Mol_PMB

I think this is the final version of the chassis etch. I've added an extra geartrain option and a few spacer washers, also a mix of strips, angles and channels with no particular purpose in mind. As a scratchbuilder I know it's always more useful to have bits like this rather than blank bits of fret!

Superb placement of the figures to spur the imagination, while being entirely plausible that they're standing still.

IRRS are continuing the super sequence of shunter images with D303, freshly painted in green in March 1957: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54336333309 Note that this loco does not have the bulge on the back of the cab - looking at photos I think this was only on 1000 = D301. I think D303 was the only D class to carry this livery, mid green with a D number, and assuming the date is correct then most diesels were still being turned out in silver at this time. A handful of main-line diesels appeared in green in 1958, in readiness for an event at Inchicore. Ernie has a super colour image of D303, in the same pristine green livery, that must have been taken around the same time. Prior to this the class had been numbered in the 1000 series and were painted a much darker green with eau-de-nil stripe and snail. Most carried that original livery into the early 1960s and then went straight into black (D301/3/5) or black and tan (D302/4). However, there are several images of 1001 in a livery I haven't quite worked out yet. Original number but no snail or stripe.

I'm rather confused. I'm hoping it will all sort itself out in the next week or so, and I don't need an immediate answer to this! I paid for my two packs of H vans just before Christmas, at which time I was expecting them to be shipped from Ireland to me in GB. The invoices were for £63.00 sterling for each pack, but did not explicitly include any shipping, tax or discount. My understanding at the time was that the VAT would be collected from me by the courier when they were shipped from Ireland, and that the shipping charge was free. Now that they are being shipped from GB, I could see that there may be a need collect the VAT that I didn't pay before. I'm not averse to paying the tax due, but I hope it doesn't come with a handling fee as well (which seems quite common with couriers, and often the handling fee is more than the VAT due). I also have a feeling that the two packs will end up being sent separately and then I may have to pay any handling fee twice! The advertised price for a pack of H vans on the AS website now is £74.94 including VAT, which is 19% greater than £63.00. UK VAT is 20% so something doesn't add up there either, effectively the price currently advertised is less than it was a few months ago, once VAT is accounted for. At present my orders aren't even showing up on the AS website, so perhaps I'm a bit further down the queue. I don't mind if they take a few more weeks to turn up, but I'd rather not be stung with a load of extra fees.

Many thanks David, I'll take a look back through the thread. It's good to hear that several people have built them and achieved good results. I've used the Delrin chain on 7mm scale models, but with small-wheeled shunters in 4mm scale it's hard to get fine enough chain or small enough sprockets.

Very nice - thank you! It's a bit nerve-wracking waiting to see when/if my orders re-appear on the AS website and then hopefully on my doorstep! Hopefully the price I've already paid will remain the same although I'm half wondering if the VAT will be handled differently now these aren't being delivered from Ireland to GB.

Mine’s the same, and the points haven’t transferred yet either. I expect it’s all just taking some time to work through everyone. I hope so, because some of my pre-orders are already paid for too.

I can't help with the name of the font but I can link the question to Irish Railways, both broad and narrow, with this old photo of mine. Note the A and B button box - no dialling, you had to ask the exchange operator to manually connect you.

Will these be the last boxes in the green livery before the switch to Accurascale black and tan?

They must be destined for the new range of 21mm gauge track!

Many thanks for all the info! Looks like Worsley Works is the one for me. A local supplier too - Worsley is only a few miles away. cheers, Mol

When I look south over Cheshire and see steam rising, I'll know it's Rob's 3D printer trying to keep us all happy! What has he let himself in for? #PecoRob...

It feels like my E class is on the home straight (and I hope I'm not tempting fate) and as usual my brain is working more quickly than my hands, not always in a helpful way! I'm building my E as E410 on a Fenit theme, and I'm well aware that the G class also worked to Fenit - initially G601s and later G611s. So I was wondering about the options for a G class model. 30-odd years ago I scratchbuilt one in plasticard but it wasn't very satisfactory and is long gone now. I've seen references to several different G class kits, but I'd just like to tap your collective wisdom! In particular, which of the kits would be suitable for 21m gauge and might satisfy my OCD levels? The issue with 21mm gauge is that on the prototype the wheels are very closely spaced inside the frames, so that when using the correct gauge and slightly overscale width wheels, they definitely don't fit behind frames made overscale thickness. It appears that Silver Fox do a resin cast G601, which looks OK if a little basic, but with a one-piece resin chassis that looks like it isn't suitable for 21mm gauge: IR / IÉ 601 Class (G Class) 0-4-0 Deutz | Silver Fox Models Then there's the DC Kits G611, looks a bit tidier but again I'm unsure if this would be suitable for 21mm gauge? CIE/Irish Rail Class G Shunter The third option I've identified is the Worsley Works etched kit for a G611. This looks like it might be suitable for 21mm gauge though I'm not 100% sure: Irish Railways Deutz Diesel CIE Coras Iompair Eireann in 4mm Scale My gut feel is that the Worsley Works G611 is most suitable, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has built one of these to 21mm gauge. Also, are there any options for the G601 suitable for 21mm gauge? If this turns out to be too hard, I can always just build another E class! Many thanks, Mol

I'd like to try some of them, please!

Yes, to be fair, my memories of it are from the early 2000s when the Tralee train was usually a 141 with 4 Cravens and a van. There were a few occasions during the week when both the through platform roads were occupied at the time a Tralee train was due to depart, so it had to go round the outside. At least the baby GM got slightly more of a run at the hill. As StevieB notes, there would be another propelling move needed later in the journey at Killarney. Of course the Limerick Junction manoeuvres were legendary.

So, I mentioned a silver G and look what appeared! https://flic.kr/p/2qMapPe Lovely - thank you! The footplate on this appears to be silver, definitely not black.

You want a BIGGER box from Accurascale / IRM ?!? [I should add that I thoroughly approve of the big boxes as they have saved a couple of my deliveries from damage when thrown over the gate by the courier]

Ah, so the old days of some Cork-Tralee trains starting from a bay, propelling out towards Cobh and then bypassing the main station train shed via the goods line are gone now, with the development of Platform 6!

Super and inspiring photos! Interesting to see three block trains of goods vans - no opens, flats, containers, cattle etc.

Again, a bit of a marginal case, I went on an RPSI Dublin-Cork tour with Merlin which went south on Saturday and north on Sunday. I recall it was possible to book tickets for just one day and return by scheduled train, so there was an option starting in Cork. The climb out of Cork on a damp and slippery day with 7 coaches was quite spectacular: despite plenty of sand the loco barely exceeded 10mph through the tunnel in simple mode and hadn't accelerated much more by Rathpeacon. She crested the summit 12 miles later at a healthy 50mph though, and rolled down into Mallow looking more black than blue after giving the tunnel the first good clean it had had for half a century. Fun times!

You are rightly demonstrating why all these things need to be thought through at the start! Best of luck with the build, I look forward to seeing it come together.

I'm just adding all the tabs to the chassis etch artwork. There is provision for rigid chassis, 1 axle rigid and the other two compensated (with hornguides), or all 3 axles with hornguides and CSB suspension. Also 16.5mm gauge or 21mm gauge. This sheet will be 0.45mm brass rather than the 0.25mm nickel silver used for the body. To fill some gaps, a couple of bonus items for the body on here: a radiator fan and mount, and a handrail bending jig for the sizes required. Neither really necessary but why not? I have a little bit of space left over even on a small A5 sheet, no doubt I've forgotten something, but you never realise until it's too late! If I don't think of anything else by tomorrow then I will fill it with various widths of strip - you can never have too many bits of brass strip!

Many thanks, you're too kind! I decided to ask Colour-Rail for a better copy of the view of E402 in 1961 shown in Irish Railways Traction and Travel, 1994 edition, page 70, and they are going to scan it for me. In the process we have also identified two other nice colour views in their collection, reference numbers IR637 and FIE02925. I'm ordering good copies of those for my personal use, but for info if you put those numbers into the 'reference' search box here: https://colourrail.co.uk/nonuk You will find that IR637 is mainly a colour view of D class 1000 in original dark green, plus the cab of silver E417. Dark green loco, eau-de-nil snail and E number in one shot, for the shades of green... FIE02925 is a panoramic colour view of the goods yard at Albert Quay, with E403 shunting. The top of the footplate looks very dark, but then so does the roof! Slightly tangential: FIE04522 is E413 in black, a very nice view shunting a green carriage FIE05083 and FIE05084 are at Fenit, with a silver shunter at work, but it's G602 rather than an E.

A photo newly uploaded by Ernie has some items of pre-ISO container interest, though only in the background. This is Galway in 1967: Just to the right of the loco, a 'Lancashire Flat' on a 20' fitted flat wagon, probably 25201 series. And to the left of the loco, a couple of CIE road division's livestock swap-bodies, painted dark green. I am also exploring the potential of one of these for a CIE container. It has the advantage of no planking, and I think it won't need much surgery to fit in a corrugated open wagon. Despite being a very old model the moulding detail is quite good:

The new photo of E401 uploaded by the IRRS is interesting in showing the original paint job before it started to get dirty. We may think of silver locos as a 'dip job' - silver all over - but in fact there are quite a few details that were not silver. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54328667572 My interpretation of the photo is as follows: Red: buffer beams (not buffers) Black: buffers and housings couplings vac pipes lamp irons footstep treads handrails and grab handles bonnet door catches bonnet door stops on footplate axleboxes (not hornguides) leaf springs and upper part of hangers (not hanger brackets or auxiliary springs) rubber surround to windows An intermediate colour (may not all be the same): oil and fuel filler pipes water filler pipes drain pipe on front A major part I am not sure about from this photo is the colour of the top surface of the footplate. The front edge looks black but the angle of this view doesn't show us the top. Now, the locos may not all have been painted the same - sometimes the first loco of a class was outshopped in a special livery for photos, or the scheme was simplified as construction continued. But let's look at some other photos of relatively clean silver locos and see if we can confirm the colours. On close inspection of the other photos of clean locos, the details picked out in black usually seem to be consistent, though this is most obvious on clean locos and the contrast rapidly reduces in service. This photo of a fairly clean E412 shows the bodywork details but the axleboxes and hornguides have already become uniform dirt: https://www.transporttreasury.com/jim-flint-jim-harbart-1001-1997/hab80c1ff#hab80c1ff But after a year in service the contrast on things like the footstep treads and grab rails was much reduced - probably a combination of wear and dirt. Seen here on E410: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54323027377 Also note that the water filler pipes on E410 look to be silver, whereas on E401 and E412 they were very clearly a darker colour. The smaller drain pipe, however, looks silver on E412 but is clearly dark on E401. I get the impression that the locos were not all painted identically... Next, the top of the footplate, which is also the top of the fuel tank. A place where staff would have to walk and work, and where oil spills from the fillers and leaks from the engine compartment could spread. Would it be just smooth and painted silver? An odd choice - if it were my loco I'd make it chequerplate and black or grey. There are a few photos from higher viewpoints which show this. This photo of E409 when it was still pretty clean shows a grubby pale-coloured footplate that matches the side of the fuel tank - it's probably silver and certainly isn't black: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53445965317 There's also a photo of clean E407 on its first test run reproduced in IRRS journal 14/84 Feb 1981, p173. The top of the footplate matches the side of the fuel tank and the side of the bonnet. It contrasts with the black of the lamp irons and bonnet door stops. On the other hand, this view of E414 shows a fairly uniform dark colour on the footplate - is this a combination of dirt and shadow or was it painted? The rest of the loco is fairly clean. Also, we know that the Cork crews applied some local modifications to some of their E401s, like adding cab insulation. They might have modified the livery too. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511885685/ The view of E402 in 1961 shown in Irish Railways Traction and Travel, 1994 edition, page 70 also appears to show a dark footplate. That's a Colour-Rail image but I can't find it on their website. Some may have been painted a darker colour., but on the other hand, the loco lurking on the right of this colour image shows nicely how the filth accumulated to hide the original colour: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255052946/ My gut feel is that it was probably silver to start with, but soon became filthy. This view of E411 by Alan Roome from 'Rails around Dublin' (Murray) p69 also shows how the filth gathered on the top surfaces: Now, for the pipes which have some an intermediate colour. I haven't found many colour photos of E401s in silver livery and even fewer where the loco is the main subject. The best one is of E402 by Neville Simms, reproduced in 'Irish Traction in Colour (Huntriss) p77: This photo has clear evidence of colour - blue - on the water filler pipes at the front. However, the other pipes are indeterminate and any trace of colour is lost in the grime. Ernie's photos of E413 in black livery (see yesterday's post) show that the water filler pipes were also painted blue in the later livery, and the oil filler pipes were green. It would be reasonable to assume that the fuel and oil filler pipes were also green when the locos were in silver livery, but soon became grimy. Another nice colour view is this IRRS one of E403, from the opposite angle: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54255284989/ On this photo there is no sign of colour on the water and oil/fuel fillers - they look to be silver. Also note that the air receiver under the cab is silver - in the later black livery these were often yellow or orange. I think I'll walk carefully back out of this minefield...