Mol_PMB

I don't know what strings had to be pulled to get all these locos, but you will note that they were paired up in as follows: 124 + 134 (last two survivors of the 121s) 141 + 177 (first and last of the 141 class) 181 + 192 (first and last of the 181 class) 142 + 134 (I think this was meant to be 124 + 134 again, but 124 had failed so was replaced with the nearest alternative)

Whilst looking for something else on an old hard disc backup, I found some of my photos of a legendary railtour, the 'Chunkrail Challenger'. Thought they might be of interest or bring back memories. This was almost 20 years ago, the route was Waterford to Sligo and back via Rosslare and it was a long old trip. There were 4 different pairs of baby GMs involved. The Cravens had mostly been withdrawn by this stage, so the train was formed of 'coffin' Mk2 stock. Details from sixbellsjunction / Niall Kelly: 8th July 2006 Ian Walsh The Chunkrail Challenger Locos Used IE: 124, 134, 141, 142, 177, 181 & 192 Stock Used IE mk2d rake Route: Locos Route 134 + 124 Waterford - Dublin Connolly [P2] 177 + 141 Dublin Connolly [P2] - Sligo 181 + 192 Sligo - Dublin Connolly [P5] 134 + 142 Dublin Connolly [P5] - Rosslare Strand 142 + 134 Rosslare Strand - Waterford Hopefully one day, the RPSI will be able to offer us baby GM haulage on the main line again!

Yes, I visited Fota earlier this year and there were plenty of both. I think they have free run of the park but in theory aren't allowed outside the fence. Trying to keep a group of Lemurs inside an enclosure is obviously more of a challenge! Those are superb! I saw on RMweb that you had ordered some more. You need to get some wires up at Whiterock!

Nice! That 'steel furniture green' looks the part.

Sorry, I didn't win it! Thought you might be interested.

A little birdie tells me at @Darius43 might have something to show on that front, in due course.

I suspect the Oxford Rail model would be a challenge to convert to 21mm. The main frame appears to be diecast metal, and is unlikely to be wide enough for 21mm gauge wheelsets. Cutting it down the middle and widening it would be a challenge in that material, also noting that the pivot is in the middle and the mounting circular part would become an oval. A good reason for me not to buy one!

This seller has just listed a load of the earlier batches of cement bubbles and ballast hoppers. This in particular may be of interest as it’s a livery not repeated in the recent IRM batch of bubbles - the Irish Cement branding: https://ebay.io/m/Ccn2CB

The Rocksavage crane appears in the background of many photos of locos, including these ones from Ernie: And these IRRS images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507915082/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507774942/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508875181/ The Oxford 'Wellingborough' and 'Stoke' cranes have the correct type of jib for this one.

Well this is rather nice! I don't have much NIR stock to pose it with; IRM's matching Mk2s aren't ready yet, and Leslie's last batch of spoil wagons never happened. So it's just a tatty old brake van for now! It doesn't fit my modelling theme, one of the hazards of pre-ordering long in advance before I had settled on my preferred era and region. For now I'll keep it pristine until I make a decision what to do with it!

Yes, it's very close indeed to the crane preserved at Whitehead. There were several of this type in Ireland. 2 Crane Many of them were built for railways across the globe, over many years, and there were subtle design variations including two types of jib (both variants available from Oxford). Some were also to different tonnage capacities with other detail variants. Match trucks were usually locally made and differed from crane to crane - Oxford's one is generic but plausible. From the NLI O'Dea collection, here's another Irish one with the more elaborate jib design: Holdings: 10 ton crane x CBSCR, Inchicore, Co. Dublin. :: Library Catalog

For an 800-hauled express, most of the vehicles ought to be gangwayed. The odd extra van or strengthening carriage might be non-gangwayed. Internal arrangement would be a mix of corridor compartment stock and open saloon stock. The GSWR built quite a lot of gangwayed saloon stock in the 1900s, which lasted into the 1960s. The GSR preferred compartments for express stock. The roof line would also be very varied. Arc roofs (high and low variants), elliptical or 3-curve roofs, and two shapes of clerestory roof could all be mixed in one train. The IRRS has recently uploaded a super collection of photos by David Murray which include lots of whole-train images of passenger expresses in the early 1950s. That was before CIE's carriage programme had made much of an impact, so the train formations in these photos would be mostly stock from the 1900s to 1930s period. Click here and look at pages 4, 5, and there are some on page 3 too: David Murray [Collection] | Flickr When I get back from hols I will be building the trial etch for my GSWR 50' gangwayed open third. Not that I have an 800 to run it behind!

Wonderful!

There are plenty of marsupials in County Cork! It may even be possible to spot them from a train on the line to Cobh.

Nice! I'm looking forward to getting my green ones in due course. I've fitted #19 to my first one regauged, but I've now run out of them and I don't have any #20 so I need to get some more Kadees ordered. I'm hoping #19 will do on my more gentle curves as it will minimise the gap between the gangways, but I will need to experiment.

I’ve received most of my Park Royals but the last order hasn’t yet been dispatched. I’m going off on hols soon and had the same concern about it being left outside risking theft or rain damage. A quick email to Accurascale support, and they have delayed sending the order until I get back home. A prompt communication, very helpful and courteous. Risk averted!

The Manx Peacocks and Southern N / U class fit the bill. LMS Jinties too.

Ah - a doggy diesel! Very nice indeed. I gather that model is highly sought after.

That looks very neat! It's nice to see a goods yard with plenty of space for the road vehicles to manoeuvre - it's very easy for us railway modellers to cram the space unrealistically full of track.

Having entered service in 1954-1956, mostly in brilliant green, they were due for repaint 6-7 years later, around 1960-62. A few were repainted in light green with black ends and roofs around 1959-60. In my thread on the early BnT livery (from September 1961 for just a few months) there are quite a few Park Royals, suggesting that they were going through the paint shop at that time. Most got the normal BnT in 1962/3. IRM haven't done any in the early BnT scheme but I have. I haven't yet received my green ones, and I'll make a judgement on the colour when they arrive. I think they are light green. I plan to backdate and repaint one in brilliant green which will provide an interesting contrast between those liveries. One thing the light green ones with black ends are definitely missing is the class digits on the doors. And the dimension plates on the ends should be red. But again, an easy fix with transfers. Two received a special BnT livery with advertising slogans along the cantrail. This is reported in contemporary journals and there's an IRRS photo of one of them. At present I have no plans to model this short-lived scheme.

It did vary by traffic and by route, and the transition was gradual from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. Shipping containers and bulk cement were some of the first traffics to switch to liner trains. Beet and engineers’ works trains were some of the last to change. The last traditional unfitted ‘sundries’ traffic was late 1970s to/from Limerick. There was also a reorganisation of the way freight was handled, with goods facilities at many smaller stations being closed and replaced with larger mechanised depots serving a wider region with final delivery/collection by road where needed.

I look forward to seeing what's involved - please would you post some pics of your process?

Either that, or start needle-gunning the rust off the outside of the tank. (It’ll flake off the inside as well, of course)

I did consider getting one, but having chosen to wear the 21mm gauge hair shirt, the width compromise of an HO scale model would be a problem for me. In OO gauge it's not too bad, this was a tall and chunky prototype based on the German loading gauge, so the scale discrepancy is not obvious.

While they are dispatching pre-ordered stock, IRM/AS usually set all the models of that batch to show 'sold out'. There will probably be some that become available again once dispatch is complete. They may not have been sold out in the first place, and/or some people may not pay for their pre-order and those models then become available to others. So you still have a chance - just keep an eye on the website. It is likely that there will be a run of the toilet-fitted main line variants in the future.