Flying Snail

Hi Wheelslip and welcome onboard! In terms of RTR industrial stock there isn't much I'm afraid. If you went forward into the 50's you'd have plenty of IRM Bulleid wagons to choose from, and you would be able to pick up one of their green or grey A class locos second hand. For wagons from the GSR period, you'd need to look to kits from the likes of Studio Scale Models (see their GSWR and MGWR convertible wagons) and Provincial Models (they've a few brake vans alongside some GNR wagons). @leslie10646 is the man behind Provincial Models and his kits are easy to put together - especially if you ever tried the likes of an airfix kit. For a locomotive - this is more challenging: you're looking at kits too or repaints of UK outline. IRM do have an 800 in GSR livery on the way, but she would have been doing top-line passenger work in the GSR period. Edit: OO Works did a GSR 101 (J15) class that would work well if you could find one second hand, but they are hand-built and not cheap!

True, but railway modelling is a broad church - many modellers don’t want or need exact prototype fidelity. There's the freelance/“might-have-been” layouts for instance. You've also got the modellers who are modelling a specific company or region, and because this is an era thats faded from living memory and where photographic records and drawings can be sparse, they're happy with something plausible that captures the feel.

Haven't pulled the trigger and put down money yet, but I plan on picking up the LNWR 3-pack to go behind my Improved Precedent ... was tempted by Bachman's 50ft coaches but couldn't justify their price tag (£93.45 in Rails ..eek!) for whats really only a secondary interest for me. The Evolutions look like a nice coach for the price.

That's a top tip right there .. like all the best ideas its so simple when you see it!!

'Leaf-Fall Weapon' for me

This is excellent, truly it is a great resource for us to have!

Just to revisit the topic of the large open wagon. I've been flicking through Ernie Shepherd's book 'Waterford, Limerick & Western Railway' tonight and I've come across this in the section on Private owner wagons (see p121) where Ernie is discussing the Fenit Harbour Commissioners' wagons, which were leased from a number of manufacturers - " ... the Commissioners leased two tubular 33ft 10in bogie open wagons, built by the Lancaster RCW in 1900, which later became Nos 4050 and 4051 on the GS&WR. No 4050 was altered to a covered fish van in 1903."

I was trying to be subtle as I didn't want to cause any turbulence. Really we should be glad they used a 4000 and not a 29000

Ah lads .. a marketing image developed for an airport operator has messed up the running lights on a train. Is anyone really surprised? We're definitely heading down the wrong track if we let that derail the discussion on what (if it goes ahead) will only be the first air-rail link on the island

Sounds as good as it looks!

Well if all else fails, given the analysis Mol_PMB did investigating all the variations of the bubbles I'd say he could identify its number on sight ... from 100 yards ... on a dark night with no moon. No seriously, the man knows his bubbles - check out his thread: (Good cause - I through a few Euro into the pot too)

The lights make for some very atmospheric shots!

September's Railway Modeller just popped into my email inbox. Very nice piece David - really good, and in the 900th anniversary issue no less. It's nice to have an Irish connection to the anniversary issue - especially since Cyril Fry featured so prominently in the 1st!

Removing the roof reduced structural integrity of the sides, so there was also bracing installed from the roof level of one side to the floor level of the other - as shown by this interior shot from the Robin N Clements collection on the IRRS Flickr: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/3251-turf-carriages/#comment-270174 (IRRS membership required to view). There's a few more shots of the turf carriages in that collection if you're interested. And if you want to mix your turf trains up a little, there's also an interesting shot of a more conventional turf wagon (to my bogman's eyes anyhow): a GSR flat, complete with with creels, fully loaded in Inchicore: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507832482/in/album-72157661623942928/

... surely we should be changing Kilkenny McDonagh to Cummins instead? Give it a nice blue and white paint job too while we're at it?

Naming after celebs could get controversial very quick ... would Mullingar get renamed for Joe Dolan or Niall Horan?????

Nice weathering - it looks well on the Hunslet but I'm really drawn to the containers and flats!

caused no end of trouble whenever a conductor tried to point it out to the engine crew

I think you'll find it was the right livery, just applied in all the wrong places

The Galway, Newry & Waterford?

That is a great picture - a nice shot in its own right, but it also really captures what the ITG and Downpatrick volunteers have achieved.

In addition to those listed above, a GSWR 4-4-0 like a class 52 would be one I'd like to see saved.

Where did you get you hands on the the GSWR carriage diagrams? Was that Downpatrick too?

Here's a couple of mining branches that did manage to get built around that time The Wolfhill branch from Athy was built at the end of WW1. More here: https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/ForgottenRailways/The-Wolfhill-Branch The Caslecomer branch of the Kilkenny Portlaoise line was one of the last built (1922). More here: http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway Stations C/Castlecomer/IrishRailwayStations.html

Thanks Eoin - thats very helpful. Good job I don't smoke!!