Glenderg

Have you a link to the Cambrian Y25's Rsuir? Richie.

I like the way they are withdrawing just one Limerick -Dublin service. There is only one.

Ger, you're a "man on a mission", keep up the determined pace, very impressive! The driver is well turned out too, he must be take pride in his work. as should you

Cheers Pat, that is some astonishing range of stuff, though for a bunch of chaps who are qualified in IT, its a shambles of a website! The 9' Wheelbase kit may be the answer, but the buffers are still a mystery. Excellent news Dave. Can't wait to tell the wife. I'll be on to you shortly about your "orders" as you describe them... That's a far more professional setup altogether, they have the buffers, coupling hooks and axelboxes. PM sent Des. Thanks for all the good info lads, will post up the completed version, with a "how to" tutorial and drawings in a few weeks. Richie.

Gents, I'm scratchbuilding a GNR(I) Butter Van for myself and my bodging has come to a halt. Does anybody know what type of buffers it had? I'm thinking "C" on this webpage. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/4-rstock/04arstock2c.htm and where I might buy them? Also, coupling hooks and links together as a pack? W-Irons too and axelboxes, leaf spring assemblies, and handbrake levers? The upper body stuff is sorted, it's all the chassis gubbins I need. I'm exasperated from looking on tinternet, and some kindly soul here may have trod this path, and might have the info on who would stock all these items together? I had thought about scratchbuilding the leaf springs Richie. Oh, one other thing, would anyone have an idea of the font colour? Red and gold inlay?

Unless, Broithe, it's an MTK kit..... From Andy C on RMWeb "Given one of Model railways' urban myths is that at Colin Massingham's funeral the lid didnt fit on the coffin"

Seamus, there's nothing on the etenders website, and since it would be a public procurement contract, they are obliged to advertise it. Unless they've started making signs in Inchicore now... When does that Barry Kenny lad go on George Hook?

Bosko - Cheap and easy method - packet of long slim paper clips - 33mm version, in Eason for a Yoro. Trim off ends so it looks like an L shape to 22mm. Repeat about 100 times. Mark off your upright locations on the viaduct - 24mm centres (old compass is the easiest) and drill 0.8 mm holes at each point, about 6mm down the face of the viaduct. Superglue the first and last ones in and check for plumb - the 20 second stuff is great for this. Fit the other uprights, but don't glue. Get a roll of really good quality thread and tie it to the first stanchion, wrap it around the entire viaduct, and tie to the final upright when you have the gaps right. Usually about 4mm between each one. Repeat this for the other three lines, and when you are happy with the gaps, glue the first and last and then start glueing the stanchions to the viaduct and to the rails, checking for plumb as you go. Best to fix every five or so, and then "line isteach na bearnai". It should take about an hour in total to do the lot. There are other ways of doing this like using coarse fishing line & high E guitar string, and scoring the uprights at every 4mm to save sanity, using cocktail sticks/matches if scale isn't an issue. Long list. Irish viaduct railings are generally 4 rails like dis one. Richie.

Done! He's not listed in "Overall Manufacturer of the Year"

You know what Scahalane, but I chuckled in admiration when I saw those photos, and for no bad reason. The amount of hours, sheer persistence, research, drawing, photography, styrene modelling and dedication to achieving the end result comes as no mean feat. Nice to have another companion in this lifeboat! If I wore a hat, I would take it off to you. If I wore a second hat, I would take it off too, just for the upright stanchion detail at the front of the shed. Where is the "Bow in admiration" emoticon Heirflick? Bonus points from IRM for the sheer scale of the thing too, though minus brownie points for not having domestic planning permission, I imagine! Richie.

Welcome Tom, and thanks for the info about Blacksod Bay. No doubt if built, it may have changed the whole easterly focus of Ireland, at least for a period of time anyway. I thought I had heard of all the oddball schemes with Irish Railways, and I have to say that that one makes a lot of sense. Could you imagine that today? Getting a DMU out to the bay, to see the old concrete railway station?? Keep us posted on the layout progress, you'll notice there's been a healthy shift lately to the late 50's around here, and that's not the age group:cheers:Richie

1955 http://www.mayolibrary.ie/media/Postcards/Castlebar/Webpages/detail.np/detail-07.html 1985 http://www.geograph.ie/photo/1092253 Not an easy one to find StevieB, but here's the OS map from 1947 which might be of some help. Welcome to the site too! Richie.

In management speak, it's probably meant to represent "dynamic, I-arnrod Appy, unification of old orange stock and modren green stock" when it really reads like two magnets in conflict, or two radioactive turd piles, or "irish rail is a giant pyramid scheme" or "irish rail is like two auld triangles", or a modernist interpretation of a carrot. Who knows what those clowns are up to.

Nice work Dave, very nice. Nothing quite like seeing someone having a go at a most unusual train, and full length too. No half measures! How did you do the 60's and stopped them warping in the middle? Richie.

Congrats Dave on jumping in both feet first! I'm very impressed straight away with you work so far, and I have a vision of what you're trying to end up with, which should be stunning, particularly the night time shots. Richie

Excellent find magpie! What a motley collection of wagons! Dave, that's the funniest I've seen - 1 bobble hatted lad doin the work, and the other four holding up shovels. Nice find!

There are a couple of things here that slightly cause my bullshitometer to go off the scale. First off, the timetable is printed digitally in Adobe InDesign, and no logo looks as pixelated and crap as that one, so it's highly unlikely it's official. I work in InDesign regularly and it takes effort to be this sloppy. It looks like a placeholder for a missing graphic. Happens easily. Second - the font is wrong. More evidence of shoddy workmanship. It is Arial. Irish Rail paid for a custom commercial font, obviously not available to the clown who produced this digital turd (we discussed this a while ago.) Third, to establish whether or not it's official, would one of the twitterati on here ask Irish Rail if this is a kite flying exercise, or a legitimate logo. Fourth, the logo itself - Irish Rails latest corporate toilet paper production clearly states that it wants to disassociate itself with all things orange. I'm only getting started.... Fifth, current re-branding is ongoing of station signage which suggests that royal blue is the colour of choice as a background. A tender for the re-signing of every station platform, car-park, and out house on the IR/IE network is worth a significant seven figure sum. In this climate, no management at Irish Rail, no matter how overpaid and underworked, could find a justification for dispensing with the existing signage, just to rebrand it in this "marine flag" back of a fag packet design. Sixth - the colours themselves - These are usually dictated to the graphic design company based on "extensive market research". (read "Do not use colours what failed in england") Even an amateur muppet who never used photoshop before now would suggest differing greens to that used on the rail network, and differing greens in the font logo. It's all about brand awareness I'm told. The orange looks like supertrain tan. See Point No. 4. I'm sure I've seen that green font colour come out of a child's nose, but never applied as a livery. Not even by JHB's history of "odd greens"! Seventh - a significant rebranding was undertaken some years ago. This is not cheap. No justification to repeat it. Eighth The dunderhead who did this didn't check what the current stock is, nor how it would look. I believe this image is Wanderers from a few years ago, and so, M'lud, the prosecution rests its case. And if this ever makes it's way onto trains in Ireland, I'll buy everyone here a pint - better still, I'll get Dave Bracken to buy everyone a pint. Richie.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holycorner/6934022192/in/photostream/ Is that the same one JHB, slightly different window panels aside? Just eyeballing it, I reckon it's on a 52ft chassis, and that of a crappy 57 ft Hornby LMS/Dapol Stanier chassis would be a perfect donor. Above the buffer plate though, it's a simple cut and shut of about 5 different goods wagons.. A glorious looking thing that would look perfect after a black and tan, at the end of a rake of a mixed goods train. Seamus, send that puppy down to me and I'll make sure that "opening door feature" is no longer a problem.. Where did I leave my surgeons saw??? Richie.

Truly a mammoth undertaking Stephen.... Vidz when you get the main line wired....please! R edit: Good god! The viaduct, the enterprise...

Hyped up and overblown nonsense. This happens all the time. http://avherald.com

Great find Anto. Sadly it's all gone - warrenpoint trackbed now a motorway, newcastle station a lidl, and newry looks completely different. Imagine the fun and games today with all those crossing points! Like a grown up shunting puzzle. R.

Oh that is nice Hunslet, I missed it for some reason. The guinness containers - more info required please, they are the doozy! As for the shots, I love the mixed goods traffic. I think it sums up that era more than cravens and railcars somehow. Lovely work. Richie

I think this is what you're looking for, but I believe there are photos/videos of said wagons on their uppers. Somewhere.... http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/592-Rotary-Coal-Dumper?highlight=unloading Richie