Mol_PMB

Attached are the instructions for the bonnet sides and ends. This should give you an idea of what's involved in building it. My next task is the instructions for the bonnet top. Making an E401 - the bonnet sides and ends.pdf

Thanks! This is the first complete loco kit I've designed, though I've done quite a few wagons and some loco conversion bits. I've built some good etched kits, and some very bad ones, so in designing this I've tried to copy all the good ideas and avoid the bad ones. We'll see how that works out in due course... When complete, this one will be painted silver as E410. I may well do a black one as well.

Another 3 hours work and I have completed the second subassembly, and fixed it to the first. Bonnet top and exhaust cowl. They were soldered together after this photo: One of several trial fits onto the bonnet: Radiator fan grille added, bonnet top soldered onto bonnet sides and front: A bit more cleaning up done round the edges: I'll take a fresh look tomorrow and see if any more bits need scraping or filling. Then there are few fiddly details to add, like the water filler and breather pipes, and the bonnet unit will be complete.

The postie turned up at 0945 this morning and I got stuck in straight away. Not too many challenges so far; 3 hours work has completed the first subassembly - the bonnet sides and ends. Outside, with the doors, handrails and headlights added: Inside: not so pretty, but it's designed for most of the soldering to be done from the inside: Folded up and tacked, the RHS: And the LHS: Step-by-step instructions to follow, but I'm going to have lunch and do the bonnet top first.

Many thanks John. There had been long delays on BullAnt products but it looks like they are available again now. Something like this but with a custom wheelbase and wheel diameter, and could be done to different gauges: There would be no difficulty fitting this into the E body, it would just need an adaptor plate to connect to the fixing points at the ends of the body. Once I've built the body I'll gauge interest for different options. I've had a notification that the etch should be arriving this morning, I've got a day off and the soldering iron at the ready.

The E401 body etch is in production and will hopefully arrive in the next few days. I've started writing some assembly instructions, which will no doubt be edited as I actually build it! Meanwhile I have ordered and received some bits from High Level gears which will allow me to measure and build the gearbox and thereby finalise the chassis design. At present I'm working on the design for the 21mm gauge version with hornblocks and CSB suspension: Depending on the levels of interest from other people, I am considering two different approaches for 16.5mm gauge - either some adaptor brackets for the Fleischmann V60 chassis, or an etched chassis similar to the one above but with much simpler suspension (or none). The Fleischmann V60 has a wheelbase very close to what is needed, is a robust chassis that runs well, and is typically available for about £50 secondhand, so it may well be the best bet for 16.5mm gauge. If anyone using OO gauge is interested in building one of these etched E401s, then I should probably buy a V60 and design some parts to make the chassis fit. I'll get the body built first before making any more decisions! In the meantime I picked up this image on ebay (link is to the item listing) which shows E403 in black and tan in the early 1960s. This loco has the radiator grille plated over completely! The tin van is interesting too - it has a horizontal beading strip just below waist level. I don't recall seeing that on any others, but maybe there were a few vans had them? I missed out on John's etched tin vans.

Anyway, I still don't think Accurascale have got the pannier's dome shape quite right. Or the wheel arrangement...

Exactly - that was the photo I checked it against before posting my response. Irish Metrovick Diesels page 32 as well.

Limerick, and the train is heading for Foynes or the North Kerry. St John's cathedral is the spire in the background. Limerick station out of shot to the left round the curve.

The Irish steam loco(s) are further back down the list than third. There's the P class, GER J67/8/9, and the Austerity on the way too. I understand the next IRM announcement is expected to be a big one, but whether that means an 800 or something in O gauge is anyone's guess...

Those coaches do look very nice! The tiny percentage of shrinkage isn't noticeable, but the unavailability of the 60' coach kits used as a donor is now a problem. I agree that a 3D printed core would be a good approach, and would allow the distinctive profiles and widths of the Irish coaches to be better represented, as well as making them scale length. You would need several variants of the 3D printed core to cover all the types but I don't imagine that to be a major problem. Quite a large print though - can your suppliers to than and would it stay straight?

There’s always an exception to prove the rule, and this photo has a couple of good ones. https://flic.kr/p/2qE13Mk Lurking behind the grey H van with a black underframe, is a Bulleid flat carrying a container. But it’s an open container not a closed one, and it looks like it’s incomplete and here for repair, so not actually in traffic. This is the only example I’ve found of a container on one of these wagons.

Many thanks! It's strange, but to date I haven't found any photos of the Bulleid triangulated flats (as modelled by IRM) carrying enclosed containers of A / B / BD types or equivalent. Loads of photos of them carrying road vehicles, acting as runner wagons for overhanging loads, one pic with an open container, and a few other niche applications. Containers are much more often seen in open wagons (wooden or corrugated), or on GNR or CDR flats, or on the later type vac-fitted flat wagons such as the 25201 and 25436 series.

Very nice! Sorry, they were a bit before my time and I hadn’t realised you had done them already. I have seen GNR numbers up to 12 I think, certainly into double figures.

In which case it’s perhaps even less likely that IRM will do them! i can imagine myself picking up some more IRM Park Royals as conversion fodder, especially if they get discounted.

If he has, he's built it in record time! Perhaps it's in the Oval Office? Ireland's not the only orange option though, he might be more interested in modelling Strathclyde, Portugal or any part of the G&W empire?

I found one more traditional container option - made by Replica Railways. I don't think these are in production any more but are available secondhand. This has the diagonal timbers in a vee pattern, which (with a repaint) would be ideal for those wanting to model a GNR furniture removals container, as seen at Broadstone in the links below. They had a very attractive livery. DSL_GNR_163_Broadstone_Dec_1960 (2) | [Photographer: Des Sca… | Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255495975 Edit, still available here, new and unlettered, for a fiver: Spares

Of the old wooden containers, the common larger types were classified 'B', or for those with side doors, 'BD'. Again, there were many variants on BR, and more on CIE. The BR container diagram book can be found here: http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/BRContainerIssueB.pdf These were quite common in Ireland and can be seen in some of the photos linked above, and a few more here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511462788/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511606818 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511583540 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511614184 Models of BR (and 'Big 4') types available include a vertically-planked type B originally by Airfix, now seen in the Hornby range but there's also a near-identical one by Dapol: Also a horizontally-planked type B with broad planks, in the Dapol Range. This is very similar to one of the CIE types as detailed a few posts back up this thread: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53500993248 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255303079 The one in the background here is slightly different but an attractive livery of 2-tone green: Bachmann have one of the most common BR types also often seen in Ireland, the BD with narrow planking and side doors: Parkside also make a kit for something very similar, some subtle differences in the door strapping: Parkside also make the FM container, which was a bit smaller than the BD and was fitted with some insulation (though not heavily insulated like the AF). These were used for meat. The Parkside FM kit is for the planked version; the ply-sided version can be seen in Ireland here: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/39c56ad9-d5c2-4fcd-953e-c6112f4cf106 The CIE containers of the 'B' and 'BD' types were mostly made of alloy-faced ply rather than planks, as seen on this example which survived long enough to get a roundel: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53498764321 (There's a rarer BR insulated container in the background of this shot too, but we can't quite see enough of it) A few more in the backgound here in 1970, again these look to have roundels: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511639484 The grey ones in these two images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570643358 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570648873 And the three with yellow plastic sheets over them here, again at least one of these has a roundel: These CIE containers don't seem to have a direct equivalent in model form, all the model ones are planked. This is a pity because BR did have ply-sided ones and they would be a good match to the CIE ones. Some of the Irish planked containers had diagonal planks, either all in the same orientation or in a Vee pattern. I haven't seen any commercially available models with this arrangement of planks. Some real examples: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255495975 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255299053 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255303904 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255072361 I'd imagine that these would be fairly straightforward as 3D prints but I'm afraid I don't have that expertise. I also found a laser-cut kit for a BM container; I've not seen any of these in Ireland: Peco used to do some OO card kits for containers. Not Modelscene produce this, but probably not an improvement on the ones shown above: This thread on RMweb shows some different 3D printed examples, all GB prototypes: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/182716-big-4-pre-nationalization-container-diagrams However, it may not be too hard to scratchbuild, kitbash or simply repaint CIE examples from what's available. Many of the BR types are pretty close as shown above. Very nice! There were and still are some interesting container services to/from IoM. Ronagency was one I was looking at a while back.

There was a lot of variety among the pre-ISO containers. As well as the CIE ones, there were a lot of British Rail ones which travelled by rail in Ireland, and of course those from the GNR and private companies such as Lyons Tea. Some types of BR containers have been made either RTR or as kits, and may be suitable for use on models representing Ireland. Some may also be suitable to be repainted in CIE livery - though it must be noted that most CIE containers had sides made of the same alloy-faced ply used on the H vans, whereas most BR containers were planked. Let's have a look at the smaller type 'A' containers, which seem to have remained in use until the late 1960s. CIE inherited some planked ones from the GNR which were very similar to the BR type made by Bachmann. These IRRS photos show the GNR/CIE ones very well: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511437118 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511582084 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511437123 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511613489 They can be compared to the Bachmann models: CIE also had a ply-bodied type, seen here in reality: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54257002703 This is very similar to the kit produced by Cambrian: CIE also had a type with prominent X-bracing, seen here in reality: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511703975 This was very similar to a batch of LMS containers, which are available from Unit Models. However, the LMS ones were planked and the CIE was ply. Nevertheless the planking is much less obvious than the bracing and these are nicely distinctive: Of course, the BR versions of these are equally valid in Ireland in the same period. Most BR containers were shades of red/bauxite, whereas the CIE ones were grey/aluminium or in some cases green, and I think GNR ones were Oxford blue, so they can be identified by colour. Three BR 'A' containers (like the Bachmann model) can be seen in a block train of containers at Rosslare in the early 1960s. Note how the short containers are all at the end of a wagon, not in the middle. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53449386736/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511318943/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508492151/ And a load of them in Tralee in 1966: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/af458547-4b99-4cff-8bdf-6f9ab9a75dd6 Some at Kingsbridge, photo from Ernie: And from Roger Joanes, some more BR ones at Waterford, including two in one wagon: BR also had small 'AF' container which were highly insulated, for meat and fish products, which have been produced in model form, like these: They were usually white or pale blue. I haven't yet found many photos of these in Ireland, maybe I haven't looked hard enough. Some of the BR medium-sized insulated containers did make it to the west of Ireland, as seen here for example: https://www.kennellyarchive.com/media/39c56ad9-d5c2-4fcd-953e-c6112f4cf106 All of these were superseded by ISO containers by the early 1970s.

Super, many thanks for the memories! All we need now is a minature DCC horse. Accurascale/IRM's next project...

More progress on the containers, which have been painted, and I've completed the transfer artwork though I still need to do a final check that everything's on the right layer before placing an order for it. A group photo: Top left is a 30' dry box, shortened from a C-Rail 40' box: this will be finished in Irish Ferryways livery. Top middle a plain C-Rail 20' box, then another modified as a grain container. These two will be in CIE livery. Bottom left a pair of 20x8x8 C-Rail boxes, no modifications apart from some fork slots. These will become early MOL and BELL alloy containers. The other three on the bottom row started off the same, but have had their side detail sanded off and some ribs added, to represent early ribbed alloy containers. They all have different numbers of ribs to match the prototypes, which will be B+I (blue stripe), B+I Freightway (red stripe) and CIE Insulated. A couple more pics: And here's an image of the transfer artwork. I haven't quite decided on the shade of blue for the B+I ones, the artwork isn't always true colour for the inks used - they won't be so different in reality!

I do love these little challenges you set - now I can spend hours more poring over photos of Dundalk, Drogheda, and Connolly looking for brown vans! Incidentally there's another photo of this train by Jonathan Allen on Flickr:

The colours on that photo are rather lurid. I think the Duckhams tanks were actually yellow with a blue band and tippex Here's another Duckhams tank, in a photo by Jonathan Allen on Flickr, at Adelaide. They would make a nice and distinctive model, could potentially be based on the SSM 20' tank, or the 3D printed one made by @Past-Avenue

I haven't been on the Enterprise for some years, last time I did it was a 6-car 80 subbing for the DD which gives you an idea how long ago it was! I've almost regained some of my hearing. But the last couple of times I've tried to go from Manchester to London (nominally a direct 2-hour journey with 2 or 3 trains an hour) it has taken 4 or 5 hours and I've ended up standing all the way. I've lost all confidence in train travel, despite having to rely on it as I don't drive.

You display great confidence that those services will run at all, and with adequate capacity for you to get on board!