Anders112

I was very fortunate to be part of a fieldtrip visit to the Gyproc mine for work. We had a great day out learning geology of gypsum. The big thing about the colour was the younger layers of the gypsum which are closer to the surface were the red colour while the grey was the older and deeper. You can see it in the photos below. The white gypsum samples we were show were more to be purer. I believe in recent weeks they have expanded the Mine over the far side of the R179. Still a shame to see it not go by rail. All goes by road now

Some Autoballasters up for sale aswell! https://ebay.io/m/FcF1Rv

a wide picture of the layout- Main station on top level,fiddle yard underneath. Connected to two helixes both sides Lima 207 in the centre of the action in the fiddle yard. Made up of Two yards full of sidings. Peco Model scene double tunnel Bridge acting as the Bridge at the south of the station. Cue the reenactment of actions shots form the 90s 078 pulling out some MIR Tara mines kits. 080 with Connolly to Belfast Enterprise 183 has ran around its cement bubbles from platin and will drop them off in Dundalk to form a liner train for Belfast. Action on the Navan branch 078 sitting with the morning Laden Tara mines and 127 and 143 with the Platin to North wall bulk cement. Bubbles are a 3D kit I got from Owen O Neil a few years ago 183 Brings the Weed sprayer train over the boyne viaduct to be stabled in the yard overnight. Sprayer train made of Irish freight models van,3 IRM oil tanks (which will soon be painted yellow). Enda Byrne flats and sliverfox tool van.

Quick update on the layout. Fiddle yard is 99 percent complete. LED lights have been fitted to bottom level of layout (Fiddle yard). Platforms have been roughly cut and primed using a spare can of Halfords grey primer. Ramp ends still need to be added, have to decide if I’m going to go for platiscard surface or get one of those paper platform transfers online. Bridge for that goes over Buckie’s sidings on the Railway terrace road has arrived. Here is a quick video of the updates so far of the whole layout 83D1B9A6-7F22-4432-8364-8AF1D7B1193A.mp4 157E78E8-4103-4861-A243-846EF62B6BDD.mp4

Hi everyone, looking for a hornby R965 analogue control with transformer or just the transformer please and thank you. Unfortunately my current one had a big fall on the sheds concrete and is now RIP.ie Thanks in Advance

Well done @amdaleyplatforms look great how did you go about slabbing them ?

A lot of progress has made on the layout in recent weeks. Both helix’s are up and running,successfully connected underneath by a very sparse fiddle yard (extra points ordered and need some figuring out). Here’s a quick video of 183 with some bubbles on a successful run “up and over” both helix’s. ED72835E-9424-4A91-BFBA-03E9E22108E5.mov 5D22DDC9-E618-4B96-9122-52890A2FE4EE.mov ive roughly done out the track plan for both the station including the middle road,the sidings of drogheda engine shed and crossovers for the navan branch. The points starting the middle road on the north end of station engine shed yard looking from platform 1 Buckie’s bridge,112 comes form the navan branch to go with a cabra cement. 112 and 21 bulk cements wait green signal to go to north wall. While a pallet cement train waits on the navan branch. It’s a big step in the right direction.still some work to be done to the track in terms of getting the correct shape and making sure the platforms will be evenly spaced out. while I’m delighted that the helix’s are working,the transition from the helix to the baseboard is putting a bit of strain on the motor of the locos due to the slope. Going to start brainstorming ideas of the next couple of days. but it’s good to have the trains running again. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Dave

I also received my package form @M18Hellcat. Nir 112 and BL flats. Pristine condition but also the level of detailing added to 112 to the hoses and the addition of the orange socket can be shown when you compare it to a real image of 112 at cabra with a out of service bogie cement wagon in 1996. (image sent by Colm o Callaghan) @M18Hellcat has been absolute gentleman to deal with, he gave an extremely fair price of two rare products,I’ve spoken to him numerous times on the phone,we chatted everything trains to other hobbies and about his visits to Ireland. Delighted with doing business with him,Top gent

They also came with pink fuzzy dices too dam autocorrect…have never edited anything as quick in my life

Pardon the pun but building it drove me around the bend… Took a couple of attempts,lots of cups of tea (with biscuits of course) and several “re-reading” of the instructions . Mine was a kit off eBay,that took several weeks to come but on the home stretch with it now @dropshort105how did you get on with yours ? Was it a kit or did you make it from scratch ? I didn’t realise the amount of track they eat up, currently on eBay looking for cheap second hand hornBy R609 and r607 curves as I’m short a few. Wishing you best of luck with yous and looking forward to hearing how you got on with it

Some progress was made today on the layout front New track plan created with two levels. Will upload the new plan in the coming week. IMG_9532.mov

Some more Aussie train tails and Back on Irish Soil A couple of more of the down under adventures. The main highlight was hanging my feet out of the side of the world famous buffing billy unfortunately for everyone else and fortunately for me we had a diesel that day. C22A634C-CE48-4CA3-9A70-32ABF1F96B97.mov Also got to see big diesels at Melbournes Newport railway museum,where I got to go into some cabs and see big H- the biggest steam engine in the southern hemisphere very friendly staff,almost had me volunteering for them The main perk of living in Melbourne that outweight the Homesickness was the fact our apartment was a five minute walk to South Yarra Station.So close in fact I could hear Freight trains rumbling through and get on the platform to take a video or a peak. A regular of mine was the Wednesday 7:42pm Steel train,like clockwork every week night I add. IMG_7728.mov We weren’t the only ones to have an A class… V Line own A class…with a GM engine. Seen here on my daily commute into southern cross station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V/Line_A_class I did mention in my last post about the 071s Aussie cousin the N class, fortunately I did manage one day to get a trip behind one on the 7:40 Southern cross to Swan hill service IMG_8041.mov IMG_8055.mov Right that’s enough about Down under…back to Ireland Have been home for the guts of 6 months and boy did I miss it. Enjoyed the Year down under and one of the best decisions I ever made but you could never replace our little island and our sense of community. Looking forward to getting back and giving my drogheda layout a big go. Have managed to get see a few Irish Gms since I’ve been back,spot the expat who still thought he was in Aus I even made Irish rails Insta story while I was 17,000Km away in aus from the April 2022 RPSI outing in Dundalk! Layout and research. while I might have been away, the plans for the layout have been throughout and looking forward to sharing with yous soon what I have planned for it even more as fans of the this forum,I have more maps and images form archives to share of drogheda. All the best Dave IMG_7915.mov IMG_6514.mov

Looking for a Murphy models 141/181 Fan grill for my Irish rail 183 , if any one had one from a non runner or any spare. It would be greatly appreciated . Thanks

Joys of having a half day Wednesday… getting home before herself to pick up these beauties lovely new bigger boxes with the bubbles, lovey model,Well done Irm Great quality build and shipped so quick, have hand it to yous great customer service now to decide to weather them or not

Someone got a bargain during the week,Nir 113 for €190. From an American eBay Train shop. Looks like the handrail has just clipped out…a 5 sec fix. https://ebay.us/m/z06YbC