Mol_PMB

Many thanks! So they do work. I'll get some 2mm LEDs ordered.

Ah great, many thanks! Perhaps it's worth me adding some LEDs in there then, dialled right down in brightness.

I agree with all of the above. I can't comment specifically on London Road Models kits as I haven't built one myself. You may get a better view on those over on RMweb. What I will say is that of the dozens of etched kits I've built over the years, some have been excellent, many are OK, but there are some truly terrible ones out there as well. Build up your skills with ones that people recommend as good. Soldering is a key skill, and it's well worth learning about this from books or online tutorials - whatever format suits you best - and lots of practice. I would encourage you to learn to solder first, which you can do with any old offcuts of thin brass (I expect anyone into brass kits could give you a free pack of etch fret offcuts). Don't glue the first kit - soldering is far better and it's a skill you need to learn at the start and develop over time, rather than being scared of it. The right iron and temperature, the right solder, the right flux, and cleanliness of the metal are all important. Get those right and it's easy! Different soldering jobs may call for different tools/solders etc, but for 99% of my etched kit building I use these: 25W temperature-controlled soldering iron with interchangeable bits, Carrs green flux, leaded 145 degree solder, and a fine brush for applying the flux. While we're on tools, I gathered together the tools I've used for building the E class. I think I've got most of them here: Not shown are a small vice, and an ultrasonic bath for cleaning up after each soldering session. Also various odd bits of wood etc. As you progress with building your skills on etched kits, you will gradually build up your toolkit too. And your stocks of brass offcuts, wire, small nuts and bolts etc. It's very rewarding to make a nice brass model. Start simple, gradually build up towards your dream loco.

Well, it works. Testing on DC at the moment - I need to find or buy a suitable decoder before moving on to DCC. As you can see, the gubbins tray is loaded with lead flashing, but there's space on top for a decoder. The superstructure is all now painted silver too - I used Tamiya TS-17. Testing on 21mm gauge flexitrack - the holy grail - thanks @Rob R One thing I've been mulling over is lighting. These locos had built-in lights, 2 white and 1 red each end, but having studied about 150 photos of them, I haven't yet found one with any evidence of illumination or glow from the built-in lights. In use, they always carry an oil lamp instead. At present I can't see the point in fitting working lights, because it seems they were never used! Has anyone got any evidence to convince me otherwise? If the lights were used it would be good to know which combinations of lights were illuminated.

The EFE coaches are wooden-panelled, if we mean the same thing by that term.

Agreed - I couldn't find anything that was a particularly close match, though as steam era 'layout coaches' you could do worse. Broadly, they're this sort of thing, but the details are all different:

Ah, thanks for the correction John, that's very useful to know. It's probably easier to convert the 1937 ones to the 1935 shape if one wanted both. That model looks excellent - very tempting! I'd buy one to make up the numbers, but I have no need for a whole rake. With so many people ordering an 800, I wonder how many of them would be prepared to build etched coach kits to go behind it? I suspect it's a small percentage but maybe enough for Des to justify a batch of these.

Chassis painted and reassembled, test run with direct power and lightly lubricated with graphite: Next step on this is the pickups, and then a proper track test. But first I'm going to paint the superstructure silver.

I wonder if these are of any use to Irish modellers? Available in crimson and 3 shades of green depending on whether you want GSR or CIE... https://southern-railway.com/2025/03/14/bachmann-announce-ex-lbsc-isle-of-wight-coaches-as-part-of-their-efe-rail-brand-in-00-gauge/?amp

20-odd years ago the tran and ferry option would definitely have been my first choice. In recent years they have become much worse for the foot passenger or 'rail n sail' option, because: Several routes no longer take foot passengers at all (e.g. Liverpool-Dublin) There are fewer fast ferries on the routes and what used to be the best route (Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire) no longer operates - there's no longer the seamless option to walk direct from train to ship The transfer facilities for foot passengers at the Dublin Port end are unreliable/non-existent GB rail services are unreliable The rail n sail tickets are no longer so readily available The prices are often more expensive than flying The journey time is much longer than flying For this particular trip, I could avoid the main expense of a hotel in Dublin by taking the overnight ferry from Holyhead (dep 0130, arr 0500) and then hope that I can get to Connolly in time for the train (probably by walking there). But that's hardly a restful night, and there's considerable jeopardy in the connections. For me, it's just not a sensible option nor a pleasant one for what is supposed to be a holiday.

Most interesting - thanks! Seeing the title I was rather hoping that the Foynes track relaying gang had moved east to continue the good work at Youghal!

Meanwhile, here's my JM Design GSR grain hopper, regauged and weathered, between two pristine IRM CIE grain hoppers that are awaiting the same treatment.

I keep wondering whether to see if I can increase my order for Leslie's GNR 10t vans and convert one of them into a grain van. I wonder if there's a diagram for them in the GNR diagram book at the IRRS? I haven't seen a good photo showing the underside which presumably had a hopper like the CIE ones.

As an example, in IRRS journal 185 (Oct 2014) there's a nice photo by David Boyle on page 165. It shows A22 in (early) black and tan livery at Leixlip hauling a very long freight train formed mostly of cattle wagons. However, the first 3 wagons are grain hoppers - two of the CIE type and between them is one of the GSR type. All in grey livery. So that nicely illustrates how grain vans would be marshalled into a general freight train, but you would often see a group of them together rather than just one. I mentioned the GNR grain vans; here's a very nice shot of one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511443526 And there's another on the left margin of this photo, next to one of the GSR type owned by Ranks: Now, here's a nice photo from Ernie which again shows a block of grain vans at the front of a mixed freight train at Monaghan in 1959. It's hard to be 100% certain but I think we have 7 grain vans here, from the front: GNR, Ranks, Ranks, CIE, CIE, CIE, Ranks.

Lima 209 in NIR blue: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256854088440 RPSI Mk2: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205337426020 Not too stupid prices.

After a busy week I now have a long weekend and have made some more progress on the E. I've trial-assembled the chassis and made some spacers, washers etc to keep everything in line. Then I fitted the brake hangers and a representation of the cross-beams. Only the lower part of these is visible below the frames. Finally I assembled the radiator fan. This doesn't actually turn but I don't think it would be too hard to do - I'll leave that as a challenge to someone else! Then I dismantled everything, gave it a good clean and dry, masked off the hornguides, and all the parts have now had a coat of etch primer.

All such things can be done, but they all cost money. There comes a point where it just isn't worth it any more, for the limited usage they get. In the GB railtour market we've seen a series of mergers, takeovers and firms just closing down, to the point where there are now just a few big players each operating a fairly busy schedule. If the coaches are out working most weekends then they can earn the money to pay for enhancements like CET toilets, central door locking, new signalling systems etc. A rake that only runs a few times a year won't even pay for its maintenance and certification, let alone upgrades. About 20 years ago I was employed to do an independent audit on RPSI loco and carriage maintenance policies and practices, including inspections of 2 carriages (1 north, 1 south) and a steam loco. They got a pretty good bill of health. Anyway, I've booked my overpriced cheap hotel, my cattle-class flight and my excellent value RPSI diesel tour. No seats left in the bar car already!

Excellent. I'm pleased you have granted yourself a reprieve (or is it an extended sentence?) and look forward to hearing about the new proposals...

I just thought to check something else. At normal Irish Rail single fares, Dublin - Waterford - Limerick - Dublin (the tour route) would cost EUR87 if I've got my sums right.

Normally the grain wagons would have been marshalled into a general freight, often as a block coupled together since their origin and destination may well have been the same. Maybe around 6 grain wagons together. Often they were a mix of the type modelled by IRM and the older GSR version modelled by JM Design. The GNR also had some bulk grain vans, but I don't think those lasted as long.

I'm not familiar with the market price sensitivity in Ireland, but I'll just note the following. I am considering visiting for the diesel tour in May. The dates aren't ideal for me but I think I can make it work. Route, rolling stock and locos tick my boxes. The cost of a ticket on the tour is EUR85. Because it starts early in Dublin and gets back to Dublin late, I need 2 nights in a hotel in fairly central Dublin. Thats going to cost me the best part of EUR400. Add in some flights from/to Manchester, the cost of getting to/from the airport at both ends, and a budget for food/drink, and the cost of the rest of the trip (excluding the railtour itself) is going to be around EUR600. The point I'm trying to make is that for me, the railtour ticket is too cheap! It's only 12% of the total cost of the trip, yet it's the main purpose of going. I could have my arm twisted for a first class ticket at twice the price (if such a thing existed), because it doesn't make that much difference to the total cost of the trip.

The red-brown livery was introduced in 1970, several years after the snail had been replaced by the roundel. For grain wagons, the answer to your question is a definite no. In the 1950s the GNR had followed the British Railways practice of painting vacuum brake fitted freight stock in red-brown livery, and unfitted stock in grey. Some of the GNR fitted vans inherited by CIE did receive a snail on red-brown livery in the late 1950s. This was rather rare and would not apply to grain wagons as (a) they weren't ex-GNR and (b) they weren't vac-fitted. Here is a snail on a former GNR fitted van: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54257197990

I see that some of the H vans and grain wagons are getting close to selling out, especially the brown ones: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/irm-wagons Hopefully the orders are holding up and will help to justify some further model developments. I get the impression I'm not the only one to be attracted to Irish modelling by the quality of IRM's products!

Are there RPSI tours in planning south of the border? Apart from the May diesel tour (which I'm tempted by) I can't see any in the calendar yet.