Mol_PMB

Ah, many thanks. I’m looking in to getting some more made, but the cost may be prohibitive. We’ll see. cheers, Mol

Have you still got a stock of them?

Aha! So that's the origin of them. The supply has now dried up, sadly. Though I'm sure modellers around these islands have some sets stashed away in boxes.

That's coming together very well!

Like this?

Arch60 (former 4Dmodelshop) that I use for custom etches are able to duplicate the buffers as white metal castings. Would anyone else like some, if I get some made? Here are the originals:

I've just weathered the roof. I used an experimental technique and it seems to have worked reasonably well. I masked off most of the body with tape, and then dabbed on Maskol for the top edge, so that it was slightly uneven. Then I did the spraying, a dirty brown/grey mix over the whole roof but heavier in the middle, followed by 'rubber black' focused around the exhaust. It seems to have given the desired effect - with the edge looking like it has been cleaned slightly unevenly: A bit like the loco in Ernie's photo here:

Derailers, sometimes used in place of catch points. They would be worked in association with the position light signals on the post nearby.

To be fair, I've not been diagnosed with OCD, but I do have an obsession with detail and I suspect I'm somewhere on that spectrum. I find modelling very helpful. My work also requires a lot of attention to detail and the hardest part is when there isn't time to do a job to the standards I set myself. Anyway, I'd better get on with some modelling!

Buffers are a complex shape though - would need a multi-part mould I think? And fragile in resin. It's not something I have any experience of. I'm also wary of stopping progress on the loco rebuild because bitter experience of my own uselessness is that if I stop now the bits will sit in a box forever and never get finished!

Is there a firm that would do that? I have no experience of making castings?

Short answer - Railtec sheet number 5710. Long answer - that isn't what I used - see the diatribe below... I drew my own artwork for these, shaping each digit individually based on dozens of photos (OCD in action again...). Then I got them printed by Precision Decals. I offered the artwork free to Steve at Railtec too, in case he wanted to produce them commercially. It was at that point I discovered that he does produce something similar - sheet number 5710: https://railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=11581 I have found it hard to search the Railtec website effectively for Irish items. You can only search for one word or phrase (no and/or functionality). Sometimes they are listed as 'Irish' or 'Ireland' but there are many Irish items labelled CIE, such as the broken wheels. However, a search for 'CIE' returns hundreds of irrelevant transfers - so many that the ones you actually want are off the bottom of the page, and there isn't a 'next' button... (FYI, broken wheels are in sets 5605, 5606, 5607). So that's my excuse for not finding this set on the Railtec website! Anyway, I like my custom ones better. The differences in the shape of the numbers may be small, but I know mine are right. Steve's are pretty close though. Anyway, back to 156, here's the prototype at Ennis in the late 1980s, about to haul me to Limerick. This is about 15 years later than the period my model represents; by this time the loco had been repainted and received unshaded numbers on the cab fronts, and the roundel moved down to the 'standard' position. Also it has an S suffix to the numbers on the sides, OHLE warning flashes, upward-facing headlight and the tablet catchers had been removed.

Many thanks @Rob R I’m using kadees so the buffers are mainly visual. At present I think I will do the buffer swap on this loco and see how it goes. The idea of producing more of these buffers is very appealing! Cheers, Mol

All I can do is apologise. Again. I am sorry.

Interesting thought. Years ago I did a bit of Irish O gauge but used the American scale as it was closer to broad gauge. An Atlas switcher on flexicoil trucks had the right style of bogies though not 100% perfect. It looks like the US version of the Flexicoil is now available as a 3D print: https://3dcentraltrains.com/products/51001-flexicoil-p48-emd-truck-atlas-o-upgrade-kit