StevieB

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

Looking good. Stephen

Brilliant. Stephen

What will be nice for fans of OVS Bulleid’s work is to be able to compare the turf burner alongside his SR main line diesel 1-Co-Co-1 courtesy of Kernow Models. Stephen

What was the diameter of the round buffers they were originally supplied with? Stephen

Looking at the Kadee website, they do a range where the coupling head is fitted at different levels relative to the shank which attaches to the wagon body. They’re not NEM though. Stephen

Fran Thanks for that. Stephen

Have I seen somewhere that, because the NEM box is placed higher on the chassis than normal to allow all the lovely detail to show, the recommended way of fitting Kadee is to glue them to the underside of the NEM box? Do Kadee not do cranked versions of the coupling to deal with this? My trials to date indicate that the no 18 is the right one to use reduce the distance between wagons to a manageable amount. Does anyone else agree with this? Stephen

Sorry Noel, I wasn’t trying to hijack hour workbench with the last post. Stephen

My attempt at producing a GSWR ballast brake van. Getting there but more work is needed to get the verandah size right.

At the risk of causing upset, box actually says Irish liveried version of the SR N class mogul. The could have given it the Irish classification of K1. Whether we’ll ever get a RTR U/K1a is anyone’s guess. Stephen

George Did you ever sell this one? Stephen

The footbridge in the background is the finishing touch. Keep posting photos. Stephen

I’m an old git as well and deplore the widespread use of ‘train’ instead of ‘railway’. Such is globalisation. Stephen

Isn’t there scope for RPSI and DCDR working together so that the smaller RPSI locos unsuitable for modern day mainline working can find work on a heritage line? Stephen

The obvious question to ask is why there appear to be different interpretations of the same regulations. I have also heard it said that another reason for not coming under cover has to do with the exhaust fumes from the diesel engines, eg Tralee and Kilkenny but not, apparently, Killarney! Stephen

PM sent. Stephen

Mouse Models produce brass overlays of the ex BCK version of the BGSV, if anyone is interested? Stephen Sorry, should have said Mousa Models. Stephen