was somewhat surprised to be given a well wrapped box which my wife had found in the garden waste bin! Usually on these mail order things, you get multiple alerts on line and by text, telling you of progress - as per the new LSWR locomotives book. Just as well we did some gardening, prior to the bin men coming on Monday. From the Amazon web pages, it appeared that it would be a kit of parts, but everything comes pretty well assembled and it just needed bolting to the baseplate. However, instructions left a bit to be desired, so for once, I resisted my usual temptation to set up and start using immediately and instead reached once more for Geoff Holt's loco building book [part two] where he takes you through basic lathe operation. Indeed, it was from reading this in the first place that I decided that a small lathe might be something I could cope with - plus this mini lathe certainly isn't going to take up much storage space. The only problem this morning, when it at last was time to have a go, was finding suitable material to turn, not least because my order of brass road from Eileen's hasn't arrived yet. Eventually, managed to find some 5mm brass rod and, carefully following instructions in Geoff's book was able to spend a happy hour reducing the rod in diameter in various ways. Have since managed to turn two tapered buffer shanks for the D16. The main downsides thus far is there doesn't appear to be an option to add a drill collet to the tailstock and there is only a single cutting tool, which currently makes 'parting off' difficult. Hence, need to go on line to see what I can find, but even so, am confident I should be able to use my little lathe to turn up things like chimneys, domes and the like, while it is certainly happy enough with brass. Guess the main question will be how robust and long lived it will be, but hopefully, if I treat it carefully, I should get some good use out of it.

Makes sense to me Phil. If you really want the gauge to look right, then Irish EM is a sensible compromise. Yes, P4 has been shown to work well in 'standard' gauge, but it is arguable that it took many years to get there and many exhibition visitors will attest to the fact that layouts that ran well in the early days were pretty rare in P4. There are many more aids available now, especially through the Society, but the facts remain that an extra degree of skill is required to make P4 work compared to EM. Some may disagree with this and I'll be the first to apologise if I'm wrong! My own experience is that I started off in EM, with no prior experience, and was able to build an effective exhibition layout having only basic tools and no prior workshop skills whatsoever. One of the most important aspects of doing Irish EM for me is that wagons, coaches and especially RTR diesels are fairly easy to adapt. Yes, track has to be hand made, but even then, C&L do point kits, with ready made crossing vees and machined point blades. While neither of which are that difficult to make, if you've not done it before, then a kit is a great way to learn, not least because there are instructions to follow. The key component is of course the track gauge, so finding someone to do a suitable roller gauge is essential. After that, there is nothing that should deter an enthusiastic beginner. A final thought, which I read somewhere recently is that when you buy something, you are the owner, but when you make something you become a creator and I rather like that!

Just arrived! A hefty tome and first impressions say to me that this is a genuinely academic piece of work, work by of a doctorate of PhD. Arise therefore professors Clements, McMahon and O'Rourke!

There are a few things to consider with track beyond getting the gauge right. As Galteemore shows, ballasting and weathering make a huge difference, but choose you rail carefully too. Am fairly sure Rosses Point uses Code 100 flat bottomed rail, same as Belmullet, whereas the norm in 7mms scale is Code 124. Years ago, did an 0 gauge light railway with Code 100 track and got asked several times at shows if it was broad gauge, so just goes to show the effect of finer rail. Indeed, Peco 75 makes a big difference compared to 100. - though the improved sleeper spacing help too. Overall, for standard gauge, never mind broad gauge, Peco 100 is probably the least good option, followed by their 75, then the likes of EM and P4. For those who are too committed to 00, or just happy with the compromise, reducing the viewing angle helps a lot, as does careful ballasting and painting the rails and track the right colours. Things anyone should be able to do and probably a key step in turning a train set into a model railway. It remains however down to the individual and as long as you enjoy it, that is all that matters. No prizes for guessing where my own preferences lie of course!

All looks good fun.

Indeed, though love frog points and impeccable cleaning will be important. Might be a challenge to make 21mm gauge!

Plus the nearest track seems at a slightly higher level, which also makes a difference.

Mine too - expected tomorrow!

You could always cut the roofs off, add some internal and external bracing (plus a repaint and considerable weathering) - then Robert is your father's brother and a turf train emerges!

Wow, thanks Leslie. That picture is in Rails to Achill and I've been trying to look at it with a magnifier, but this is much better.

We had the first bit of sunshine this year today, after three solid days of it raining cats and dogs and donkeys. Don't you folk over the water tell me it was just a soft day - it's been 'orrible. The upshot of the grim weather is plenty of modelling time - plus the fact that, in lockdown again, we can't go anywhere either. Oh well. So, did some more to the tender. Had thought I'd got through most of the challenging bits, but had forgotten about the outside frames - five lozenge shaped holes and one rounded triangular one each side. Did the usual two bits of 10 thou NS soldered together and then proceeded to drill a few holes so I could fret out these awkward shapes. Five minutes and five broken saw blades later, finally realised that the two pieces of metal were not completely joined in the middle, which caused the saw blades to catch and break. Plan B turned out to be a bit drastic, as I used a slitting disc in the Dremel to cut slots in each lozenge shape, so I could then nibble out enough space with the Xuron cutters to get a file in to finish off. Some unwanted excitement with the Dremel as I didn't properly tighten the collet, which caused the mandrill to vibrate and it actually then bent at right angles and flew off across the workshop. Fortunately no damage done, apart from needing a new mandrill. A friend who volunteers at the Kent & East Sussex wasn't as lucky before Christmas when a piece of clothing got caught in one of the big lathes, so he is now nursing a broken arm, cracked kneecap and multiple abrasions. Safety first, methinks... It took two goes to add the outside frames to the tender footplate, because I initially made the latter a scale foot too wide. Second lesson of course - measure twice, cut once. Have since completed the the two upper sides and rear, while also adding captive nuts, front and rear, to act as fixing points for the body and chassis. Now, for those of you who have read this far, a question, please. Does anybody know what the front [cab end] of the tender looks like? The GSR Green Bible tells us that D16s had the Type R tender, which is not entirely unlike the ones used with the J18/19 and G2 classes, but it seems to lack the vertical plate at the front, which presumably stopped the coal sliding into the cab. There don't appear to be any tool boxes sitting on top of the tender either, though, so far, I can't find and pictures showing whether there was a coal chute on the tender front, or if the fireman simply shovelled the coal from the top. Any thoughts and info welcome, please and apologies for the poor photos, one of which shows the Z type from my G2.

Am sure there are many of us who would be interested in that.

That or witchcraft.

Tendering The loco is currently about as far as I can take it at the moment. No sign of the motor/gearbox I've ordered, while am still investigating things like chimney, dome, buffers etc. A bit more detailing has gone in - the sanding operating rods and filler caps, plus the reversing wheel and seats in the cab. So, made a start on the tender - first remembering to read what Geoff Kent says in his books and making a couple more drawings. Thus far have made the chassis/inside frames. Used 28thou nickel silver strip, with two pieces soldered together, then drilled/sawn for the axles. The outer ones use top hat bearings, with the middle one running in a set of Slater's sprung brass hornblocks.

A loco emerges! Sounds like it has been a battle at times, but got to be worth it. As for that long boiler, with the firebox perched behind the rear drivers, these locos must have been the last 'long boiler' engines ever constructed - and around 100 years after they went out of fashion everywhere else! Well done -really starting to take shape now.

Very much my favourite part of the layout. The shiny concrete, tyre tracks and general atmosphere all work well together. Pretty it ain't, but bucket loads of character for sure.

So well presented - must be a joy to operate. As Robert says, proper time travel.

Both sound mouth watering Paul. Still love the overall concept of S, with that strangely attractive track gauge of 63/64ths of an inch - presumably you still have all the stock too? If I was starting again, especially with what I know now, feel sure it would be my choice. However, much to like in 7mm. Yes, you still have to make a lot yourself, but there is plenty to help, both from generic bits and pieces, plus Alphagraphix and Studio Scale too. Goes without saying that, when exhibitions can start again, Belmullet will be offering running rights to any visiting locos, though the headshunt is only big enough for small tender locos and tank engines! Reminds me of when you and Richard Chown were watching his Lissadell perform on Arigna Town at the Manchester show a few years back. At that point, we representing 60% of Irish broad gauge exhibitors! A few more have joined the fold since then and who knows, one day it might be possible to do a broad gauge show?

On Fintonagh the back to back is set at 19mm. Am guessing much will depend on the wheels in use, so it could need to vary according to type. A gauge is easy enough to make from thick brass or aluminium, alternatively use a vernier gauge. Didn't say earlier, but think it is great you are going for 21mm ish, because it will make all the difference visually, but likewise applaud your desire to extend modelling skills. Nothing wrong with 'out of the box', but there is much satisfaction to be had for taking things to a different level. Enjoy!