Patrick Davey

It’s Easter Saturday 1972, at Clogherhead terminus in Co. Louth. Things are much quieter these days, particularly since Butlin’s holiday camp at Mosney is at the height of its popularity and has taken a lot of the traditional excursion traffic away from Clogherhead. A party of boy scouts from Lisburn in Co. Antrim was due to arrive this morning for a day trip to Clogherhead, but the line between Dundalk and Newry was closed overnight due to a security alert at Kilnasaggart bridge, so sadly the scouts won’t be going anywhere today. Instead, Clogherhead will only see its regular workings, consisting of morning and afternoon passenger services to Drogheda to connect with main line trains, but today these will mostly only be going south. There will also be the daily goods working, with far fewer wagons these days than before, along with a number of other movements. This will be pretty much the norm until the Clogherhead branch, along with the nearby goods-only Ardee branch and a few other lines around the country, closes for good in November 1975. Starring: Murphy Models 141 class B147 Irish Freight Models ‘tin’ van Murphy Models Craven coach Silver Fox steam heating van Hatton’s ‘Genesis’ passenger brake Irish Railway Models H van Palvans from Enda Byrne JM Design 20-ton brake van Gas tank wagon, scratchbuilt by Gareth Brennan Murphy Models 121 class B125 Irish Railway Models A class A3r Irish Railway Models ballast wagons 30-ton brake van, scratchbuilt by Gareth Brennan Provincial Wagons H van With grateful thanks to all the makers of all the above fine models!

Magnificent David - gotta love Sammy the Shunter!

Late evening at Clogherhead.

Superb - would love to see a 'cab ride' view!

Impressive!!

Agreed - wonderful evening. Highlights for me were the shots of Pomeroy & Dungannon.

Don't worry - I will, afterwards! I'm bringing a packed lunch........

Alan will be fuming at these puns.....

Stacks of research needed.....

Leave has been granted Leslie - see you tonight!

All fine here. But I try not to visit too often in case I buy an 800, which I definitely do not need.......

Nice to see a MGWR subject - @jhb171achill will be pleased! Lovely prototype too.

And with sound:

Recently I decided to establish a twin focus of 'classic GNR' and the 'black & tan' era, and with the help of @WRENNEIRE Dave I was able to acquire a nice sound fitted Murphy Models 141, one of the new batch. The black & tans are out in force in Co. Louth today! And always thinking of Paddy Murphy and his recent passing.

Great to see you too Damien, hope the journey home was good!!

Lovely layout Dave - good to see you too.

The iPhone cameras weren't great back in 1943 I'd say......

Some Kilmore filter experiments - which is best?

Corrected!!! That was a good catch Alan!

Apparently, the fish vans were made to scale……

A short video of Kilmore in action:

An excellent show in Bangor last weekend, well done to the North Down Model Railway Society for making it all happen. Here are a few of my photos from the show - see separate post with more extensive coverage of Alan Nixon's 'Kilmore'. First up, Neil Jackson's exceptional 'Evenwood' - just look at that signal box!! @Dunluce Castle Nelson is looking justifiably proud of his dad's exceptional work!!! And rightly so. Everything about this layout impresses, the trackwork, including the disused sections, the buildings (wow) and the scenery, not to mention the other structures and the actual trains! The MRSI's charming 'Ballyglunin' or 'Castletown' from 'The Quiet Man' film: Two legends of the Irish railway modelling scene, Enda Byrne & Leslie McAllister, who are now combining their considerable talents to bring us even better stuff!! Great craic with these two chaps yesterday! Ian & John Sinclair's 'Dunster' - packing a lot of detail into a small space and presenting some of the neatest ballasting I have ever seen! And finally a few more views of Alan Nixon's 'Kilmore':

Feast your eyes on this selection of photos from the North Down Model Railway Society's Bangor show last weekend, showing the absolute masterpiece that is Alan's BCDR-inspired layout 'Kilmore'. And being the modest chap that he is, Alan probably won't mention that he got an award!!! Thoroughly deserved - well done sir!! Everything you see here, apart from the actual track, was built by Alan! Three of Co. Down's master modellers - Alan Nixon, Gordon Hunt & Kieran Lagan Love the perfectly-positioned poster here, not sure it was observed at a model railway exhibition

Enjoyed a visit to the North Down MRS show this afternoon, photos to follow, meanwhile these were my acquisitions: Two of the new GNR(I) 9-ton vans from the new collaboration of two legends @leslie10646 and @Past-Avenue Enda!!! Another of Enda's gorgeous Palvans, to go with an existing one And........ This little beauty is a CIE gas wagon, scratchbuilt by Gareth Brennan. Superb! I am the very lucky owner of a few of Gareth's exceptional scratchbuilds now. Great show - always a pleasure to meet friends old and new!!

Gulp What is the era/inspiration for this project Darius?