Patrick Davey

Nice prototype!

All these nice wagons are super (two packs heading my way!) but I wonder when we'll hear about the steam announcement........?

On 18/4/2024 at 7:27 PM, derek said:

Count sheep like the rest of us Patrick

Or corrugated opens - I just bought a second packet!!!

The noise will be so bad I might need a herring aid........

I have just bought 48 seagulls.......

A bit of insomnia at the min so I may as well be creative…..

All in good time folks!

Moving towards the endgame now, the fiddle yard board has been constructed.

Just wondering what the latest is with the Hattons Genesis coaches in CIE livery, does anyone know? Last I heard was they are still being produced?

Some appropriate period posters added to Clogherhead.

On 13/4/2024 at 2:02 PM, mphoey said:

if it was to allow an rpsi sales version 171 is obvious as the rpsi main identity loco and due to come back shortly into service

Exactly my theory for some time now!  But I have been completely wrong with my predictions on each and every IRM announcement so far.............

9 minutes ago, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

Good start, I'm going to have to take the plunge because I really don't like my locos, coaches and wagons looking like new all the time, were you worried about the result Patrick?

Yes because I was afraid of overdoing it, it can be addictive!!!

Tried a bit of light weathering tonight on three of my locos - just a bit of dry brushing of light brown around the bogies and lower body. The glossy black (or silver!) plastic on the bogies in particular was beginning to niggle at me, so it had to go!  I will let this sit, run a few trains, and see what I think before possibly taking things a stage further.

Super photos JB! Mr. Weaver sends his regards!

See the cab detail too - am in awe!!!

Just wow!

https://www.facebook.com/the9glens/posts/745167731129927

Very impressive, GL!  I love the sense of space, the very neat trackwork and of course the fabulous liveries!

To balance out the insanity above, here's the final video in the current history of the final four decades of Brookhall Mill, covering the 'swinging' sixties and the 'sad' seventies.

Enjoy!

3 minutes ago, Broithe said:

On my list for this year is a visit to Mt Brandon, via the site of the Focke Wulf Condor crash, which brought the first Germans into internment during the Emergency.

It was a fairly gentle affair, as plane crashes go, resulting in one broken ankle between the lot of them.

One of them married in Ireland and lived here afterwards.

His son became an Aer Lingus pilot.

Anyway, I like to imagine the son taking off from Shannon, turning west for the USA and announcing "If you look out of the windows on the left side, half-way up the mountain, you will see the mark my father made when he first landed in Ireland, and some bits of the plane" - this would be followed by a very quiet cabin for the next six hours...

That would surely be a 'condor moment'.

It later emerged that Hans had planned to make contact with a spy, who was masquerading as a Ballinderry farmer, called Heinz Bean.

8 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said:

Clandestine? In that uniform? 

He was under strict instructions to wear the uniform until he landed at his planned hideout, after which he would change into camouflage…..

THE DAY HISTORY WAS MADE AT BROOKHALL MILL

The residents of Lisburn and the surrounding area were very familiar with the sounds of the many military aircraft which frequented the skies above this part of South Antrim during the Second World War.  Between the Spitfires flying in and out of Long Kesh, the Coastal Command Catalinas heading across to Lough Erne and the heavy USAAF B17s stopping off at Langford Lodge on their way to Britain, the residents knew them all and could identify the engine sounds with ease.  It was this knowledge which alerted them to an unfamiliar sound which was heard in the skies above the Lagan Valley one dark night in October 1943, a lone aircraft with an engine sound very unlike those of the familiar RAF and USAAF types.  The intruder seemed to be circling around Ballinderry and it wasn’t long before the telephone rang in RAF Aldergrove, and a Hurricane night fighter was scrambled to investigate.  However the suspected enemy aircraft had made good its escape and nothing more was heard of it.

Early the next morning, Mr. Weaver at Brookhall Mill pulled back the blackout curtain of his bedroom in the station house, and was immediately greeted by an unexpected sight - a parachute was wrapped around the small chimney of the boiler house beside the railway platform, and dangling precariously below was the parachutist, whom Mr. Weaver assumed was an enemy combatant who had missed his intended landing spot.  The man was hanging about 30 feet above the ground so Mr. Weaver immediately rang the local police station for assistance, and before long there was a large crowd on the platform, staring up in amusement at the stranded airman.

Eventually the airman was rescued and brought down to the platform, and once free of his harness, he stood perfectly upright, snapped his heels together and identified himself as Unteroffizier Hans Watchimflappen of the 307th German Parachute Corps.

Unteroffizier Watchimflappen was then escorted into Mr. Weaver’s office, where two policemen kept him under close guard until the military could attend and bring him into custody.  Mr. Weaver felt sorry for the unlucky German and immediately arranged for breakfast to be brought across from the mill kitchen, a full Ulster fry washed down with strong tea.  Unteroffizier Watchimflappen was very grateful for this kindness and then noticed that Mr. Weaver’s office grandfather clock was not working.

“As a gesture of gratitude for your vundervul kindness Herr Veever, I vish to be permitted to repair ze clock.”

Mr. Weaver consented and immediately Unteroffizier Watchimflappen approached the clock and barked “I haf vays of making you tock…” - immediately the ancient timepiece rumbled back to life again.

Mr. Weaver and his unexpected guest remained in the office for around an hour before the military arrived, and during that time they chatted extensively, with Unteroffizier Watchimflappen making it clear that he had had enough of the war and had accepted that Germany was not going prevail.  He also freely admitted that he had been sent on a clandestine solo mission to gather intelligence on Brookhall Mill and that he had been dropped by the mysterious aircraft which had been heard in the skies the previous evening.  Mr. Weaver was certainly more than pleased to hear that his humble operation in this quiet part of County Antrim had come to the attention of the German Intelligence, as this assured him that the work they were doing was making an important contribution to the war effort.

Soon a detachment of RAF Military Police arrived from Aldergrove and as they prepared to take Unteroffizier Watchimflappen into custody, the German had one final request to ask of Mr. Weaver:

“Herr Veever, I vonder vud you permit me to make a brief telephone call to ze German Embassy in Dublin, zat I may alert zem to my presence as a guest of ze RAF?  I vill of course ensure zat appropriate recompense is made to you for ze telephone call”.

Mr. Weaver was only too pleased to permit Unteroffizier Watchimflappen to make the call to Dublin, and there was never going to be a requirement for him to pay for the call.  And so, history was made that day at Brookhall Mill, when the first telephone call was made, that could truly be described as ‘Hans free’.

Any chance of more photos and videos? 

4 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

What’s the loco fireman’s favourite Elvis hit? ‘love me tender’. I’ll get me coat - Teddy boy jacket of course ….

Excellent!!!!

Thanks for the nice feedback on my 1940s video!!!  Here are Elvis and Johnny Cash to continue the story into the 1950s: