Patrick Davey

Fantastic Tony!!!

Looking forward to this! https://www.facebook.com/312792468816066/posts/2456475314447760?sfns=mo

The LNWR ones are due in stock in 2021.... Sure the line to Greenore may well be opened again by then.......

Fantastic Tony!

Yum

Thanks David - yes indeed a suitable backscene is in planning - ideally based on a photograph of the area but if not a general one with lovely blue skies (no rain!) and fluffy clouds....

Cheers JB, much appreciated sir! Thanks G! Indeed!! Might be more authentic to have it out in the snow, to recall the time in 1947 when the train left Capecastle and ran into a snow drift......

Did a daylight photoshoot - hard to beat natural light

Decided to computer print the station name board. Am not 100% sure of the colours ie black on yellow but some of the broad gauge stations from around this time adopted this scheme so it’s an educated guess until colour photos emerge!

I had a go today at making the station name board using Slaters 3mm letters - with the over 40's eyesight working against me, the result isn't overly pleasing, so I may have to admit defeat and print this from the computer. The nun is a HO figure from the Preiser range and I'm impressed at how well she stands up without any adhesive.

Great window!!! and of course am daft - I’ve seen your Dromahair thread, fantastic stuff!!!

Sounds nice! Which station? Or are you keeping that on the QT? Looking forward to seeing it!

The reverend ladies on the platform are actually authentic - my mother's cousin was a nun in Ballycastle and she had plenty of memories of the railway, and that's not the only family connection I have to the Ballycastle line: my great grandfather was a driver on the BR in its independent days AND a great uncle of mine lived in Capecastle before emigrating to the USA. I can imagine him starting that sad journey on the very platform I am recreating here.

These comments are out of order (boom boom).......

A few more ‘artsy’ ones.....

Some further updates.

Too ‘narrow’ Leslie - very good! I suppose it’s hard to ‘gauge’ the demand..... My era is just before closure (the dreaded ‘Withdrawal of Services’ notice will be displayed). But as it’s a static diorama am not that bothered to have a train, just a few hoppers in the limestone siding perhaps!!

Yip, just as soon as some brave supplier releases a range of RTR LMS NCC narrow gauge stuff!!

Success!! Nicely bedded in - just need to add foliage and some planks at the front to hide the gap (the original setup had some planks as far as I can see) then just need to dull the roof a bit.

Fascinating stuff thanks JB, as always!

Yes indeed

Yip, plenty of photos of those ancient vehicles, and indeed my mother remembers them from childhood visits to BC. Did I read that they were brought to Ballycastle - very slowly - along the NG line, with NG bogies attached? Can imagine the anxious moments getting them through the tunnel..... Part of the challenge in these scenarios is is to make a ‘best guess’ decision based on sometimes very limited evidence - my next guess will be to do with the colour of the station nameboard and the lettering thereon.....have only seen colour photos of NCC-region UTA nameboards from broad gauge stations and they had either black lettering on a yellow background or red lettering on a cream background (nicer!). Will assume that one of these will be correct for the NG lines, until more concrete evidence emerges. JB, what would one give to have a copy of the Ballycastle line survey that JB Senior authored.......

I’ve also noticed from looking at the photo that I have placed the platform too far away from the track.....fixable by adding a new platform face in front of the current one, although it won’t really be noticeable without a train present, which won’t be likely. Still, if it starts to annoy me I can fix it ok. ⛏⚒

The only photo of it which I have seen JB is from an angle (in Colourpoint’s excellent reprint of Dr. Patterson’s book) so hard to be sure - the van seems to have had a non-original roof added which makes me think it might have been one of the ‘open head’ vans, therefore needing to be fully covered over for use as a building. I eagerly await further photographic evidence...... I wouldn’t normally do this but here’s part of the photo I’m referring to, Admin can remove if breaching copyright......

I can add a sign saying ‘No Peco vans were harmed during the making of this diorama.’