skinner75

Easy peasy to rip up tarmac in the future if the demand is there for rail, which it appears not to be at present

Are the pocket wagons able to handle the extended 40+5' containers, or has the extra 5' addon made them too small to take those containers?

I think freight comes through Athlone from Dublin around 12.30pm-ish, and then heading towards Dublin it passes through around 4.30pm (I think)

These have gone on to a good home today

Exactly this - I don't have any layout, but I am still buying the IRM releases as they come out. I'd be a right eejit to not buy them when they are released, and then in X years time when I have a layout, have a whinge about crazy secondhand prices when IRM have sold out!!

Have you seen what old Nintendo stuff goes for?!?!? (doesn't mean that they'll get it, but the rare games market is crazy) https://www.ebay.es/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=nintendo+rare&_sacat=0&_sop=16

I remember getting a ride around the track as a kid many, many years ago! It is just a simple oval of track - possibly dual guage?

I came across this on YouTube- a look at the way things were back in the day. Oh for catering like that these days! Enjoy a trip down memory lane https://youtu.be/ocnE95oVDW8

Doesn't look like it, going by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqs5hCjS8sQ

I must have a gander up the attic - I've a few MIR kits unbuilt in boxes that could go to someone who'd appreciate them from a historical perspective

I gave one of these sets away a year or two ago!

Don't worry, a proper pandemic will come along and make a major population correction - Covid wasn't it by a long, long way. One with 20~50% mortality rate would solve a lot of the worlds problems...

I can't see those on any of his ads - either sold or withdrawn. Are you talking about other ads on the site from different sellers?

I just spotted this on Adverts - went up 3 days ago: https://www.adverts.ie/toy-cars-trains-boats-planes/model-railway/27875433 May help fill an A3R sized whole in somebody's collection!

When are the black&tan ones due out?

As you say George, that is pretty much industrial harvesting, apart from the poor sods (pardon the pun) having to stack the turf by hand for drying out. Get rid of the machine cutting, and see how many people would still like to go out and hand cut the sods - very, very few I would imagine! Not too nostalgic for that part of it I reckon

Ireland should seriously look at offshore wave power - we are ideally suited for it, being on the edge of the Atlantic and all that. No unsightly-ness that you get with the windfarms - they are placed around 5km offshore, and are barely visible from the shore. Unlike wind, they will provide power on calm days, as they use the swell of the sea. I reckon the Germans are looking at us wondering why the hell we haven't got them in place already!

No X20 route anymore - which is crazy. It was great for me, as from Athlone to Dublin, it was a straight run up the M6/M4. During the summer, always plenty of tourists in Busaras taking it down to Galway. Yet, the route was canned - go figure!

Nice! I think the ones Brian Collins did weren't dual rear axle

Speaking of late running 071, I heard one last night powering out of Athlone close to 10pm last night - not midnight, but still late enough

Great bit of humour from the driver - legend! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A4Xy3OWozA

I've been watching a few of the Mid Hants Railways youtube channel vids - especially the 'In the Loop' ones, and anything rebuild. Very interesting & a lovely looking preserved railway! https://www.youtube.com/c/MidHantsRailwayTheWatercressLine Vid of the Diesel Gala here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6gB3Y8PhhQ

Please upload the photo here so those of us not on Facebook can see it

You could always give pipe screens a shot - don't know how close they are to the pattern of grille on the 071, but they are cheap for lots of them: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Tobacco-Pipe-Screens/zgbs/hpc/10342670011 Another option could be a frying pan splatter guard: https://www.woodies.ie/splatter-guard-1104390?gclid=Cj0KCQjw54iXBhCXARIsADWpsG8Ni9YrNcb_QiZyAhYD0capGcoRacnEyyUPS1QjmiWkOTaJOxER_u0aArIBEALw_wcB

Not ebay, but I spotted this old Lima HST set on Adverts today - may be of interest to somebody here: https://www.adverts.ie/other-antiques-collectables/electric-train-set-boxed-antique-lima/27222158