StevieB

Our friends at IRM seem to have all the luck when it comes to dealing with the Far East manufacturers. Maybe they could give some pointers to Mr Murphy. Stephen

Ballyconnell Road was at Railwells last week-end. It’s always a good show and this year was no different, in fact probably one of the best I’ve been to. However, the star of the show for me was undoubtedly Ballyconnell Road, which both looked great and ran well. Congratulations to Stephen, Mick, Lawrence and Andrew. Stephen

Hi I’ve seen plenty of photos of the rendered side of the building which fronts the platform but I’ve not seen any of the road side . Can anyone oblige since it is this side that will on public view on my model? Stephen

It’ appears to be working fine now. Stephen

Try a mock up and see how you feel about it. The tightness of the curve will have a big part to play, as will anything that can distract the eye from the curve. Stephen

Very tasty Mr C, very tasty. Stephen

Wow! Stephen

Nice one Noel. Stephen

Presumably adjacent to the remains of the old loco shed. Stephen

From the state of the track, looks like the weedspraying train is due. Stephen

Was that top of their list for ones found unsold or returned? As far as I know they have not produced any more. Stephen

I thought that they had sold out. I know that Leslie of Provincial Wagons has been trying to get a rerun of the UG, so what’s your secret? Stephen

You have to wonder how hard IE management tried to retain the business, or were there too many EU obstacles in the way?The one size fits all approach can have serious drawbacks for small countries like Ireland, or am I being too political? Stephen

I wonder if MRJ would be interested in featuring this finescale model railway. The overall effect is quite outstanding. Stephen

Somebody must have answered your prayers. Stephen

Look forward to that. Stephen

I assume Jim Meade is David Franks’ successor as CEO of IE. Where’s he from? Stephen

The link in the email worked ok for me. Apparently you can order container flats, only you can’t yet. Otherwise, keep up the good work. Stephen

The real Shannon had an interesting history. It was part of an order of six locos ordered by the WLWR from Kitsons. The first three had round topped boilers and were delivered towards the end of the 19th century. The fourth was Shannon, which was the first standard gauge loco in Ireland to have a belpaire boiler and arrived early in the 20th century.. There were meant to be two more similar locos but the GSWR was in the process of taking over the WLWR and there was a dispute over paying for them. As a result they were sold to the MGWR. After the 1925 grouping the former WLWR locos became class J25 while the former MGWR locos became class J19. Subsequent rebuilding saw the belpaire boilers replaced by round topped ones. Stephen

David You're a very lucky man to have acquired Shannon - lovely model. Stephen

I think you’ll be very lucky indeed if anyone is willing to part with one, even for a shedload of money. You’d have more luck giving leslie10646 your name for a possible re-run of the RTR model. Stephen

Noel Where did you get the sprung Keen suspended gangways? They certainly seem to do the job of closing the gap between coupled coaches. Stephen

Flange lubricator’s reference to non stop trials in 1965 between Dublin and Cork reminds me of a fact that most people seem unable to grasp - it’s not how fast you go, it’s how slow you go ie the number of speed restrictions and stops govern the overall journey time. I know that IE recently conducted some high speed trials between Dublin and Cork but did they lead to anything? CIE, and BR, seem more interested in running what used to be called semi fast trains. Stephen

Good move that short length of straight in between two curves going in the opposite directions. I read about doing that in one of Model Railroader’s layout planning supplements many years ago. Stephen

Zuron make a good tool for just such a job. It comes in the form of a pair of pliers - lovely, clean cut followed by a few strokes of a fine file to tidy up the end. Stephen