Mayner

Watching paint dry! This Financial Times piece should put the cat among the pigeons, recent USA-UK trade "Deal" and its potentially repercussions for the British model train importers and distributors https://www.ft.com/content/52f7be1c-e708-4b01-b486-7f189a52c842 "China has criticised a trade deal between the UK and US that could be used to squeeze Chinese products out of British supply chains, complicating London’s efforts to rebuild relations with Beijing". FT Perhaps Accurascale consider on-shoring IRM sales and distribution to Ireland unless United States forces the EU into a similar "deal" Perhaps an opportunity for British modeler to "get back to basics" resume modelling and support the local industry by scratch and kit building

The challenge in converting a BR MK1 Full Brake into a CIE BR Genny Van is that the BR MK1 full brakes were shorter (57') than the Genny Vans (64'6") and the arrangement of doors-windows at the generator end of the CIE vans was quite different to the BR Full Brake. As far as I recall the CIE "BR Vans" were converted from MK1 Brake end coaches of two different types Brake 2nd & Brake 1st?) SSM did a brass overlay for a "BR Van" & Bill Bedford (Mousa Models" did overlays for both varieties of "BR Van" which should be suitable for any type of 64' MK1 coach. Another alternative is to convert a "BR Van" from a MK1 Brake end coach and block up the redundant windows at the generator end with plasticard & fabricate a set of louvers from plasticard to fit in one opening, there is other stuff such as modified roof & underframe detail and fitting B4 Bogies, IRM/Accurascale are apparently planning at some stage to introduce a CIE "BR Van"

Choosing between Dev and Collins and others that took opposing sides in the Civil War would have been likely to have been divisive until recently. Safer to choose executed 1916 leaders that were acceptable to both sides. From the Anti-Treaty perspective those that signed and enforced the Anglo-Irish treaty had betrayed the Republic, while from the Pro-Treaty side considered the Irregulars as in modern terms a group of Fundamentalists a real threat to the survival of the newly established Free State. Depending on perspective people viewed Dev and Collins either as heroes or traitors. Naming the stations after 1916 leaders was tied up with the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Rising and to stir up patriotic feeling and improve the Fianna Fail Government's election chances in 1967 General Election

I obtained digital copies of HMRS drawings without any significant problems, possibly contacting the society directly rather than using their on-line system. Though some drawings may not have been scanned in the absence of a digital image. At the time I was in search of evidence to undermine JHBs claim that no 'long' British style 4w coaches existed in Ireland and managed to track down a drawing of a WCIR 24' WCIR Railway coach from the 1870s with quite ornate panneling

Richard Chown had a pair of the original outside framed Big Boys on his Castle Rackrent layout possibly from a British manufacturers drawing or an 'Official' drawing from a private collection. There is a Brian Monaghan color photo of a MGW Convertible sandwiched between a pair of Long Toms on the Castle Rackrent "Keats and Chapman" mill siding Model Railways magazine possible May 76 edition There is a Metropolitan GSWR 1917 van (with end doors!) in the HMRS collection, there is no digital imaged but listed as as 17'5" ob interesting, but too short to be a Long Tom. Possibly someone on this group may have access to one of Richard Chown's Big Boys or access to Herbert Richards collection of wagon drawings Herbert (Herbie) produced high quality drawings of a MCW built GSWR 10T Open, GSR Grain, GN (Bogie) Guinness (Transport Research Associates), CIE 12T Standard Van (H) "The Irish Model Railway Company" 1964. Apparently Herbert who was once an MRSI member (way before the time I joined in the early 70s) was an active fine scale modeler with an interest in the GSWR who apparently built a model of Tullow station.

I ended up producing 4 different variants of the RTR 20T Brake Van in different liveries, the interior included a potbelly stove and hand brake wheel, but barely visible unless you removed the roof. Initial plans in 2020 was to commission a plastic injection molded model direct from China, but went down the 3D printed path as I wasn't convinced that I would sell 2-3000 required to break even. In the end sold approx. 100 over 3 years. May re-visit the Brake Van later this year, if time become available. SSM produce a straightforward kit for the 30T van, no soldering necessary basically fold up etched brass assembly of a Dapol Chassis.

This post was triggered by IEs recent announcement that it has signed an agreement to order 400 wagons over the next 10 years and a recent announcement that a NZ Developer Construction company is building an Inland Port in the South Island. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360688905/explained-why-company-planning-3-billion-inland-port-development-otago Which brings up the question of whether Irish businesses are prepared to build Inland Ports or 'a network of intermodal terminals offering logistic services nationally" as IEs Rail-Freight 2040 Strategy long widely describes them https://www.irishrail.ie/Admin/getmedia/685e9919-f012-4018-879b-06618bb536af/IE_Rail-Freight-2040-Strategy_Public_Final_20210715.pdf Although there were private sectors proposals for a rail linked Inland Ports at Clondalkin (National Distribution Centre and near Portlaoise during the late 1990s and even e Dublin Port proposal to build an Inland Port for container storage with its own fleet of wagons none of these proposals for a rail linked Inland Port materialised. Dublin Port deciding instead to serve "Dublin Inland Port" by road through the Port Tunnel and motorway network. Daventry International Freight terminal originally operated by Tibbett and Britten was an early example of a railfreight served Inland Port in England, locally the Port of Tauranga developed an Inland Port in Auckland (our largest city) about 30 years ago (think Waterford Port or Foynes establishing an Inland Port in Dublin) with rail-freight terminals shifting from railway owned land to private sector owned terminals usually operated by Logistics companies. Hamilton where I live a city with a population of approx 100k opened its 1st Inland Port about 25 years ago to serve Fonterra (NZ largest dairy sector operator) and as the cities railfreight terminal, more recently Kiwirail provided a private siding off the main line to serve a new Mainfreight Transport Depot on the outskirts of the City. Mainfreight is served by trip working to and from the local marshalling years. The latest development is the Ruakura Superhub https://www.ruakura.co.nz/ on the western side of the city with rail access close to a major road/motorway junction. Ruakura was mainly agricultural (ag research) until development work commenced about 10 years ago. Due to their large scale (amount of space) and simple rail layout contemporary Inland Port is not really feasible of interesting from a modelling perspective unless you model in Z or have a hell of a lot of space, Largely funded by the private sector sometimes with minor state sector involvement it will be interesting to see if similar rail served development take off in Ireland.

The EU 9503003000 TARIC & UK 9503.10.10 commodity code for "Reduced (scale)models, electric model railways" commodity codes do not appear in the New Zealand Customs schedule. effective 1st July 2024 https://www.customs.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/tariff-documents/wtd-2024/section-xx-july-2024.pdf The NZ schedule has grouped model railways into the 9503.00.09 tariff category which includes both toys and scale models subject to a 5% tariff 23C . . . . . Electric trains, including tracks, signals and other accessories therefor 55A . . . . . . Model railways and accessories, other than those of Tariff item 9503.00.09 23C While New Zealand has adapted the World Customs Organisation's HS Codes (6digit) different countries and trading blocks appear to have expanded beyond a 6 digit HS code to meet their own specific requirements. As an independent country NZ has applied duty to both toys and models in a 9503.00.09 category which are generally 0 rated in other countries. Its possible that the 5% duty on toys and models in the 950300.09 category is a hangover from the days the NZ Government protected local industry with import tariffs, apparrently at one stage Tri-ang New Zealand factory which assembled toys and models for the local market, apparrently including an NZ version of the "Transcontinental' train set.

In their final years of operation fitted H Vans may have had their vacuum brakes isolated. I member checking out Mullingar scrap yard in 1982 all the fitted H Vans seen had lettering to the effect that the vacuum brake was isolated. The vacuum brakes appear to have been isolated as the H Vans went through the Works as the lettering was neatly applied in a uniform style possibly with a stencil, which indicates that the brakes on the H Vans may have been isolated during the mid-1970s while still in use in regular traffic, so fitted and unfitted vans could be marshalled randomly in a train up to the end of loose coupled wagons in regular service. H vans ceased to be used for bagged cement traffic following the introduction of the Pallet Cement wagons circa 1976, sundries and general goods traffic up to the changeover of the Dublin-Tralee goods service to Liner Operation in 1978. North Wall-Sligo and North Wall-Wexford were the first goods to go over to Liner operation possibly 76-77, followed by Galway and Westport, Waterford and Limerick, finally Cork and Tralee. Cross Border transfer freights continued in loose coupled operation, but using modern equipment into the 80s. Possibly the last long distance use of H Van's in revenue service was a Dundalk-Kilkenny empty keg special in the late 70s the vans were stored/dumped a Waterford North Wharf afterwards. Long lines of stored H Vans often in reasonable condition was a common feature at several stations in the mid-late 70s(Templemore & Roscrea come to mind) waiting their final trip to Mullingar.

Back in the day (late 60s) Dublin City Services used to deliver the evening papers to some newsagents using its fleet of RA open platform buses. One day going home from school on a No50, I decided to continue to the next stop at 'the top of the road" rather than get off at my usual stop in Crumlin Village. The conductor gave me the job of delivering the papers to Reynolds newsagents shop in return for refunding my fare and free sweets from the shop, my first paid employment almost 60 years ago my how time flies.

They say there is an exception to every rule, NZ very much does its own-thing. While New Zealand a staunch supporter of Free Trade particularly unrestricted duty free access for our food and timber exports to Europe and US, NZ imposes a 5% import duty on toys including model trains not that we have an indegenous toy manufacturingindustry to protect. Apparently customs only levy duty on imports above $1000nz in value, I got hit a number of times when I imported high value large scale locos from the States which were bascially unobtainable on the local market.

Bread and Circuses basically Trump has sold the tariffs to the American people as something the Chinese exporters rather than the American consumer will pay. It may all work out in the end with the tariffs used to fund Federal tax cuts so American will be better off in the end. Interestingly the 30% tariff for the next 90 days anyway is not a lot higher that the 23% vat Irish purchasers pay on IRM models perhaps the Irish revenue introduce a 7% duty on toy trains to 'even things up' with our American friends. I found out to my cost about 1o years ago that New Zealand charges a 5% duty on toy trains when I imported a loco from the States.

I don't bother sealing or painting a baseboard before tracklaying its not really necessary unless you use a water/moisture absorbant material like MDF I wouldn't worry about movement/weight of the scenery affecting the track wiring, the most important thing is to make sure the trackbase/baseboard is adequately supported/braced. Stripwood possibly 75x25 planed all round is probably the best option for baseboard framing for a 1st layout. I would recommend 12mm ply B Grade (min surface defects 1 side good) as a minimum for a baseboard though I used some 9mm A Grade I had surplus from a job for this layout, it looked good was of adequate strength and free! The ply framing on this layout was ripped using a powered table saw with the fence set to ensure the ply was ripped to a consistent width, I bought the saw when I was a jobbing builder. All ply baseboard North Wharf layout started 2021, dense foam ground sheet used as track underlay. Peco track laid on PVA(school glue!) loose ballast applied Loose Ballast scattered on track, weights should then be placed on track to prevent movement until glue sets (a board with metal weights on top) DCC wiring track bus/feeds black and red remaining wiring to Stationary Decoder used to operate Peco point motors. I usually cover the baseboard edge with a painted hardboard fascia sometimes contoured to the profile of the scenery/landscaping. Ground cover ash, ballast and grass is basically woodlands scenics scatter glued to a foam track underlay some on a bed of glue or dilute water/pva/washing up liquid using an eye dropper, embankments formed expanded polystyrene carved to shape with a knife

While MDF because of its weight has good sound deadening qualities, the downside is that unless you use water resistant MDF it swells and distorts if it gets wet. I generally use a 5-7 ply plywood preferably Birch or Scandinavian in the 12-18mm thickness for strength and rigidity, though I recently used 9mm finished ply on a plywood framed layout on a portable layout. I generally install cross members on a ply or timber framed baseboard at 600mm centers. In the past I had MDF baseboard surface swelling when I used a PVA and water mix while loose ballasting a layout and problems with drumming and sagging when I used 6mm ply as the trackbase on a layout about 30 years ago. At the time I used to glue the loose ballasted track to cork underlay which contributed to the drumming These days I use dense foam (camping ground sheet) underlay with ply baseboard surface/trackbase with track glued (not pinned) to the baseboard to prevent drumming.

Looks like "Everything is Awesome" now the White House claiming that they reached a 'trade deal' with China, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/11/us-china-trade-talks-geneva-intended-de-escalate-tensions-lutnick,. I guess someone on the US side realized that China banning US food exports and 'essential mineral' exports would piss off powerful interests in farming/agribusiness and within the 'defense' sector. I guess its likely to have no long term impact apart from possibly higher prices for the 'model railway industry' , though possibly China setting up a small number of 'high tech' manufacturing plants in 'rust belt states' in a similar manner to Japanese companies setting up assembly plants in the States and the UK during the eighties after Japanese imports decimated the UK motor industry, Honda Swindon, Nissan Sunderland, electronics plants Telford. Main issue is that US and British Outline tends to sell to an older demographic of collectors who may end up having to dispose of their collections as they go into retirement homes before reaching the deceased estate stage, so potentially a glut on the second hand market. One friend in our Garden Railway Group bought/acquired several friends collections as they got older/passed on before loosing interest in the hobby (active in model boating) then passed on his collection to former group member, one mainly model Die-Cast retailer/dealer makes no bones about specialising in deceased estates. Though according to the IRM guys their sales were to a younger demographic than Accurascale. Like everything else as I get older I have accumulated more model railway stuff than I can handle/deal with, unless a child is from a reasonably wealthy family cost has always been a barrier to entry to the model railway hobby, but the younger members on this board demonstrate a high level of ingenuity and creativity. When I got my first 'proper' train set (Triang-Hornby) as a 12/13 year old it ran on battery power for the 1st year until I saved up enough pocket a transformer. Like many 'older people' I am probably getting to the stage of having more models than I can comfortably manage or appreciate in my collection though I continue to buy/assemble the occasional model. I would not be too worried about the younger generation, model railways has always been an expensive hobby for a youngster getting started, they will find a way into the hobby if interested, the younger members of this group demonstrate a high level of creativity and ingenuity in their modelling. I got my first proper trainset (Triang-Hornby) at 13, but quickly got involved in 'modelling' as I loved taking things apart & sometimes managed to successfully re-assemble them, largely dependent on buying second hand until 19 when I had a paying job. Railways becoming 'less interestin" from the perspective of an older generation does not seem to be a factor the same argument seems to have been going on for many years, interestingly some of the younger members of this Newsgroup are interested in modelling the steam era (& lines that closed) 60 years ago!