Flying Snail

To be fair, I don't think the current (and likely future volume) of passenger traffic at Waterford will be a significant hinderance to freight flows

Nice to see the 'work in progress' getting it's display - not only does it remind you of your to-do list, it shows off the work that has been already done!!

It has happened: an example is the Dicky Taras - although it was a biggish batch of seconds and you're probably asking after individual models with defects??

Regardless - the statement used in the title was wrong when they wrote and published the book. It did make for a more catchy title though ...

I can't see it coming in on time and on budget either. However, we should remember a few things: A project likes this must incur significant upfront costs for route selection and design before a spade ever gets in the ground. As with all construction projects, changes costs money. The row over Charlemont, for example, means returning to the drawing board and incurring redesign costs. The 2023 figure, I think, included MetroNorth costs - which has since been dropped. Many of these changes are driven by politicians responding to their constituents - this is a feature of the political and planning system we have rather than one specific administration. I expect there'll be more tinkering before it gets going ... regardless of who's in government at the time. If you want a project like this to have any chance of coming in on time and budget, then a good design phase is essential to produce a properly specified and costed plan, followed by having the discipline not to make changes as you go through construction. Ands of course, even with both of these, there's likely to be cost increases. There's often good reasons why you need to change your plans as you go along - not to mention increases that may arise on the cost of labour and materials.

a week I think its impressive alright - Luas had just over 48m trips in 2023 I think

The metrolink will be hugely beneficial to more than just the people living along its route: it connects the airport to the city centre and rail network and provides 3,000 park and ride places. And the parts of Dublin it serves directly are not insignificant. There will be 53 million trips annually. Swords in particular will benefit massively.

I got mine yesterday: 68619 - the Late BR Lined Dark Blue one (Liverpool Street Shed Pet). Wow. I was blown away by the detail .. they really are stunning!!!! And the accessibility of the cab and smokebox is great. Really innovative - I didn't realise how much I'd value the magnetic cab roof until I had it and saw the cab detail .. can't stop playing with it now: roof comes off, roof comes on, roof comes off ....

The link works for me. Long way to go yet on the Metrolink project before any works begin, but good to see some progress.

I would guess that the issue is that the filetype is not supported by the software running this forum. The filetype that your camera saves images as by default is called HEIF/HEIC - that's the bit at the end of your file's name after the dot: '.heic'. Try exporting your photos into another common file format such as JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg) or PNG (.png) before you upload them.

It's a yes for me (one).

I have to confess that I too thought you were trying to flog a "newsed" model loco at first glance.... You'd definitely get more than £250 for that loco ... although there's a limited market for 1:1 scale on here though

The WL&WR fire front (I"m presuming thats what it is) is a very nice piece!!

I think you're close to the mark here west_clare_wanderer: preservation costs money, something Ireland didn't have much of until after the mid 90s. Even today, when it comes to heritage there is little interest in incurring ongoing expenditure if there's not a clear (monetary) return on the investment. I don't agree that there's a 'Railways = British = Bad' narrative. I just don't see any evidence for it - outside of this forum, I've never heard anyone suggest anything like that. If there is a prejudice against them, I'd be more inclined to think that it's not that railways are considered British, but instead that they're not considered uniquely Irish. As such, when you consider that a lot of our heritage investments are associated with tourism and generating tourist revenue - then having high running costs and not being uniquely Irish means that they get overlooked.

It definitely looks at home in that rake. The colours seem a good match. Well done!