Flying Snail

which is ironic as its the most land-locked county in Ireland because (fun fact) Laois is the only county that has two counties between it and the sea in every direction!

The plate starting with ZP is a Donegal one and the one starting with ID is a Cavan license plate

Agree with the Bandon tank, it looks great - the owners do appear to have done a great job preserving the station's character while giving it a new lease of life in a different role

Modelling in real-time!

They're lovely wagons, I'd definitely pick up a few. As Northroader says, the battens would indeed be designed to prevent cattle slipping ... and not just during rough shunting but loading and unloading too. The floors get very wet, very fast once cattle are on them what with pee and scutter (the latter can be almost as liquid-like as the former)

Wow ... well thats certainly an interesting picture for sure! Intrigued (and bored at work) I did a wee bit of research on this .... From wikipedia: An official investigation was initiated after someone reported that a baboon was observed changing railway signals at Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth. After initial skepticism, the railway decided to officially employ Jack once his job competency was verified. He was paid twenty cents a day, and half a bottle of beer each week. It is widely reported that in his nine years of employment with the railway company, Jack never made a single mistake. Jack (baboon)

Great work as always Darius! I'm really enjoying the detailed look at what goes into a project like the Deccan Queen. Its great to see a railway that we don't get exposure to in this part of the world too! Am I right that in spite of the size of India's population, that there's not much in the way of RTR models and that scratch building is the only real option?

Its making me dizzy even just looking at them

My condolences @Class87 to you and all of Stephen's family and friends.

No passengers on board and thankfully it appears that there's no serious injuries to driver or others. Assume the bus is a write off but that damage to the railway bridge is likely to be minimal?

Yes, its devastating - the very high death toll continues to rise. This is a tough time for all involved.

Thats a very handsome looking model indeed, I hope it serves you well. I may get a move on and put in an order ...

Would love to see the loco, but I can't open your video for some reason. What are your thoughts on the model - build quality, running etc.? Any chance you could stick up a few photos on this thread please?

JHB mentioned RAL 6037 here (great resource, have it bookmarked):

Interesting photos as always. The shots of LM296 sitting abandoned at Kylemore are very poignant

It really looks great - is the brass chassis something of your own design, or are you using a kit from somewhere?

Quick question for the BR fans about these coaches: I'm not overly familiar with British railways, but I ordered the Dark Blue J69 ("Liverpool Street Shed Pet") because ... well, because its gorgeous! Would I be right that the Eastern Region Mk1 Subs in the caramine livery would be a good pairing to run behind it?

They look really good. Also looking forward to seeing the fusion of a traditional technique (Brass) with the modern 3D in your carriages. This is all so fascinating!

Sweet! Very tasty work there Darius (trying very hard to avoid the 'b' word )

Very atmospheric @Sean - I keep getting drawn back to have another look at these two pictures.

Thats a very smart looking cabin and signal!

I hope you are on the mend, and back sharing updates on your models in the not too distant future.

On the topic of photos, have you seen Ernie's Irish Railway Archive on flikr? https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/collections/72157626625058875/ Ernie posts daily on this forum too with historic pictures of Irish railways. While I don't think he has a dedicated Wexford album in his archive he definitely does have a 121 album (with lots of the grey livery) as well as albums covering the 60s, 70s etc. - so you can get a feel for your 121 and typical trains etc. it would have had. Wexford locations will pop up too across his various albums. Another thing to look out for are videos and pictures from the annual beet campaign, which were popular with enthusiasts, especially in the line's later years

South Wexford is a nice subject to model, with a very distinct feel to it. As one of the quieter lines, I'd imagine it didn't change much over the years, so any images you can find of it will be helpful for you

Interesting - I hadn't thought of the power plant being the connection Agree that the J26 would be a nice choice for an Irish loco