josefstadt

Having followed this thread from to the present day I can only say that this is one amazing layout! Brilliant work Kieran.

Did Greymouth to Christchurch back in 1993 on the 'TranzAlpine' service train. It is indeed a seriously spectacular journey!

John, if you can get your hands on Journal 164 (October 2007) of the Irish Railway Record Society it has a potted history of Irish diesel railcars 1907-2007.

Building a model of the terminal building in an average railway room you wouldn't have much space for the trackwork!

Other factors which have to be revealed are whether there will be an increase in line speed (currently max 30m.p.h.) and the running time from Islandbridge Jct to Connolly (and beyond). At the moment empty trains are allowed between 15 and 20 minutes from Islandbridge to Connolly.

Cross-platform interchange between fast and slow services is not possible at any of the stations on the four-track section as the lines are served by separate platforms. The only cross-platform interchange would be between the slow lines and the bay platforms at Adamstown and Hazelhatch.

So, on the basis of the measurements provided by StevieB and Dhu Varren, the lengths would be: GSV: Prototype = 48' 1¼" - Model = 192.4mm / 7.57" EGV: Prototype = 49' 7¼" - Model = 198.4mm / 7.81"

192.4 mm = just over 7½ inches

Sorry JHB but you have contradicted yourself. If there was no provision in the UTA/NIR rule book for the operation of guardless trains then CIÉ would have been required to operate its trains with a guard north of the border irrespective of what agreements had been reached with unions regarding workings in the Republic. The provision of a guard would have been an operational requirement dictated by UTA/NIR. Indeed, to this day NIR, as a policy decision, uses 'Conductor Guards' on its passenger services. This would have more to do with revenue protection and passenger securitry that the traditional function of the guard. But it still means two-person staffing of trains in Northern Ireland and, because of this, guards also operate on the Enterprise service despite IÉ/union agreement for OPO operations on the IÉ network.

Bogie van 2562 carried the suffix G. I think that this refered to heating by gas but I can't be sure. Anyone able to confirm or correct this?

The 2-digit number in the photos linked to by Richie (post #4) is the year the photo was taken. JL is the photographer's initials.

I think that there are two issues being confused here - (a) the elimination of brake vans on goods trains and (b) the doing away with guards on trains. The first, elimination of brake vans on goods trains, was, as has already been said, brought about by the introduction of fitted wagons on goods trains. When this happened the guard rode in the locomotive in, I think, the leading cab. The use of a brake van on a nominally fully fitted train would, I think, have indicated a problem with the brake system. The second question - doing away with guards on trains - depended on the availability of train radio on various lines. In the event of a train failure one of the guard's duties was to assist the driver in protecting the train and until there was a reliable method of doing this without the need for a second man the guard remained. Of course there were union issues in both cases but mainly in the second case where there was a reduction in jobs.

David, if you scan the pages and save them as JPEGs then you should be able to attach them to a post or a PM as photographs.

Outstanding Anthony!

Great resource Kieran and anyone else who contributed. A couple of minor points: 1994- 16 new Railcars arrive from Tokyn -'Arrows' 2600 Class - Should be Tokyu Car Corporation 1998-9 26 Spanish built 2700 Class arrived 'Sparrows' - Should be 27

Or monster bogies!

Less 'Madagascar', more just plain 'Mad'!!

This should link to a piece about the Silver Princess (you may need to scroll down a bit to see the item): http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9NHZm3um4WEC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=budd+silver+princess&source=bl&ots=QbL3TI8jeW&sig=9ErCpQOrZX3obA4jMmhHM5v1o7A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oiURU6_XE4rMhAff2YCYAw&ved=0CE4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=budd%20silver%20princess&f=false

:facepalm:

Reminds me of the tale: A Kerry tailor wanted to buy two new irons (a tailor's iron is called a 'goose'), so he wrote away to the manufacturers as follows: Dear Sir, Please send me two gooses.......... After reading the letter he decided that this wouldn't do, so he changed it to Dear Sir, Please send me two geese............ However, he again felt that there was something wrong and that the manufacturers would be laughing at him. Finally he hit upon the following: Dear Sir, Please send me a goose......... P.S. While you're at it, you may as well send me a second one.

Don't worry about that Eoin. The quality of your models stand on their own merits, landscape or not. I was critical of the first generation models, but you have listened to all the comments from various sources and the current version is outstanding. Well done!!!!

Stunning! Love the footbridge and the bay platform - shades of Mallow.

Hi jhb, Lidl have a cheap entry level Quadrocopter on sale from Monday 13th: http://www.lidl.ie/en/Offers.htm?action=showDetail&id=27290

They were all 30' 0" long over headstocks.