LNERW1

Don't they have an A class just sitting in a barn or something?

Really great to hear, as preserved railways in particular can be very, well, loud. I remember (not too fondly) a trip on Flying Scotsman at the Nene Valley, and although it was a great trip, when we went up to Scotsman it was LOUD. (Also in BR Green as 60103- not at all a fan of literally all preserved locos being in BR livery except in the NRM) Funny, I have a sort of rule of thumb at model railway exhibitions- if there's someone aged about 16-25 wearing a backpack and a beanie (long hair also helps), they are 100% a Thomas fan. I am myself, so I know how to identify "other members of the herd" but I've always thought it's such a weird but true stereotype.

Any of the tank engines, Jinty would be nice specifically as I already have from the same tooling and want to make a UTA liveried pair.

Fair point- Clifden station building is intact an in use as a hotel/restaurant/etc. but I'm pretty sure the area beyond the platform is occupied by a Lidl.

Talking to @Metrovik today and he said he was very much thrown when the it was changed.

Alphagraphix? A kit of a 141 for £6... in 7mm. ALPHAGRAPHIX_IRISH_RAILWAYS

I'd say they're gone now?

I presume no longer available?

Don’t know if I’d put it that strongly, but I do agree.

Interested in Roundhouse GP50, would the couplers on it be replacable with modern tension locks? Don't have a US-outline layout but would like it just for use as a fun loco when I'm in a "not-super-prototypical" mood.

25 quid, Anglia Mk2? I could go 30

Re the multiple comments on graffiti, I think the cultural context of most tags are taken into the general category of “gang culture” and not seen as they are, characterful marks made on the world that the person who made them interacts with in their own way. I don’t believe that the graffiti taggers are in the wrong, per se, but they’re also not in the right either as they’re defacing public property and often graffiti can be used in the context of gang culture, as everyone seems to believe, although it should be noted that, again, it’s not all to do with shootings and drugs, etc. obviously Belfast has had a troubled (no pun intended as that would be rather disrespectful) political history and the few times I’ve been there, I have observed some sectarian graffiti, but most of what I saw dated from about the 90s or earlier from what I could tell. Another thing to note is graffiti as part of political activism, such as incredibly skilled and brave gangs graffitiing Moscow Metro trains with political slogans and artwork, or graffiti artists, those who create beautiful murals in public spaces, without permission but still to great effect. In all, it’s a controversial matter with a LOT of grey areas, but I may start a thread somewhere else dealing with it.

Ah, maybe it wasn’t the TARDIS about to emerge but a VS class (always my favourite GN loco)

Exact same here, and happy about it- and I’m 13! There’s still hope, you see!

Okay, thanks. Unfortunately I don’t think 600mm curves will work with some of my longer stock, but thank you for obliging with the details. I may be back here, but if I’m not, hope it finds a good home.

Interested, but can’t seem to find dimensions online. Do you have them please?

Looking at that last night from Co. Laois, seemed to be a spoked formation with shafts of light spreading out. The centre of it was well defined, we were joking that the TARDIS was about to come out of it….

You know BYD stands for Build Your Dreams, right? Like what kind of ridiculous horse manure…

There’s a small video game called Brick Rigs, based around the use of vehicles built out of Lego-style bricks, which I play sometimes. The vehicles are made by individual players, and uploaded to the “workshop”. The game has a large variety of realistic trains, trams, etc., but I have never been able to find many Irish vehicles. However, among those which I did find were RUC LR Simbas, Tangis, etc., Ryanair planes and a couple of Garda and PSNI vehicles. However, I found absolutely no trains from the island of Ireland, and, having done lacklustre repaints/ reletterings of a HST and EMD G16 into IÉ paint schemes, I found a fellow who had made a Translink unit, I believe generic, but I haven’t used it in a while, so I do t quite remember. I don’t know if it really counts when it’s a community-sourced game like this, but I thought some people would be interested to know of it.

Interesting- I think the potential of the lines as tourist attractions or carriers is quite an interesting idea! As far as I know, the Connemara Railway only plans to run less than 10km of the old line, but a railway to Clifden would, couple with effective onward transport, allow for easy, environmentally friendly, and hopefully cheap, access to areas like Roundstone, Ballyconneeley, historic areas like the site of the Marconi station and Alcock and Brown’s landing site, etc. as well as providing access to Moycullen, Oughterard, etc. The same could very much be said for the West Cork lines, the Valentia, etc. Also possible would be the line (I believe just a short spur) to Achill station, allowing for access to that and other islands in Clew Bay by rail (and that’s one I can really see an ICR on). Others- Donegal (All of it, including connecting to Derry), West Clare, expansion of holiday services along the former DSER mainline and to Rosslare, Waterford and Tramore, the list goes on and on and on and on and on and… you get the point. PS- South Wexford? Maybe not, not really a seaside route or serving anywhere of particular historic importance, I’m pretty sure south Wicklow/north Wexford is a lot more historic.

Interesting to see the list of components and suppliers- I love stepping onto a train and noticing little details, like the "Alstom" on the short step in front of the door on Pendolinos, or the "Hyundai" at the end of each car in a 22000. I'll be looking out for those little things whenever I hop on one of those units.

Great to hear all the support- main inspiration will be the area of Dublin near Connolly Station (As well as the Ballymun housing development and Ardoyne House in Ballsbridge, where I lived for seven years), Glasgow, central Birmingham and northeast London. The canals are also mainly inspired by Birmingham, although I did have a friend, who I visited often, who lived in a house adjacent to a canal, but I don't remember which one. I plan to have the ticket office/waiting room in arches underneath the platforms themselves, inspired by Birmingham Snow Hill. The trams are probably just going to be whatever I can find, as there isn't really any UK-outline model trams available anywhere, even in kit form(to my knowledge, anyway, I'm not a tram person), and the use of it as a street tramway is inspired by the Saint-Malo street tramways, which i visited when I went to France over Easter (Which @Metrovik said was "The most Abbeyleix thing ever"). Also, @Flying Snail, I would agree about the similarity to Jools Holland's layout in the urban scene, covering several different countries. Like that layout, I will very much try to make it a collection of vignettes, like a child on their first day of school (like myself, leaving their apartment building on a bike with a backpack), experiences I've had at several stations around the UK and Ireland, times I've spent walking along canals, taking the tram, even crossing the footbridge at Kidderminster station to get to a Severn Valley Railway gala. Everyone has their own special connection with the railway, and often some aspect of the landscape around it, and I'm trying to emphasise that here. Obviously, I don't have as many memories to put into this as some of the other forum members may, myself being younger than most of the trains I see the most often (071s, 22000s and MKIVs), but I still have a story to tell with this. Royal Park is going to be a much more personal layout than Ardree, if a little less operationally interesting, but then I'm happy just running trains in and out of the platforms all day. I do plan on making it possible to add loops behind the main board to make it a tailchaser, but that's a long way off. For now, I'm happy building a collection of memories set around a railway line and a block of flats. There we go, poetic interlude over, time to go to bed.

Ah Patrick, stop trying to upset Metrovik.

It's complicated-see thread (for some reason pc isnt letting me add links, just click on my profile and then select "activity". The topic should be near the top)

No chance you could find a photo? I'm looking for inspiration for my layout Royal Park ( see the thread literally only me and metrovik have posted on) and also for a Minecraft project myself and my cousins are working on, but that's not really relevant to the forum, so let's just say Royal Park for now.