Riversuir226

Seen as a pending house move is on the cards in the near future the biggie layout has been put on hold , but in the meantime planning permission with the domestic authorities has been given for a 8ft x 4ft portable layout .

The CBSCR has always had an attraction for me since 1989 when santy got me 2 trainsets and a CBSCR vol 2 book by Colm Creedon (must have been a good boy that year!!!). Over the years since i added a few more books about the line, thru the 1990's i spent, many a happy day walking the old trackbed, so its about time i tried to bring back a little bit of it in model form .

A little alternative history

Instead of the line being lifted, thanks to huge public support and a victory in the high court the mainline from Cork to Bantry was left open while sadly the lines to Clonakilty, Courtmacsherry and Baltimore were closed and lifted. For a few years a full passenger and freight service was in operation but further losses led to the loss of passenger servicesand all freight except beet traffic. Thankfully the opening of a new oil terminal in Bantry led to a new 7 days a week freight serviceto service the terminal and added to this more trains too Ballinacourty and the line wss saved.

Fast forward a few more years and the arrival of the Celtic tiger led to a demand for passenger services which following an upgrade to the line were re introduced, added to this new timber flows to Waterford and two new beet handling depots made the line quite busy.

Back to the layout

While looking into which station to model Clon junction was the first choice but after a little time messing with pencil and paper it became quite clear that it d be neigh on impossible to squeeze it in without loosing the feel of the station. So the second choice was to be it.

I ll be using peco code 100 track, all the buildings are long gone but armed with good pics they ll be the easy part, the other structures will all also need to be scratchbuilt using plasticard.

Its a beautiful part of the country alright , the views from a passing train must have been stunning

it appears heirfick wasn t far off the mark

fence for preventing rock fall onto the line?

Itd come in handy these days

I ve a close up picture of the cabin , i ll post it up over the weekend as its on the pc.

I ve been told it was a check cabin, not to sure when it was removed. The site of the cabin is still visible, it was a tight fit too say the least.

Nice one Eamonn,

088 was repainted for me by the Conna wizard a few months back and a top job it was too, using pics i cut back the new cabside logos on the non fan end like her fullsize sister. The right hand side got a bit more cut off than the left handside one(many thanks to Sean for the missing pic that i needed).

All good things have to come to an end the auld girl of the shed 202 River Lee which was a renumbered lima 219 is starting to show her age. Her replacement is a new mm 220 which i renumbered to 202, decals are a mix of old mir numbers and ssm nameplates, 3 of the plates are fitted but one has gone missing so that ll be a job for another day.

The old lima one has given her bachy cl 66 chassis to 209 & has now got a lima cl 59 chassis which has her motor disabledso it can be hauled around the layout by another loco (a bit like the real thing ) . The auld lima 201 will also get a new number and nameplates.

The freight yard changes took place in 1974 when the turntable and riverside sidings were removed to allow the main lines move to the riverside, the container and other modernisation happened at this time.

The eastern end signal cabin was demolished in 1985.

Platform 4 was extended in 1974 by 75 yards.

Redrich would probably have more knowledge of the other changes.

Yep full yellow ends

Thinking of upgrading my c class and 121 chassis alright but the inside of themir body on the 121 would be a nightmare to sort out . The c class would be simples in comparision. Anyone for a much detestedlima cl 73 chassis?

Wouldn t be suitable for the a class but with a bit of work it could just about fit in the c class

If your sending it for a brake fluid bath use an auld nasher brush for the hard to get to bits.

Chassis only .......... Yes please

Nearly all Paddys range from the cravens to the mk2's are available so hes producing the right amount . The lima 201's is possibly the worst example as they were available from 2001 to 2005 & they couldn t be given away. All the 201's are available bar maybe river shannon, all the 071's are still available , most of the cravens and mk2's. If your looking for aparticular loco or coach that isn t available buy the nearest one to it and get one of the lads to renumber or repaint it or do it yourself .

I ve most of the track plans for the stations drawn out on anyrail if you want them give us a shout. The lifting of the lines is very well covered by both Colm Creedon and Ernie Shephard in their books on the line the latter one is very good and more importantly copies are still available. If your looking for more pics of the line or the remains of it give us a shout and i ll be glad to help in whatever way i can.

As for my plan, its a what if , based in the near past after track and branchline rationalisation but still have a sense of place using Charles Nixons designed bridges (not viaducts, how i wish i had the space) to set the scene and using old pics & new to model the countryside and the engineering that when t into the building of the line . What i can actually fit into a 8ft x 4ft space is open for discussion .

The layout is loosely based on the West Cork line, no station in particular but hope to get the "feel" of out wesht but set in the recent past. It ll have a beet handling depot for added interest & a log handling siding . 088 is getting her logos cut back like her bigger sis .

The taras will be first and i ll be building them in stages and posting up a "how to " as i go along, i ll be building three to add to my existing rake. The timbers arebased on a hornby old type freightliner wagon with added scratchbuilt stanchions and bulkhead, i ll also do a "how too" for those too.

I m also planning to do a beet bogie rake using ssm 42ft flats with c rail containers

Thanks Noel

A few little jobs coming up ,

1. Grey 088 gets a little makeover

2. Yes i know i ve enough 201's but theres a new arrival and the lima 201 is up for the IE treatment.

While the new one gets renumbered & renamed.

3. Taras & timbers part 2 scratchbuilding

The new layout will be making an appearance at some stage too

Im delighted with any model that comes out as well, still can t believe i can walk into marks, Grahams, rb models, modelshop belfast and get top quality irish rtr models. Our corner of the hobby is very well served by Paddy & others and long may it last. Only problem is i ve enough 201's so it ll be only 230 out of this batch .

Think it should be 230 River Bandon

You ll need to give the motor itself a clean and then a little service usually that does the trick. If that doesn t work then upgrading the chassis would be an option.

Jaysus i hope its not a 203 River Bandon

Have you tried http://www.rbmodels.ie or Karl Roche Irishbloke77 of this site?

Excellent work so far interesting cabin to build and its always great to see a bit of scratchbuilding. Looking forward to seeing this build progress.

Lovely shots Garsfield, how did ya get on with the duvel?

Spent a month in Belgium in 1998 lovely country with lots of variety in the train department.

Well said Stevie B