Horsetan

It will be zero! I'm holding out for a zero 'til the end of the night.

I'm slightly surprised they didn't offer the Leader under the running numbers (36002-5) that never actually ran..

If firms are brave enough to produce models of very short-lived test beds like this, then the Turf Burner should be a runner. Arguably so should its predecessor, no.356 the Mental Turf Burning Locomotive. In similar vein, the LMS high-pressure 6399 Fury. Also the Great Eastern's Decapod tank no.20.

"The name's Bond. Seamus Bond."

"The Bob". Quite why this locomotive class was named after the classic ladies' short hairstyle is unknown. However, the Br.64 was a popular subject for Fleischmann to produce in HO as far back as the late 1970s and it remained in their catalogue with very little interruption, with some improvement over the years, until Fleischmann ceased all manufacturing in HO in favour of "N". This one arrived from eBay about a week ago and for 29 quid I can't complain. Whoever owned it previously knew what they were doing: some fine detailing had already begun, including etched valve gear (which looks like a Weinert product), and turning down the coarse NEM profile wheels to something nearer RP25-88. It's also been renumbered as one of the preserved examples "064 419-0" I haven't yet opened it up, but it looks as though the model has had a conversion from the original Fleischmann Ringfield/disc motor to something else. I'm hoping it might be a Faulhaber coreless motor in there. It looks ripe for even more detailing as Weinert Modellbau produces quite a lot of exquisite (and expensive) detail castings for the Br.64, so we'll see what the budget can support!

That layout has something for almost everyone. When I asked its creator why he hadn't completed the illusion by going P87 / HO-pur, he said he had actually thought about it, but didn't have enough time to adopt those standards.

I never had a bad pint in Clare. I forget which bar it was in Tulla but there was one Sunday meet where we had a couple of pints before riding out around lunchtime, then came back at about half past the five, boxed the horses up to send 'em home, by which time we had a bit of a thirst going on. Straight into the same bar we'd started the day in, only this time we didn't come out again. There was even a bit of a sing-song during the evening. The previous MFH had given us a rendition of "The Oul Horse Died" and others had given some trad songs as well. Anyhow, some way past licensing hours, the bar was still full and none of the riders or followers showed any sign of going home. Pints were still being poured and sunk, some of them by me. By half one Monday morning I was heading for the door. In the words of the Eagles song "I had to find my passage back / To the place I was before" and I was vaguely conscious of Darragh Hassett guiding me out into the street.....and nobody else leaving. Darragh had had a fair few himself but still somehow had the presence of mind to make sure I wasn't driving home but, to be fair, by this stage I couldn't even remember where I'd parked the car. It was a long night, my legs were unsteady, and I don't remember seeing any sign of the Guards anywhere. The last time I'd had contact with Gardaí was some weeks before on the other side of the country, when I was breathalysed on the Shankill Road going towards Bray. Mrs O'Donohue gave me a very knowing look later that morning. I was still in hunting kit, with mud splattered over it, and all I could hope for was that I hadn't disgraced myself. Looking back on this over 20 years later, I think I'd do exactly the same again. Ireland was a grand place to be, and nobody knew that Tíogar na hEireann was walking on quicksand.

My fondest memories of Ennis are from the late 1990s/early 2000s. By then I had embarked on my career, was earning my own money and had developed an attachment to as much Guinness as I could absorb. In the winters I was mostly exercising random horses at the Burkes' Clare Equestrian Centre over in Doora, and being sent by them to meets of The Clare at Ballynacally, Lisseycasey, Tulla, Corofin, etc. The looks I got in '99 when some of the hunt followers realised that the fella on the horse from Burkes wasn't white was gas . One of the hunt members was a local Solicitor, Darragh Hassett, who later became MFH of The Clare and is still in practice at his Firm. "The Chinese. A great bunch of lads."

I first went to Ennis in the August of 1988, staying at the O'Donohues' place on the Kilrush Road, so can just about remember this view, although I remember Slieve Callan as being painted black and under her own canopy on the old platform line formation by that time. Ennis was a relatively quiet town in 1988 - nothing like the bustling, expanding and industrious place I returned to 10 years later, and certainly not like it is now. Sadly I only recently learnt that Mrs O'Donohue had died in February last , so one of the links I had with Ennis is now gone.

Will Lebanese or Egyptian pounds do?

I always get a "404 Not Found" when clicking IRRS Flickr links.

Want it now, want it yesterday.

It's a toss-up between 18.2mm and 18.37mm. I'd have thought GSR / CIE and Victorian Railways would have more in common, track-wise.

It is, but there could be allowance for FB rail in future developments. Who knows?

3ft 4in diameter wheels....almost the same as the centre ones for the BR Class 31...

The new era of, as it turned out, relative parsimony....

There's also 3D-printed "PlugTrack" which Martyn Wynne (creator of Templot) and others have been working on for a while.

See that? Now that's a face only a mother could love!

That sounds like Peco, which owns the Parkside kit range

Not going to be available to me, as I'm in the UK.

No built-up smokebox (or round-top firebox) is easy to roll, as you're doing a standard roll and then having to change direction. Pain in the neck, even with a rolling mill.

I think you'd enjoy having a stab at a Jidenco Class 50 kit....

"Boxy, but good."

Saabs were always well-engineered cars. That's probably why Saab never really made much money, so had to settle for annoying GM by re-engineering GM parts.

Nothing but the best for the faithful