ttc0169

Lovely work Raymond, look forward to seeing some locomotives arriving on site, well done so far.

I know...I know....its nearly the middle of June but a recent arrival at Ashburton grove is the ''Snow Queen'' snow plough, it is seen here in the loop while being propelled by 37 251, It was being transferred from Doncaster for storage at the MPD.

One of the finest and most detailed RTR models I have ever seen, the detail on the bogies alone is superb, looking forward to the Supertrain and IR versions. Well done gentlemen.

Superb modelling Jason

When locomotive 187 failed with a burst water pipe on the platform at Tara junction locomotives 190+184 were taken off the branch train and used to assist the failed liner, This provided the rare sight of a triple headed liner train.....

187 uses the avoiding line to overtake the MK3 push pull set as it hauls the combined Guinness/ cement liner trough Tara junction as 203 passes with the CPWs.

Thanks popeye, yes it sure is virus free....

So, six years on from the start of this thread we finally have sight of the 121 class locomotives, I certainly am delighted that they did make it into production and Paddy Murphy must be highly commended for his perseverance with the project through difficult times, Thank you Paddy for producing such an iconic Irish locomotive, 2020 for me will be one of the best years for Irish railway modelling and again thank you to the lads at IRM for continuing on producing such fine rolling stock to compliment all the Irish locomotives, roll on the 001 class.....

Its a busy summer Saturday of the bank holiday on the High street......

Summer Saturday at the Lakeview freight yard sees locomotive 181 acting as the freight yard pilot and in the process of shunting some two axle bulk cement wagons into position for unloading at the cement silo.

Another recent addition is the 1990s IR road freight version 2800 DAF tractor unit and trailer seen here passing through the high street hauling Guinness kegs....

Lovely to see the videos adding atmosphere to this wonderful layout

Great to see ''Barrow street'' come alive....keep them coming....

The operating manual for the 121s or GL8s arrived from General motors today...…..

Coming along nicely the lights really add to the atmosphere of the shed, keep up the good work.

Delighted to hear this news, the ease of ordering and prompt dispatch on the IRM site really helps, best of luck with it.

The Park royal branch train set simultaneously arrives at the platform hauled by 184+190 as 187 passes with the Guinness/bulk cement liner as the night time scene descends and the lights come on over Tara junction.

One from the 2000's-the Road liner era when some private owner trucks were branded for Iarnrod Eireann freight use, primarily for containers and Guinness traffic, Here we see a Volvo tractor unit and trailer on Guinness Keg duties at the Lakeview freight yard before being moved to allow locomotive 187 shunt the two axle MX wagons onto the bulk cement-see Tara junction thread for a video.

Anyone fancy a pint of Guinness? Locomotive 187 is seen here coupled to the liner which is made up of two MX 20' wagons with 270 barrels of Guinness on board and some two axle bulk cement wagons, The bulk cement wagons will be dropped off at Tullamore while the Guinness wagons will be left in Athlone with 187 returning light engine to the MPD.

When both power cars of the Highland Chieftain HST got into difficulty near Ashburton grove, the crew were fortunate as class 50 -50 043 was on the loop beside the factory sidings so disruption was kept to a minimum, Here we see the 50 come to the rescue of the HST.....

I am gradually building up a road freight section to compliment the railway operations on Tara junction comprising of vehicles from the CIE,IR and IE period which span the best part of thirty years, I will start this thread off with a vehicle from the 1990s Irish rail era, Based out of Ballina freight depot was this Ford rigid truck which served the Mayo area and was branded for Rail Link traffic, Rail Link was an overhaul and rebranding for the former uniload and transtrack department with Ballina as the railhead for the traffic. The Rail Link truck makes its way through afternoon traffic while returning to the Lakeview freight yard to reload with more supplies for the High street.

Friday afternoon freight sees the 14:00 Platin-Cork bogie bulk cement hauled by locomotive 201 pass through Tara junction station earlier.

Thanks lads...

Another elusive wagon that can be see from time to time on the Irish rail network is the bogie carrying 42' wagon, I first saw the real wagon parked on a siding in Ballina having been included in the consist of a liner train from North wall, the wagon would have originated from the wagon works in Limerick. The reason for the wagon being in Ballina was that a few days previous a bogie timber wagon developed a fault with two of its bogies while en route to Ballina from Waterford and needed replacement bogies, the work was done in Ballina freight yard by jacking up one end of the timber wagon and removing then replacing the bogies at both ends, As I have some surplus MIR bogie wagons I decided to construct the frame and to fit it to the wagon, I loaded four spare ''new'' bogies and the wagon was worked to the MPD by locomotive 083, I recently found a photograph I had taken of the wagon which I have included for comparison purposes,

A delayed departure from the mines due to loading issues, retro 071 is seen here returning the laden Tara mines train to Lakeview freight yard just before midnight.