LNERW1

I’d pray for a lost login or something. There are a good few old accounts that went silent and surely some of them arent the worst case scenario.

Ladies and gentlemen we are back! Ardree Quay has finally returned from the shed! In the short time I’ve had it back I’ve initiated possibly my worst decision so far- wire-in-tube point control. As you can see here I’ve twisted staples into shape to act as arms throwing the stretcher bar back and forth. Now, this one is quite rough- which is why it’s already been replaced with a tighter arm that will push and pull. I plan on creating small slots for the vertical arm to go through, connecting with thicker wire below, which will in turn be connected to some sort of switch to push and pull. This should allow for point control not requiring the intervention of the Hand of God. I’ve also been testing how stock runs over a track joint with a little too much solder on the inside of the rail. Between these two videos I filed it down a good bit but it’s still not perfect. IMG_1413.mov IMG_1414.mov So, not huge progress but my activity at the weekend’s Dunshaughlin show has given me a huge motivation boost and I really want to get some stuff done before it dries up. Hopefully one or two people are happy at the return.

What a show. Thanks so much to @Metrovik for bringing me along, @meathdane for being so friendly and helpful, @Signal Post for your friendliness, @dropshort105 for your generosity, and @MikeO and Mike for your helpfulness. Thanks also to anyone involved in the show who might be reading, and to Tristan and his friends (again if you’re reading) who provided plenty of company and encouragement. It was nice to be the other side of the backscene and I look forward to meeting more people in future. As many have said, it’s nice to put a face to a forum handle. Hopefully I’ll see you all (and even more people) next year.

Having picked up this wonderful abomination at the Greatest Gathering, I thought there was some potential for a stupid running joke in it. So, here comes “The Heretic”. A railtour exploring the metals of anyone that will let this creature on their layout. As it is the tour is only starting out, only calling at Beagnach End; And at Bantry; So, as I help out @Metrovik at exhibitions and hopefully get on the circuit myself in a few years’ time, the Heretic shall explore further- with consent from layout owners of course. Exhibitors beware!

Quite proud of these two. It's so fun trying to make it look real- it's not a particularly difficult job in fairness as the layout is quite realistic. But the camera angle is everything, low angles really are magic.

The IRRS railtour “The Heretic” pauses at the racecourse platform on September 27 2025

I was much better off before the concept was introduced to me. Now I check every hyperlink I'm given just from sheer paranoia it'll be that fecking thing again. But this is not the time, nor is it, as they say, the place.

The innuendo was a reference to something functioning members of society are only vaguely aware of at worst and is certainly not appropriate for this forum. IC+ cars are a type of carriage built by Hungarian Railways to the following paramaters, as laid out by Adam Something on YouTube as below: "The vision was that they needed a Hungarian-made passenger car, the strategy was that they needed a Hungarian-made passenger car, and the goal was that they needed a Hungarian-made passenger car" Excellent rant directed at the IC+ cars in that video here. (10:23 onwards).

Most people won’t be seeing the inside, really all that needs to be fixed is the platform edge.

A couple shots I got... A poor attempt at airbrushing out the (real) window: A much nicer shot of the genesis coaches under the roof: A shot slightly to the left of that, with a different train present: And left again, with yet another train and a huge giant fiddling with something near the end of the platform: I think you'll all agree the layout's looking stunning. Can't wait to operate it next weekend.

Yeah you know what the joke does miss the mark a bit. Will I delete it? Edit: yeah no im actually quite embarrassed of that joke now you point it out could you edit that quote to delete it?

Weird joke about IC+ cars deleted

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.