Patrick Davey

Enjoying the progress

AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION FOR THE CROSSLEY DEBACLE? In the late 1950s, the Great Northern Railway staff at Clogherhead terminus became aware of strange happenings taking place in and around the station. Things started to get particularly weird once CIE took over in 1958, and it was quite noticeable that the new diesel locomotives which were beginning to appear would regularly break down at Clogherhead terminus, noticeably more frequently than they would elsewhere on the system. One dark winter’s evening in 1959, the Clogherhead stationmaster, Mr. Sandy Castles, was locking up the station after completing his paperwork for the day, following the departure of the last evening service to Drogheda. As he turned the key in the station front door, he became aware of the soft tones of Gregorian chant drifting on the wind from the direction of the church which overlooked the station. Not wishing to investigate on his own, Mr. Castles quickly mounted his bicycle and rode off into the night. Similar happenings had been reported by other railway staff working late in the evening, so the head porter and renowned outdoor pursuits enthusiast Cliff Walker decided to do some research to see if he could find an explanation. After studying historic maps and other sources, Cliff discovered that the church and graveyard were built on the site of an ancient abbey founded in the year 876 by a holy man of the sea, named Gannet the Great. Gannet had been appointed as the abbot of the community, despite having no prior experience. The community had a particular interest in the conservation of seabirds, and other prominent members included Friar Fulmar and Brother William, who was also the barber for the community, rejoicing in the name of Razor Bill. The abbey was ravaged by the Vikings around the year 1000, with the most feared Norseman of them all being the later inventor of snooker, the flame-haired Inoff the Red. Many years later, a community of lay sisters set up home in the abbey grounds, always keeping a respectful distance from the holy men. Two ladies of that time have been named in historic sources: Sisters Kitty Wake and Gilly Mott. Gannet the Great was himself renowned for his prowess in the cultivation and cooking of potatoes, whereas Fulmar was more of a seafood connoisseur: Gannet was therefore known as The Chip Monk, whilst Fulmar became The Fish Fryer. The abbey, and the members of the community, have long since passed into history, although reports of strange apparitions are not uncommon. Local tradition has it that the spirits of Gannet and his community were very happy when steam locomotives appeared on their old lands, because of the puffin. It is also believed that they strongly disapproved of the new forms of motive power which began to appear in the late 1950s, so there may well be an alternative explanation for the unreliability of the Crossley-engined locomotives. And, unsurprisingly, this was their favourite seabird.

Interesting ideas @mphoey

Thanks everyone for the continued encouragement, and positive comments! Things have got a bit dark on the layout over the past day or two, in fact, you might possibly say I have lost the plot…..

Very interesting John, thanks for taking the time to share your extensive thoughts, and all the layouts look pretty good to me!

Gorgeous models but I think the prototype livery is not particularly nice......... Edit: I mean the Galway livery.

I think the beach is largely finished. An important scenic tip is to use as much colour variety as possible, especially with scatter material, so adding some darker and thicker material has helped the image of the shoreline I think. It also gives the impression of a buildup of seaweed although I might develop this further using black thread and PVA glue. A lot of the details here are from the excellent Scale Model Scenery range, they can be a bit fiddly but are worth the patience and effort because they are very fine and make a big difference. The deck chairs in particular produced some innovative swear words, but overall I’m happy with the result. There isn’t enough room to employ resin to represent the sea but the sand is actual sand from the real Clogherhead beach

Beach progress.

Intoxicating! You must have a good head on you. Plenty of proof. Sorry…. The distillery is exceptional, and I concur that it is hard to believe this is N gauge!

I might do that, indeed, once I have everything in place

A few appropriate details added today, from the excellent Scale Model Scenery range: noticeboards & lifebelts. I am currently working on some very fiddly deckchairs and windbreaks too for the eventual beach, and I have also created the path which links the station to the beach. Coming very close to the moment when I can add the actual sand from the real Clogherhead beach, hopefully tomorrow for that

Safety first - a lifeguard lookout is on the workbench this evening. Definitely one of my weirder scratchbuilds!

A few more details arriving shortly too, to complement the cabinet

Getting impatient to get the sand down on the beach so time to improve access! Both units are made from mount board covered in Das Clay, the larger one will eventually form part of a path which will run from the station to the beach.

Heartbreaking for everyone at Hatton's if this is the direct cause of the demise. Heartbreaking all over.

Dodgy doings at Dugort

Too much information there JB! Each to their own I guess.........

Thankfully I was still able to order 4 lighting packs from them for the 4-pack CIE genesis I have on order although I felt really sad doing so. Hard to take it in that such an established and significant name in the industry will shortly be no more.

Always sad to hear this kind of news - they have been very good to their customers and I will look forward to receiving my Genesis coaches.

See the above @leslie10646

Two steam projects - interesting! My money is still on one (or both?) being preserved RPSI, maybe one blue and one green/black/grey although I’m still not convinced that IRM would overshadow OO Works with an even better J15. And I suppose it doesn’t even have to be a preserved locomotive, since the OO Works U and UG sold out….

Even though the railway is not as busy as in former years, the beach is still popular with families, so the emergency services need to put in an appearance from time to time. Pictured at Clogherhead beach today is an ambulance from Dundalk. With special thanks to Kevin Enright @Louth of this parish who kindly donated the ambulance to me when he discovered he had two - this is the impressive Oxford Diecast Dundalk Fire Service ambulance. Thanks, Kevin!

A bit more detailing today: the beach now has a nameboard, along with two typically garish beach huts and a food kiosk, all made from mount board, they will be weathered of course, to reflect the dilapidation theme of the project. Progress was also made on the promenade and the wave defences, more on this tomorrow I hope.

No idea how I managed to upload an empty post….. hopefully admin can delete this one and the empty one because I can’t see how to delete posts

So here’s his week’s progress: Concrete wave barriers for the beach and coping stones on the sea wall: Access boardwalk for the signalman (this will need weathered as the cabin is disused) along with bedding in of the cabin and a chain link fence around it: