Tractionman

Excellent Really pleased with my three, they look fantastic!

Just spotted this

it's usually running in the school holiday period, so for us that's end of June onwards, but it's probably best to give the local tourist information office in Bushmills a call to ask-- https://discovernorthernireland.com/listing/bushmills-visitor-information-centre/81602101/ to add, on Facebook there is a post calling for "Seasonal Station Assistants", that was March 18th, the phone number given is as in @Broithe's post above.

Just spotted these that might be of interest, MkIIs: https://footplate.co.uk/search?q=irish+ra&price[min]=0&price[max]=74.95&filter.v.price.gte=&filter.v.price.lte=&filter.p.m.custom.country_of_operation=Ireland&sort_by=relevance results found Sort by Relevance Price, low to high Price, high to low Bachmann OO Gauge MM4108 Irish Railways MK2 TSO Open Second IR Intercity Regular price£74.95 Add to cart Bachmann OO Gauge MM4110 Irish Railways MK2 TSO Open Second IR Intercity Regular price£74.95 Add to cart Bachmann OO Gauge MM4101 Irish Railways MK2 TSO Open Second IR Intercity Regular price£74.95 Add to cart Bachmann OO Gauge MM4102 Irish Railways MK2 TSO Open Second IR Intercity Regular price£74.95 Add to cart

that's a very good point, too cold in winter and too hot in summer, real considerations for lofts, sheds, garages, outbuildings etc where we usually end up being with our layouts!

you've come to the right place yes that is a great space to have. as to answer the q, where to start depends really on your railway interests, eg location, period, operations, etc, and develop a plan around that--eg do you want to watch trains going past, a relaxing thing to do, then you'll need a roundy-roundy type set up, if you enjoy shunting and moving wagons around then a yard needs to go in too etc etc. plus there's the budget, and time, how much have you got for each? They are the two biggest limits to model railway plans in my experience! good luck with the build! cheers, Keith

there seems to be a huge demand for Mark IIs, hope a rerun will be along sometime (soon)!

just in case anyone's after a green A class or other hard to find stuff: https://modelrailwayemporium.com/search?page=1&q=cie cheers, Keith

Their website has a mailshot that you can sign up to https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/trainsevents

it was great to see this in operation, the locos and stock were spot on for me, and it's an impressive layout, very inspiring. cheers, Keith

well done indeed, the standard of modelling is superb, I am glad Kilmore got 'best in show' at Bangor, it really was

It was good to see Enda's products in the flesh too and have a chat about these, really nice chap and great models, I got tempted there were plenty of other folk very interested too, a good sign I thought

a pic from today:

nice to meet you this morning @leslie10646 -- yours was one of the busiest stalls I saw in the place, so hope sales were good cheers, Keith

I have! British and Irish modelling are not mutually exclusive... and my point was exactly that IRM and Accurascale are one and the same (from a buyer's POV)

interesting how the focus in much of the dicussion (espeically on RMWeb) has been looking at things more from the Heljan future point of view, which is fair enough, but for us here I wondered about the implications--if any--for IRM (aka Accurascale) plans and for developing new Irish models... I see the brand expansion as a good sign, a portent perhaps that there will be benefits down the line for modellers and modelling this side of the Irish Sea too cheers, Keith

very much appreciated, thank you for this, those examples look great! all the best, Keith

yes it's the 25" scale OS that has the details on the track layouts, there's some debate (among map historians) on how reliably the 25" sheets show actual track configurations, whether there was some simplification of layouts in certain cases, but on the whole this map scale is the best for plotting out track-plans and taking dimensions for model railways , compared to the 6", which is too small in scale compared to the 25" plus the first edition OS 6" in Ireland is from the 1830s, so too early, whereas the 25" sheets come later, so railways have appeared! the National Library of Scotland has something similar online: https://maps.nls.uk/os/ and their available historic OS sheets are increasingly now covering Ireland: https://maps.nls.uk/os/#ireland the NLS maps available now for GB include later large-scale series, from the 1960s/1970s (https://maps.nls.uk/os/national-grid/), but OSi at the mo does not include these online. cheers, Keith

yes, just doing some back of the envelope calculations, the OSi tool for the 25"-scale map gives 340m for the length from the overbridge in the west to the river bridge in the east, so that's 1116 feet, which in 4mm gives dimensions of 176" (about 14 and a half feet), or 4.48m, so manageable in the space I have (as scenic breaks, I'd substitute over bridges at each end...). food for thought I might mock this up in the loft with some track when I get the chance. cheers, Keith

Well a pleasant bit of research through looking at the great photos in various books including those by Michael McMahon has led me to Athlone Midland station, I like the look of this: http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway Stations A/Athlone Midland/IrishRailwayStations.html

One of these? https://railsofsheffield.com/products/bachmann-38-785-14t-anchor-mounted-tank-wagon-irlam-margarine-works-black

Hmm, I have paid in full, with the email message as follows "Thank you for your Payment. We confirm this order is now paid, and attach your receipt for your records." An invoice was attached to this confirmation. Cheers, Keith

there's some inf here

Sorry to hear this, a frustrating time for you folks and absolutely the right course of action, we'll get them when we get them, I for one would rather wait and have tip top models than not Might have to treat myself to some more vans in the meantime Cheers, Keith