Flying Snail

They're doing a rerun of the earlier batch ... and they've re-opened orders for the 'Z' boiler ones too

Great to see that they're happy with the level of interest they're getting in the J15 - they've done a few Irish locos to date and hopefully will do more in future. I've put an order in for 186

I agree .. would love to see more Irish narrow gauge in general too. Not sure that it currently makes business-sense for them (or will for a long time yet), but we can dream

Thats very reasonable - I know I'd probably get a couple of each at that money.

It's nice to see a positive report, but we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. This is a (still only a draft) 'strategic review' that makes recommendations, there's been no decision yet to implement any of it.

... and breathe! Phew, I was worried there for a little while. Good to see all's still on track

Thanks @BosKonay, email signed up and fingers crossed ... its a particularly attractive livery, I'd say they'll fly out the door!

Now that the Large Logo 37s have landed, any word on how long you think before you've completed sending out pre-orders and stock to shops? Hoping to pounce on one of these if there's surplus stock ...

Don't, we all been there - banging our head against a brick wall trying to solve something that's turned out to be relatively simple in the end. If it wasn't for your question, the rest of us wouldn't have gotten such a great list of things to check for when something like that inevitably happens to someone else in future

According to ESU's website 'LEDs mounted on the boogies facilitate realistic flicker during braking'. Apparently the smoke generator will generate different amounts of smoke depending on the load too. So definitely some interesting features, but still a lot of money Some more details here: https://www.esu.eu/en/products/former-locomotives/engineering-edition/class-77-in-h0/

Thats true, DJ its a well specced loco to be fair, but I still can't get away from the price ... €444 is a big step up in price from Accurascale's pricing. Even if I do get to send Mrs. Snail into a panic with thoughts that my models are going on fire and about to burn down the house, is it really money well spent? (actually, its a good job she can't see any of my wiring)

To be fair to Hattons, they're VAT registered for Ireland so purchasing from them is at lot more hassle-free than many other UK retailers. https://www.hattons.co.uk/list/eventdetails?eventid=113

My comparison only got as far as the price ... which to my eyes has Accurascale well out in front

Beautiful looking loco. As others have said, the lining looks especially good! Thanks for sharing the highs and lows of the build with us too!

hmmm ... not sure I agree that Kilkenny is a coastal county. Despite ships being able to sail up the Suir to Belview, I think the presence of Wexford and Waterford on either side of the mouth of the Barrow rules that out. Another fun fact on Laois: The Vikings sailed all the way up the Barrow to Vicarstown in Laois and built a longphort at Dunrally ... but that doesn't make Laois a coastal county either Edit: I'll concede Kilkenny has an estuarine or tidal coastline, but I still contend thats its not touching the sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_counties_by_coastline Anyhow, I think Ernie (and everyone else not from Laois) would probably rather we move on and let the thread get back on track

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?