Horsetan

Anyone here involved with North Down?

The Chinese have taken this to another level, which might explain why a fair few of their boom-era buildings have collapsed over the years.

When BR's Waverley Route was being shut down in 1969, some preservationists allegedly seriously considered reviving services using imported ex-DB engines - things like the 2-cylinder Br.01s and 03s. Even if the money had been available for these things, there was still the problem of the German loading gauge which was noticeably higher and wider than that available on the Waverley. As it happens, in those crazy days of 1970s preservation, a few individuals did manage to import a couple of ex-DB and ex-SNCF locomotives; Carnforth hosted a Br01.10 3-cylinder Pacific and a SNCF 231K, neither of which could operate outside the confines of the yard, owing to their width, height and weight! Both of these engines returned to the Continent after the Millennium; I understand 01.1104 returned to steam last year and is now running railtours on parts of the DB network.

Currently waiting for next batch of J15 kits....

Bitter Sweet Symphony, surely?

Just all the other RPSI Cravens numbers to find now.

There's never been any problem thinking big in Ireland. The problem is obtaining the money after thinking big....

It's abundantly clear they have no interest in commissioning or funding the survey they claim is necessary, so no decision will ever be needed. Meanwhile, open season for any metal thieves who fancy lifting the rails and chairs, followed by stripping of the stock...

That's strange. Nothing has ever shown up here since TwiX blocked off access for non-subscribers

Given the changes to TwiX since Elon Musk took over and decided to mess with the settings, there is no longer any visible feed on the board. Is it time to unplug and save some resources?

Nothing will have changed in 25 years' time.

John Cage's 4'33"

I think I might have finally found a RPSI Cravens coach, albeit not in their blue and white livery....

Given the slightly more generous loading gauge that used to exist on the GS&WR lines, I wonder how practical it might have been to have a few of the post-1926 German standard designs, regauged for 5'3"? Things like the mixed-traffic Br.23 2-6-2s, for example, or the Br.64 2-6-2Ts or Br.86 2-8-2Ts for branch line and suburban work?

Sounds like the broad gauge equivalent of parts of the T&D which were equally parlous.

To be fair, there have been so many announcements recently that I've given up trying to identify which is which....

What announcement?

Digging into the wheelsets a bit further, I found the wheel diameter to be a consistent 12.06mm, with a standard back-to-back set at around 14.57mm... Pinpoint stub axles came out at 1.53mm: ...and the insulated axle muff was found to be virtually the same as the back-to-back measurement: Quite encouraging so far...

Guinness saddle tank.

Does that mean there might be a few counterfeit IRM "A" class models out there?

New sources of low-cost gas are always welcome to supplement turf-burning.

Some of us actually drive oul sheds

Non-standard designs, and possibly some way ahead of contemporary British engines. And yet, in the years to come, British designers did adopt some American practices, such as tapered boilers. By 1926, British locomotive design standardisation was arguably being left behind again, this time by the German "Einheitslok" design principles.

David Barham also showed us three Cavan & Leitrim open wagons that he'd been asked to print for OOn3. He said that current technology allowed him to print all three wagons in about one hour. Will be available as a Brassmasters kit in due course, probably next year.

....if somewhat inaccessible now. Wasn't there another one of the same design in Portadown?