Anders112

Unfortunately won’t make the show today as I’m currently 17,000km away Down under in sure everyone will probably have paddy’s Murphy’s ears burned off with asking about the 071s, any info would be greatly appreciated had a great chat with paddy Murphy at last years show about the memories associated with his models. Enjoy the show

And of course I was wrong

Sure it would be rude not to Include the 111s in this forum , here is 113 out of the GM EMD paint shop yet to receive its yellow/orange warning panel and its buffers If I’m correct was 113 delivered with a yellow warning panel while 111 and 112 were delivered years earlier with an orange warning panel ?

Found this link to Some interesting photos of 071s at EMD La Grange from Preston Cook's collection on a group on Facebook. A modellers dream having such GM power lined up in their Brand New as delivered supertrain livery with white CIE roundel The inside of 080 as Pristine as can be, also note the use of the accommodation Bo-Bo bogies to move the 071s around the plant Enjoy Dave

My Dad who was a Driver from the 1980s to the late 2000s used to always refer to the 141/181s as the “Bo-Bo’s” due to their wheel configuration ,I’m not sure was it a personal name he had for them himself or if it was a local name (drogheda)

thanks very much for the feedback @Galteemore, I was thinking on the production version I would cut out the board to in the middle as shown here in the picture marked with yellow X’s. It would give access to both baseboards. also thinking of making the navan branch which is marked in green in this photo - longer so I could park the Tara’s, bulk cement and gypsum at meeting of the branch line and Belfast line just like what they do in real life

Pre existing layout: The start of the Journey Finally got around to taking pictures of my current makeshift layout before I started planning this project and writing this forum: a couple of things to note space for future layout: fortunately im quite lucky to have a large garage 6m x 9m shed to set up shop for my layout.( see pictures below) this gives me a great foundation to start and to give ample space to plan and built the future baseboard for this layout. I plan on having two baseboards joining together( I’ve marked baseboards on my original drawing of the layout in picture 3 below) the main baseboard which will have the majority of the layout -Drogheda Macbride station and Buckys siding (red baseboard on layout plan in picture 3) the additional baseboard will go off the main baseboard at an angle which will include the navan branch line from the station all the way out to Platin and the Platin sidings.( green base board in picture 3). This then gives plenty of space between two to walk around and access to track, or as the the scholar @dereks coined it “reachability” The current baseboard: in the picture below is the left over baseboards from my childhood layout that my dad built for me many moons ago. This is currently just thrown together to allow me to run the trains for fun and to enjoy as I built my collection why is the layout on the ground you may asked ? Well the layout sat on four trestles but unfortunately are missing in action since I returned home from Uni Future baseboards : Thankfully with the garage there is a lot of space to spare, this will allow me to construct an even bigger baseboard and allow me to be smarter with the shape of it. Currently pondering about buying a baseboard from Modelrailsbaseboards,especially as you can take them apart quite easily. This will decision will be made after I fix a number of track plan issues that I currently am experiencing current track plan and parts of the layout. Below I’ve attached photos of the current layout and protypical photos of what McBride was like in the 90s. The track I have available is what I had to make do with from my childhood collection Above the 3 roads of drogheda station including the famous middle row,filled with 201 and bubbles,cravens in the middle row and some IE mark 2s. Below is some image of the 3 roads from the southbound section of the platform ** issue- I feel like on the layout these three roads should be closer to together access to the Yard: which is a curved point off the inside main line vs what it looked like in real life below issue- as you can see in this pic where my Bachman 2700 is parked, the sharpness of the the running line radius restricts the length of the yard,in future I may have to invest in flexitreck to made the the running line where the mark 2s are parked to be longer and less sharp to give more inside room for the yard ** Currently struggling with connecting the middle row to the outside bend, I think flexi track is going to be needed in order to connect the middle row and outside bend. The prototypical looks so easily connected Notice the points inline with the 1st mark3 carriage how it curves out of the outside bend as the platform starts The view from what will be buckys bridge… think I’m looking forward to modelling this part the most as it will be give me a chance to do a lot with the trees both sides of the track below are pictures of the navan branch and platin section of the current layout : The navan branch will need to be longer and required a less of a curve Platin: I’m currently quite happy with the track plan of platin bur will need to make the sidings longer,again will come in due time when a more permanent baseboard arrives enjoy the pictures,any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated and I’ll accept with open arms Thanks Dave

Love the latest Supermacs ad on the bridge attention to detail on this layout is magnificent… all the better when it’s on the humorous side

managed to get my hands on this beauty of a Mk111 DVT from the collection without costing an arm and a leg. also helps when you have relatives up North to avoid paying brexit charges (hope revenue arnt keen Irish modellers ) DVT with the rest of the Mk111s and 201 propelling

Little update on the Tara’s : finally got around to installing the bogies on the Tara’s. Personally I didn’t like the bogies supplied with the MIR kits as they were too flimsy and the ride quality wasn’t great. So I bought a pack of IRM black bogies and transfered 4 Tara’s. First job was to remove the little clip that normally attached to IRM wagons such as 42 foot wagon which I borrow off for demonstration next job was trying to secure the Irm bogies to the MIR Tara’s kits..after numerous cups of teas I came up with a idea that actually worked… I made some alternative changes to the bogies supplied by MIR,I removed the metal axle and coupling arm (coupling arm wasn’t clearing the IRM bogies). a lot of swinging was involved with Mr hammer So all that I was left with was the middle bit of the bogie housing, this then acted like a washer to secure to irm bogie in place with help of the little screws that came with the kit One Tara ready for the tracks The four Tara’s weathered and fitted with bogies side of view of the 4 completed Tara’s, the remaining 3 will be finished once pay day comes next step is to get suitable coupling fittings for the Tara’s and that should be them done Forgot to include the photos of the IRM bogie attached to the wagon with the MIR bogie centre screwed to the bogies

Latest two arrivals to my Drogheda and platin layout… there’s just something about the tippex livery with the dayglo 154 came in the post today and just like @Flying Snail 189 was last week adventure of trying to get home from work before the post man landed with it

Hi Derek and Oisin,my Irish rail 181 made a similar noise when I first ran it on my DC layout. Got worried like yourself thinking there was something wrong. On the instructions it says you have to let the gear in the motor to bed in by running it for a hour in each direction without any load . Left it running for two hours and have noticed the noise has faded significantly hope this helps thanks Dave

Glad you enjoyed it, Its hard to believe how the the railways were so important In drogheda and the different phases of rail use its gone through-from fright hub to now a railcar depot - being honest ive properly only touched the surface of history it.Thanks again for the support

Thanks very much for all the support Derek and as well as keeping reachability in mind,last time we want is wagons detailing and can’t be accessed or pulled calf of hamstring muscles whenever I get a new base board,the plan would be to have two main base boards separated in the middle but they would be connected with a narrow channel at the bottom (basically like a U shape). the double loop of the mainline and Macbride station on one and platin on the other baseboard ,with the navan branch line connecting them. i will draw a diagram up of it soon. Many thanks Thanks very much for sharing this, I actually haven’t seen this diagram before, is it on there Flickr website ? I’ll go have a look at it now,thanks

and for the Final post on my research on drogheda station ( Sorry for all the spam and waffling) Drogheda North Signal Cabin During the Gold old Steam days Drogheda had two signal cabins ( Drogheada North and Drogheda South ).The Signal cabin was located beside a Loading Bay at the Belfast end of the Platform, The signal cabin was demolished in the 1970s but the loading Bay stayed up till 1997 when the Belfast line was redeveloped. Below is the Diagram from Drogheda North that i had screenshotted on my phone from rambling one night and for the life of me cant find the source Its the 3 road sidings in the last diagram that has 13 and 14 labelled on it. The loading bay was made up of very unique 3 way point. This was thankfully captured in the video below in 1995 above is a screen grab of the you tube clip below, you can see that the point goes in 3 directions, Peco were the only model manufacturer who made such a point, but it will cost me a Arm and leg with the point being around 65 euro alone In the 1990s, this loading dock was home to another oil tank for refullling, aswell as Bullied wagon and a few 20ft flat wagons. 141s seemed to generally parked here as well. Even ore reasons to buy IRMs Oil tankers Thats it for me from now in terms of waffling .... thinks its time for a cup of Tea after all that typing and googling. Hopefully @Gabhal Luimnigh still has the kettle on Tomorrow or the next day I will post a few photos of my existing makeshift layout A Big thank you to the support given so far to me on this layout. I know its quite an ambitious Layout to start with and implement in modelling will be challenging but even just typing up (Waffling on and on) this thread has brought me such happiness and has been a positive distraction for me. I look forward to adding my progress to this thread and keeping you updated on this modelling journey. Any Feedback, tips or tricks, recommendations in terms of track planning, what scenery to use, signalling,wiring,baseboards, skills and experiences yous have learned from carrying out your own layouts, I would greatly accept with open arms Looking forward to it Many thanks Dave