Flying Snail

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)

That makes sense ... still hoping for a LMS Garratt though

I like that one too - though with 121s in mind, I'd be tempted to try and ditch the engine shed and swap in a turntable like in the second layout from your previous post

Oh ... very interesting. I know they've fallen from favour, but given their place in Irish Modelling history if I had an "autographed" example I reckon I would keep it as is and look for another candidate for surgery

Hi Andy and welcome. I like your plan - it looks very elegant. I've a similar space that I'm hoping to put something in too, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. Actually, I was leaning towards the inglenook myself - so I was interested to see your thoughts about maintaining long term interest in it. On the kits: @leslie10646 (Provincial Wagons) does some excellent resin kits that are very suitable to the era you want - including the beet wagons. @Mayner (JM Design Model Railways) focuses on 3d prints and has wagons that would suit too. I've bought from both, and am a very happy customer.

Private Pike is looking very soldierly

Well, you've got the space for it, and you've shown you've got the skills for it - so go for it! Looking forward to following this project - best of luck with it!

Very impressive - looking forward to reading about the brake van!

Make sure you give your ex-fireman a proper turf fork instead of a pitch fork anyhow, or you'll have his heart broke and he'll be bad mouthing you to the lads on the platform in Dugort. They're pretty much the same as a potato or beet fork - wider than your standard fork with six thines, each of which has a rounded tip.

The files on that website are saved in RAR format. Basically it's an archive file format, like the ZIP format, that compresses large files (to make them faster to download) and also allows multiple files to be grouped together. You'll need a third-party tool to open the files - there's several available including some free ones if you search on Google. Many of the tools that open ZIP files will also open RAR files, so you may already have one installed on your computer.

Excellent - thanks!

Just wondering - will we be able to avail of the 6-month payment plan, or will it be payment of the total amount due when they come into stock?

A great choice of coach - compliments the A class perfectly!

Welcome James, Looks like you have a nice space for a railway - and I spy a few pieces of rolling stock already. That being said, I agree with the others that you'll need to think carefully about what will work best in the space you have. I would suggest laying out a track plan using paper and playing around with a bit to get a feel for whats possible in your space. Obviously N would give you more room than OO, but the down side is less RTR rolling stock is available (i.e. none). Also, you don't have stick slavishly to the measurements of the prototype - you can compress bits here and there and still retain the character of the item you're modelling. I'd also recommend going on to youtube and subscribing to a few channels. As you've picked an urban theme you'll be building a lot of buildings - so here's a channel to get you started that you might find helpful for the scenics: https://www.youtube.com/@Chandwell. You can see on this forum how effectively Chandwell's techniques can be transferred to an Irish setting by taking a look at the work of people like @Kevin Sweeney and his Ballywillan and Kent projects. While those guys are modelling in N / 2mm, I think you'll be able to scale the same techniques up to 4mm pretty effectively if you choose to stick with OO. Also, when researching track plans, the Ordnance Survey have an online archive of maps that will prove helpful: https://osi.ie/services/geohive/

Oh, thats very interesting! Nice bit of lateral thinking on the accommodation front too. I was just looking at the Wanderer's pictures of the former Grand Hibernian Mk 3 sleepers now in Scotland, and now there's Caledonian sleeper after making the reverse journey from the UK to Ireland I've the following line from Christy Moore's Lisdoonvarna now stuck in my head ... "Summer comes around each year, We go there and they come here." .... I'll be humming that all morning. Anyone for the last few choc-ices now?

Nice work @owen. Do you have a website or a gallery of your 3d creations somewhere?

I didn't search on the Bachmann site but instead put the model numbers into Google and found them so the model numbers do appear correct. Maybe you can't find them on the Bachmann site because they're no longer available for sale from Bachmann? I don't spend enough time on the Bachmann site to know if they have details of out of production models, but given the strong second-hand market for model railways, it would be a good idea if manufacturers did maintain an archive of past models

Excellent find - I have been browsing the the Poole collection on the NLI hoping to catch something like this, but I completely overlooked the W&L Extension pics.

These are excellent Rob - thanks for sharing. And welcome on board! Coincidently - last night, I found an impression of the Waterford & Kilkenny Railway's* seal in a 1912 article in the Railway Magazine. Note, company seals would have been used to stamp official documents etc. and they are not the same as armourial devices that many railway companies (GSWR, WLWR, etc.) placed on their rolling stock. However, it's reasonable to assume that those devices would have been inspired/developed from the company seals, and so would be similar in design. * Waterford & Kilkenny Railway is the original name of the WCIR

Love the Suir Lee Knot design - very clever!

GSWR did indeed lay the line from Dublin to Carlow as double-track. It was singled south of Athy during WW1 so the track could be reused on local colliery lines built as part of the war effort, and Cherryville to Athy was singled in 1931 by the GSR to save costs.

Yes, not a great colour combo. Reminds me of these:

... and you're sure you don't live in Mali? Maybe you were typing Malahide as your location (well, you do seem spend a lot of time in the museum) and autocorrect changed it to Mali?

hmmm .... something seems not quite right, but I can't put my finger on it Which reminds me: What do you call someone who put their right hand in the mouth of a T-Rex? Lefty

I was luckier, I got a couple of Moguls they evening the popped up online - the green and the matt black one