Mol_PMB

Or indeed when browsing eBay!

Many thanks for your kind comments! On this layout with a viewing angle across the tracks, I suspect the gauge difference wouldn’t be so obvious. But having to build my own track enables me to choose finer rail profiles, more natural turnout geometry etc, and it all helps. The gauge is more obvious looking along the layout - this is the view from the fiddle yard, which is a similar view to most of the prototype photos I have of this location:

Here’s a beautiful bargain for @DJ Dangerous to snap up https://ebay.us/m/i93ZFs Yours for just £225 plus postage plus taxes!

I’ve been working on the trees. Finally got all the foliage on the sea moss trees and it was time for a trial fit. Firstly with just the sea moss trees (and the painted ones on the backscene). There are two larger ones in the foreground and 5 smaller ones in the corner: Then adding the two larger Primo trees I bought: They’re pretty good at concealing the hole in the backscene that the trains come through: But if you crouch down a bit you could still see the trains: I may add some more undergrowth to help hide the hole in the sky from this angle. There’s already a tendril of ivy on the tree trunk, ready to spread…

The two different types of end lagging.

They appear to be in accordance with the diagrams in the GNR wagon diagram book. See also an earlier post: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/19592-cie-tar-bitumen-tanks-–-the-1950s60s-wagons/#findComment-273196 I have to say they are begging to be modelled! It would be an entirely scratch-built job as there is no suitable tender kit to use as a starting point.

I expect they haven't got time to wait for the site to load! It does seem to be having a good moment at present, for me at least. I was about to have to resort to actually doing some modelling rather than just writing about it.

Happy days! I have found some photos of the GNR tar tanks! Interestingly, these are both branded UTA (the photos date from 1959 post-split), but were photographed at Inchicore: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507104989 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507218565

I've just been trawling through the IRRS photo archive looking for something else, and found some photos of Dun Laoghaire in the 1950s, where a water tank of this type had been painted as an advertisement for Kingston Shirts. So if you fancied a brighter paint scheme on your water tower then there's a good precedent. The IRRS photos show some good closeups of parts of the lettering: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507111269 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53505868742 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507068729 Ernie's views are more distant but show it in glorious colour - bright orange with black and white lettering:

Agreed. IRM is extremely slow, and has been for several days. It works eventually but I keep imagining a dial-up modem chirping away in the background. In comparison, RMweb is running at normal speed.

Nice to see the registration plate and number. Many thanks for the images!

Rails of Sheffield have some Irish stuff on eBay at the moment - A class, 141s, Genesis coaches, but you won't like the prices!

They'll miss my birthday too I'll have to muster all my patience, and get on with building the kit stash. I wonder how the Park Royals are doing?

Very nice! I very occasionally see kites overhead, buzzards and kestrels are more common in the skies here in Manchester, and we have a local pair of falcons that I have watched catching pigeons around the M60 Barton viaduct. In the garden I have very good numbers of small birds visiting (tits, finches, sparrows etc) and consequently sparrowhawks also visit my garden. They usually perch on the outbuildings or fences but one hid in the apple tree. We also have parrots nesting locally. They’ll be at it again soon, they breed very early in the year.

Exciting times…

Dear IRM, I realise that I haven’t been a very good boy this year so I’m unlikely to get a Christmas present. I’m sorry and will try to do better next year. Is there any chance I might see the Park Royals in time for my birthday? Kind Regards, Paul, age 49 3/4 P.S. if you could announce a C class model that would also be very welcome.

Indeed, I was wondering the same. I have a Hunslet and several Park Royals on order (and paid for already) but haven't ordered the others. Hoping for some definitive news soon. Over on RMweb people are reporting announcements of Electrostar dispatch already, so maybe something has gone awry in the announcement system?

Excellent news! Hopefully this will clear the decks for another IRM project to suit those of us stuck in the 1960s and 1970s.

Another tip for square open-topped water tanks - they usually had internal bracing to resist the water pressure pushing the sides outwards. Although not Irish, this webpage shows some typical examples: NSW Railways Infrastructure and Operations: What’s on the inside (of those water tanks) Tricky to model, and you can get away without it by either modelling the tank brim-full (which it normally would be except when a loco has visited recently), or by roofing the tank (which was sometimes done to prevent leaves accumulating inside). Edit: here's a link to an IRRS photo which shows the bracing inside an Irish water tank: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511430534 Enlarged extract, it's not the clearest view but a rare angle: There appears to be a diagonal in the horizontal plane at the top of each corner, and diagonals in the vertical plane at intervals along each side (which could be hidden by water). Perhaps also a tiebar across the middle? You can also see the valve operating lever and counterweight.

How is the distinctive shape of the tank itself made? Presumably that isn't laser-cut? For the stonework, you could enhance the appearance by dabbing Matte Medium onto some of the stones. That would better represent the rougher stone typical of these water towers. It doesn't take long and doesn't require any finesse - just blob it on and leave to dry, then paint over it. I did that on my laser-cut mill building.

Boskonay indicated that they're coming on a plane. I wonder if production volumes demand a big one...

That's looking superb. The guest house is an attractive building and a nice kit by the look of it. The night scenes are very atmospheric - I'm not currently planning night-time and lighting on my layout but perhaps I should make provision for it..

I have taken advice and bought some lighting. For simplicity I bought a complete kit as follows, for £40: https://www.ledspace.co.uk/products/led-strip-pack-for-on-off-wall-switch-natural-white-3m?keyword=LED Strip Pack for On%2FOff Wall Switch%3A Natural White 3m × 1 They had a choice of 4 shades of white; Natural White was stated to be between warm and cool, so it seemed a good choice and I'm happy with it. Ordered at the weekend, it arrived this morning and I have installed it since finishing work this afternoon. It was very simple to fit and worked perfectly. I have used two strips each 1.2m long stuck to the angled inside face of the pelmet. For security I fixed the end fittings with large cable clips screwed in place. I left space for a third strip in the middle but it's not needed - two strips is plenty bright enough. The sky doesn't look too dark any more! I have about 600mm of strip and 3 connectors left over, so I could use that to illuminate the fiddle yard or traverser as well. I'll think about the best usage.

Me too.

Many thanks John. I couldn't find the photo at Fermoy on NLI - any chance you could send a link? Quartertown also had two closely-spaced loading pipes, presumably to suit the two hatches on the roof of the vans - they are visible above and to the right of the bitumen tanker here and I will model these: There are some detail views of grain handling arrangements at a small Scottish silo here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/190388-br-20-ton-bulk-grain-wagons/#findComment-6001952 https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/190388-br-20-ton-bulk-grain-wagons/page/2/#findComment-6002589 They look similar to the grilles at Ranks Clara but arranged for rail wagons. Under the canopy at Quartertown they'll be invisible on the model from all plausible viewing angles, but I will probably represent them somehow to satisfy myself.