Patrick Davey

It was something of a great pleasure to visit this stunning layout as Alan prepares it for its first exhibition outing.

THE BCDR COMES TO CLOGHERHEAD Extremely rare footage has just emerged of a BCDR train at Clogherhead. Apparently the holy man St. Donard of the Mourne Mountains was a follower of Gannet the Great of Clogherhead and this inspired the two communities to work together to create stronger bonds between them. During the morning of Saturday July 23rd 1949, a special BCDR pilgrim train left Newcastle, Co. Down, heading for Banbridge. The train was hauled by 442t No. 30 and consisted of three BCDR six-wheel carriages - this is now the first and only recorded time that a BCDR train worked to Ballyroney and beyond. Upon arrival at Banbridge, a GNR carriage and Y van were due to be added to accommodate additional pilgrims and their provisions, but due to unexpected issues with coupling the GNR stock to the BCDR stock, this took a lot longer than expected and the Y van ended up being placed between two of the BCDR carriages. The train then proceeded towards Laurencetown to join the GN main line at Scarva, before running non-stop to Drogheda. The BCDR locomotive caused quite a stir there as it ran around the pilgrim train, prior to heading north again and taking the branch to Clogherhead. Despite the late arrival, the day was a huge success and strong community bonds were created that fine summer's day long ago. BCDR.mp4 Some pics from the above! With special thanks to Alan @Tullygrainey for bringing his stunning BCDR stock to Clogherhead today.

Nice spot!

The B&W view of 'Enniskillen' - just wow!!!!

Magnificent on every level!! Loved the concept of this layout from the beginning so it's great to see these superb views David! Hope the soldering station situation gets sorted too of course. You might need to send for some fitters from Manorhamilton.

Looking forward to these - they'll fit nicely into my current project.

Just catching up on all the photos on this thread, wow, simply wow.....those GNR locos are something else!

Wiring - ugh..... not my favourite job. Give me ballasting any day.......

I see these fine wagons are now showing as sold out on the IRM website. Two packs heading my way hopefully soon

Looks to be positioned a bit deep?

Those are two amazing views JB - the GVS one is very poignant, full of amazing detail - the signals, the telephone box, the huge signal cabin and water tower both still there, the Erinmore factory on the far left, so much to ponder! The Adelaide one is fantastic too - the grimy UG, the GN ballast wagons, the polychromatic brick buildings, the UTA open wagons, and the sweep of Black Mountain down towards West Belfast - I can just about make out the spire of St. Teresa's church on the extreme right, which still stands tall and proud today, my son went into the school next door this very morning. Thanks for these JB.

Great Victoria Street station in Belfast is closing tomorrow for good (actually it's really just being relocated slightly and expanded a bit...) so I paid one final nostalgic visit today and also took a hop over to the brand new York Street station. GV Street Finale.mp4

Sadly, the other members of the flock do not have a voice

One afternoon, Mr. Sandy Castles, the Clogherhead stationmaster, was getting totally fed up with the incessant chatter of the seagulls around his station. But Sandy was a quick thinker, and soon the reinforcements were arriving...... Seagulls v Locos.mp4

Welcome James - looking forward to enjoying your contributions and to watching the progress on your layout.

Yes indeed. Pity about that carpet..........

I don't mind Sam's videos - yes they're a bit long and I squirm at the sight of the trains running on the carpet, but I like his style.

Just out of interest, does anybody have one of the brand new Hornby Black 5 models? I have no intention of going down that route, but I was just interested as it was hailed as the ‘ultimate’ Black 5 yet it hasn’t received universal rave reviews……..

Best one yet!

Indeed, I believe this may have been mentioned before……. during a discussion about Gannet the Great and his followers

The missing one must be on the beak….

47 birdies ready to stick on the layout. One seems to have flown off…..

Yup - it was potentially very expensive, but I was lucky enough to be able to get them on higher perches!