Horsetan

The former course of the line is certainly fairly difficult to trace on Google Maps satellite. A lot of it has been ploughed back into the fields, and only the tree line gives away the remainder.

It's the 1938 drawings I've been after for ages. There were, as I understand it, changes to the valve gear as well as the frames, so I want to make sure that I have got it right on my TMD/SSM kit build. It occurs to me that the TMD/SSM kit already provides the later bulkier frames as an option (which I have used), so Terry McDermott must have had access to some drawings for the rebuilds / renewals. Do the 1938 drawings still exist? Well, Richard hasn't stumbled across them yet, but fingers crossed.

On the subject of the three-wagon multipack, I'm sure there are economic reasons for doing it in threes, but it will risk putting off potential buyers who might only want one or two wagons, and who might balk at shelling out over 100 Euro just in order to have the one. It also potentially creates a profiteers' market on eBay. If profit is to be made (and there is little of that in railway modelling generally), it should be made by IRM, not eBay sellers. It's massive growth, because it starts from a fairly low base. Any growth in Irish railway model availability is to be encouraged, but we should all make sure it's not a false dawn. I'd hesitate to call it a Golden Age, though. That sounds like hyperbole. A few extra swallows don't make a summer.

A K2 kit might have alternative smokeboxes and boiler fittings, plus alternative copings for the tender.

SSM also do the GNRI brake van, which is nice....

Just checked; yes, Worsley still do. The door to a Park Royal is still open.

Meanwhile, the IFM Park Royals are sold out, so it looks like we're in for a long wait to see if another batch is produced....

Don't forget that's the K2 as built, not the reboilered version that 461 is now.

Some of the MGW route towards Sligo certainly looks like it could have double track restored to it, but would the likely demand ever justify it?

I've sent an e-mail enquiry to MOSI/MSIM's Collections department, so here's hoping.....

The idea of a double-tracked / electrified West Clare, and/or unified double-tracked CDR/L&LSR system, would have been intriguing. Full front-line service for the 800s should also have seen them able to work to Westport, Achill, Sligo, Limerick..... A double-tracked Achill Line - now there's a thing. The combination of these fuels, and the resultant exhaust emissions, also led to experiments with afters-burners.

Not a follower of Flat racing (I prefer NH and point-to-point), but Pat Eddery was probably the Flat jockey for the 1980s. Like many, he lived to ride and preferred the company of horses to people but, when it was all over, the whole point of his life and focus evaporated. Alcoholism claimed him, and had a terrible knock-on effect on his wife and children.

An "art project" (sic) with violence attached? That's a new one. Graffiti is basically a waste of perfectly good paint.

Bear in mind that the drawings are for the original "S" (and may include the drawing produced in Dundalk, dated 1925), but I don't think Richard has managed to locate any drawings produced for the rebuilds in 1938, i.e. the form in which 171 exists today. Probably because it was their flagship?

Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester have the GA drawing of the K2 - click here for image and details, but now seem very coy about whether you can buy a copy or scan for research purposes.

Update: I can access the Photo Albums via PC, albeit in a roundabout way (there seems to be no direct link) with full upload / expansion facility, but this seems to be the only method. Android only gives viewing access (no uploading allowed at all), and i-Pad/tablet no access to albums at all - it's as if they didn't exist.

New look is grand, but noticed a couple of things: I generally have three methods of access: PC, i-Pad/tablet, or Android phone (Xiaomi Note 4G) and can't quite get my head around the following: 1. On i-Pad, I can't see my own photo albums; 2. On Android phone, I can see my albums, but have no means of uploading to them, or adding new albums; Are my settings wrong? Note: not tried PC access yet.

Careful now.

What's the alternative? Lobbing turf at it?

The Branchlines T&D kits are all still available. Ye'd need to do a bit of scratchbuilding to extend the 2-6-0T into 2-6-2T no.5, though....

Do they go up to "11"?

Happy Birthday

Reminds me of the Paul Gascoigne goal against Scotland in the Euro96.