Horsetan

Something that's long dead thankfully.

That's good. I used to get caught up in the tailbacks when coming back from the West on the N4. On one occasion I gave up sitting in traffic and parked in Liffey Valley until things had died down.

Never mind getting it around the M50. Wait 'til it reaches the M50 toll plaza.

Anyone know what kind of weight a LUAS tram is? They have a light plastic appearance but obviously are hefty enough underneath.

They'd be as substantial as the Zurich trams and - believe me - you don't want to be colliding with those either.

Have already read through the "S"-class instructions. Hope "Weshty" might allow me to either add notes or corrections as I go along. First point relates to the spacers that are in the kit - they are specifically for "OO" and would be too narrow for 21mm gauge. Don't know whether there are longer ones available but, in my case, I'll have to make my own from nickel silver strip of the appropriate width.

The idea is that the chassis below the footplate should be as close (or identical) to the width of the cosmetic frames above it. It also means that there is then enough room for working inside motion / pistons, if such a kit ever becomes available in future.

Does anyone have any photos of Slieve Gullion in a dismantled state, showing the cranks and rods, etc. between the frames?

....Any idea if there is anything useful wheel wise in the Exactoscale range.

Exactoscale wheels look great but are seriously expensive (click here for list), and the driving wheels in particular have a specialised mounting system for which you are required to buy their tool (an extra £30). At the moment, I can't see any wheels that could be used on an Irish engine but I do know I can't afford Exactoscale prices! They do not list anything specifically for Irish broad gauge, but there'd be no harm in asking them whether they can make a batch of Irish BG wheelsets.

.....Scalefour stores seem to be out of stock at the moment on 28mm pp axles but I might give AGW a ring and see what can be done.

Get the 28mm axles from Ultrascale. I did! They're about the cheapest things Ultrascale make - postage to Ireland will probably be more than the axles are worth, but if you get a good stock of them it will be worth it.

Have you got your Irish back-to-back gauge already? I have to buy one from the Stores......

I read that when Harcourt Street Station was initially sold off in 1959, it set a record for the highest amount paid at auction for a Dublin property: £67,500.

That's really quick Horsetan considering the usual wait.

Probably because it didn't involve wheels!

The pressure's on now, as I must get the wheels from AGW, and hornblocks/bearings from High Level. The bare chassis would act as a cradle to start building the body.

I will have to chat to them myself soon about doing some steel wheels and axles for the diesel locos in 21mm. I might even look into them producing some drop in wheelsets as a commission as time isn't a factor at the moment.

For P4/18.83, there's one fella who's getting them to do drop-in sets for the Kernow Beattie 2-4-0 Well Tank. Apparently the project is going to cost at least a grand, so that might give an idea of the sort of costs involved.

Make sure you've got a good number of interested subscribers for the 21mm gauge sets, who will put their money where their mouths are.

That was weird. I even uploaded the photos into the Forum's own albums, so they should have shown instantly the moment the link was clicked.

UPDATE: Ultrascale are just after telling me the Irish broad gauge axle sets are ready to collect. Only one week after ordering!! Unreal!

Hurling. The most dangerous game ever to involve several men with sticks.

'tis a gas.

...are these motors DCC friendly and can they be wired up easily?

I understand that there are decoders and controllers that will cater for them. Coreless motors have two terminals, same as any iron-core motor.

I use DC so I have a Pentroller or PICtroller to supply power.

Reminds me of the early days of LUAS, when some drivers were trying to "beat the tram", and generally coming off second-best.

Sounds like a good project/challenge alright. One would of course have to get an existing version to work out the innards first....

Click here for some close-up views

As a sort of sub-thread to my GNR(I) "S"-class project, and "Weshty" was after asking anyway, I thought it might be of interest if I posted up some of the motors and gearboxes that I prefer to use.

Wherever possible, I like to use coreless motors and reversible drivetrains. Best example of this is the Escap RG4 which came in three sizes:

1219 (the motor was provided by Faulhaber, not Portescap):

1616:

and 1624:

They were widely available from the late 1970s until about 2005, when difficulties in supplying the gears meant that these combinations disappeared from the market. They now command fairly high prices on eBay. Fortunately I bought most of mine when they were in production and accumulated about 20 of them.

The great thing about coreless motors is the very low current consumption needed to get them started, whilst the bevel-and-spur gears don't lock up when the power is "off".

You can hand-push a model and its wheels will keep on revolving; you can't do that with worm drives.

The motors themselves are still being made and are fairly easy to get hold of.

My question is: is there not a gear maker in Ireland who could reproduce the bevel-and-spur geartrains at a reasonable price, so that more people can use them?

Mighty class of a yoke there Dave, another special commission?

I'm hoping his next one will be powered by microturf!

Wow Horsetan, this is a whole new technology to me, but sounds bloody fascinating. Have you any photos that you can put up of the Portescap

I'll put up photos of the three main types that have been used in UK railway modelling: the 1219, 1616 and 1624. Each came with a 3-stage bevel & spur gearbox and were marketed here as the Escap RG4 from the late 1970s until the mid-2000s when the gearboxes became unavailable.

The motors themselves are of course still being made.

Fascinating...£50 a pop eh?

I stockpiled them when they were in production, so mostly paid about £35 or less. I had 20 in the drawer the last time I checked. On eBay, people go mad if one appears and I've seen them go up to £235 for a single unit; £65 to £80 is more usual.

I would like to see the gearbox / geartrain being made again. They would be a grand drivetrain for any motor, not just coreless. Sure there must be a gearmaker in Ireland who can do this type of thing....??

...

Why do you dislike worm drive and what's the advantage of a portescap?

Simply this: when there is no power, a worm drive locks up solid. Think about our car gearboxes & differentials: they use bevels / contrates for a reason, & that's why cars can coast when disengaged.

Coreless motors such as Escap or Maxon need very little current to get started, & are very efficient. It's like comparing LEDs to filament bulbs.

Careful now Ted and remember the saying dont ever drink and solder.

Yeah, and don't go giving it away in a raffle now, ha ha ha....

As long as Dougal isn't doing the funeral...

..... so please loads of pics as you go.

That reminds me of the huge sign that Dougal wrote for Ted:

"Ted: get me loads of matador stuff"

There will be two speeds employed on this build: slow......and stop.

Did you ever build any MTK kits Gareth. Colins strapline was hammer and nails required. I think he also called them the El Crappo range. ....

"el-Crappo" was the name given to the 7mm scale MTK kits. And they were.

'tis said that Colin Massingham never ever consulted a drawing or took any measurements - he allegedly just looked at a few photos and did everything by eye. Should have gone to Specsavers.

Long before Mercedes made it the plutocrat / African diplomatic conveyance of choice, the Great Northern Railway of Ireland laid claim to the "S" classification to place on Glover's classic 4-4-0 design.

Decades later, a brass and nickel-silver kit was produced. Fairly hard to get hold of in those pre-Internet days, it was another couple of decades before a secondhand one, untouched as many kits are, was spotted on eBay and swiped for less than the cost of a Ryanair seat to Dublin.

Here it all is, to be built in Irish P4/21mm gauge. As a first stab, you'd want to be doing it more elegantly than a skanger in Ballyfermot:

It will be sixteen weeks before Irish axles arrive from Ultrascale and hopefully a lot less than that for P4-profiled wheels from AGW (Alan Gibson Workshop). There'll be working hornblocks to get from High Level, and we'll be trying to install the CSB suspension system. I absolutely hate worm gears, so one of the many Portescap RG4s in my drawer will probably find its way into the drivetrain.

Des at SSM e-mailed the missing instruction sheets this week and we're sort of set to go. The instructions suggest that you can build the body structures separately from the chassis, which is great 'cos the wheels and axles aren't here yet!

I'll be trying to portray no.171. I only model preserved stuff, on the basis that you can still go and see the thing.

A 21mm gauge layout in future? Now chance would be a fine thing (though Templot makes it easier) - more likely I'll seek permission to run on someone else's 21mm gauge.

I wonder if it could be classified as a Class 2 relic......

I remember the days when it was 1.40 Euro to the pound.

......Only problem is, there are thousands of more units throughout the country like these.

I read last year in the Indo that an entire block in Dublin had to be evacuated because a proper fire risk assessment had never been carried out (yet the authorities signed it off), and it was belatedly discovered that there was no (or inadequate) fire-resistant material in the walls.