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At the risk of being accused of topic drift, I came across this video of Youghal turntable a while ago, it shows quite a lot of the construction details of the turntable which I consider quite useful to anyone modelling a similar Irish turntable. I know many on here would already have this knowledge but it was quite revealing to me. Once again apologies if I am going off topic here as it is not actually the Limerick turntable....

Saw this video pop up on my youtube feed on Christmas Eve, I knew it was going to be good before I even looked at it, it was....superb. The tracks of the bus in the snow just look perfect with the musical accompaniment. Seasons greeting to yourself Patrick and all on here, hope to see some of you at the various model railway shows throughout 2025.

Fascinating photos, thanks for posting the link. Interesting to see the wheelsets detached from the grain wagon, looks more like "workbench" thread from this forum!

Thanks John, That's great info. Having looked at the photos on this thread that was the impression that I had come up with, but your answer takes the guess work out of it, the info about the modified bracing is particularly useful, my main period of modelling is the 1970s but I also have some stock for other periods also. Thanks again for your informative reply.

Roughly what time period would wagons in this livery have been used from? I see in some of the earlier photos on this thread that these wagons seem to have carried ESSO plates mounted on lugs when they first arrived, then later on without the plates (but with the lugs still present on the tanks) and finally with the lugs removed as per this model, just wondering when did they lose the plates and lugs or was it a very gradual process over the long lifetime of the wagons?

Just came across this video on YouTube about Ballymungret Loco Depot...

Will enjoy watching another of Alan's masterpieces take shape.

I've a feeling that @jhb171achill will be along shortly with an explanation for that...........!

This short video popped up on YouTube, I'm sure that many on here will enjoy it. A great portrayal of the wonderful work being done by our friends at the DCDR in Downpatrick and a reminder of the extreme adversity that they have to work with. Let's hope we have a drier winter this year.

Ah! the fog clears! That makes sense. Thanks @BosKonay so much for taking the trouble to clarify this especially at this late hour of the evening, it was nice meeting with your colleagues at the show today, the Hunslets look super and were a very pleasant surprise, I for one hadn't expected to see them for a very long time...

Thanks @BosKonay for the very quick response, so just to clarify when I look at my account (logged in) it shows recent order (for H-Vans) order number IRM-xxxx(numbers not shown here for obvious reasons), if I now go to the shop and order Hunslets, they will show in my cart and then I place the order, does my "recent orders" now show IRM-xxxx (the H vans) and IRM-yyyy (the Hunslets) or do the Hunslets get added to the IRM-xxxx (ie an order with H-vans and Hunslets). I suppose what I am asking (in a roundabout way) is if I wish to order items from two different lines tonight then if I place the items from one line in the cart and submit it, then go to a second line, add them to cart and submit the order, does this generate two separate (ie not mixed) orders?

Perhaps @BosKonay might be able to clear up a bit of confusion in my mind regarding pre-orders using the account login (i.e. where loyalty points are awarded).... I have a pre-order in for H-Vans and I wish to order some Hunslets, from what I have read above it appears that if I order the Hunslets (via the account) it would appear that the H-Van order gets cancelled? This seems strange to say the least or am I reading it wrong? Any clarification would be much appreciated.

(Edited version in italics). Don't think so, that looks to be from Griffith Ave, as far as I know (and as stated above) the entrance to DFB Training Centre is on Malahide Road. Just looked at it there on Google Street View and it shows it clearly enough, (drove past this afternoon just to check). The entrance is directly opposite the gates to Mount Temple (the show venue) on Malahide Road. Be aware that Malahide Road is a dual carriageway so entry to the DFB Training Centre is only possible heading towards Malahide ie travelling away from the city centre, for those coming from M50 etc head down the M1 towards Whitehall, keep going until Griffith Avenue (a large tree lined road), turn left onto Griffith Ave and keep going straight, past large white church on left hand side until you come to a large chicane (s bend) (trees straight in front of you) and go left there onto Malahide Road and the entrance is a short distance up that road on left hand side. Hope this helps.

@jhb171achillI am sure that you probably saw it already but @Irishswissernie posted a photo last saturday of just such a van on the UTA system, in full living techicolour (especially the rust!)

Love this, it is absolutely brilliant, wonderful storyline and video, loved the nuns sitting on the side of the loco. Well done Patrick

Ah, a classic.

"The Lads" are in Wexford this weekend at the Wexford Model Railway Club's show! I wish I was there too as they always put on a good show there, but alas work gets in the way this time. Enjoy the weekend.

I see what you mean about the second video, in fairness I was really giving it welly in that one and the unsecured track on timber without any underlay is probably not helping. I ran one of the original batch (2013?) on the track just now and it sounds very similar to the new one and at very low speeds I would say that they are both comparable to the MM 121s. I also have the iPhone quite close to the loco, from a normal hearing distance (say 2ft) it doesn't sound that noisy. But the stamp collecting might be cheaper!

Hi @derek, that noise does not sound normal to me. For comparison purposes I have uploaded a few clips of my new MM181 class (by co-incidence the same number) and I think you'll agree that they sound very different. I too have run mine in for 30 minutes in each direction but there was no appreciable difference in sound before and after. It sounds to me like your replacement loco has the same fault as your original one. One or two folk on here have suggested various repairs that you might attempt yourself which is fine if you have purchased an oldish second hand loco and have really no other option to make it work, in this case you have purchased a full price new loco with a warranty from a reputable dealer and manufacturer so if it were me I would definitely get back onto IRM for a further replacement or repair. In fairness I have found both IRM and Murphy Models (via Mark's Models shop) to be very good for warranty repair or replacement in the past IMG_8620.MOV IMG_8621.MOV IMG_8622.MOV Hope these are of some help.

Thanks for that Jonathan, I can feel my appetite being whetted!

Nice pictures @Broadstone. Can anyone enlighten us as to what the type of wagons are nearest the camera in the bottom photo (The Royal Canal 1961), would they be horse boxes?

Just looking at the photos above it doesn't look like you have a huge amount of space for wheels etc. How about some metalwork (which we can see that you are adept at) representing the leaf springs, just the tops of the wheels, top of the axle boxes and some surface treatment of the ground in front of the shed to give the impression of a platform edge?

They're coming along very nicelyI As regards ground signals it's not unknown for some exhibition standard layouts to include non-functioning ground signals, the small size of these compared with the much larger signal arms means that the fact that they don't move isn't terribly noticeable, however the presence of the (fixed) ground signal does add to the overall impression.

Having seen the wonderful results of your labours on previous locomotives I'll be following this thread with keen interest.

Just a question David (@David Holman), in reading the text above and referring to the diagram I wonder if you are have inadvertently swapped platforms 1 and 3 in your thoughts?, The explanation seems to make more sense if platform 3 is considered as the bay platform (adjacent to the siding) and platform 1 as the up platform. Anyhow I'm glad you did put this up as I was going to post a diagram myself and you have saved me some work! btw my suggestions would have been somewhat similar to yours (great minds etc...!)