Horsetan

I wouldn't mind a couple in 21mm to see what they're like...

I also saw a suggestion that the N gauge couplings be replaced with the much less-obtrusive Märklin Z-gauge/miniclub ones.

For coaching stock, yes. For freight, it might be a bit different. The Accurascale semi-transparent couplings could have gone further, and been made fully-transparent. Maybe something could also have been done to reduce the massive gap between coupled vehicles.

If there's any left over, I might be interested in one or two if that makes things easier....

Gostude has a collection of Studebaker cars to support.

Not so much alternate universe as naked greed.

Thurles Is Not Enough

That's a bit like BR Mk1 underframes being used as car transporters for the Motorail service

CIE Another Day

I have a Park Royal on order as well. Spare 8' Commonwealth bogies would be useful - they would go under an Irish Freight Models Laminate kit that I have.

That's what I bought four spare bogie pairs for (when they were on a discount offer): to go under the Murphy's RPSI Mk2 trio here. The bogie pivots are obviously not the same, so a good deal of improvisation will be needed. Murphy Mk2s are difficult to dismantle and, despite a few goes at it, I haven't managed to prise the bodyshell off the underframe. The other thing is the conversion to 21mm. The back-to-back for P4 profile wheels comes out at either 19.67 or 19.87mm depending on whether your flangeway gaps are dead scale or not. IRM Mk2 bogie wheels are mounted the same way as is common in 2mm finescale: the wheels are "live" with pinpoint 1.5mm split axles held in an insulating muff so that they can conduct the electric needed for coach lighting. Most P4 coach wheels have plastic centres on a solid 2mm axle. On the face of it, this won't work properly in an IRM bogie as the lighting circuit will be lost unless you can arrange extra pickups to "wipe" the tyres without touching the axle and a standard P4 axle is usually too short for 21mm gauge. Having messed with the problem over many weeks, my thinking is that the IRM method has to be replicated, so: - live P4 wheels and tyres (12mm diameter steel, available from Alan Gibson Workshop); - wheel centres sleeved down from 2mm to 1.5mm (if I can get micro tube for it); - IRM 1.5mm split pinpoint axles and muffs if, and it's a big "if", these parts are also available as spares. Yes they have been allocated part numbers in the IRM instruction diagrams but I need to find out if they can be supplied.

I wonder if they'll be able to find sufficient drawings for it, though

Some of that may be accentuated by differences in ambient light.

What's not to like?

I understood that construction of the underframes of 36004/5 had been started, if not a lot else.