LNERW1

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!

Im fairly sure at least one unmodified Wagonmaster survived until the end on the smaller Coolnamona line (south/southwest of Portlaoise). Visiting in December 23 yielded one, if not two. Unfortunately I didn’t have my phone on me at the time so I have no pictures, but I believe my dad did take a photo of every loco present.

In fairness I’m sure there’s a good few enthusiasts at Boora so more than likely the similarity isn’t a coincidence!

I love things like this. Entirely good-hearted and well-meaning people asking Irish Rail to bend over backwards to replace a 15-minute drive with a 3-minute train ride. All the best to Paddy Brazil and I hope he gets his way sometime soon.

I don't blame you. It isn't an easy read tbh, a bit repetitive and boring sometimes - and that's rich coming from me - but it's definitely worth reading overall I'd say.

Just thought I'd share here a video game called NIMBY Rails. In short, it is a railway building game that allows you to build anywhere on a map of the real world, with several different types of track, ie 350km/h high speed, 160km/h medium speed, and 60km/h tram lines. I get the feeling it's suited for this forum as you have the option not only to replicate the current Irish network (or that of anywhere else in the world, for that matter), you can also rebuild closed lines that you think should still be open, or leave out those you consider pointless. I found it a while ago after stumbling across the Reddit page for the game and have since began working on my own Irish network, pictured below: The trains are colour coded based on purpose/operator, colours are listed below: Dark green- Iarnród Éireann (mainline) Light Green- Iarnród Éireann (suburban)- at the moment only DART Light Purple- Luas Dark Turquoise- NIR (mainline) Light Turquoise- NIR (suburban) Red- Trams/Metro outside Dublin My network is far from finished, but I thought it would be a good example for what can be accomplished and frankly I'd love to see what this forum could come up with. Some links that may be helpful: Wikipedia Page Wiki Steam Page Subreddit Since I found this game I've been desperate for someone to share it with and I decided this forum was probably the best place. I also wanted to show off my own network as I am very happy with how it's coming along. I hope I've helped someone find a game they'll enjoy. All the best, LNERW1

No, as the article says it was only proposed but was rejected for being unfeasible for a multitude of reasons. I think it's fascinating though as it would have substantially changed that area of Laois.

Found this while researching for a CBA on the Kilkenny-Portlaoise railway line. A search for "Mountmellick railway station" yielded this. Interesting idea, but in fairness it would likely have closed well outside of living memory, and Lord knows looking for information on it would be like hen's teeth. Interesting read nevertheless and well worth a look.

By my guesswork there’s 18 grand worth of models on those shelves. You could buy three working, reliable cars for that. Maybe four a-tiny-bit-shite ones at a push. Ah, I see. Money is not the issue for you, you are clearly a man of impeccable taste. I’m sorry for ever doubting you. (That’s a mad amount of sausages, you’ll have a heart attack if you eat all them within less than a year-but in fairness I’d say we’re all as bad anyway)

That is a very good way to show off insane wealth. Do you have any OO wagons?

Should have seen that coming... nevermind then. Sorry about that.

EDIT: as clarified by Darius below, all Rue d'Etropal products were available on the now-defunct Shapeways Marketplace, and they do not seem to have been made available anywhere else yet, meaning they are not accessible at the moment. Rue D’Etropal (3d printed models) do Clayton rail cars, also suitable for your setting. There’s also a couple MGWR coaches that, I have to say, have me tempted. http://www.rue-d-etropal.com/3D-printing/3d_printed_Irish-5ft-3in-gauge-trains1.htm Hope this is of help.

I’ve had the same thing happen-13,162! I know everyone loves me (wink wink) but I think it could be bots trying to collect data as I seem to be one of the few members who’s filled in all the “about me” boxes. That’s the best hypothesis I have at the moment.

Tipp-ex could probably be used as some sort of white paint in a pinch. There are three main forms in which you can purchase the stuff, and I can think of at least one use for each. Pot and sponge/brush: general white paint- you would have to be in quite a pinch in fairness but it isn’t too off-white so it could be passable. ”Shake ‘n’ Squeeze” applicator pen: lining. It is difficult to use precisely but it’s easy enough to learn how to make smaller marks with it. If you had some masking tape on hand it would make neatness a lot easier. You likely wouldn’t need any fancy stuff either as Tipp-ex is fairly viscous and so would probably have trouble getting under tape. Those little tape-mouse thingies: Lining on platform edges. To be honest that’s the best I can think of. If you found a wagon with the right size planks it could conceivably be used to recolour some planks on a wooden wagon to give the effect of replacement, but that would probably only be useful in larger scales, and let’s face it, if you’re modelling in a scale large enough for this to be viable, money is likely not a problem for you. Or at least it wouldn’t be if you didn’t spend it all on trains. Now please keep in mind I haven’t tried any of this. I just felt an urgent need to post something and feel somewhat useful, so these are just some thoughts that I’ve had floating around for a while. All the best, LNERW1.

I happen to know Ronnie- he gifted me this: As well as many books on railways across the world. I may talk to him for the project. A true gentleman indeed.

Just looking for sources on the Portlaoise-Kilkenny line for a CBA I’m doing in school at the moment. Wikipedia doesn’t have much info, and so doesn’t seem to have any very useful sources beyond a YouTube video on Attanagh station. I may also turn the project into a YouTube video as I believe it has potential to do well, but at the moment just focusing on the school side of it. So, if anyone has sources, be they online, physical or anecdotal, please do share them. Any history or enthusiast website is fine, but forums would have to be listed as anecdotal. This isn’t a massive problem of course as it’s not a Junior or Leaving Cert CBA. Also if supplying photos of book pages, please provide the title, authors, ISBN and page number, if any of this is not already visible. Thanks for your time and i hope with all my picky demands some useful information can squeeze in. All the best, LNERW1.

How have you found the Leader, out of curiosity? KR seem to be catching a lot of flack for it. Quite an unpopular locomotive and company, it seems. Do you have an opinion either way? Edit: NEVER MIND. read the preceding post. That will teach me a lesson. Hopefully. Sorry