Horsetan

Any facepalms?

The Heljan Hymek bogie has the correct overall wheelbase for the Sulzer B101. The catch is that you have to drill holes to turn it into the Sulzer's A1A arrangement....and that extra axlehole runs perilously close to the Heljan geartrain...

No complaints there, no?

Not anymore.....let's cut into his profit margin a touch....

It's a very nice kit, but should be labelled 3.5mm scale / HO !

Tom Mallard reputedly charges in the region of thousands for his builds....

The driving wheels supplied in the Class 5 kit appeared to be 16mm Romford / Jackson on extended plain-ended axles, nowadays Markits. I found them a bit too coarse for my liking, and replaced them with some plain 4' diameter Sharmans. The pony and carrying wheels were plastic-centred (or at least the ones in my kit were) and I thought they looked like Kean Maygib. Being spoked, they're wrong anyway, as the real things had disc wheels with holes drilled around the perimeter. Modern equivalents could probably be Markits, but they wouldn't be cheap nowadays. The other alternative might be wheels supplied by the 3mm Society or maybe 3SMR, as they work to 12mm gauge anyway. 3mm Society list - see pages 18 and 19 for wheels 3SMR wheels price list

The Industrial Garratt probably won't be seen again, except on eBay if you're lucky. Likewise the Doxford Crane Tank kit, which was produced in 1:87 due to a mistake, instead of 1:76.

Mine was purchased from the Backwoods stand at Warley 2000. Was only 80 quid all-in back then. I even took it to Donegal to photograph it in the cab of Drumboe

The range was taken over by N-Drive about five years ago, possibly longer than that. Based on rate of progress, it will be another 5-10 years at least before we see anything like the full line of kits available again. That's not forgetting the OO9 (non-Irish) range - extensive in itself- is supposedly to be resurrected as well. Long wait.

The model would started life like this. Note the separate instruction sheet for the Porter's Cap 80:1 gearbox.

No, no, not Portescap, but "Porter's Cap" - a play on a name for what was a much cheaper, multi-stage worm and spur gearbox, as opposed to the RG4 with its bevel-and-spur reversible drive.

The underside photo suggests it's been fitted with the "Porter's Cap" gearbox which was supplied as part of the kit and which is broadly similar to today's "High Level" gearbox kits. (I did wonder if "Porter's Cap" and "High Level" were related to each other.....)

This is a OOn3 (not actually TT gauge, even though it uses 12mm gauge track) model of the CDR's Nasmyth-Wilson Class 5 2-6-4T no: 6 Columbkille. The real thing still exists inside the Foyle Museum in Derry. Built from the long unavailable Backwoods kit, there's a bit of damage /distortion to the central buffer at the front - should be level, not pointing upwards. Rivetted smokebox is correct for no.6. Does it run?

Note also the miniature semaphore used as a shunt signal. There was another one beyond the north end of the platforms, governing exit from the transhipment sheds. Strabane seems to have been the only place where mini semaphores were used at ground level. The condition of the perimeter of the mixed gauge wagon turntable suggests the GNRI used it rather less than the CDRJC!

It'll polish out.

Give it 5-10 years. We should see the original range back by then.

I guess now yer man's stopped posting - possibly for good - you are actually getting something different to the "same old". Unintended consequences, etc.

He's kept that quiet, then, as his website doesn't mention that. We're still a good few years from seeing the rest of the Backwoods Irish range coming back into production.

Seems not.

The only way is

Alan Gibson's 4S44C bogie wheels are the closest equivalent, in that case.

The buffers aren't a problem - there are loads of oval-headed (and sprung!) options out there that will substitute adequately. Handrails should be easy to fix - there's enough of the intact ones left to replicate them with something other than fragile plastic. Damaged bodywork - well, I can see some paint marks, but the photos aren't close enough to give any other clues about the seller's drop-kicking skills. If it still runs well after all that, then it runs.

Maybe an outsize Amazon cardboard box containing several smaller Amazon boxes might do the business of adequately protecting it?

Seller is in Germany. His auction description, roughly translated, reads: "Locomotive runs in both directions Light change red / white Prepared for digital operation 21P decoder Light traces of glue from attaching the railings. Only used in test operation. Further accessories, manual and box." Photos suggest not a great deal wrong with it. It might actually run perfectly. May only need a DCC blanking plug, so. 13 Euros to post form Germany to Britain. Might be alright to convert to 21mm gauge.