Mol_PMB

And he needn't worry about being homeless - he'll have a container to live in! I seem to recall he's even got a convenient place to park it near the beach.

Great news. Although not in the same series, how’s Loughrea?

A better-lit photo and comparison with a MM Cravens: Very nice. Well done IRM - worth the wait!

Yes, I created it on CorelDraw and supplied it to Precision Decals in pdf form. Many of the items are printed in multiple layers, and the artwork needs to be multi-layer to suit. There's a learning curve to creating the artwork and setting up the order of the layers. One half of my page used the following layers: White (where white is needed, plus to mask underlying paint colour for other ink colours) CMYK (multicolour for yellow, green, red and black bits) Opaque White (a second layer of white where to make the white areas more opaque) ER Pumpkin (a dedicated individual colour used on the steam loco numbers, over a white base) The other half of the page was mostly for the Eau-de-Nil items where the recipe is: White (mask) ER Camel ('goldish' edging) ER Lime (individual green colour) ER Pastel White (2 layers of this to lighten the shade of the ER Lime to match EdN) The whole A4 size page cost about £80 including postage, but there's a lot there and it's exactly what I want, minimising wastage. Per transfer the cost is fairly competitive, and of course many of these things aren't available elsewhere. Delivery time was about 2 days from placing the order. Edit: the 7mm scale items on the sheet were for @Galteemore and I sent them on yesterday, so hopefully we'll see some of those on his models in due course. Some of the vehicle numbers and class designations, plus the red dimension plates for the carriage ends and the yellow smoking labels, will adorn Park Royals where necessary. I also plan to use the black and white bands to backdate the BnT livery on one of them to the early BnT. Not sure how well that will work over an uneven surface - we'll see.

There are three parts diagrams in the booklet, here are two of them: The bodyshell and roof are a single moulding, but with separate doors except on the snack car. For those wanting to get inside, the body clips in place at 4 locations along each side, it seems to come free by inserting a fingernail or guitar pick. A neat design. The underframe is a work of art crying out for some more body options!

So, for each of us that isn't going to buy two O gauge Irish diesels, @DJ Dangerous will have to add two to his order? There will be a whole container heading to the Canaries at this rate!

This looks tasty… Just the one arrived today.

Very nice indeed. The first nicely shows the plain dark green livery of the early 1950s, no lining, class digits on first class doors only. The second is very interesting as it shows both of the 'mules' - 1906 and 1907 - which were converted to driving trailers for the AEC railcars. I'm amazed to see them both together in one shot, and also surprised that they are the same way round. Note the commonwealth bogies which these two acquired in a swap with some of the 1954-built composites. They were repainted at Rocksavage, the first one being completed in July 1957, and gaining a silver-painted underframe to match the bogies.

This exists in the IRRS Archives… With the popularity of TT-120 and HOm, they might do well. With minor tweaks the railcars would also suit the CDRJC and the Isle of Man, even the BnM.

As you say, I think the market for a D301 would be much smaller owing to their early withdrawal. Also more difficult to make 21mm-friendly. The D301 has a different wheelbase and wheel diameter to the 08, and is also shorter in the body (though wider and taller). So if working to Accurascale / IRM standards, it couldn't use the 08 chassis, though it might be able to use design elements of it. Actually, the Heljan class 11 may be a closer match now in the AS stable, though still not spot on.

Here's another shot of a Hunslet with CIE coaching stock, possibly another railtour? https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511562459 Meanwhile *, during the little-known period in the early 1990s when 800 operated for the RPSI, it is seen here on arrival at Belfast Central https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511677180 * Fake News!

There was a time when some NIR locos and stock went to the wheel lathe at Inchicore - that would seem the most likely time for one to visit. But I've never seen a photo of one there. On photos, here's one of 102 on an ITG tour formed of Cravens and BR van. I think it only hauled the train a few miles, but it did happen: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511562509 And here's one from Ernie on delivery, I think this is at Preston? The Transport Ferry Service (building in the background) normally operated to Larne.

I think that’s all so far, hopefully there will be more if @jhb171achill finds time.

A bit more progress on the container and lorry fleet. Some of these should add a bit of colour to a grey goods train. The road vehicles can carry other loads too, of course. None of these are perfect replicas of the real ones but I think they look the part. Each is based on a prototype photo. A bit of weathering is still required, plus maybe some labels.

How frustrating!

Wonderful!

I think green RPSI Mk2s would look good with 800. It’s a hypothetical combination because neither 800 nor the Mk2s are currently running, but it’s not a big stretch of the imagination. The buffet car is a unique vehicle only made by Accurascale. The RPSI’s real Mk2s are a mixed bag from various sources and of different types. Your idea of looking at their stock list and choosing appropriate models to repaint is a good one. You may also need a ‘Dutch Van’ for your rake.

Being very busy recently but needing some relaxation I wanted a few simple projects rather than grappling with models that had to work. So I raided my small stash of road vehicles and containers for a bit of kitbashing and repainting. These aren’t quite finished yet but the new transfers have brought them to life.

Two from eBay, one from a member on here, and one from Rails of Sheffield. You need to be patient, but they will come.

The A class do come up for sale secondhand fairly frequently, at prices comparable with their original sale price. Like you, I missed out on them first time round, but I now have four, each of the four liveries I wanted. There is definitely a market for pre-Bulleid wagons, but it's been largely met by a combination of Leslie, John and Enda, many of which have been available in limited RTR runs as well as kits. There are also several British wagons that are pretty close.

I was searching for a container image on the Kennelly Archive and stumbled across some photos that hadn't come up in my previous searches. https://www.kennellyarchive.com/page/18?per_page=50&search=train Admittedly, when you search for 'train' you get a load of stuff about sports teams, but amongst them are a couple of hundred railway photos. Silver G602 when brand new, one of several images showing it shunting various wagons: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/e9d3e2ac-e593-47e4-8ad7-9a6e851516be-cie-goods-depot Nice view of the brake gear under a goods van: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/08ae083f-9c15-4884-9c01-d9997c995f68-train-derailment I've heard of cattle wagons with roofs, and without, but this is half rice half chips: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/dfce24aa-2fa8-4453-8813-42e10b795dd0-valentia There are also a good selection of images of weddings where the happy couple set off on their honeymoon by train, and some of these give some useful closeups of carriage details. In each case there are several different views. Compartment compo 2124 in 1955, with some MGWR 6-wheelers beyond: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/413087e0-3568-42e7-9fd4-39dccbcca2e7-the-train-for-renard Here's a detail view of compartment second 1352 in 1956: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/d1567468-f269-413d-a492-08833973d8b9-a-wedding Laminate open second 1433 in 1960: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/2e3527c8-d519-4c30-9e2f-d61042e5d582-the-o-brien-wedding 4 years later and 1433 again, with a coat of paint this time: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/d5936a45-049b-4e95-a56c-3dc0ec27df96-a-photo-of-newlyweds-on-a-train Closeup of the cab of an AEC railcar in 1960: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/e90330b3-5c8b-4452-9ff7-f3631f263bfd-padraig-kennelly-junior And an even closer look inside, four years later: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/6dcf8e97-e9bb-4a9e-a890-1a6cb2c41ecf-a-cie-train-driver-in-casement-station-in-tralee GSWR compartment third 1311 in 1956: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/6d7ff800-8305-41b6-8ba3-a27b138f0884-locke-sheehy-wedding I think this is a GNR elephant van in Tralee in 1956. It wasn't just pigeons that sent bogie vans far afield! https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/c71a26c1-a025-4c38-80dd-b934ae418461-chipperfields-circus This must be the interior of a special saloon of some sort: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/2f43eee3-704b-4150-9815-ce5f9247ccc3-the-festival-of-kerry-rose-tour And for the sports team images I kept scrolling past, their training must have paid off because they got to have a train trip too! A useful interior view of a more typical carriage: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/7c862063-3a6e-4512-800f-6ccdccc8e5d3-the-all-ireland-senior-football-semi-final I even found one of my GSWR gangwayed open thirds in the background of one image: The Kennelly Archive has much more than railways, but there is a good deal of railway interest within it. Mostly Co. Kerry. It's worth a look.

It’s always a treat to get a new sheet of transfers from Precision Decals. This will keep me busy for a while! Some will be used on the Park Royals when they arrive. There are a few 7mm scale transfers in there too, but not for me.

I like the ferry idea. I’ve sailed across the Irish Sea on at least two train ferries, but both were the wrong gauge for Ireland.

Interesting to revisit this after 6 years, and some of the projects now being delivered have been nearly as long in gestation. I agree that the C class, 80 Class, BGSV and AEC railcars / push-pulls should be high on the list with wide appeal. With the Park Royal snack cars we do at least have some sort of catering car, though they were fairly short-lived in that form. The same underframe and bogies could be used as the basis for the third batch of CIE buffet cars. For wagons, the 3D printed developments initially by John and now by Enda are expanding the possibilities greatly. I had thought that the 20’ wagons not yet produced by IRM (pallet cement, container flats, double beets, zinc, barytes etc.) would be a natural family for IRM to do next, but some of those are now already in Enda’s range and it may only be a matter of time before more are added. Other locos? Well Accurascale have said that no range is complete without a shunter*. I think a G611 or an E421 are the more likely options, on the basis that some still exist. For any future steam loco it would make sense to choose a preserved class in the RPSI or DCDR fleet as that would suit both historic and modern modellers. J15, Jeep, or GNR 4-4-0? *in their publicity for the class 08 model

That's a very good approach - and they look like excellent models. At the very least I need to regauge mine before I can run them. But I always like to make my models a bit different, even if it's just renumbering, adding class designations etc.