Kirley

I understand that it can pull a rake of coaches up a helix, hoping to see it in action sometime this month.

My quest for a smooth running chassis for an A Class led me to South Down and Anthony kindly took some pictures of his Hornby Class 55 chassis modified to fit an A class body but having two power bogies. So it can be done, looking forward to seeing in run sometime.

Your systematic approach is paying dividends Nelson.

Yes Patrick, his tutorial on converting Dapol chassis to prototypical Irish wagons must the basis for any accurate wagon conversions.

Just ordinary superglue Nelson.

I've got two Silver Fox A Class kits for Christmas and I recently obtained a Silver Fox C Class kit as well. Most of my time on this project has been put into the modifications of the A Class chassis but as the detailing kits from SSM arrived I thought I better start work on the bodies. The A Class detailing kits were fine and as I have used them before it was straight forward gluing them to the resin body. However when I started on the C Class I realised the main grills were too large for the C Class so I had to cut them to fit. I had to cut one side of the surround and glue the remainder moving the diagonal bar down to the new corner. They turned out OK. Out of the bath and drying prior to priming. It's nice to see a bit of colour at last.

Looks tedious work especially with 11 more to do but it will be worth it in the end.

I'm copying every word, great tutorial.

Thanks for the pictures, I've been hunting for a C Class picture where you can see detail - my prayers answered.

This looks like the answer to my needs. I take it you still need required resistors for the LED's?

Exceptional result George

Thanks Guys for those helpful replies. I am running a mixture of LED's and other bulbs and using an old DC trainset controller? Stephen, that Power Supply Regulated Transformer looks the business if I could run a number of bus wires of it as I wish to be able to control the lights in particular areas rather than having all the lights on the layout on or off.

I have included quite a number of scenic lights on my layout run from a 12v supply. As I intend to add more lights to Clonmel Station buildings I was wondering that is the maximum number lights you can run from one 12v DC controller? Is there other power supplies you can use for this purpose? Any information (as long as it is not too technical) would be most welcome.

More pictures please

Any chance of a video of it in action? It would be nice to have a fall back option that works. I'll PM re your kind offer.

Starting to come together Stephen.

Found this 2009 entry in RM Web on an alternative motor for an A Class. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8105 He employed the SB Modellbau method which uses "the quite excellent Swiss-made Maxon motor and flywheel on a new solid brass base with gearing (also in brass) driving all three axles". However the thread was not complete so you don't know how things worked out. It looks an interesting (and expensive) option.

Love the detail in the interior of the Loco Shed

Work still continues on Clonmel Station buildings. Between the buildings and the bridge there is a wall with access through it to a shed. This is a rough copy to imitate what's there. An undercoat of grey. I still have to add some stone effect and paint the back wall as well as add some detail and paint the shed. The gap between the wall and the Booking Hall is for the Gent's toilet building which Glenderg is finishing off along with another connecting building on the far side of the booking hall.

Still experimenting on ways to get my two new A Class loco's to pull a rake of coaches up my steepest incline. I added a block of weight to A7 and it seems to have got rid of the slippage at the summit of the incline. The video below also shows 045 with an even larger weigh on the front bogie but still having difficulties at the summit. Watch to see what difference the change to Marklin traction tyres and judge for yourself. I weighted my locomotives and found the A7 to be 494g, 045 to be 449g compared to a Murphy's 071 at 502g. Hopefully getting there.

Thinking outside the box again, a clever concept indeed.

The Nov issue of New Irish Lines has just been published and for the first time it's printed on photographic paper with colour front and back covers. Lots of good reading inside.

See BBC News clip which hints at better things to come. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25931587#

Would you have any suggestions on an American Chassis that would come close to being suitable for an A Class?