David Holman

Oh my. Again!

Looks good. Presumably 12mm track and fine section rail. It looks pretty lightweight in the photo.

Wow, what's the opposite of opening a can of worms? Am I seem to have opened a treasure chest! Thank you all. As Patrick says, could easily spend a few weeks checking those aerial photos and it's not as if we don't have any spare time now that all social opportunities are off.

Railway modelling is a great way to keep sane in these challenging times, while forums like this will be ever more important in sharing what we do andenabling a degree of communication denied elsewhere. We have closed down my local model club now, so with no pub, cafe, sport, club, church etc, alternatives need to be found. Indeed, read today that a few restaurants in Ireland are already getting creative in supplying their wares. Good on them!

Have often wondered about this line, which wandered from Macfin Junction to Magherafelt, seemingly passing little on the way. Wiki suggests it to have been the haunt of 4-4-0s and two coach trains, but information seems scarce. Apart from the Swilly's line to Burtonport, was there a more isolated stretch in Ireland?

More riches! Keep 'em coming JB and thank you.

Gold dust! Pure gold dust - all of it!

Probably nothing at all now. Allypally show definitely off and others dropping like flies. RMweb have a thread in their exhibition section.

Fabulous stories. Thank you all. Can't match them, but when I joined the Chatham club, there was a much respected elder statesman, who was not averse to sharing a drawing one week and turning up with the finished loco the next. Tinplate was his favoured medium, chopped up Castrol GTX oil cans as the source. Am sure they weren't state of the art, fine detail, but they always ran well and certainly looked the part, which was what really mattered then.

While the models look great, it's a bit disappointing to read there is some stratification evident, as with recent equipment my impression is that should no longer be an issue. One of our club members is one of those very clever/talented people who not only understands how most mechanical and electronic things work, he can take them apart and put them back together again, so they work better. Anyway, he has self taught 3D printing over the last couple of years and worked his way through a number of machines, mostly bought as kits on line. His latest one prints with no visible layering at all, so maybe Shapeways are not using the latest technology? However, as the model looks great, hopefully the technology will soon catch up and enable your excellent CAD work to fulfill its potential. No idea what machines he uses. Am afraid I am sticking to what I know, which is kit and scratch building, with a bit of resin casting where appropriate.

Seems that, both sides of the water, gatherings of more than 500 are in jeopardy. If so, that will include most medium to large shows. Happily, toilet rolls seem to be back on the shelves(!), but more importantly do you have enough glue, solvent, solder and paint to build all those kits stashed away, in the event of having to self isolate?

Two ways to avoid magnets attracting wagons. First change to non-magnetic wheels/axles. I use 2mm brass wire for axles on Fintonagh, with Kadees. Second, consider using servos with under baseboard magnets, so that they can be lowered out of the way when not used.

I wondered about that too. The gauge is still nearly nine inches too narrow, but the profiles will be good and sorting wheels/axles should be a lot simpler. Should improve running too and the point crossings will be tighter and hence smoother.

Nearly finished reading the book and can only say what a tour de force it is. The amount of research it required must have been incredible! Another thought is that while the S class 4-4-0s deserve their place at the top of the handsome loco lists, alongside the SECR D class, some of the earlier 4-4-0s with their flush rivetted smokeboxes, one piece handrails and twin smokebox handles, as opposed to the wheel and handle, really are very pretty too. Doubt they will make it on to my wishlist though.

Indeed it was, though if he built it all himself, then I stand corrected.

There have been various articles and threads recently over the craft v off the shelf theme. Even in the late 1980s, when I built my first layout, there was little of real quality in terms of RTR, while the range of products was narrow too. On top of that, apart from a few card and plastic kits, there were few buildings on offer, so you pretty much had to make your own. These days, it is possible to build a complete layout, apart from scenic ground cover 'straight out of a box'. Buy it, plant it. Ok, for those interested in just playing trains, or even serious operation, this is a fine short cut to having a decent background for your trains to run in, because there are some very nice models out there. However, many of those buildings ain't cheap, whereas a scratch built one will cost a few pounds at most. Starting with buildings soon leads you to realise that making other things is just as easy and so the skill levels build up. Yes it takes time, but you also build up a useful range of tools that then come in handy for other modelling projects. If I am starting to sound like a grumpy old git, well my wife says I have been since I was thirty, but expectations now seem to be for perfection out of the box, with no effort required other that opening it. A while ago, I was talking to a trader about this and he showed me a nice model of a greenhouse. A customer had earlier rejected it because 'it had no plants in it'. He used it to illustrate the way his sales were going. There again, I guess we must remember that much of the Fry collection was cheque book modelling too. It's a hobby and therefore to be enjoyed in any way we want. I'm happy making things and rarely play trains away from exhibitions, others like operation, electronics, 3D printing etc. Nobody is wrong as long as they enjoy it, it's what makes our hobby so great.

Excellent! Anyone who hasn't seen it yet should. Regardless of the Irish scene, Courtmacsherry was the quintessential branch terminus.

Exhibitors are all being asked to sign Wuflu declaration forms. Maybe masks should reflect the period of the exhibits - so Fintonagh might have WW2 gas masks, while any Victorian era operators should sport the big brass diving helmets(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

Gonna need a big display case!

That is a splendid artefact and deserves pride of place somewhere. Can't be many such things, though didn't the Swilly have something similar?

Fintonagh is appearing at Alexandra Palace in a couple of weeks. Come and say hello if you are going.

I thought he was an England spin bowler...

A friend at the model club found this in a charity shop recently. Cost him two quid, as he thought I might like it. Is the Pope a Catholic???

A 12" to the foot Peco point motor, with a bell?

Looks like a fine start.