ttc0169

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.

With the real retro liveried 071 class locomotives 071 & 073 being allocated to work Tara mines trains over the last week, it was time to recreate the scene on Tara junction, 073 is seen here exiting from the Lakeview freight yard and traversing the crossovers with the empty Tara mines train while en route to Tara mines,

Many thanks Jason..

The ARROW railcar 2601+2602 arrives and departs from Tara junction station while working a local service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfCkfnfjRSI

Well deserved lads, I'm sure the forthcoming 001 class locomotives will be a worthy winner at the awards in the near future too....

A short video clip of C 201 class 225 arriving alongside the permanent way gang with the winch truck and 30t brake van.

Monday evening on Ashburton grove sees the 08 shunt wagons from the loop to the factory sidings having arrived behind the 37 earlier, A southbound HST passes at speed the local DMU as it forms a Leeds - Doncaster service, A 47 hauled express passes the shunting as it heads north to Inverness from Kings Cross.

I suppose I am quite fortunate to be in a position to have access to the real trains, so I can see up close what is required on the model versions, Thank you MM

With some surplus bogie wagons becoming available ,I have found other uses for them, The first one is 30001 which has been converted to a winch wagon consisting of two winches at either end for the lifting of old rails, the winches can be posed as can be seen in the following photos, Here we see a Sunday morning operation where C class locomotive 225 has arrived alongside the permanent way gang hauling the winch wagon and the 30 ton brake van, When the gang have dismantled the track panel, the winch wagon is called for to dispose of the old rails.

086 in Westport last week....

Its progressing well Raymond ,watching its progress with interest

Locomotive 220 at the rear of the MK3 push pull set passing through Tara junction station earlier....

192+160 arrive at the platform with the 10 piece Cravens set-passengers in the rear coaches were asked to move towards the front of the train in order to alight safely on the platform.

A reeling in the years moment on Tara junction after a marathon operating session that lasted six hours, It was a back to a Sunday evening in the 1990s when orange and black ruled the rails, we see a variety of rolling stock from that era including two large passenger trains being hauled by 2x141s and an 071,see the following list for details, 160+192 hauling nine Cravens and a BR GSV forming the 15:35 Westport-Heuston, 085 hauling ten Mk2 a/b coaches forming the 14:05 Tralee-Heuston 087 hauling six Mk3s forming the 13:45 Limerick-Heuston, 220 leading a five piece Mk3 push pull set-(6105)-forming the 17:30 Heuston-Waterford. 187 has charge of the branch three coach Park royal set at the platform waiting for the road to proceed 2601+2602 Arrow railcars are stabled in the bay platform. Enjoy the memories....

When regular push pull locomotive 234 was required for examination at the MPD, a suitable replacement had to be found....so 220 was allocated to the push pull MK3 set and it is seen here propelling the set through Tara junction station.

Thank you for the update you have made my week Dave,

NIRCLASS80-I really do admire your driving skills and realistic operation of your locomotives, well done and keep up the great work.

A thread which is nearly eight years old on the 22nd April again like Tara junction trains the buses form a major part of the overall layout, the CIE ones as seen here are mostly built and painted from resin kits they are an enjoyment to see when completed and on display in the garage scene, A Sunday evening sees buses being prepared for service for the coming week ahead.....a few photos....

Thank you hexagon789, weathering done by TMC

On this day eight years ago I started this thread about Tara junction, its been a fantastic journey to date-a house move a few years later brought a bigger house and a larger room to accommodate the layout, and more time to plan for what I wanted, a garage has been added two years ago and it has the potential for a 30'x 20' layout if required For now I am very happy with what I have and with Irish railway modelling continuing to provide highly detailed rolling stock and the prospect of 001s and 121s the possibility's for recreating scenes from the 1980s/1990s are and will be possible fairly soon, Thanks must go to the lads at IRM and Paddy Murphy.. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to write kind comments about the layout, it is appreciated, so for my 1,534th post, here is a different view of the layout, the high street looking out the Sligo road direction. .Its not all about the train either.....

As night falls on Tara junction 160+192 pass through with the empty timber train to Ballina......