colmflanagan

I would strongly recommend you invest in some (if not all) of the Peco "Shows You How" publications as a start before doing anything. Originally given as freebies with Railway Modeller these are small A5 size booklets which cover everything in basic detail from planning a layout through tracklaying to wiring etc., they cost about a quid each from Peco Publications. You can't buy them on line from the website but the details of how to phone them are there. Some shops may stock them. Also, look for a secondhand copy of a similar Peco publication called "starting in Scale 00" - probably dated by now but still contains a lot of really useful info. Best of luck. Colm

There is an event with some railway "interest" being held in Castlerock, Co Londonderry on 23rd March, open 10.00 am to 5pm, which may be of interest to anyone from the North West of "the island"... I understand it is to "celebrate" the imminent (by that date anyway!) re-opening of the Coleraine - Derry line. There will be a few layouts there, including the Northern Counties Group "Killagan", which may be a last chance to see it this side of the water before it is retired. I have no info on the precise venue but Castlerock isn't a big place..... If i get more, or if anyone knows more they can post it on thisi thread. Colm A pic of "Killagan" is attached.

Some railways in N Ireland kept "coloured" ends for a long time! On the BCDR it was only during WW2 that ends began to be painted black. I have done some of mine each way for variety. And the GNR did rhe ends of their blue and cream coaches the same colours as the sides until it died in 1958! The NCC however moved to balck ends in the mid 1930s. Of course, i expect that the ends in all railways would have become darker until they might well have appeared black due to buildup of muck etc.! Colm

I can't add anything more to the prototype info provided by jhb but it is possible (if you really want to and have the time and patience) to trim off the bowed ends so they are "flat" and use some plasticard stirp to build up the vertical panels; I have done this with some similar Ratio coaches which are also are based on GWR prototypes. These are "based on" a GWR design fairly loosely,as Triang/Hornby in those far off days went for a general impression rather than a specific " scale model". The coaches were originally produced in chocolate and cream to run with the dean 4-2-2 loco "Lord of The isles" and then re-appeared in many other liveries later. Hope they run all right - they will be Ok if you use Code 100 but probably will jump all over the place if you use 75! I attach a rather poor picture of a sort of "BCDR" coach I hacked from one of these coaches and yes, the BCDR DID paint its coach roofs white. They didn't stay that way for long though. Colm

Now, a question to those like jhb who clearly know their onions when it comes to CIE lveries, what about coaches? Were there two variations of green in the later 1950's/early 60s, after the very dark green with light green stripes of the early 50s, as per the Murphy Models CIE liveried coaches.

While on the subject of old pictures. This old copy of the long departed "Model Railway Constructor" came to me back in the 1960s. It shows an early version of the layout when it was situated in Cyril Fry's home in Churchtown, south Dublin. Sadly there is no article about it with more photos in the magazine though it may well have featured at some point. The caption reads: "A scene at Churchtown junction on the Irish International Railway and Tramway System. The first train in Ireland of the Dublin & Kingstown Railway, 1834, makes an interesting comparison aginst one of CIE's latest trains. There's one photo on the editorial page: Caption: The photograph at the head of this page shows another IIRTS model, Dublin & Drogheda 2-2-2 side and saddle tank No 8 with a coach of 1850.

Hi, For my money its' actually more important that you get good running from your stock first of all, whatever code - so whatever you use, go for live frog points. Some folk wire up the frogs on peco track to prevent shorts but I haven't found this necessary, certainly not on Code 100 /DC. DCc people can advise on that aspect. Both Code 100 and 75 can look great if well ballasted and track sides painted (not bright orange please!). I have found a muddy dark grey/brown shade ideal. On our exhibition layout "Killagan" we were regularly asked "is it code 75?" - it wasn't! We use Scaleway 75 on Bleach Green and its Ok but very fiddly to work with - you have to be very precise; we find that some Hornby (80s/90s) stock tends to "jump" on check rails. Personally I'd stick with Peco. Colm

PS to my last post - is that a Wainright "C" class repaint lurking in the background of the top photo? Can we have a closer look? I have the SECR version but the lining etc., is so fabulous I wouldn't have the heart.... Colm

And if you want to make them even more realistic you can remove the vacuum gear from the UTA one, as it would seem that. after one unsuccessful trial with a passenger train, they were relegated to shunting wagons around York Road for the rest of their lives. 19 lost her coal rails also later on.

For my money, this set looks very like the colour scheme in which the UTA painted most of it's GNR railcars in 1965! Though by that time they'd lost their side valances completely anyway. I love the idea of a mixed set with green, blue/cream and black/tan liveries. very "early nineteen sixties" CIE! I am eagerly awaiting Paddy Murphy's 121 in grey and yellow to do an "Enterprise" of that brief era. Colm