Flying Snail

10 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Evening all

Hoping to be at Blackrock on Monday 30th, after the successful conclusion of delicate negotiations with 'senior management'.

Wondering if Dublin folk would recommend travelling the whole way by car (sat-nav taking me through the Port Tunnel and if I do that I may not have any money left for Leslie's new cement van) OR would there be an option to park at a railway station north of Dublin and take the DART to Blackrock?  That would be more fun of course and more appropriate too!

TIA

Normally, if driving I'd avoid the Port Tunnel - it can be very expensive if you arrive at peak time. That being said, off-peak and on public holidays its a more reasonable €3. However, you'll have to pay a second toll to cross the East Link bridge (€1.90) when driving to Blackrock. 

Another option is to take the M50 south to Junction 14 (Leopardstown) and head across to Blackrock via the N31. You'll still have to pay a toll on the M50 (but its less than the other two combined and you can pay this online). The M50 can be busy during rush hour, but at weekends/holidays its generally fine.

If you want to park on the north side and go by DART (check its schedule first to ensure there's no engineering works), then the DART station in Portmarknock has park and ride. There's some parking in Malahide too, but I don't know how many spaces there are there. Other stations have parking too so someone else may have other suggestions. 

46 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

The accurascale 0 gauge Ruston 88ds is added to this list. Any other new models that fall into here? 

The was some speculation over on the Accurascale forum on RM Web as to whether we'll see an Irish version of the Ruston 88DS and one of the members over there said he was speaking to Accurascale at GETS over the weekend and the body of the Irish version is wider, not just the chassis. Is this the case does any one know?

23 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

https://irishrailwaymodels.com/blogs/announcements

tick, tock ....  

Thats some set up!  Have to say, I love the Jigger!

49 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

D'oh, missed this thread when posting in the O Gauge speculative thread this morning.

These look great, and as per @BosKonay's comment on the Irish connection in the speculative thread, dare I be Oliver Twist and ask if there'll be an Irish version?

Or will repainting one of these (rectangular window?) be the best option for the foreseeable future?

Ah, there'll have to be an Irish one along soon enough, won't there?

On 17/5/2023 at 5:09 PM, Flying Snail said:

As it's an Accurascale loco, then it stands to reason its a UK prototype. The lads have hinted that it has an Irish connection, so then I reckon it's either one that was/is in use over here as well as in Britain (or very similar to one). As others have said smaller seems to be better when it comes to O, so I think there's a good chance it could be one of the industrial locos from a UK manufacturer. Which ever it is, it's likely the prototype is still in existence somewhere.

So if the prototype ran in both Britain and Ireland and if we're feeling very lucky, then perhaps it could be a CSÉ Ruston, or maybe one of the shunters from Guinness, LP&HC, or Shell? (I don't know enough about them to know how generic those ones' designs are though)

I'd say there'll be an IRM announcement for their first O gauge loco soon enough too

20 hours ago, mfowler55 said:

Rolling stock is relatively simple. We would need RTR or user-convertible 21mm trucks (bogies?), axle and wheelsets.

21mm motive power would be more of a problem. Steam locomotive cylinders, crossheads and guides, linkages and valve gear would require redesign and retooling. Diesels need regauged power trucks. Chassis clearances and fitting need to be checked. Still, I should think the limited number of Irish prototypes works in favor of feasibility.

 

Welcome to the site @mfowler55

I think you've hit the nail on the head about adapting OO rolling stock and locomotives. As you've said, adapting a OO steam locomotive for 21mm is non-trivial, but it is much simpler for diesels and rolling stock. As I understand it, IRM's A-class and many of their rolling stock items have been designed to be readily adapted to 21mm by modellers. 

Nice weathering on the Tara Mines wagons

2 hours ago, David Holman said:

Interesting and thank you. The donkey cart is a Langley Kit and was made up as is. Always thought the shafts looked odd, so will definitely straighten them.

I'm not saying they're wrong btw - just something I haven't seen before so that piqued my curiosity 

Thats a lovely scene with a real early 20th century rural vibe to it. The only 'odd' thing that caught by eye are the shafts on the cart (because I've only ever seen straight ones before). How did they come about - is that a particular style from somewhere?

Nice - I can almost smell the mixture of sea air and decay looking at it

She's a nice little loco alright, oozing character!

20 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Something very dodgy going on with Cork and Bandon signs 

 

The guy who “purchased” the last one now has one up for sale 

 

Most likely the same sign with a clean up and a lick of paint on the letters. The oil-like stains under the O and T in 'Notice' seem to be present (but much fainter) in the picture of the sign from Sept 20 too. I suppose he may be trying to turn a quick profit???

22 minutes ago, Irishswissernie said:

Do you mean escapees from the local Calf Sales

There's a great picture in 'Father Browne's Trains and Railways' of staff in Portarlington trying to wrestle an escaped calf on the platform during the 1940s. They'd have been glad of that crate!

3 hours ago, minister_for_hardship said:

It's a little odd they didn't make a set of the light green ones.

Don't worry, they did those too

https://www.hattons.co.uk/1056112/hattons_originals_h4_6fb_1702_6_wheel_full_brake_72_in_cie_light_green/stockdetail

there's also a few 6-wheel 2nds, a 2nd brake and composite lav in light green

EDIT: Just realised you probably meant a 4-pack - yes, I agree: they did it for most of the other liveries (including the dark green) so it is a little strange they didn't do it here too. Perhaps as @Westcorkrailway says, its because they don't anticipate as much demand?

Love the shed. This is going to be a very distinctive layout

1 hour ago, Jack_Dunboyne said:

I'm happy to confirm that during the show I will  display my PKP layout. FREMO, h0 scale. Almost 75 feets in length. 

Looking forward to that - I think modular layouts very interesting. I enjoy the T-Track displays in N scale (hope to see them back again this year too), so seeing another take on modular in a bigger scale will be great. FREMO seems highly configurable too.

Fine looking layout - enjoyed looking at the pics in this thread!

Agree with the other comments - your concrete looks spot on.

Obviously my WCIR carriage triple pack prediction from last year remains a strong contender, but I'll also add a Ruston 88DS in O scale (one eye on Accurascale here, despite the recent launch of a OO one by a rival manufacturer). 

.... ammonia wagons would be nice too though, and probably have much shorter odds 

Very tasty indeed!

@Mayner is correct. It's held in autumn as that means its main target market is less busy with farm work.   In the same vein, because it's held on tillage land it has to wait until the harvest is over and the land becomes available.

Plenty of lads here into ploughing I see.

Not a surprise really when you think about it ...

I was due to head to it today, but didn't fancy getting stuck in the ocean of mud that the carpark would become.

Welcome to the forum @ninjast. Looking forward to seeking how this develops!