Patrick Davey

A MORE REALISTIC PLAN!! Having reluctantly parked my plan to create an exhibition layout featuring the GNR station at Killylea in County Armagh, my always-restless mind has moved towards some alternative and more realistic ideas for the next project to follow Capecastle. And I think I might now have the answer!! Laurencetown is a small village in western County Down, and from 1859 to 1955 it had a railway station - this was opened by the Banbridge Junction Railway which connected the large town of Banbridge to Scarva on the Belfast-Dublin line, until the line was absorbed into the GNR(I) in 1877. The line served linen mills along quite a scenic stretch of the River Bann and must have provided a convenient connection for Banbridge citizens into mainline trains. I have a childhood memory of visiting the site of Laurencetown station during the glorious summer of 1976, as one of my family friends had a connection to the railway at Lawrencetown and he presumably knew that I would be interested. I don’t remember much about the visit as I was only six years old at the time, but I do remember seeing wooden sleepers remaining in place along the trackbed. Laurencetown station was quite small, with a single platform on the down side, on which stood a classic WH Mills station building. There was a loop off the up side of the running line which served a stone goods shed, and the stationmaster’s house, of a non-typical design, stood close to the station building. A stone overbridge spanned both the running line and a portion the goods loop, at the Scarva end of the station. There does not appear to have been a signal cabin. Here’s a nice shot from the excellent ‘Banbridge Back in the Day’ Facebook page, showing the miniscule GNR Railbus at the station in 1950: A short distance away from the station, in the Banbridge direction, the railway crossed The River Bann on a sturdy three span girder bridge, at the far end of which was a level crossing where the bridge met a road bridge which also crossed the river: The station was crammed into quite a compact location which makes it an ideal subject for a ‘micro’-type layout, especially because it has the classic overbridge at one end to mask the scenic break. And…… there is the potential for the project to proceed in a two-stage plan: Main station area, with fiddle yards at each end with ‘half’ a bridge as one of the scenic breaks Complete the remaining half of the bridge as part of an additional scenic module which features the girder bridge over the River Bann, connecting to the existing fiddle yard which will be relocated further back. This has the big advantage of breathing new life into the project and hopefully sustaining the interest but of course when stage 2 is completed the layout will no longer be a micro I was last at the site of Laurencetown station back in 2021, and took the following photos, showing the overbridge, derelict stationmaster’s house and the platform, which is visible if you study the yard closely: The overbridge still remains at the station site, along with the stationmaster’s house which looks to have been recently renovated after being derelict for a long while - a site visit is planned to verify this and also confirm if the platform is still extant, the most recent Google Earth photo suggests that it has been redeveloped: I have now amassed a decent collection of GNR(I) locomotives and rolling stock but no layout based on this line would be complete without a model of railcar A, which operated the majority of the services on the line during its final two decades: https://mikemorant.smugmug.com/Trains-Railways-British-Isles/Irish-railways/Irish-railway-archive-GNR/i-MmN5vXm So that’s a potential scratchbuilding project to throw into the mix! But now my attention must return to Capecastle and the legendary locomotive ‘Countess of Antrim’………

Mighty!! Would love to see one of our weathering gurus replicate in miniature the weathering as seen on 124 above!! Along with, of course, a miniature Mike Beckett.

A BUSY MOMENT AT CLOGHERHEAD Had this station ever actually existed, I don’t believe that this level of activity would have been too commonplace…… It was at times like this that the top brass at Amiens Street must have regretted closing the signal box at Clogherhead in 1950. It’s a summer Saturday in June 1955, and there are three steam locomotives creating a lot of noise on the county Louth coast. No. 205 ‘Down’ will be the first to depart, with the empty stock of an excursion that she has just brought across from Castleblayney and other stations to Dundalk: the carriages are going to Drogheda for cleaning before returning to bring their excursionists back to the Irish North. No. 147 will follow with an unusually heavy morning goods train for Dublin before number 64 will round off the trio of departures with a train of (mostly) empty coal wagons headed to Dundalk. It’s not often that the continuous cackle of the Clogherhead seagulls is surpassed, but it certainly was on this occasion.

Great programme, very sad though

Waterford too - ish

Thanks Rob - I should’ve done that, but I will aim to do so on my next visit. It would be a great subject! I always aim to please PS…… a more realistic plan is in the development stages!

UPDATE: I have decided that the above plan, appealing as it was, is totally impractical for the space I have available and my meagre transport capacity. But it was nice to imagine!

Magnificent!

Tasty! 3 on their way to Clogherhead.......

Sounds like a great day - well done all. All the layouts look great!

Enjoy the trip Leslie!! Looking forward to seeing you in Dublin!

Ok just a couple more……

Real coal added as well. Big improvement. Or at least it will be, once the PVA dries......

Very much enjoying having these two locomotives running on Clogherhead

Excellent but sad film. The scene at the remains of Tullymurry station is well done.

Lovely stuff!! Those Hatton’s carriages look right at home

Actually yes.....there are a few small tweaks which could be made: * Open out the top of the chimney (these are solid on both my OO Works locos) * Coal in the bunker * Crew in the cab * Valve gear underneath (access easier from the fireman's side) * Subtle weathering This could become obsessive!

Black beauties at Clogherhead this afternoon

My first ever locomotive renumbering! OO Works UG previously in UTA livery as No. 49, is now GNR 147 in plain black.

Nice selection!

The buses wanted to get in on the fun as well.

Great Northern steam superpower. Aesthetically pleasing from any angle.

Thanks Fran - always worth the wait! Looking forward to the update.

Surely RPSI would be better positioned to put in a tender?

The ‘allsorts’ livery might have been adopted by Bassett-Lowke? (Reaching for coat…..)