Mol_PMB

Thta's looking great - it captures the look of the prototype well. I keep meaning to get one from Des. You should cut off the old brake hand lever from the underframe though - the brake operation was from a wheel inside on a brake van. Photo from Fred Dean and Jeremy Chapter, one pic of each side:

I haven't picked up the soldering iron today, but I've still been making progress. I've been doing some transfer artwork for a variety of current and near-future carriage and wagon projects, like these: And these (including some artwork destined for Enda @Past-Avenue here): Where the lettering is white to go on a coloured background, I normally get 2 layers of white printed so that it's opaque. Some of the loco and carriage lettering and lining in this lot should be eau-de-nil, so I'm expermenting with just one layer of white and hoping the green shows through a bit. After a bit of wear and tear the real eau-de-nil seemed to vary in colour a great deal. This may work or it may not; if it doesn't I'll have to see if I can get Steve at Railtec to do them in the proper colour. There are also some experimental transfers to represent etched window glass ('ladies' and 'smoking' as well as 'smoking' labels which should end up looking like this when applied to the inside of the windows - have I got the colours right? I've decided that my green A class (A42) is going to be rechristened A11 (011 being one of the few I have travelled behind), and will therefore look a bit like this (Ernie's pic): Then this afternoon one of my model railway friends invited himself round so there was a bit of a rush to reassemble Quartertown Mill so that I could have a train running. This was successful although I think the track needs cleaning more thoroughly. So here's what it looks like at present: Lots more still to do on both the layout and the current rolling stock projects, but it's keeping me entertained!

Thanks! I’ve got a couple of weeks off during the xmas shutdown so it’s nice to be able to focus on some making! I think I may get to start one more project before going back to work on the 5th. The SSM coaches have a ‘bogie and a half’ arrangement. I have yet to see how well it works in practice but it is probably an easier option than Cleminson-style linkages. it will be interesting to compare with the Alphagraphix approach when I add an MGWR carriage to my little passenger train.

Looks great! It doesn’t take much but makes a massive difference. Good work.

Only half a day at the workbench today as I went out walking with a friend this frosty morning. I have completed the bodyside detailing and a bit on the ends: Because I'll be painting this in the extremely plain 1950s green livery, I thought I might as well fit all the door furniture now. The door bangers are an addition of my own. The undergubbins has also been etch primed.

What a super picture! Does your train have a bar car, or have they paused to take refreshment in the hotel? All the best for 2026!

I've just put this SSM GSWR coach kit on my watch list, although I suspect it will be more economical for someone based in Ireland. The starting price is fair, and these aren't usually available individually so it's a good opportunity to get just the one rather than a whole rake of six: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236556240524

If you want to stick with the 1990s era, then I think the more interesting options would be: PW yard. Not just ballast hoppers but rails/track panels on bogie flats, spoil wagons, maybe an excavator on a lowmac. Wagon repair facility. I considered a layout based on a small part of the Limerick wagon works. Any type of wagon can turn up. Cement-based industry. In a small scale, probably something that receives cement and produces cement-based products (breeze blocks, lintels, roofing sheets, concrete sleepers?) which can also go out by train. Food-based industry as mentioned above. Molasses tanks and containers. Even a chocolate factory (e.g. Rathmore). See if you can get hold of the February 2019 IRRS journal, which has a detailed illustrated article on Private Sidings on Irish Railways. That's where I found my inspiration for my Quartertown Mill mini-layout.

An excellent write-up of an excellent year. Well done and thank you! I look forward to the forthcoming Irish model deliveries and the new announcements. And I'll get my Palvan order placed . Plenty of exciting hints about new tooling, hopefully some of it Irish. So will it be a D, E or G class, or even a variety of J? All the best for 2026!

By the 1990s a lot of the smaller yards and depots had been closed, with freight handled at fewer, larger facilities. Remaining smaller facilities tended to be dedicated to one traffic. However, there was still a good variety of freight on the network and stations like Ennis would handle several different traffics. Foynes was still active I think. Are there any specific traffics you want to include? I.e. what wagons have you got? Another option would be to model a repair workshop like part of Limerick or Inchicore. Or a PW yard?

Excellent. I think the third has enough support and is happening, and I hope that commonality of parts with the brake third might encourage that too. I’ve got my name down for one of each.

Now for the final installment of the 6-wheel vans - the other gangwayed vans. In addition to the three elliptical-roofed vans, the 1961 carriage register lists the following five 6-wheel vans fitted with gangways: 116 1070, 1077, 1078 116 would originally have been a diagram 88 van dating from 1887, and I have found no photos of this van so I can't comment on whether it was modernised. The other three gangwayed vans were from the last batch of diagram 90 vans built in 1908, numbers 1070-1079. Latterly black and tan, 1077 became a celebrity when it formed part of the 1964 all-Ireland railtour rake, and mush have been photographed hundreds of times! Here are some views from Ernie showing several different angles including the panel detailing and the roof. Apart from the gangways, this was a standard diagram 90 van with rounded beading on the upper part of the side, and a high arc roof: It's actually hard to see the gangways on any of those photos, but you can make out the top of the faceplate and the hangers in this photo of the same train by Roger Joanes: 1078 was identical but remained in light green livery until withdrawal in 1963. Again, we can't see the gangways in this view but their presence is confirmed by the carriage register details. I haven't found a photo of 1070. For now, that's all I've got on the prototype topic - I'd welcome contributions and corrections from others. I'm intending to build a model of a diagram 88 van in late 1950s condition, and will post the results here in due course. But for now I'll stop waffling on about 6-wheel coaches until the Alphagraphix kit for an MGWR third arrives on my workbench, at which point you might expect another similar thread.

Thank you JHB! You're now getting much better at the black art though - and practice makes perfect. When Alphagraphics have activated their shrink ray, I'll have an MGWR third to build for this little train - are you going to get one too?

Yesterday there was more progress on the tank wagon body and chassis, and on the layout scenery, but most of today has seen the battle opened on a new front. Having written a diatribe about GSWR 6-wheel lavatory composites it was time to put words into action, and build the SSM kit I bought secondhand earlier this year. https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/19720-gswr-6-wheel-lavatory-composites/ I have taken a lot of useful advice and guidance on constructing the model from this thread, for which I am very grateful. Thank you @murrayec for such a detailed and well-illustrated build thread, which really helped as the instructions only have a few diagrams. In some places Eoin had a better assembly sequence too. https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/8430-gswrgsrcie-six-wheeled-coaches-ecmbuild-in-gauge-oo/ After a good day of effort, I have completed the 'bogies' and the underframe, with all their details. Generally, it has gone together well with no major challenges, and it's much less fiddly than the tank wagon chassis. Construction so far has been entirely with 145 degree solder, and the result feels surprisingly stiff and strong. I didn't have a problem with clearances between the brakes and the gas tanks, because I didn't fit brakes to the middle axle. Neither did the GSWR! Inchicore obviously wasn't reading the SSM instructions. Hopefully I'll tackle the body tomorrow, and then I'll have a look at the left-over bits which include at least one 7mm scale part that surely doesn't belong!

Super, many thanks for adding that picture to the thread. It shows what they looked like 20 years earlier than any of the photos I had found. Both the diagram 88 vans still have their birdcages and full side panelling. We can see the skylights and gas lights on the roof. Also of interest is the vent in the lower side at the near end of the van (right edge of photo) which is shown on the diagram but not on any of the later photos. I suspect there was a dog box or similar here.