Mol_PMB

1906 or 1907, one of the AEC ‘mules’. See also Ernie’s thread.

I'm definitely looking forward to your future projects, @jhb171achill! Looking at the map of railways in Ireland, there are still a few branches you haven't covered... I only hope my IRRS talk on the AEC railcars this autumn doesn't look too amateurish next to your excellent output.

That's the boring 'out of the box' side of the display! When I've thoroughly ruined things they end up in the other half. I'll be back home tomorrow and will update the pics.

Sadly, I wore it so much it ended up as more holes than wool! That was 40 years ago! I'm not at home at the moment, but I've since rearranged these with 007 closer to some other orange things. There's a bit of variation between the manufacturers and batches, but there was on the prototype too as the paint faded, so it doesn't bother me. You can see there's a small difference even between the Murphy locos. I realise that I have an 018 as well (so that's five A class bought secondhand - oops!). Not sure I'm quite ready to part with it though. I'm pretty sure I've seen every model for sale at least once over the last couple of years.

There was a Mk2 coach on the back! Designed by me, knitted by my Mum.

My 007 (with IR logo) is a slightly lighter shade of orange, but it's not dramatically different, just looks realistically faded. It's not as light as the later IE shade of orange, I think. However, I don't have any IR/IE liveried locos to compare with. My plan was to replace the IR logo with a roundel to replicate this (yes, that's me!). Then I got distracted by the 1960s...

From Colm Creedon's notebooks: Strangely very similar to your photo, but different J15, and looking at the driving cab window detail, the other mule: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253223013

I am now mentally deleting the idea of a 21mm gauge D class shunter from the projects list! Those cranks look like nothing but trouble.

I've just had a shipment notification for 101, 1383 and 1387.

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!