derek

Got the tunnel reinstated with new fronts. Bedded it in with some foliage etc. Now I am going to have to face into ballasting the inner loop of track. Probably wont post for a while- unless the home for the bewildered has good wifi.

Jesus, Mary and The little donkey! You are flat to the mat. You are another of these fellas who doesn't bother with the whole sleeping and eating lark so? Same as @Patrick Davey Layout looking amazing. Keep it up (but do sleep occasionally)

Excellent work on that Patrick

Thanks Denis, it will be nice to get that corner restored. Been a bit of a drudge waiting to get it back to this

New facings fixed to the tunnel, ready to be fixed in place behind the church, from where it came.

In a truck I would say. A 40 footer..............

Ha ha. At least they are on the way. PROBABLY

great to know, thanks. takes the "probably" out of the scenario

Baby GMs are 141's are they not?. For Gods sake tell me they are. Some light on the horizon.(See my rant elsewhere)

Thanks for that. As I said, I know its out of your hands. You lads at IRM are very good at updates on your own projects and they are very much appreciated. Thanks again Hi Andrew, I was under the impression that they were imminent as well, but we can live in hope. Don't suppose you have anything solid to base that on?

My point exactly. There is no information at all being given out. At least come out and tell us if there is going to be a delay. This attitude of "just wait for us indefinitely" is not on. Maybe @BosKonay could shed some light, but it doesn't sound like it.

Okay, so while all of this seems great and promising, what I do not like the look of is the word "Probably" in relation to the Murphy Models 141/181 rerun. I understand it is beyond the power of the lads at IRM to do anything about it but it is a bit frustrating . Are the bloody things coming out or not? And before you all come on and tell me to be patient, please remember that I only have two Irish locos. (One I got from a man we all know).So I don't want Johnny Mc ten locos telling me to relax. When I originally heard murmurings of a rerun of the 141s I emailed Paddy Murphy for a possible timeline and was given a possible date of Q2 2023. That was in 2022. That changed to Q1 2024, which was to be expected, but what is this with "probably this year?" And the silence from Murphys is deafening. I know it is a one man operation but don't make announcements if nothing is going to happen. Maybe I am getting excited for nothing . Could someone on here elaborate please or should I give up and look at getting some "previously loved" locos?. ? Ok, rant over Here's hoping..............

I have been removing the old wooden tunnel facings and replacing them with the new ones. On turning the tunnel on its side, I was amazed to see the lengths I had gone to to construct the thing, about ten years ago. I have seen less structural timber in a house When you consider that some lads on here make their landscapes using strips of card and styrofoam, and they look great, the tunnel was really a case of overkill. Have a look....... I don't know what I thought I was supporting

Really coming together now Denis. The bit of colour from the ground cover really brings up the layout

Dave, I thought old Drilly Mc Melterson had expired? I see you have a Bosch now instead. I have one very similar- Its about 30 odd years old and has never let me down yet. Cabinets looking well

Hi Diarmuid. Thanks for the comments. The river was actually formed by marking out the lines of the riverbanks, then cutting with a jigsaw along these lines, giving me two separate baseboards. I then "strapped" these together again with a piece of 18mm ply underneath, leaving the riverbed between. The banks were filled in with plaster to give a slight gradient and painted brown. I got a Woodland Scenics water pack for it but so far have just painted the bed the dark blue that came with the kit. I will get back to it someday...

Diarmuid, 4 legs on each table will be enough if you put a rail going from leg to leg. 6mm ply would do for this as the ply will be on edge. Maybe 120 high. 6mm will be fairly light . If it was me I would make a 2400mm x 610mm frame with 6 legs, held together by the ply rails , therefore cutting down on the amount of legs/ weight. You could still place 2/ 1200 x 610 modules separately on these. Here is a rough idea of what I mean. Pardon the quick sketch. The 6mm ply on edge will be extremely strong and you could maybe recycle some from your old baseboards? You said you got treated timber so I am wondering if it is larch you got? If so, this is usually used for garden work and such. Just make sure it is well dried out before taking it into the attic. Also, one last point , with all that weight of timber going into the attic, can the joists up there take the weight?. Although the weight will be spread, if it is just the original 4x2s or 5x2s, you might have a problem.

I use grassmats for my grass rather than static grass so I shaved some strands off giving me the loose grass I use to fill in small gaps and the like. So it came in useful for the tunnel faces.. Thanks for all the kind words lads. The tunnel faces were inspired by @David Holmans excellent Northport Quay tunnel, which he got from Downhill I think. (By "inspired" I mean I blatantly ripped off the look.

Your imagination knows no bounds @jhb171achill. Brilliant stuff as usual. Your photography skills know no bounds either.

Finished tunnel faces. Next step is to get them fixed to the tunnel and get the tunnel back in place. Turned out ok in the end I think. They will do me anyway

Diarmuid, that looks like its going to be some project. My only misgiving would be if you don't get a modelling mate, will it be too much for one man? I know it depends on the individual , but I think it is going to take serious dedication and man hours to make progress with it. I would be afraid of being overwhelmed by the sheer scale and then giving up completely. It looks to me to be like something a club would be more into. But hey, maybe that is just me and you have a lot more dedication in you. Either way, the very best of luck with it. Look forward to updates. You better make good use of that empty January

Ah yes, the black flavoured pringles. Lovely. And glad to see you getting rid of the nasty pointed ends on the platforms...... Nasty things! Love the garage

And playing trains...................

You have me doubting myself now Denis. Do you think the joints are too wide? Paint might sort it. What does anyone else think ?

Yes the ol pointing leaves a lot to be desired. But hold your whisht til its all done and hopefully it will come out ok in the end Inspection? Brown envelopes flying in all directions..... No stone masons here, just chippies