josefstadt

We're talking about IÉ management decisions here. When has 'common sense' ever been a factor?

Has to be on a single track line - two staff instruments. The hand generator is for sending the bell codes to an adjacent cabin. The right-had instrument has a space for a key on it. Is this a key for unlocking a starting signal, or something similar? The two different types of staff holders hanging on the wall are interesting. And the working timetable, also hanging on the wall, seems to be from the Great Northern Railway. Of course, all that doesn't get me any closer to deciding where the cabin is (was).

I give up!

There is nothing here to suggest that IÉ engaged anyone to produce a report. The PA item states that the changes were introduced '... on the back of research ...'. For all we know this 'research' might well have consisted of a member of staff looking out a window, or, more likely examining output from the ticket issuing/validating equipment or the on-board passenger counting equipment. Cutting back on excess capacity on the DART is not in itself a bad thing. There is no point in wasting electricity and incuring additional maintenance costs if the passengers offering can be accommodated in smaller trains. And there is also the question of passenger safety, certainly on late evening trains. Over the years I have on numerous occasions observed 8-car trains with only a handful of passengers late at night. Many potential passengers wouldn't have felt safe travelling alone in carriage. Would you like to be stuck on your own with a group of skangers in the rear coach of an 8-car set? There will be less opportunity for anti-social behaviour with all passengers concentrated in two vehicles. However, the operation of 2-car off-peak services will require IÉ to be much more pro-active in monitoring events which would be likely to generate additional traffic, such as concerts, sporting fixtures etc and be ready to increase train sizes to an appropriate level. I would be more concerned with the proposals for Intercity services. For example, the already underway plant to substitute ICRs for the MkIV sets on the Cork line. Will a railcar, possibly without catering facilities be attractive to passengers? Or will it just represent a dumbing down of the service? The latter I would suggest.

A 'Press Association' report on Yahoo.ie IÉ reads: 'Irish Rail is to run smaller Dart trains during quieter times of the day as it seeks to cut fuel bills by 3.2 million euro. The company said it is to run two carriages at a time from mid-morning to mid-afternoon and after 7pm at night to cut out heavy energy use. The off-peak initiative has been introduced on the back of research which shows almost two thirds of Dart passengers use the service in the four hours of rush hour in the morning and evening. Only one third of its passengers on the Dublin suburban rail line are on the service on the other 14 hours. Irish Rail said a range of energy saving initiatives already in place saved the company 16m euro last year alone and over the last five years overall energy consumption has fallen by a third. Other schemes being introduced will target the intercity fleet, with 45 four carriage trains and 18 three carriage trains being created to allow managers to combine sets from three to nine carriage trains depending on demand. "As well as savings in fuel and maintenance costs, the new fleet configuration will ensure train size can be targeted to meet demand, and increase train size and seat numbers on services which have experienced high numbers travelling," the company said. The changes on the Dart will come into effect this week while changes to the intercity fleet will be phased in by the end of the year. Irish Rail said that in total energy usage in megawatt hours has reduced from 793,400 in 2007 to 526,800 in 2012, a reduction of almost 34%.' It is strange, after all the years of larger trains, once again seeing 2-car DARTs scuttling up the bank between Killiney and Dalkey. They are really dwarfed by the landscape. On a more positive note, it will mean that those who want to operate model DARTs on their layouts (either Eoin's or the proposed D&M version) will now have a more affordable option!

Looking forward to seeing developments Phil.

About 6 or 7 packs in Easons, Dún Laoghaire.

Fantastic, as usual, Noel! See you in CY tomorrow.

Thanks for this tip 'irishthump'. I'll give it a go whenever I get around to track laying. I presume it works with any of the available model ballast (Woodland Scenics etc). Any idea of the ratios of ballast to Cascamite?

Somewhere along the Drumcondra line?

The Listowel & Ballybunion?

A - to Galway B - to Ennis (long section) C - Gort D - Woodlawn (long section) E - Attymon F - Tuam

To be pedantic: Mornington is north of Laytown. It is at the mouth of the Boyne. If I remember right the project foundered because of cost. Not only was there to be a new line connecting the port to the Dublin-Belfast line, but also a brand new deep water port would also have to be built. Why go to all that trouble and expense when there was a relatively underused (at that time) rail connection to Dublin Port? Also, I think the transport proposals for the ore from Tara to Mornington at one time considered using road transport. Another proposal involved adapting the Boyne Road site to allow trans-shipment of the ore from rail to ship.

Fire damaged 230 was hauled to Dublin Connolly on Sunday morning (25th) by 112. Also in the consist was MkIII EGV 89605. The pipes you saw were to connect the braking system on 112 with that on the EGV, the brake pipes on 230 having been damaged in the fire at Goraghwood on 6 June. Chris Playfair has photos of the train in York Rd, Belfast Central and departing for Dublin, see

In the October edition of Model Railroader there is a letter advocating the use of grey Polymeric Sand for ballasting. This apparently is a sand to which a water activated glue has been added and which is intended for filling in the gaps between pavers on driveways or patios. The writer says that the polymeric sand can be distributed along the track in the normal way and then only needs to be sprayed with ‘wet water’ and within 24 hours the glue has set, without any glue getting on the track or into turnout mechanisms. Has anyone used this product? The writer mentions a brand name ‘Techni-Seal’. Does anyone know if this product is available in Ireland?

Absolutely fantastic workmanship! The last photo looks almost real

Two Seacow hopper wagons on this page also. Only about 15 mins left to bid.

Indeed, it was the section of the M2 which runs alongside the railway near York Road station. If my memory serves me right, one of the problems in using these wagons for per way duties was that they had discharge doors on one side only.

I'd have to agree with 'thewanderer'. Routing passenger trains through the Phoenix Park tunnel would have a number of disadvantages: - a second platform (Plat 9?) would be required on the Glasnevin Jct line as the existing one can only be used by trains from the connolly direction. These platforms would be considerably less suitable from passengers who are travelling to a destination in the Heuston area or those who transfer to bus/Luas at Heuston. - the journey time from Plat 9 to Connolly/Tara Street would be roughly equal to the time taken to reach the city centre by Luas. The time taken to make ones way from Connolly/Tara St to the city centre would also need to be factored in. Travelling to Pearse and beyond would, I agree, be possibly more attractive if trains ran through to connect with the DART. - is the proposed terminus for Kildare line trains Spencer Dock or Grand Canal Dock station? - there would be different destinations for mainline and commuter services from stations such as Kildare and Newbridge, both types of train being used by commuters. In my view a better option, certainly in the short term, would be to beef-up services on the Luas by re-introducing Heuston-Connolly trams during the a.m. and p.m. peak periods.

Hi Timmy, The height of the layout is a matter for personal choice, partly based on your own height. About 40" seems to be popular. However some people like to have the layout close to eye level as it is said that this gives a more realistic view. Of course, in an attic the heigher you go the narrower the available space becomes. Unless you have access to both sides of the baseboard (and they were at an average height), I would suggest not going wider than 2' 6" as you will have to be able to reach across to attend to derailments etc or to clean the layout. Also don't forget that the distance from where you can stand to the furthest reaches of a corner will be greater - eg where two 2'6" boards meet it will be approx 42 inches into the corner. If you set the height of the baseboards lower than say 40" then the width could be widened a bit. Conversely if you go higher than 40" then the width of the boards would have to be reduced.

Apparently ICR sets 01 - 06, which are fitted with TPWS for working into Northern Ireland, will have the logo without colours whereas the remaining sets will have it in full colour.

Thanks Stephen. I knew there had to be a logical explanation, but couldn't figure out what it was.

The volumes of locos produced '... 504 0f 077 & 085 with only 252 of 111 & 8113 ...' seems strange. Any idea why it isn't, say, 500 or 250?

That's going to be one heck of a layout!

Is it an optical illusion, or is there something unusual about the coupling on the tender of the Class 58 in pic 3 / post 81?