Mol_PMB

That’s wonderful, many thanks. I was just thinking I might have to go searching for roadsigns to Quartertown on Google streetview to check the translation! The space I have for the layout name is 1000mm long and only 70mm high, so I think I’ll have to put the two languages side by side rather than one above the other. Here is an example, not very far from Quartertown, where they were side by side, although one above the other was much more common on the signs: In all cases the Irish comes before the English. I’ll have another go at some artwork tomorrow - in fact I’ll probably draw up the whole fascia to scale so that I can better judge the overall appearance. I am also formulating a plan for how best to make the signs with the laser-cutter.

That’s a nice idea! I had been thinking of a grey fascia but black would work well too, and would look better for a bilingual ‘station’ sign. The Irish lettering doesn’t really work for the English name, so many thanks for the translation! The snail and roundel would look OK on either colour. I was considering laser-cutting the letters from thin MDF and sticking them on the fascia. Did the GSR have raised letters or were they flat? One other design element I could incorporate is the Webb company impressed oval on this old letter, but I think it’s probably too fussy and wouldn’t be legible from a distance.

I tried placing the mockup buildings and the trees to get a feel for what it will look like. The trees are at various stages of completion. There will also be a weighbridge hut in the foreground, just left of centre, and another low-relief building to flll the gap in the backscene. The largest trees will also be set about half an inch lower once I've drilled the scenery for their trunks, and perhaps a bit further forwards. Here's a couple of closer views of the trees at the right-hand end. Yesterday I bought some nice colours of autumn leaves to add to the sea moss trees and blend them better with the Primo trees and my attempts at painting trees on the backscene. I'm not going to make a final decision on the placing of the foreground trees until I've got the lighting in place - they will shade some parts of the layout which isn't necessarily a bad thing but needs to be managed. At the other end of the layout, my nice old mill building will be largely hidden from normal viewing angles! But it can't be helped. As I move closer towards having a fascia, I'm wondering about how to decorate it. Mulling over ideas like this. along the top where the pelmet will hide the lighting bar:

Quartertown Mill now has legs, which has been the main progress today and took longer than expected. After considerable thought I have set the height at 1150mm / 45" to top of rail. That can be adjusted up and down an inch with the adjustable feet, otherwise it's a case of changing the leg length. I'm fairly happy with it now but will review in due course. I have also added a strip of wood as a pelmet to mount the lighting - this is chamfered 45 degrees on the inside. I have ordered some LED lights, hopefully they'll get here before the Christmas break. You can also see that I've been building up the board surface to the required levels with offcuts of card and foam board. Today I've also done a bit more on my sea moss trees - there are a total of 8 Birches and 2 Alders. No pics of those yet, but I'll add some in due course once I've achieved a look I'm happy with.

102 'Falcon' is the fastest bird in the sky, and beats most trains too, though admittedly not IRM's air freighter. 242mph top speed recorded!

No GSWR 0-6-0s, CIE Sulzers or indeed GNR MaKs to be found here. Yet…

Depends which year…

Lovely! In the first photo, a GNR brake van which appears in several photos of the CBSCR around 1959-60. Always nice to see a good clear photo of one of the Wedgehead railcars, short-lived in original form. 2660 also seems to have been a regular in West Cork.

Attached is the list of 6-wheel passenger coaches which survived as 'secondary stock' in the 1961 CIE carriage listing. By this time, thirds were classified as seconds. A total of 39 coaches of which 36 were former MGWR. When managing lists of fleet numbers, the MGWR is frustrating because they had separate number series for each carriage type, and all the GSR and CIE did was to add an M suffix. And when carriages were modified/downgraded, they were renumbered into the appropriate series. So even in the late survivors, there were duplicated numbers, such as 3M, 9M and 39M. I started adding photo links to the right-hand margin of this listing and then got confused with duplicate numbers, and haven't fully corrected them all yet. Now, the list of etched MGWR coach kits is as follows: MGWR Atock 6-wheel Brake/Third coach £60 MGWR Atock 6-wheel Third class coach £60 MGWR Atock 6-wheel Lavatory Composite coach £60 MGWR Cusack 6-wheel First class coach £60 MGWR 4-wheel Parcels Van "The Hearse" £50 Only the brake third and the hearse are illustrated on the website, but I found this lurking in the forum: The card kits seem to include other types such as a brake compo and a coupe compo. Brake third 9M and 21M survived until 1961. The IRRS has a photo of 21M at Tralee in 1957 which confirms it matches the kit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253243113 Also here from Ernie: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/50659862117 9M had the same dimensions and was built around the same time so was probably the same. Third The kit is for the common 5-compartment Atock type. The following vehicles of this type were listed in 1961: 3M, 9M, 13M, 30M, 36M, 39M, 45M, 49M, 53M, 56M, 57M, 62M, 84M, 85M Some late era photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510409677 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570708148 https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/uploads/monthly_2025_09/IMG_3253.thumb.jpeg.bde10bbfca61c1a5bfd7d12af89df34b.jpeg https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510270832 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511483419 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511331153 https://www.flickr.com/photos/110691393@N07/32105983135 Other types of MGWR third also survived. Lavatory Composite 187M and 190M were rebuilt from full firsts and like the kit they had four full compartments with a lavatory in the middle, like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54252115962 20M and 21M were a bit shorter and had a different seating arrangement but I haven't found a photo of them yet. But the Alphagraphix card kit for a composite has a half-compartment at one end; 182M of this type was withdrawn in 1960 so isn't in the 1961 register. Cusack First This is the type illustrated on page 93 of Ernie Shepherd's book on the MGWR, dating from 1906. I can't see any of this type among the list of first class survivors in 1961. However, many firsts were demoted to thirds or composites and renumbered, making them harder to trace. I think this compo 189M is former first 11M of this type, seen in use in 1958 but withdrawn before 1961: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508849579 Hearse I believe there were only two built: 56M and 58M. Here is 56M at Tramore: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509093944 Here is 58M at Dun Laoghaire in the 1950s. It has spoked wheels whereas 56M on the W&T had disc wheels. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53505927307 Note: many photo links are to the IRRS Flickr Archive. If you can't see them, you need to join the IRRS! Based on those findings, I think I could justify a third and a brake third if there's to be a run of these kits, and at a push one of each type except the hearse.. 6-wheel_coaches.xlsx

Yes, the MGWR third would be my first choice of the coaches so please include me in that count. I’ll have a look at my carriage register spreadsheet when I get home, and remind myself which other types were late survivors. I think the lav compo? Not so sure about the brake third in the condition modelled.

That is a very good thought. I don’t want to permanently fit the upper part of the front fascia and the lighting until the scenery is finished, but that doesn’t stop me making it. Then I could use the layout lighting to better judge the colours. A couple of days ago I bought some more timber for the legs and to support the fascia, so I could move this forward in the build. Any recommendations for LED lighting strips with a suitable colour and brightness for layout lighting? Ideally dimmable. This morning I am going to the Manchester model railway show. I don’t think there’s much of Irish interest but no doubt some other inspirational layouts.

Super, many thanks for the info. Looks good.

David, Many thanks for the info. From my point of view, the width of the frames won’t be a huge problem (as I’m working in 21mm) but may be an issue for those wanting 16.5mm as John says. However, it sounds like the chassis makes no provision for springing or compensation so I’d have that challenge instead. Noted the challenge of castings; wheels also these days. Have you built any of the 6-wheel coach kits in 7mm scale? Any views on how the undergear of those might scale down? Many thanks, Paul

Many thanks for having the discussion. I guess the challenge is to find enough people with similar interests! From the range, I’d be more interested in MGWR 6-wheel coaches and, maybe, a J30.

If it really does work it is probably illegal to sell without a licence.