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Stores and ESSO oil trains on Tara junction. 018 hauls the laden stores oil wagons towards the MPD to discharge their contents-these wagons were recently weathered Later on 018 is allocated to the ESSO oil tank liner train forming the 14:50 empty oil from Sligo to Northwall seen here at the station awaiting a crew change.

It was ……on a Saturday evening…

220 works a evening service from Galway to Dublin Heuston 128+174 work the laden ammonia from Marino point to Shelton abbey 054 works a passenger/mail train from Cork-Dublin Connolly

I have had a recent experience with a 121 stopping suddenly-I cleaned the wheels and pick ups and added grease to the gears-no issues since.

Masking tape done the trick DJ

The detail in the guards compartment is superb

After a few years together -it was time to separate the twins…..134 was weathered to give that work stained look effect-with 124 to follow.

It’s a busy scene at the Lakeview freight yard where Guinness empty and laden kegs are loaded unloaded after the Christmas/New year period, Fastrack parcels traffic is back too after the break-thanks to Geoff J for the truck to complement the scene.

Happy new year to all followers of Tara junction, 054 leads the 15:05 Cork-Dublin Heuston passenger/mail through Tara junction composed of a BR GSV, two TPOs,two Park Royal coaches and a Dundalk GSV.

Great to see prototypical operation-nice one Gareth

The 22:40 Limerick-Cork laden bogie bulk cement train passes through Tara junction.hauled by locomotive 080 The wagons have had their bogies replaced with new IRM bogies and have working tail lamps.

Happy Christmas from the management and staff of Tara junction.

Happy Christmas To all fellow modellers-happy Christmas from the management and staff of Tara junction. The Christmas rush is on….. 007 worked the 12:05 Dublin Heuston-Tralee 10 piece Cravens set 017 worked the 12:30 Dublin Connolly-Sligo Mk2D set 208 worked the 09:00 Belfast-Dublin Connolly Mk2 set 174+127 worked the 08:00 Galway-Dublin Heuston Mk2 a/b set 054 worked the 15:15 Dublin Connolly-Galway mail train

Sorted…!!!

A selection of photos from operations on Ashburton grove earlier 24081 on an auxiliary TPO working 58003 passes a speeding HST while working an MGR working 50049 has charge of a stock transfer composed of a Mk3 sleeper,standard Mk3 and a dining Mk3 complete with a Mk2 DBSO. 56071 working a speed link service.

It looks like the unofficial Christmas party is about to take place in the mess van…..

Both batteries have to be stacked on top on each other-the magnetic wand is the only way to switch on and off the red lights.

Imagine the annoyance when reading the freight manifest prior to departing from Athlone to see a single stores oil two axle wagon was being sent to Ballina for the Bus Eireann garage-it was the longest part of the 31 mile journey from Claremorris to Ballina-especially when the 071 locomotive never went above three notches on the controller-and spent a lot of time in the zero position.

All aboard….the Santa express from Maam cross station….this Sunday.

Hi Tom, Thank you, The BELL liners were easy-I cut out a small section of the floor of each of the containers and blu tacked the battery pack to the floor, then threaded the lamps above the bogies and glued them onto the buffer beam, The two axle barrier oil wagon was done in a similar manner, The bogie cement wagon is an MIR kit and again as the tank is hollow-it was only a matter of blu tacking the battery pack on to the inside. The ammonia barrier-(I’ll take photos over the next few days) was a little more difficult -I had to cut out a section of the tank underneath to accommodate both battery packs-they sit on the wagon chassis and are covered by the tank-it works…!! The fertiliser wagon would need some holes drilled in the base in order for the lamps to be pushed through-the battery packs can then be covered by a pallet of fertiliser I am using the magnetic wand supplied with the Mk2 coaches-but unfortunately in the case of the BELL liners it doesn’t work with the containers covering the battery pack -so they have to be removed each time the lights need to be switched on, bear in mind each battery pack needs two LR41 batteries to work the lamp, I don’t think they will be suitable for passenger trains-simply because the wand won’t be able to switch the lights on through the roof-however I will attempt to put a set in the EGV of the Mk2 a/bs and see how I get on And yes -I was unable to find that support page on the website @DJ Dangerous-there isn’t much room on the chassis underneath to fit the battery packs without major surgery which I won’t be doing on that fine model.

Bogie bulk cement wagon and BELL liners with working tail lamps and detailed pipes and coupling added.

I’m glad to see someone seeing sense and getting back on topic….. I have seen photos of the removed sidings on the various social media sites- The sidings have been removed in order to provide a concrete hard standing area for a reachstacker to load and unload the IWT liners….they will be brought to and from the port by the shunting tractor units hauling trailers-more progress from Dublin “anti rail” port.

Thanks Rob

The 24 & 31 await their next turn of duty on the loop at Ashburton grove.

Yes-easy enough for the BELL liners,cement and barrier wagon for the oil train-a little bit more tricky for the ammonia barrier wagon-where I had to cut a small section from underneath the water tank to fit the battery packs, Bogie timber wagon shouldn’t be a problem - the IRM fertiliser wagons will need a fair bit of surgery to accommodate/concealed the battery packs.