josefstadt

I've just tried the journey planner for a trip from Sandyford Industrial Estate to Bantry. It gave me 5 journey options which included a choice of bus or Luas from Sandyford to the city centre, the Aircoach service (curiously described as a 'Cork-Dublin Airport-Dublin City service) from Dublin to Cork and a Bus Éireann service from Cork to Bantry. In no case was the option of Dublin to Cork by train suggested, nor was the BÉ / GoBus Dublin-Cork service offered. Also, for the Sandyford-Dublin sector there was no mention of DB route 114 to Blackrock and then DART to the city centre as being an option. On another try I managed to get a option for Aircoach from Leopardstown-Dublin Airport, then Aircoach Dublin Airport-Cork and finally BÉ Cork-Bantry!

On a minor note the planner refers to LUAS instead of Luas.

Fantastic job with the ballasting.

Greetings Patrick! The first of many posts no doubt. Love the look of the rolling stock. More pics please.

You could paint them in the livery carried by the new Enterprise loco-hauled sets when they were introduced in 1970. This was maroon and blue separated by a thin white stripe. See the video 'Testing the Helix' in post #28 of the Kirley Junction thread in Irish Layouts. It would be quite acceptable to run these alongside CIÉ stock in Black & Tan and even the original MkIId livery. Of course you really should haul the Enterprise stock with a Hunslet but you could imagine that it ha failed and a CIÉ loco was substituted.

Fantastic layout. Love the pic of the ballast wagon being loaded with the stone 'pouring out of the front end loader's bucket.

Beautiful models.

Any suggestions for back of the rearmost sidings? The shortlist at the moment is:

 

- Very low relief back of terraces with either tall concrete wall in front, or blue sound proof screening fence type thing

- Very low relief industrial / warehouse type buildings

- A mix of both above

- Just a big tall wall!

 

Or could do a 11 foot type wall, with some trees and stuff visible behind?

At the end nearest the station I'd suggest having the low relief backs of houses, with a red brick wall between them and the tracks. At the end furthest away from the station you could have low relief industrial buildings with a fence separating them from the railway.

Gerald Beesley, formerly with CIÉ and then a railway business and engineering consultant before becoming the current Irish Railway Safety Commissioner, was instrumental in both ARC and National Power acquiring GM EMD locomotives during the 1990s.

The Bachmann 'Blue Pullman' is reviewed in the November issue of Model Rail and it certainly looks like a superb model. Cost £349.95 or approx €436. Not too expensive when you consider that one gets six vehicles, with both the driving cars being powered. The Model Rail reviewers give it a 98% rating.

Magnificent job Shinkansen. Really like the look of the train in the second last photo with the carriages stretching off into the distance. It's just a pity that we don't have the opportunity to travel in what was probably one of the best type of coaching stock to operate on the CIÉ / IÉ network!

As you say the cost of the made up bridges is very high, $445 for the BLMA ones seems excessive, even if the model is as large as it is. Hidden-agenda's solution would be your best bet. Span the 5 ft gap using either a strenthened piece of timber or a piece of H or I section metal bar. Then build a cosmetic representation of a bridge around this. This way you would span the gap at a reasonable cost. The 'bridge' could be hinged to either swing horizontally like a gate or lift vertically like a flap in a counter.

The lights make the whole scene very atmospheric. Reminiscent of somewhere like Thomastown on a winter's evening, I can imagine the signalman sitting by the warmth of the stove in the cabin.

Superb layout. Well done.

A nutcase if ever there was one!

Superb work. Worthy companions to your bogie container wagons.

Looking marvellous Kirley. I too like the 70-class.

Fantastic finds Minister! The 'Old Photos of Dublin' site has lots of other interesting and evocative images on it.

Indeed, Joe was a true gentleman who always ready to share his extensive knowledge. May he rest in peace.

The certainly were (are) the most attractive DART stock externally, though, as Warbonnet says, the seating left a lot to be desired. That said they had become something of an eyesore in Fairview and a bad advertisement for the DART. One thing intrigues me: why were 8203 and 8405 paired for the move rather than being with their original partner vehicles?

Lovely job. Well done.

I don't think that they have done work on it. Its still under the tarpaulin and its condition could be described as even more decrepit!

If I remember correctly didn't one of the DARTs have a striped 'buffer beam' originally?

Now 98 days. Get the wish lists in quick!

Hi BosKonay,

The two sections of rail in the centre of each track in the foreground are at expansion joints in the CWR. They provide strength and stability to the joint. In the background are what look like impedance bonds which have something to do with the DART power supply system. I think they connect the track to the earth wire of the overhead supply system. I'm not sure how they work exactly, but they are only found in the DART area. So, if you are modelling a non-DART area or a pre-DART time then you can ignore these.

Hi BosKonay. That's a superb layout. Am loving watching the progress you are making.

The CAWS signals are transmitted through coded track circuits and are picked up by aerials mounted on locomotives, railcars and EMUs ( the driving vehicles only - not the intermediates). You can see the aerials on the DARTs under the driver's cabs. On the GMs they are also under the cabs but are a bit harder to see as they are behind the loco's skirts. There is no track mounted equipment in the same way as the TPWS has the grids. The only lineside equipment woul;d be the red/brown coloured location cases. For pictures of axle counter equipment you would have to visit one of the lines / station areas recently resignalled or new lines - eg Greystones-Rosslare, Clonsilla-M3 Parkway or Portarlington.