Horsetan

I think it is quite apparent that Irish design philosophy was somewhat different, with a wider loading gauge to play with. In musical comedy terms, it's like comparing The Rutles with The Beatles: the two bands sound similar but, when you examine the music closely, they turn out to be actually very different.

I'm not sure when the SL&NC started to fall into arrears of maintenance in relation to condition of the rails, but most of the photos I've seen suggest they were running on some quite ropey metals...

Were such records actually kept in the first place? Or was the change of use just done ad-hoc?

The improvised use of a square board for what is ostensibly a main arm certainly suggests sighting purposes. Definitely one for those who worked in CIE's S&T department. How many improvised signals like these were there on the network? Interesting that the white bar is missing from the red "arm", so was it actually for a shunt move? I wouldn't have thought that S&T was so short of equipment that they couldn't find a spare shunting disc in the stores, though....

Alan Gibson/AGW say (in their catalogue) that the tyre wear could be anything up to 2½ inches before new tyres were necessary.

You'd have to find some way of widening the footplate between the frames and letting in some splashers, but the good news is that the boiler and cab assembly doesn't really need to be touched other than maybe to add a tablet catcher on the cabside, and maybe to add (if modelling later CIE condition): - extra pipe runs - rivets to the smokebox - a new door and handles, plus eight door "dogs" with opening handles to replace the original six. Sounds more like A Dios le Pido. Spanish practices?

As things stand, I wouldn't try it. Not on a Rapido.

Well, not quite. The preproduction photos suggests that there's still a problem with the depth of the footplate drop, especially in front - Rapido seem to have used the shallow "N" one, thus repeating the mistake that DJH made on their new-build "U" kit. It would look wrong on a Woolwich K1a as well. The "U" and K1a had a very deep and noticeable drop from footplate down to bufferbeam - it has rarely if ever been modelled correctly, mainly because modellers assumed it was the same as the original N/K1. The K1a used the same chassis wheelbase as the K1, 7'3" x 8'3", unlike the "U" which is 6 inches shorter between driving and trailing axles. The other thing is that Rapido don't really cater for the finescale gauges. Clearances have tended to be insufficient and Rapido engineering has been quite unlike everyone else's - it's almost as if they'd deliberately designed them not to be tampered with. People have already had considerable problems trying to convert from OO to P4, and there would be even bigger problems going to 21mm, especially with the extra 2mm between the visible frames to be grafted in. I have a Rapido USATC S160 on order for end of next year, and I'm expecting it to be a nightmare P4 conversion.

This almost reads like Roddy Doyle's writing style, particularly the conversations at the bar in his books "Two Pints" and "Two More Pints"

In time to come (probably now, in fact), AI will probably say this is genuine....

Yes, that was the "after extraction", no?

There's also, I think, Return Of The Pink Panther, which has a lengthy scene involving a prisoner's escape from what is ostensibly a French cross-country train, but which is obviously a C class and some Laminates....

Easy to regauge. 40 minutes' work using Accurascale's Deltic P4 wheels on the original axles. Alternatively, there's enough meat on the IRM wheels to turn down the width and flange depth on a lathe.

"The name's Bond. Seamus Bond. Licence to fill..... "

Q-Kits did acquire an unenviable reputation, much like MTK, for the irregularity of their component parts. I remember them mostly for their 1980s attempt at a USATC 0-6-0T kit, at a time when there was absolutely no alternative available.