David Holman

Further to the Ulster & Connaught idea, a few notes are in the Clogher Valley book, because the U&C would have traversed some of its track, along with the Cavan & Leitrim and Bessbrooke and Newry. The railway would have gone westward to both Galway [dual gauge possibilities here] and Clifden [somewhat less busy]. It would have crossed the 'western corridor' line at Tuam, where there was a sugar beet factory of course. Cork meanwhile offers possibilities, as there were two narrow gauge lines there and a total of three standard gauge termini as well - Bandon, Macroom and GSWR. Some kind of link line offers all sorts of possibilities, including a prototypical background to a line going along the riverside.

Following on the from the hearse/fish van and glasshouse brake, have now started on some vans to complete the train for the J19. Apart from a few GNRI vans, most of my wagons are SLNCR, so seems appropriate to add some from the MGW & GS&W railways. Alphagraphix do a card kit for a 'semi' from each company, so have used these as drawings to scratch build two of each. For those who might be interested, will do a stage by stage account of how I build them - though whether any of this is good practice, or an example of the strange ways my mind can work, I'll leave others to decide! I use 40thou [1mm] plastic sheet for van bodies and 80thou for the floors. Sides and ends are drawn out, complete with any planking lines, which are then scribed prior to cutting out all the pieces. Assembling the box is straightforward, so you soon have a basic shell. I added the under frames next - 80thou strip for the sole bars and buffer beams, then cast white metal W irons fixed on with cyano, with the wheels going in at the same time. The important thing here is to make sure the axles are parallel. Whitemetal castings likewise used for the buffers. I used ones supplied by Alphagraphix in their wagon chassis packs and interesting to note that of the five packs I bought, there are three different types of buffers. When I first started modelling the Irish scene, this would have worried me a little, but photos seem to show that variety was indeed the spice of life on many old wagons, with some having different types on each end! The rest of the model is about adding detail and the two MGW vans I'm doing at the moment were very 'strappy'. However, there is something curiously therapeutic about building up such detail with micro strip. I used 60 x 125 and 60 x 60 for the corners, then 60 x 80 everywhere else. The doors are 60 thou sheet - black because that was all I had available, though have since found a sheet of white - of course... So, photos show progress thus far, about 10-12 hours work, which also includes some 20 thou overlays on the solerbars, which have been riveted where appropriate. Lots more riveting to do as the vans are festooned with additional plates and strapping, so probably only about halfway in terms of time taken thus far.

Some of the current ready to plant buildings are very nice indeed, but a project like this shows how one can be made bespoke and much more interesting.

Looks much better to me. Low relief buildings can be made to work, but need carefully blending into the back scene, with (especially) something to hide the lack of depth at the ends. Trees, or a deeper building can do this. The silo, having more depth anyway, clearly doesn't have this problem.

The Limerick market branch could be one inspiration, though for mixed gauge might have beens, the city of Derry has more than a few options. Another thought is the enormous white elephant that was the Ulster and Connaught Railway. Had that been built, there would have been several mixed gauge opportunities right across Ireland.

Dare I say that all this fun you are having with 4mm scale would translate very well into 7mm narrow gauge! On a slightly serious note 0n16.5 has much to offer anyone who enjoys model bashing, especially if freelancing. Second hand stalls provide a wealth of materials, while right curves and tension lock couples look fine. Plus you can build a 7mm narrow gauge layout in pretty much the same space as an 00 one. Worth remembering for the future, though looks like plenty of fun is being had with the current project to want to change any time soon.

Add some legs to make a free standing one and you have a nice view blocker to hide the hole in the sky leading to the fiddle yard.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the main difference between Irish open wagons and those in Britain, the fact that in Ireland, they mostly had 4 or 6 planks, whereas 3, 5 or 7 was common in Britain? Now worried I've become a plank counter. Hopefully can get get some cream for it.

Great stuff all round. Thanks JB.

Interestingly that odd numbers of coaches seem to look better. Certainly three always seems better than two or four to me. Will have to have a think about how many vans I could make. The initial idea was for a single turf van, together with three other four wheel wagons or vans, plus a Sligo brake, as essentially that is all the room I have in the fiddle yard. However, three might be better. More thought required!

Away last week, so only just got to look up Shepherd's book on the WLW. Appendix D on coaches lists at least five 6 wheelers converted to turf wagons, all five compartment thirds that were broken up in 1955. Clearly not enough to cover the needs of the Emergency, but looks like I can justify at least one on Belmullet in its 1950s phase. The information on this thread also highlights just how creative the railways had to be in those difficult times. Thanks again!

Impressive, though Iain Rice would certainly argue in favour of a single slip having designed numerous layouts using one with just a three way point for company. A dual gauge single slip is probably stretching things though...

Quite a man cave! And you can never have enough books.

The early Triang diesel dock shunter may be a start for a G, the chassis being a four wheel bogie. Pretty old now, so only second hand. Scary to think had mine over 50 years ago, but it could pull more than my Princess Royal pacific and had a top speed of Warp 9, while buzzing like an angry hornet.

Needless to say, Turf, Coal and Trains is available on Amazon. Several copies, second hand from a tenner and new from twenty quid. Hopefully have mine by the weekend. Thanks again everyone.

Wow, fabulous stuff - thanks everyone! Looks like the project is on. As I have given Belmullet a distillery, the idea is that a coach or two of turf from Bangor Ferris bogs will be used to take fuel there. So, either a single coach, with a removable load, or one full, one empty to likewise create the fantasy. Am thinking that a plasticard and plastic strip body on an Alphagraphix chassis should do the job.

A small one for the cognoscenti among you. Am interested in building one or more of the 6w coaches that were converted to carry turf, mainly by removing the roof and boarding up doors and windows. The Waterford Limerick and Western book shows many of them were their coaches originally. The questions therefore are, how long were they used for and what livery would they have been? Hopefully will make for an interesting project, including how to simulate the load!

Those buildings have come up really well.

Class.

Lovely stuff!

Got my Sir Henry drawing from Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Comes on a CD and is very much of the general arrangement type. The museum holds many BP drawings, though the site can be difficult to search - or was when I used it. A telephone call was very helpful.

Works for me! Another one added to the list. The revolution gathers pace!

Vacuum powered turntables fairly common this side of the water, especially at depots where big engines were involved. Notice the brake pipe on the Pacific is connected to the table, in effect sucking itself round. Another type involved cranking a handle on a box at one end of the table. A bit like opening sluice gates on a lock. Speaking of Lough's (spot the Segway here), BBC four repeated a lovely series last week, featuring Lough Erne through the seasons. Sadly, no mention of locomotives of that name...

Thanks Ken, and everyone. Have done hand lettering for a while now . Started with a white gel pen, but soon graduated to an old fashioned dipping pen and white acrylic ink. Looks ok, provided you don't get too close, though recent use of transfers has shown I am not as neat as I'd like! At least most lettering on Irish railways is fairly simple - just a shame you can't get Letraset anymore. Used it in my first Sligo vans and it was ideal.

Alphagraphix do card kits of many of the Sligo coaches. Ok, they are in 7mm scale, but easily reduced on a printer. At four quid each, they make a good basis for scratchbuilding in plastic.