LNERW1

I will be. Looks like a lovely layout to see in person and I'd be thrilled to meet the mastermind behind it, as well as many other brilliant projects.

On the fence about going but now I definitely want to. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.

Looks wonderful. I’d love to have a layout like that. You really should be proud of that.

No problem. I was out of line and disrespectful, and you were right to be disappointed. Thanks for being so forgiving, I do really appreciate it as I look up to you as a great modeller and hugely intelligent person. I wasn’t happy that my apology covered everything, and some people came back a bit snarky so I assumed I had come across wrong. I want to be as mature as possible about any disagreement I have and leave my intentions and regrets perfectly clear, and prevent further bad blood. All the best, LNERW1.

I’m sorry, but this thread has gone out of hand and so to avoid starting any arguments by attempting to clarify matters, as seems to happen here all too often, I will only say that I would like to: 1: Apologise for abusing this forum and wasting the time of several members,especially @Mol_PMB recently. 2: Apologise for the sloppy response to being called out on such yesterday 3: Apologise for instances before wherein I have not delivered on a deadline or promised project and so caused number 1 to occur 4: Invite any and all members who believe I am out of line for any of my behaviour to PM me informing me of their disapproval and explaining how they believe I can avoid this inappropriate behaviour in future. I still hold interest in Bord na Móna and so will still be sharing any findings I come across here regarding the history of peat railways both here and worldwide, and any others similarly interested are welcome, but not expected or obliged to. This interest means I still hold value in the information shared here. Please do not reply to this post except by PM and only express your opinion publicly through the react button in the corner of the post. Please do not allow this to become any sort of drama that overshadows any of the extremely helpful, insightful and intelligent discussion on this forum. Thank you. All the best, LNERW1. Edit: I should clarify I don’t appreciate the somewhat provocative tone of some of the replies to yesterday’s post. If I can be called out on what phrases I use, I can call out others. PM me if you feel I am wrong, otherwise do not post anything else regarding this in this thread, thank you.

I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude, I've just become quite sick of the project as it's been hovering over my head for months and I've had so much going on it's been a bit inconvenient to do it, and at this point I'm more worried about just getting it done than having it be accurate, whereas when I started out I was attempting to make it accurate. I really am so sorry for doing that and I apologise if you feel I've wasted your time. I think you're brilliant, very intelligent and very reliable, and a really helpful guy, so I hate to disappoint. My stomach actually dropped when I saw your post. Again, I genuinely am sorry and can only offer that. Once more, it is basically just a race to complete it at this point and I'm trying to find every reason to justify cutting corners so I can finish it. Please don't see this as laziness, it's just that I am now under time pressure as I haven't been able to do it until now, and as the quality was never particularly important to the person checking the box that it was done, the only thing keeping the quality up was my choice to make it good. At this point that's taken a back seat and I am rushing now. Please don't be offended. All the best, LNERW1 P.S. I am sorry if this seems rushed, I just want to clarify ASAP that I do not mean any ill by my cavalier attitude to accuracy.

I do understand your concern, and rest assured were I writing to inform rather than to check a box, I would try to find better sources, but again, I am only writing to check a box, and the person who I intend to read this is already knowledgeable on many things, but especially Bord na Móna and railways. As well as that, most people won't go past the summary they get when searching Google, so this will still be substantially more informative than most of its competitors. And in fairness both are designed to relay fairly to very accurate information- it's better than asking Xitter, Reddit or Facebook. Also, I have always been under the impression that the BnM network is larger than that of IÉ. Where does this come from? It appears not to be true.

Fair enough, but with a quick look at its source, I appear to instead be trusting Seán Cain, who seems to be fairly, well, trustable. In fairness, the article may not have been proofread by Seán. One thing, though- BnM has a larger network than IÉ, right? Surely that would place it at over 2000km? Yet more confusingly, Wikipedia lists the stats as below: So, it appears there is no consensus and as such I can do whatever I want (laughs in politician). In all seriousness though, it is probably just best to stick to the figure (just <2000km) that I already have as it does the only job I really need it to- conveys the sheer enormity of the BnM network.

After asking Microsoft Copilot (AI chatbot built-in to MS Edge) it has returned with 1000 miles/1600 km, citing kildarelocalhistory.ie. Not sure how reliable this is but sure I'll put it in anyway. It sounds cooler and it's a school project that doesn't even affect the Junior Cert score, so it can hardly be classified as misinformation and even if it was, my geography teacher is apparently friends with the chair of BnM so likely wouldn't be fooled if I am wrong.

Just to confirm, the network peaked at around 1200 to 1300km?

Looks lovely lad, I envy the dedication- and the locos!

An actual passenger sleeping car would be interesting. Cork-Waterford-Rosslare-Dublin-Belfast-Derry perhaps? It would require at least one line reopen but I'm sure it'd be worth it.

Next month did not, in fact, come sooner. However you are still beating me on progress. My last update was me whinging about burnout- I think. So again you’re beating me out at least.

Jaysus lads, this thread's drifting more than a boy racer in an uninsured Miata with furry dice hanging off the rear view. Roblox to Thin Lizzy in under a day has to be some kind of record. Thank God, I've never used Blender and both despise and fear Solidworks. I'll see about joining. Best of luck with the game.

Ah sure that's as good a reason as any. I don't have discord but I'm looking at getting it so I may pop along. I'd love to be able to help. What are the trains modelled in- Roblox Studio, Blender, Solidworks, etc?

Lovely looking models- and a lot of them! The inclusion of DART units suggests more than just Heuston-Kildare, so if you don't mind me asking, what routes do you have planned? Also, are you on YouTube? I'd love to watch the dev process for this.

Ok, so given all the very helpful information given above, I'm now looking at starting on an SSM convertible wagon, product image shown here: 2 questions before I get one: Should I get one? Is it a good kit for a beginner? How do I get one? I can't work out how to order SSM models- no order page on the website, no other sources I can find. Add to that these wagons specifically have no listed price- the wheels cost €8 and that's all the website says. Do I have to purchase them in-person at a show? Or PM @Weshty? Help would be appreciated. Also I am aware convertible wagons are likely well outside my era as I model 1963-67, but as it is supposed to be quite a dilapidated and, quite frankly, out-of-the-way line, I thought it could be entertaining to hammer home just how forgotten the line is. Also, how lobg

Thanks so much for the advice on 4-4-0s. I had no idea this was a problem, and I'm quite glad I've found out. I'll look into these- from experience Wild Swan books seem to be a little easier to find than some others, but that "experience" is limited to looking for 3 or 4 WSP books that came up within about a minute of Googling. Luckily the ones you listed come up immediately when searched- however the first two are over £100. Unfortunately, I happen to be too young to be employed in a job well-paying enough to buy those, but by the time I "plan" to start getting into brass modelling I may be able to get a part-time job of some kind to pay for it. Unfortunately, you seem better placed than me to learn scratchbuilding at an early age- I'm fairly sure you know roughly what age I am and by extension that I'm probably lagging a little behind you in terms of progress over age. I do hope to pick up a bit soon as I might be getting a better modelling space, however I likely won't be able to get going in 7mm, so Jim McGowan's kits are off the table for a while still, but if I ever do get into O I will most definitely be looking at them. Luckily enough I do get taught basic soldering in school (Applied Technology) and am expected to use it in basically any projects I do, although it is of course just wires, and using solder that already has flux in it- if that makes sense. It is all still a bit of a mystery to me, honestly. Those instructions are actually quite encouraging. The entire process seems very much demystified and I'm even more enthusiastic to build something in brass now. Thanks for sharing. I have indeed burned my fingertips with both solder and soldering irons before and can assure you I will be aiming to avoid it. I'll be sure to check it out, thanks. That hadn't occured to me but does make a lot of sense. I do plan on starting with a wagon so that won't be too much of a problem off the bat, but I will keep it in mind. I'm sure it will indeed be very helpful. All look like well written sources from experienced authors. Always a businessman- it's quite impressive how you manage to make such a convincing case for buying Provincial Wagons models at any chance you get. I can only guess you've had a while to practice- I know PW has been around for a while. I do probably need to buy one of your kits at this point, even if just to see if all the hype is true! Back to the matter at hand, I would like to deeply and sincerely thank all of the talented, skilled, experienced and kind modellers who have chipped in to help get me going. I am sure your contributions will prove to be hugely important and would like to once again thank you. Best Regards, LNERW1.

Just a quick question for the several brilliant brass modellers on this forum- I want to begin modelling in brass in the not-too-distant future (think 1.5/2 yrs. need to get some other stuff up and running first), and one kit I would like to build is the London Road LBSCR B4. Could any of the aforementioned brass wizards advise me on whether this kit, or more accurately London Road kits in general, are difficult to build for one only starting out working with brass? Thanks for reading and, if you reply, thank you again. LNERW1

wrong topic, deleted.

The announcement video brought me here- the EPs look stunning and I have no reason to doubt that the finished models will be just as brilliant. 350 euro well spent anyway, if I do end up getting one. Best of luck with this one lads, not that you'll need it.

OOn3 Walker railcars- West Clare, Donegal, Clogher Valley (I think) and Isle of Man. Quite a large catchment area and the IoM examples (ex-Donegal) still exist. Maybe not this time around (No 12mm tracks at Casino) but it’s suitable for enough different railways that I would excuse IRM/Accurascale for making one.

AFAIK Seán Cain volunteers at Stradbally- I'm fairly sure he runs the Maryborough Light Railway page on Facebook too. I'll try contacting him through both channels. A very good point which I would not have thought of. It's a great pointer actually. The problem I have with using this method is that I don't really have access to the information that makes it possible. The best way to do so seems to be site visits, and these just aren't an option for me, not least because of school taking up almost all of my time, but also because at this point more and more of the information I would glean is disappearing. I envy you for having seen the larger BnM bogs before they were shut down- all I ever saw pre-closure were a couple of Wagonmasters on Coolnamona. I have been to Shannonbridge post-closure, though. Also, I neglected to mention in the original post that I did submit a form via BnM's Contact Us page on their website enquiring if there were any records regarding railways pre-1950. I'll be honest, I'm not confident it'll yield that much but hopefully it will have a few nuggets of useful information. Thanks all for being so forthcoming in information and advice so far. Please do keep it coming- I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole hole recently, while researching for a school project on Bord na Móna (Different to another project, regarding my local line, mentioned elsewhere), and began to research more in-depth regarding the railways of Bord na Móna. However, I’ve made the unfortunate discovery that, apart from BnM’s three 1949 Barclay locomotives, now preserved at Stradbally, Tywyn and Bushmills, I cannot find any information whatsoever on bog railways in Ireland pre-1950s. As BnM seems to have had a sizeable network by at least the early 50s, and of course was delivered locos in 1949, I assume there was indeed quite a lot going on that simply wasn’t catalogued. However, I don’t have much of a clue as to what it was, and in fact I’m not sure when any system was built, and whether there were any bog railways pre-BnM. My working timeline is as follows: Pre-1920: I confidently guess nothing. 1920-1930: Also likely nothing 1930-1940: Possibly a small amount of development, my guess is well under 100km of track, and possibly nothing at all. 1940-1950: Large expansion due to Emergency 1950-1960: Massive period of expansion 1960-1970: Expansion slower but still continuing. 1970-1980: Expansion ends, system reaches peak 1980-1990: Mainly stagnation, minor closures and some layoffs, as well as some small bogs sold to private companies. 1990-2005: Decline accelerates, significantly more closures and layoffs. 2005-2020: Slow decline until harvesting stops in 2020. 2020-Present: End of operation on all BnM railways. The latter half of the timeline matters significantly less here, as I am trying to fill in the blanks pre-1950, specifically trying to work out when and where exactly the genesis was of peat railways, in Ireland at least, and to try and gain more information about the specifics of these early railways. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I mean any. If you have any material on Irish peat railways that could possibly be pre-1950, please share it here. Thanks so much. LNERW1

The title seems to be cut off. Usually it's probably a good idea to give your post a more succint title and then ask the question after. Also, this might be better suited to the Questions and Answers section of the forum. My best guess is you're wondering about the apparent three tracks around that area. Let me know if I'm right!