LNERW1

Well speaking of Cummins brown and cream could work either…

So, another cry for help because Google is oriented towards the majority of people and not railway enthusiasts (when will they learn). I seem to recall hearing a mention or seeing on a map somewhere that there was a railway or tramway running out along the South Wall in Dublin, out to Poolbeg lighthouse. I assumed it was a construction railway but the wall was constructed starting in the early 18th century and so this seems unlikely. Was it to service the lighthouse? To maintain the breakwater? Or have I just gaslit myself? Answers on a postcard. Or below. Frankly below would be a little more convenient but it’s a free country, im not your dad etc

The track plan looks pretty simple, where is the stock stored?

Apparently the JFK Arboretum in Ballybrazil, Co. Wexford has a miniature railway? Here it is shown on OpenStreetMap: Here on Google Earth: And here on RailMapOnline (overlaid on Google Maps) And here's a link to the Miniature Railway World page on the line: http://www.miniaturerailwayworld.co.uk/JFKennedy.html This is all I can find on the railway, and given in the satellite view the line isn't very visible, at least compared to earlier years, OpenStreetMap and by extension RailMapOnline can be years out of date in some areas, and the Miniature Railway World page doesn't look like it's been updated since God was a boy, I was wondering if anyone knew whether the line is still going? I've never once even heard mention of it, I only found it because I noticed a small dot in a patch of Wexford when looking at RailMapOnline, and zoomed in to find it was a miniature line.

Are Maam Cross not eventually converting to 5’3”? They have a good bit of broad gauge stock.

I've mulled over this before as it happens, in an ideal world it'd be nice to have heritage trains running from Drogheda to Kingscourt via Navan, where they'd meet with DART+ trains, as the KIngscourt line was only closed in the 90s its almost entirely intact, and it could even have commuter-oriented services operated by heritage stock. Now of course there's a snowball's chance in hell it'd ever happen anything like that but just imagine! A good long run and easy connections at one end and at the midpoint to frequent main line services. It would be a world class heritage line and again will never happen. There is in fairness a chance of some heritage services on the line some day but we can only have great things, not FXXXIN BRILLIANT!!!!

You know what Bandon Norton is now on the list, and Cork Murphy for the new West Cork terminus maybe?

Sorry, I thought I already responded to you! Not the first time I’ve done that and won’t be the last. For NG stock I want to use this 3D printed shell on a Tsugawa Yokuo 14054 chassis to represent BnM’s 44DLs at the time. I might look at representing LM167, now “Warrior” as I have worked on it at Stradbally. As for wagons, I plan on drawing up sod turf wagons in 3d and printing them for a cheap N gauge chassis. And just a note for anyone interested in this project- it’s not #1 on the list of priorities, so other stuff will have to be done before I even begin modelling this. I have a few easier projects lined up beforehand, Ardree Quay and another micro layout, mentioned elsewhere (though in a slightly earlier form). Neither of these will need as much scratchbuilding as Coolnamona, so once I have the experience from them I will approach this layout. Thanks for your patience, and hopefully once i have a proper railway room worked out everything will speed up a bit.

The CC1 would obviously never run in preservation- no crews would even go near it if it wasn't their job- but to have it in a museum would be nice. On the operational side, the more EMD 645s I hear the better, so anything with that please!

I withdraw my previous comment about the roads, they look shtunnin in that light. Love it, really inspiring. Hopefully I can get my layout (if it’s ever bloody finished) to look half that good! Edit: do you know whether it’ll be at SDMRC? I’ll be headed up for that and I’d love to see the layout in person.

The general layout of the plant hasn't changed much despite a big fire in the early 2000s, so for an idea of the track layout I just use OpenStreetMap, as it shows the track layout in detail. Having been to the plant in person, a lot of the point levers look like they could be from the 80's at least, so I'd assume not much has changed, apart from there no longer being any track by the former broad gauge alignment. However basically all the track layout I need is in this photo: I'm only working with 18" depth so I couldn't model the whole plant unfortunately! The broad gauge was just a siding and a run round, so only needs two turnouts and could have fixed uncouplers, whereas the narrow gauge I'd like to have run in with wagons full of peat and run back out with empties. This could probably be done with a hidden traverser inside the shed.

Well, I have found a new prototype to throw my energy at instead of working on my actual layouts (There are, I think, 4): Coolnamona! As it's my local BnM line, I've always had some interest in it, but a few days ago I was shocked when photos were sent to a WhatsApp group I'm in of a main line siding that served the works along the old Portlaoise-Kilkenny alignment. These photos are shared here, thanks to Seán Cain and @Hawkerhellfire for sending them, and of course their owners! Peat trains ran to Waterford, New Ross and North Wall until the 1980s. Now, I'm sure it's clear, from being a genuinely good prototype, to being very local, to being so unique, this has captured my imagination, so I have started a process I'm calling the feasability study, basically seeing, can I make this, not just do I want to, and while this is still underway, the relatively simple track layout, added to the fact I already have several baseboards to build it on, bumps it a little higher than all the other projects I've "proposed". As always I would advise not to get any hopes up, as I am frankly irresponsibly erratic, but watch this space.

What did I tell you about never underestimating how autistic I am? Well that certainly sort of explains it.

Archive Wednesday An artefact from the SLR's archive to brighten up the hump day. Here we see "Brisbane" the side tank bought from the NCC upon closure of the Ballymena and Larne in 1950, to try relieve pressure on the rapidly deteriorating fleet of steam trams, and numbered 8. However, it derailed at Ivy Road in 1952, taking it out of service for two years as the railway underwent bankruptcy. It was finally returned to service in 1954 to haul the heavy trains dragging the final peat harvests from Sheehaunmona, which relied on the railway and was attempting to stockpile as much peat as possible in Sheehaunmore so as to not run low while roadworks were completed between the town and the bog to allow peat to move by road. After these duties were finished in summer '55, number 8 languished in Knockadeen shed, only running to haul the 1956 Goodbye Special a week before closure. It remained at Knockadeen until sold to a planned museum in Cork in 1960, however this scheme fell through and she instead went to the Hutton Steam Railway in rural South Australia. This is where this photo was taken of the locomotive, in fresh NCC livery to honour its history. This footplate view, taken by Frank Scott of nearby Peterborough, shows the loco a few months after she arrived in 1961, and also shows one of the railway's regauged, ex-3ft 6 bogie coaches. However, it was not to be and the HLR went out of business in 1970. Number 8 sat in a shed in Australia for a decade until she was bought for a pittance by a private collector in Victoria, and was moved to a back garden in Altona, Melbourne in 1983. Here she was at least cared for and had some of her more dilapidated parts repaired, but only visually, so that she looked remarkably good but was far from running order. This was an unpleasant surprise for his children, when, after he passed in 2007, failed to sell the engine to a railway in Victoria or NSW, and had to resort to sending her home- to be displayed in the Ulster Transport Museum in Cultra. However, before she was put on display, the newly formed SLR group purchased her and brought her "home" to Ivy Road, naming her in honour of, well, the capital of the state she worked in- Jackie was left to name her and sure you know what he's like with geography. Anyway, here she now is, in running order and due for fitting of new control and safety systems within the next year. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this bit of backstory- I plan on doing this every Wednesday, staging photos around my garden and dipping into old collections from their previous home, Model World in Wicklow, and maing little stories for each picture. I'm not quite sure why the semi-mushroom pun but the line will ideally pass behind the shed, through a "tunnel", sharing space with an access area that can also be used to store bikes. This allows for Knockadeen and Botanical Gardens to be either end of a tunnel, which I hope will add a bit of interest and simulated distance to the line.

Haha I didn’t want to mention you as I always get a bit iffy talking about private conversations without the other conversee’s consent. Oh yeah of course basically nothing happening but they were on the network at the same time as the ICRs, which have been (I think) on every currently open passenger line on the network, and sure they’d be going along the Cork line. There’s also a possibility, now I say it, they could have been photographed on the quad track as well, as far as I know it only opened in 2009, the year they were retired, but surely it was under construction for a few years beforehand?