Patrick Davey

How remote does that look!

Cheers GL - happy Easter to you and to all here!

The last major item on the snag list - the inset track which crosses the access road to allow vans to be shunted into the mill. I could for some reason never get this right - the check rails always sat too high and the vans would ride up over these on their way into the mill, so I have admitted defeat and applied timber inserts. And they are actually timber - made from coffee stirrers!!

Fantastic Alan! Will you be going for BCDR or UTA livery?

Just catching up with this incredible thread - amazing work Ken, truly amazing. Hope you are keeping well too.

THE COPING STRATEGY Nearly there with the 'snag' list before I can officially declare Brookhall Mill to be 'finished', if a layout can ever really be described as such. One of the two remaining items on the list was to replace crumbling card coping stones: thin ones on the gun emplacement and thicker ones on the boiler house under the water tower. The card was only crumbling because I didn't quite prepare it properly. Anyway I wanted to use DAS clay to fabricate new coping stones. DAS gives a really good 'stone'-like texture I think, so that was where I was going..... The smaller ones for the gun emplacement were straightforward enough - DAS was rolled out to a thickness of around 2mm and once dry, appropriate lengths were trimmed off and shaped accordingly. The thicker blocks for the boiler house were produced as follows: 1. Plasticard formers were assembled - careful measurement was needed to ensure consistency. 2. DAS was spread inside the formers and left to dry for a few days. 3. Once dry, the lengths of dried DAS were carefully removed from the formers then sanded and scribed to represent individual stone blocks. 4. The blocks were coloured using a HB pencil and glued in place. I might add in some greenery for weeds later. This is the gun emplacement with the DAS coping stones in place and coloured: Good old DAS!

That scene of the loco steaming through the countryside on the approach to Newry is almost timeless!! Sensational stuff! Taking your life in your hands with the others though!! She's fairly moving up the bank past Fr. Murphy's!

All splendid vehicles David and I am full of admiration for your prolific scratchbuilds and modifications - those turf loads must have taken a long time to prepare, are the carriages full of the chopped matches or have you inserted a raised level inside each vehicle so less turf is required? As always, quite inspirational!

Looking good - following with interest John.

Nice touch with the headboard - another stroke of genius from an RPSI legend, whoever that was, take a bow! Super HD quality videos as well.

Cracking video!!! Bet the gentleman was a bit emotional

Those are magnificent videos - sorry folk got drenched but the rain adds atmosphere!!! Amazing to see 131 steaming past the location where she spent so many years as a static exhibit, sporting those 'Hornby'-esque white wheel rims. Amazing work by all involved to bring her back to the mainline. They deserve all the credit in the world. Am sure Noel Playfair was on the minds of many people yesterday. Thanks for sharing those fabulous videos!!

Cheers for that Sean, even though I read most of it with a glazed expression (no reflection on your summary, purely to do with my own ignorance!) ..... but I appreciate your endorsement of the A class chips, thank you

Impressive miniature engineering!!!!

Should have thought of you first!!! If the digital bug bites I will be back..........

Have taken the plunge and entered the digital age....yikes.... Does anyone have a MM 121 sound chip that they might sell? TIA **UPDATE: Got one!! Marks Models to the rescue!!!

Lovely! Looking forward to seeing it at Bangor.

Always good to see updates John. A fine layout!

Update: I have decided to park this plan for now and instead use the Adams Radial chassis to upgrade my ancient Studio Scale Models T2 loco, which will be of more use to me when Brookhall Mill - hopefully - starts making appearances in the real world! But all the help and advice above is very much appreciated - filed for possible future use!

Perfection Alan!

A long way from home!! Cracking scene JB.

Working through my 'snag' list..... with thanks to @Galteemore and others for suggestions along the way. 1. The red water bag has been toned down and dirtied a bit, and the crane has a bit of greenery. The drain is now also rusted. 2. The lifebelts are now a more appropriate colour for the era. I tried to use masking tape to get sharp edges between the red and white, but the eyesight had other ideas.

Ok how have I missed this video - it's knockout!! Thanks for sharing!! Cracking variety of locations and motive power throughout, steam into Ardee, B&T diesel at Warrenpoint, NCC mogul on the Antrim branch....scenes at Pomeroy..... superb. The early sequence (from around 01:00) of Newry Edward St. seems to have been taken post-1965 closure so after the rest of the footage I think? I wonder were any forum members on board this wonderful outing..... did I notice an angelic @leslie10646 at one point I wonder....? Fantastic video - getting another watch now

Kells, Co. Antrim, narrow gauge Ballymena & Larne line! You're thinking of the GNR(I broad gauge Kells on the Oldcastle branch! There was another one too, Kells, Co. Kerry, on the Valencia Harbour line......

Very interesting thread - enjoying this one!