Patrick Davey

Coincidentally, I happened to be at Capecastle today and with the owner’s kind permission, I took some more photographs.

SOMETHING EXCITING!!! A while back I noticed that @J-Mo Arts of this parish had done some amazing work creating a CAD image of the locomotive I’m hoping to have running on Capecastle, Ballycastle Railway No. 2 ‘Countess of Antrim’. He very kindly sent the CAD file to me and a friend had a go at printing it, and the results are very encouraging! The Countess has returned to Capecastle!! Alan and I are currently assessing the potential of this print as it was done using a mid-range printer, so it may not be fully useable as it is but it’s certainly a fantastic start!! With sincere thanks to @J-Mo Arts A short clip of The Countess running on Alan’s previously built brass chassis. I am being totally spoilt here, between @Tullygrainey Alan building the chassis and @J-Mo Arts providing the body! FullSizeRender.MOV

Hi everyone - I’ve just uploaded a new video to my ‘Brookhall Mill’ YouTube channel, entitled ‘A Class Act’. It’s an appreciation (not a review) of the IRM A Class models which were released back in 2021. I’ve put a good bit more effort into this video than was the case for previous videos, so I’d be very grateful for any comments and also any corrections!! It’s centred on my Clogherhead DCC layout and has lots of sound effects and a newly-composed soundtrack too. Lots of people helped me with this video and also with my A Class ‘journey’ to date - all are credited at the end! Thanks for watching and I hope you all enjoy!! Patrick https://youtu.be/J5QyaovuGIo?si=b3tPdTyVQ6NXpmoV

More rackets than Wimbledon

Indeed, and worthy of being the main feature in a future edition of RM!

Had a brief but excellent catch up with Alan this evening and he kindly permitted my taking of some photos of his current layout build ‘Kilmore’. No need for any descriptions for the photos - just incredible!

There's a film crew at Clogherhead at the moment - something must be happening........

David was that an off-the-cuff remark? No doubt you will tell me to button it before I get collared...... Love those GNR U Class locos - pure elegance! More fantastic selections Ernie.

A truly magnificent signal box

Folks during the time the IRM lads were keeping us updated with the progress of the A class, they produced a superb livery timeline graphic, showing how the livery each of the A class locos they would shortly produce fitted into the overall A class timeline. I thought I had the graphic downloaded but it appears not, and the link from here in the forum isn't working - would anyone have it downloaded by any chance? Cheers - I have also asked IRM directly.

Delighted to meet ‘The Countess’ tonight, or at least her chassis and running plate! @Tullygrainey Alan is making great progress with our joint project to build Ballycastle Railway loco No. 2 ‘Countess of Antrim’ for Capecastle 2. I’ll probably spoil it when I try building the rest of it Thanks Alan - your precision is, as always, remarkable!

Ummmm…….

Plan B has already been agreed Once this installation starts to show its age, I will install a separate dowel for the other turnout.

I didn’t think this was going to work but miraculously, it has!! My usual method of turnout control, ie a wooden dowel under the board with one dowel per turnout, has received an upgrade - on this baseboard, a single dowel now controls both turnouts of the crossover, thanks to a nifty bit of mechanical jiggery-pokery Well chuffed!! I have also placed wooden knobs (behave) at each end of the dowel so the crossover can be operated from either side of the layout (noting Alan’s cautionary tale of a wee lad doing exactly that at a recent exhibition when Alan was trying to operate The Stone Yard!) The successfully operating crossover: FullSizeRender.MOV The double-knobbed dowel: How it all works underneath: Obviously it remains to be seen how durable this installation will be…..

Lovely stuff - great progress!!!

A touch of foliage now in place at each end of the limestone siding.

An impressively precise approach to the glazing, how do you place the masking tape pieces with such precision Darius? This is a cracking build!

Definitely no need for any further weathering than this, a bit more added between the rails today. Plus I’m not going to overdo the foliage either, maybe just on the limestone siding as it would have been less used. Also a few suggestions of oil deposits, where locomotives might have been expected to stand.

Gulp

Purely the latter

Cheers - am thinking just a tad more dark between the rails and that should do it.

Slow but steady progress - track weathering and foliage. And the point rodding has been oiled Will possibly add more dirty track colour and build it up until it looks right. In the period of this project, the line would have been open for over 30 years, so I am guessing that this would have been enough time for the permanent way to accumulate appropriate levels of grime.

Ha ha not sure I can produce anything to the same level of magic as this! Looks amazing Alan!!

Fabulous - love the station building too JB!

Even with the talk of new layouts elsewhere and selling others, life goes on at Clogherhead.