LNERW1

@Metrovik top photo may be a good reference for you.

I thought to further push my point about T gauge modelling as a serious concept, I should post some comparisons. Most Irish stock can be replicated in T with reasonable accuracy considering the scale, using only products from Tgauge.com I list below the products needed as the bare bones of Irish models. Below is the Intercity and/or locomotive fleet, as listed on Wikipedia. 22000 class: 23 metre coaches, SKU 029 + 23 metre motorised chassis, SKU 049-B 201 Class: 6 axle 21 Metre motorised chassis, SKU 015-6ax Mark 4: 16-27m adjustable chassis (black), SKU 023-B* 071 Class: Closest match is the 6 Axle 18.5 Metre Motorised Chassis, SKU 016-6ax, this is nearly a scale metre over-length, but as it is such a small scale this difference should be indetectable. I'm using Wikipedia as a source for train and locomotive lengths, but it doesn't list the lengths of any Commuter units. *Another problem caused by Wikipedia. It lists the Mark 4's as either 7 or 8 car trains but only gives one train length, not specifying which it is. This length is 189.43 metres. I worked out that if this referred to a 7-car unit it would make it about 21m long, but referring to an 8-car train it would make each car around 20m. I then googled it and realised it worked out at between 27 metres if 7-car and 23 if 8-car. I decided to play it safe and list an adjustable chassis, but I could be wrong. if they are around 190 metres at 8 cars that means you could use the same chassis as the 22000s. Also some former Irish Rail and CIÉ locos here: A class: 6 Axle 16 Metre Motorised Chassis, SKU 027-06ax C, 121, 141 and 181 class locos are all similarly disadvantaged here in that they are too short to be accurately represented by a Tgauge.com chassis. Using a shorter dummy chassis with a powered wagon or coach behind would probably work well here. B101 Class: Could be passably represented by a 6 Axle 16 Metre Motorised Chassis, SKU 027-06ax, but this is around a scale 1.5m too long. Not as noticable as the up to 4m difference between the scale length of this chassis and the real-life lenght of the above locos, but still possibly too noticable. 301 Class: Could be passably represented at this scale by the BR Class 08 Shunter, SKU 008. This loco's chassis could also be useful for producing other 0-6-0s -the J15 springs to mind- and possibly even a motorised wagon or brakevan for some of the shorter locos listed above. Finally, freight and departmental. I don't have great knowledge of IÉ (and IR, in fairness) freight stock so this will be short and sweet, but generally Tgauge.com's generic freight stock should do a good enough job of representing Irish freight stock. Unfortunately Tgauge.com does not offer any 4-wheel wagon or wagon chassis. This would be pretty pointless as such a small model would likely be difficult to manufacture and fiddly to use, not to mention fragile. The site does offer 4- wheel bogies, though, and I have no doubt they could be turned into passable 4 wheel wagons. The Track Maintenance Vehicle, SKU 09-TG, is a passable representation of IÉ's ballast tamper (I think there's only one). Finally, anyone wanting to make or modify their own T gauge models should head to the "Spares" page, https://www.tgauge.com/section/7/1/spares. This offers loads of detail and mechanical parts. One last thing, if anyone has carriage measurements for any Commuter or DART trains, please share them. Wikipedia doesn't list these and so I'm not sure what chassis would work best to represent them. Thanks, LNERW1.

Always great to have accurate diecast vehicles for Irish modellers. Looks beautifully detailed as well.

I have mentioned signalling before- this is more or less exactly what I want. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsogaiESODw Mechanical rodding, lever frames, signals, points. Exactly what I want from a signalling system. One thing- I've seen @Mayner do a brilliant signalling diagram for Metrovik's layout- might I ask what software was used?

Looking great. One question though- what's going on with the track in the last photo? It looks like a point has been modified so as not to allow any vehicles or power to the siding, but I'm not quite sure why it's like that at all really. I'm sure you have your reasons but I'm just curious as to what they are. Thanks.

It’s probably best to unify the surface below the grass- this is an assumption however and not out of experience. Painting all surfaces that will have grass on them with a dark brown paint should give a realistic base colour that looks like soil and a more uniform texture. Another tip I’ve heard- pretty obvious but still important- is to use more than one colour of grass, and keep in mind what time of year your layout is set. Hope this helps.

To be honest I’ve never really considered Ennis at all a broad gauge operation-my introduction to it was by a book on the West Clare- but this seems fascinating and more than worthwhile. Of course you have memories of the station as well which would seem to help. Best of luck- I would love to see you make a layout as you have demonstrated nothing but skill, talent (are they the same thing?) and supreme knowledge of the prototype since you’ve joined the forum- at least from my perspective as a young, new and relatively inexperienced modeller. Plenty of potential and I can’t wait to see the final product. Will it be 00 or 21mm gauge?

Anyone else waiting on the January issue, only received mine today so I’d say maybe only a couple more days. Hope this helps.

Keeping myself busy under the incoming snow with a kitbash, my first proper attempt at building rolling stock. At the moment I'm using a (large, 60s) wagon chassis and a railbus body, maybe with one end having its cab windows filled and replaced with a corridor connection. All very exciting but I want to make some actual progress on it before I show off my beautiful passable creation. Full disclosure, it is just a bit of a practice run as a friend has offered a 3D-printed chassis and I want to build up some experience before I try making something more accurate.

A late Christmas gift in the form of a new addition to my collection. I didn’t need to post this but I am one point away from an 11/14 rank (which is insane considering I don’t think I’ve contributed anything of use or interest, maybe the ranking system is flawed but I think I’m the problem to be honest. Ah well).

Guess who's back? Sorry about the break there- I know all of ye have better layouts keeping you entertained but I like to think I'm at least almost able to hold interest in something. Long story short a relative died- at a good age and peacefully, but it was still a bit of a shock. I decided to take a break from modelling and while away from the layout I've realised something. I'm not trying to make a fun layout, or an interesting layout, or even one that is visually that attention-grabbing, even though that's what I want. There are so many things I want in a layout and the one I'm building has none of them. With the benefit of hindsight, I think I've spent ten months trying to emulate the work and mentality of other, more experienced, modellers and enthusiasts, and trying to impress everyone with my grand ideas of a realistic layout set in the middle of a beautiful but fairly empty bit of Ireland, in a fascinating but depressing era that I'm nowhere near old enough to remember and don't properly understand. Ardree has a future, but as a scaled-down layout that I can finish, learning something in the process. This is my first layout. I don't need to emulate masterpieces made by modellers five times my age. I am literally legally a child- most of my collection is made up of parts from trainsets that I got not a decade ago. Of the five baseboards built for Ardree, I'll probably be using three- the station, a countryside area, and a fiddle yard. That means station scenics and field scenics- and that's it. That's enough. It's still 12ft long- that's big, but way more manageable. I'm sorry for backpedalling and revising things, but please understand- I'm still working out so much about modelling in real time as I do this. Oh, and I'll see if I can find a use for the other two boards- I have railway interests other than Irish- British, North American, Australian, French, Japanese, I could go on. And perhaps I will, in future. One last thing- stepping away from modelling gave me a fresh perspective on my garden railway, too- shameless thread plug, but I have some plans for it. There are a few kinks to iron out yet, but expect something on there in the next few days. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of me and my projects, and my heartfelt apologies to those who I may have disappointed by backpedalling, changing and revising every day of the week. I hope a happy and prosperous 2025 awaits you all. My kindest regards, LNERW1

If the two centre bogies could move laterally it could work, in fairness. Otherwise it doesn’t look awful in comparison to some things I've seen on this thread.

@DJ Dangerous is coming, hide the containers! On a more serious note though, it is really cool to see such an early part of something as normal now as containers. I see completely why you’d be interested in this.

The Arigna shot evokes so much. A picture paints a thousand words etc., but it really is captivating.

Please expect a short break from progress on the layout. Personal reasons- far more serious than lack of concentration or dedication. I'm fine, don't worry, regular service will return around the New Year. I'll probably get a bit done over Christmas too.

IIRC it was with cat hair found lying around the house- plenty of course!

Static grass too expensive? One of the cat people on this forum posted a video (i think on the IRM Catzilla DCC thread) outlining the use of cat hair to make grass. @Broithe or @DJ Dangerous I think. Large “popsicle” sticks work as uncouplers for tension locks- stick them under the loops and push up the hooks.

Two questions- when and where?

Brilliant! Hopefully the first of many trains to come.

Loosely laying out a longer stretch of track so I can have a go at properly running Ardree Quay. A little trouble has been had with power tracks and clips- all a temporary arrangement so no soldering- but otherwise no real problems. I need to have a look at buying some track so I can get cracking with the fiddle yard but I’m quite hopeful I’ll get some proper work done by Christmas. Happy modelling, LNERW1. PS sorry for the shite photo, phone was dead so had to use an iPad with no camera flash, in the room with the worst lighting in the house.

Los Angeles and New York aren’t getting linked by a high-speed railway in the next century, but think of if the Midwest was treated like, say, Ukraine (disregarding the current war and different cities- and note I’ve just used that as a good comparison off the top of my head, and maybe I could be off by a bit or a lot), connectivity would be so much better and the area would grow a more dense population. The thing is most of America likes their cars, and simply don’t want passenger trains. Outside of (and even in) the northeast (Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC) and urban-eastern midwest (Detroit, Chicago), passenger rail is basically never used and so becomes less dense, but a rail line is rarely more than 50km away, and is often a lot closer. At the moment Amtrak operates over less than 10% of the US network, most of that being either long stretches with no stops between large cities, or dense services all east of the Mississippi, that are still very under-utilized and infrequent. Even the North-East Corridor is rubbish compared to even Irish railways. (Let’s face it, we have shite railways on a European scale.) But let’s be honest it’ll never happen- America is ruled by car companies. It’s like the German auto lobby stunting high-speed rail but far worse. Maybe let’s trim back the thread drift as suggested above, I’ll leave it there, thanks.

To be honest I don’t think that’s a great outlook. Out of sight, out of mind is not an effective way of dealing with things. This shouldn’t be a platform for arguments about anything unrelated to railways.

Ah jaysus… ye’re all making me feel inadequate- quantity and quality? Alien to me lol.

I’m not sure if the Invision Community forum software has built-in thread locking, but I know it’s a feature available to RMweb mods. Maybe it would be best to lock this if you can, mods. Anything added beyond this point will be opinions on the above quarrel/argument/spat/exchange of ideas/battle/fight/whatever terminology floats your boat, as Gibbo seems to have shut off the modelling avenue. @Warbonnet @Garfield @BosKonay Best regards, LNERW1.

A little odd maybe to have this before any other DARTs are available RTR- not counting @murrayec as he is still overwhelmed with back orders AFAIK- but as it’s in conjunction with Alstom I have no doubt it’ll all work out. Don’t know why, but surely a big “proper train” manufacturer knows what it’s doing. I’ll probably be able to afford one by the time it comes out, completely out of era and period for me but oh well.