LNERW1

Pity. Did you move house? And lovely coaches btw. I might do that with mine, but im not sure.

Don’t worry, this is a project that I’m relying on to keep me going through first year, so it’s not something I’m likely to give up. In fact, planning is already well underway, and I have already begun to plan out Botanical Gardens station, where the double- track main line diverges into the Sheehaun Tramway, and the “back line” around Sheehaunmore, for freight and express passenger services (I’m planning on running slow passenger services along the tramway, just to make things more interesting) and the tramway. Just to clarify, the line down to Sheehaun Harbour, along with the harbour itself, is not going to be modelled. I’m using the “get out” clause of claiming that the hotel was built above the 250ft tunnel, and that the foundations required it to be partially demolished. I might end up modelling the harbour in a smaller scale eventually, but on the model the harbour line will branch of the tramway, running through Sheehaunmore town, and disappear into a blocked-off tunnel under the “back line”. The spur remaining will probably end up being used for stock storage. Also yes, gauge 1 and G scale share the same 45mm track gauge.

GSR crimson? What railway were you modelling? Also, I found the locos. Pictures will follow as soon as I finish bringing in the logs. I also started a topic on the garden railway itself. To view it, click here.

Sheehaun is a small island off the west coast of Ireland. It has always been sparsely populated, with its largest town, Sheehaunmore, only boasting about 750 residents in 1857. It wasn’t the kind of place you would expect a railway being built. But Arthur Tilselby, an Englishman who had made his fortune building railways in the North of England, was not one to bow to anyone’s expectations. In 1860, he bought all the land on the island, and began the process of turning it into a rich industrialist’s paradise. He decided to take advantage of the fact that there were more sheep than people on Sheehaun, and set about establishing it as a centre of woolen clothing production. A large industrial area was set up on the outskirts of Sheehaun, and a three-foot-gauge railway around the island to transport the wool into the industrial area. It began construction on 1861, and initially ran into issues with lack of labour, but workers were brought on to aid the construction, with the promise of jobs in the factories once construction was finished, which it finally was in 1867. Having fought their way through Sheehaun’s unforgiving limestone landscape, they settled down to work in the factories. These were a small but profitable industry, keeping the island and the railway going until 1953. During the Emergency, Sheehaun’s factories stayed going, as the demand for woolly jumpers and the likes increased during times of gas and coal rationing. After the war in Europe ended, however, Sheehaun’s industry began to lose more and more money. By 1950, it had gotten bad enough that the current landowner, George Tilselby III, began to alter sales quotas, income figures and expenditure quantities- in short, trying to decrease the amount of taxes he would need to pay. He was found out in 1952, and after he was convicted and fined, there was little money left for the factories. In 1953, the Sheehaun Wool Company went bankrupt, and the Sheehaun Light Railway, which had served the island for over 80 years, closed in 1956. It had never been taken over by CIÉ, it was not particularly focused on passengers, but still provided a lifeline for those living near the line. It’s main line serving the island’s farms closed first, in 1955, leaving only the mile or so running from the former factory site, now being demolished, to Sheehaun Harbour, or the Sheehaun Tramway. This lived on only for a few months, closing on the 3rd of January, 1956. The last train, the 18:07 from Sheehaun Harbour to Sheehaunmore Town, stopping at the Tilselby Botanical Gardens, an amenity for the local residents built by Arthur Tilselby, the man who built the island’s industry. This last train was captured emerging from the Harbour Tunnel, passing under the former main line, by local photographer Seán O’Sullivan. His haunting photograph is shown below. And so, Sheehaun was left to be, its inhabitants making do with the potholed roads that criss-crossed the small island, as it slowly reverted to agriculture, with some extra income provided by a hotel and golf course near the harbour. However, its inhabitants had never been satisfied with its mediocre road network, and in 2009, they finally decided they would do something about it. They set up a company, the Sheehaunmore Light Railway Ltd, and set about purchasing track and stock to rebuild the island’s U-shaped railway system. They received planning permission, and with the cooperation of the Tilselby family, who still owned most of the island, they began construction of their new railway, starting by connecting to the Sheehaun Tramway, whose rails had remained in place since closure in 1956, and continued construction, completing the project in 2019. It now operates as the primary means of transportation around the island, and is run by a mix of volunteers and paid staff. The above is, of course, entirely fictitious. It is, in fact, the story I dreamed up to explain the existence of my garden railway. As it stands, construction has not yet begun, but I do have over 40m of track and a large fleet of rolling stock, ready for construction to begin, which it will in spring 2024. This is where I will share updates on the progress of the layout, as that seems to be the sort of thing you people like. I hope you enjoy reading through my mindless rants about the irregularities in the geometry of LGB track.

@BosKonay@Warbonnet@Garfield You're staff members; it would help if you could bring this topic to as many people's attention as possible. Thanks.

just to say, @Glen and @WRENNEIRE, by rating this topic five stars up in the top right-hand corner, it will increase the visibility of the topic, and people may be willing to give suggestions, and maybe even offer models for sale.

OK Glen, I'll try to help you by looking for any online listings, and I'll message you directly with links. what gauge/scale of model railways does your son already have?

Still haven't found the locos, but here's a new addition to the fleet: Picked it up at the Bray show, $20 for a G bogie coach, even still with the spare LGB-style couplers in a plastic packet. I'm going again in January!

Ok, fair enough. Thanks.

Just realised- probably best to use the 25 inch map, the two 6 inches I tried had been mapped before the railway I was researching had been built, and then after it had been torn up.

If anyone can’t find a good source for historic track plans, etc. or is dissatisfied with Google Maps’ level of detail, then GeoHive has a viewer for old OS maps, and OpenStreetMap shows railways, and everything else for that matter, in much more detail than Google Maps. This is just to let everyone know of these trackplan sources, as I’ve found them quite useful. Merry Christmas! PS: feel free to post alternate sources here if you think them worthy of mention.

Oof. That sounds very painful.

would it be possible to collect this?

I'll be there! Anyone else?

Can't wait to see this coming to full fruition- it's moving in leaps and bounds, and you're really showing what's possible for Irish heritage railways. Merry Christmas, guys!

owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

It's not that bad... No, on second thought, it is.

I can't find the box containing "Ilen", an LGB Orenstain & Koppel 0-4-0 plantation engine, two carriages and a scratch built tender. I have looked in every room in the house, and the shed, but I swear I can't find them anywhere. Instead, here's an AI-gnerated image of Number 3. It looks nothing like "Ilen", but that's ChatGPT for you. I'll post an image of the model as soon as i find it. Thank you in advance for your patience. Oh my God, I've just realised the ridiculous length of that train. What the hell, Bing Copilot? This is why we can't have nice things.

H Here's the actual S&S No. 3 "Ilen". If I can find the model, I'll put up a picture.

Happy to oblige, all I have right now Irish wise is a Schull and Skibereen steam tram, but there is mid Antrim, Cavan and Leitrim, etc. locos in my granny’s attic.

I went to watch the video and this was recommended to me. I'm sure it makes sense, but it makes no sense. Nice to see the 201s being labelled as "pyromaniacs". Jesus!

I must say i never met John, but I had heard of him. He sounds like he was a lovely man.

Oh my god, I love this forum...

ok... Great, thanks!

Ok, this might sound slightly odd coming from a teenager, but I'm not doing too great navigating the forum as a new user. Decided I probably wasn't the only one, so if anyone needs practical help with the forum, put your queries in here. I'll go first: how do I add a signature? It seems like a neat little feature, and with plenty of scope for humour, but I can't find the setting anywhere. Do I have to reach a certain rank? I'd appreciate some help, thanks.