Glenderg

Spot on JB, the three gable ends are the ones of Great Western Villas/Square, taken looking up toward North Circular Road.

No need for a storm. Salthill would be torture enough

It's the weekend, it's a bit of fun, and you're well able for a bit of verbal incontinence when the mood takes, so a bit of chill out is in order. As for the Fert wagons, these were addons to the flat wagons, so the sensible thing would be for the flat wagon maker to make these too. I've been a squeaky wheel about that and many other ideas for a while, so it's up to you lads to shout loudly. IRM won't be making them anytime soon. And as for de clues, they are all over the place. R

Oh that was an odd experience!!! Fully agree with Mayners comments in all respects. +1

Harry, you'd be getting a hurl to the side of the knee if you arrived at my door at 2:30 in the morning, the only 800 we'd be discussing is 1800-WEEWAAW Personally, I'm not mad about doing any loco til we get a few bits boxed off, principally because I still run mine on clockwork! As I've said recently, there is a fairly sizeable wishlist in IRM HQ that is ever evolving, but whatever it is will be subject to what the community want & need. My cries for making Sambo fell on deaf ears.... Richie.

A lie down in a dark room for a bit.....

Cheers for the reminder *back to work..... Edit* Not ready yet lads..... Three minor tweaks before I'd be happy with it, but it's 95% there.

Fair comments Chris. The coupling bar is the only aspect which gives them superiority really. It might just be a fear of the unknown I reckon. I only used them for the first time recently and they are a doozy to work with. Richie

I've had a look and on first glance it appears that there are indeed two wagons sharing the exact same upper proportions, but the under frame of 9'6" is akin to something 60 years earlier. Everything about the numbers screams "wrong" to me. The old ballast hoppers introduced in 1903 were 9'6" wheelbase, a standard that was regular then. page 66 8415-8422. I reckon it was GSWR hoppers renumbered , but the one shown as the photograph is an oddity all right. And just for fun I did changed the CAD on the ballast to have a 9'6" wheelbase, as opposed to 12" wheelbase, and it's positively funny. A full hopper would fall over even half full. There is NO way that the ballast wagon we are producing, ever ever had a 9'6" wheelbase, Perhaps J Stadt could shed some light on this? R

And whatcha reckon on the shade of grass - pre CIE or post?

For that kind of money for the donor coach, you'd expect it to be spot on and painted in the right colour, have the correct interior and the different door variants sorted. The restaurant coach had different doors on either end, one BR, one IE, whereas the standard open was different again. I doubt, given my recent experience with asian manufacturers, they'd be able to reproduce anything other than a Standard Open without substantial additional costs. The tooling costs required for EGV's and Restaurants would be unholy. It could be as much as €100 a coach.

Either make an attempt to get it right or respray it to look like a MK4 - that seems to be the contention here. In order to get something akin to an irish MK4 you'd have to cut the end off anyway, infill the end with a flat piece and attach a cosmetic rubber corridor connection. How you'd deal with the coupler (either standard or kadee) sitting within the corridor itself is an engineering challenge alone. chopping lumps of the coach to suit isnt going to work either. You'd end up cutting and shutting the roof, the body, and the underframe - and it's unneccesary. The BR MK4 coach is close enough to the IE version that only the window spacing is wrong. Do like everyone else and try not to stress about it - spray it to match and put all your efforts into getting a DVT somewhat right. R.

Question is though - would folk pony up for a standard open coach, with Rapido's level of internal lighting, detailing of interior, and so on. I reckon it might be about €75 for the UK version, before you start to strip and respray it. Is there a market ?

Fixed it for you Ed.

but he can't heat up his dinner without drama....

he one of the gore-booths of sligo fame?

Just a sleep deprived thought on this though. If I were a GNR fan, or modellng that era, I would certainly grab one. I know I mentioned lack of rivetting and so on in previous post, but I'm sure this could be easily added, as with the rest of the detail. Look at it as a "railroad" version of a Hornby loco, rather than a high spec version, and it should keep most content.

I suppose they fall into a different category than folks who might buy them to resell them singly at an inflated price ebay and so on. I'd rather anyone who hasn't ordered go through those avenues first. They are doing this to support this venture first and foremost, and we are very grateful for their help. Now, if either of them manage to sell you more railway stock than you actually need whilst in their clutches, well, shur that's ye're own lookout! R.

No. Again more speculation! Seamus Graham and Dave Bracken both have very dedicated customers, many of them Offline, and have graciously offered to retail them at shows and in Toymaster Portlaoise, at little or no gain for themselves. They sought an allocation of wagons packs prior to announcing, which is included within the 333 pack number. R Yes, by one of the Guinness Boats, direct to the re-opening LMS offices...make a nice HQ for IRM actually Harry

Lads, please ease up on the speculation. Factories like the one we are engaged with provide all sorts of plastic to all sorts of companies, we are but a small fish in a very big pond. The die alone weighs a ton (figuratively) and you have to get a "slot" in which the wagon can be made. It will take little or no time to actually squirt plastic, it's the hand built nature of the item that takes time, along with painting, tampo printing of the decals, and boxing and shipping. Adding another chunk of wagons to the order would hold up delivery, and we'd like to see them dockside as soon as possible. We're well aware of demand etc., and when he have something to add to the discussion regarding any further production, you lads will be the first to know. Richie.

Oh there are some tidy NIR bits that are on our ever growing wishlist, but it's only that, a wishlist.

"out of a shortlist of 12 running numbers"

From reviewing the order books, I really don't foresee anyone purchasing any for the secondary market. Most are going for the 3 pack option, so don't expect fleabay to be selling them singly. Doing a second run is easy enough provided there is demand, but take it easy on the speculation folks. That is why it took so long to get it right. We had to do the CAD work for both wagons at the same time so that we know that the bubble will fit perfectly into the ballast chassis.

Cheers Rich, we appreciate all the feedback and interaction. On a side note, there is an interesting development for the 21mm'ers. The wagon as you know is designed to prototype so it means the leaf springs and axle box are out to their original locations. We haven't squashed them in to suit underscale track. There is a little collar, about 2mm deep, like a piece of a cotton bud shank just outside the bearing itself. Removing this from either axle box will allow clearance for a 21mm wheelset, which should pop into the bearing behind. No need for top hat or brass bearings Richie.

Spot on