Mayner

The post was intended to advise the group of potential problems running NCE decoders on DC track power. The really startling thing was the NCE help desk advising: " you might be better off removing the decoder and making it DC only' If I wanted to run the loco on 5V DC or less! NCE advised that: A DCC decoder circuit board requires 5V DC in both modes to function correctly. DC performance below 5V can be sketchy due to the decoder's instability. While catering primary to the American outline market NCE also produce decoders with Europen NEM interface and have a reputation of producing a quality project. I originally purchased the decoder (only suitable decoder available locally) to convert a LGB (G gauge) loco to DCC. Although the decoder instructions recommends first testing the loco on regular DC, the instructions table of Factory default values CV values indicate that the decoder was supplied with analogue mode disabled. At this stage the decoder could be a moot point to potential buyers, the majority of local G gauge tends to run on DC or on-board battery power. The loco is more likely to considered in the good-fair rather than the mint boxed condition by potential buyers.

Had an intereresting response from the NCE helpdesk about a problem I was experiencing operating a loco with a NCE decoder in analogue mode. One of my locos is fitted with a NCE decoder (supplied with analogue mode disabled.) The loco would only run in one direction (forward) on DC once I enabled analogue mode. NCEs response was: 1. Their decoders required a min 5v DC in both modes in order to function correctly, and 2. NCE recommended removing the decoder if I intended running the loco on 5v or less.

Visited the Mariazellerbahn on a day trip from Krems in 2004, while visiting Austria while en-route (very indirect) from Ireland to New Zealand, via Austria, the UK and the USA. We only had time to ride the lower section of the line to Grenrendorf to check out the steam loco in its shed, the shed staff were friendly but we struggled to understand each others English/German but had a good time. I guess its unlikely at this stage whether we will get to travel the length of the line to Marizaell. Bottom section of the Mariazellerbahn reminded me of the Welshpool and LLanfair a wlesh 2'6" gauge line built with minimal earthworks, following the contours with sharp curves. I think we rode to Grenrendorf behind one of the original C-C electrics and returned to St Polten in a diesel railcar We travelled by Ryanair to Graz and rode over the Semmeringbahn to Vienna. At the time the majority of Obb services were loco hauled with recently introduced electric locos hauling older coaches sometimes working push-pull with a 4w covered van attached at the rear for bicycles! Graz was interesting a kind of Austrian Clones a junction between secondary lines complete with a roundhouse, though the station building was a modern structure with raised car park above a goods/marshalling (fiddle yard?) Shunting was scary with loose/gravity shunting of freights arriving from a harbour branch (Danube)/local industries. Shunters (human) used to place a "sprag/s" on the rail infront of in-coming wagons and casually enter the 4' to stand between the buffers of a stationary wagon to couple up, wheels of arriving wagon would skid when it hit the sprag and nosiily buffer up to the stationary wwagon/rest of the train, shunter would then couple up (screw link) attach brake hoses and then get ready for the next arrival, no room for errors. Commuter train to & from Vienna were made up of loco hauled modern double decked push-pull sets, with diesel railcars and occasional loco hauled sets complete with 4w van.

I tend to agree a Dutch or BR Van would be more appropriate/useful than a 4w Van for those modelling the 1972-early 2000s era. While Dutch and BR Vans were used on trains made up of Park Royal and or Craven Stock, a modified air-braked version of the Dutch Van was used with the MK2 a/b coaches introduced during the 1990s long after the Tin Vans were withdrawn from service. Modelling the 50-70s era in RTR form is bound to be more challenging because of the sheer variety of locos and stock in use and small size of the market/level of demand. Ignoring the GSR and pre-amalgamation coaching stock, Inchacore went through three distinct phases of coach design (some with multiple coach types) during the 50s and early 60s while BR built the majority of its coaches to the MK1 design

A few points: Accurascale only announce an new model when its reached the tooling stage, potentially 12-18 months (for a coach) after making the decision to produce the model. So potentially a 12-18 month wait for Accurascale to announce a Tin Van even if they make the decision today. While the idea of a pack which includes a Heating Van and a Luggage Van appears attractive to the potential buyer, a pack requiring two separate sets of toolings and production lines is likely to be less attractive (profitable), than a oack of 2-3 models produced using the same tooling and production line. While Accurascale are producing 3 distinctive versions of the CIE Pallet Van they are only available in packs containing a single variation (of end or door detail)

Probably prompted by Celtic-transpot's recent post about designing a micro-layout based on IE practice set in the 90/00s era. I experienced similar problems during the late 70s trying to fit a OO gauge Irish outline layout into the box bedroom of my parents home and switched to N Gauge out of frustration trying to fit a small station (Dunboyne, Meath Road) and fiddle yard into an 9' space. The absence of suitable N Gauge locos and stock wasn't an issue as any Irish outline model involved an element of modification or scratchbuilding regardless of the scale or gauge, added source of frustration was the recently introduced Lima HO/OO Class 33 & OO Class 50 were not the most reliable of runners. After a false start with a continuous run layout based on Kilmessan Junt. on a folding 8X2 baseboard, although the layout operated reliably my carpentry wasn't quite up to it to support the hinged joint and the 180° curve on the scenic section at the Dublin end of the station did not work visually for me, difficult to justify a tunnel in the valley of the Skane between Kilmessan and Dunsaney. I got round modelling the Athboy branch by running the lead to the branch up to the baseboard edge. In OO a similar layout would take up a length of approx 16' with a width of 5-6' to allow for an oval track layout with storage loops on the opposite side with a min-main line radius of 2' Next layout was end to end featuring a terminus station based on Foynes, a scenic section which featured a 5 arch viaduct, a halt/small station based on Ardfert and fiddle yard all on 1' wide shelf baseboards on 3 sides of an 11X11 room. The terminus was on a 5'X1' baseboard (approx 10'x2' OO) a 2'6" x1" curved section linked the terminus to the 5' viaduct section, the halt/small station was on a 4' board, the fiddle yard at 90° to the halt/small station. The Viaduct section (across the bedroom window) was a lift out section supported by the baseboards at either end. Operationally the terminus and fiddle years were capable of handling a 5 coach passenger train and 15 wagon goods trains, with operation based on contemporary CIE practice 2 main line passenger to and from Dublin daily, a night mail, loose coupled goods or Liner train of bogie wagons, Block Oil train or cattle train. Stock was initially British outline rtr, CIE diesel locos later entered service with plasticard or kitbashed rtr bodies on Rivorossi and Arnold chassis, British outline stock re-painted in CIE livery with some modified/kitbashed stock e.g pairs of MK1 BK end coaches modified into BR Vans and CIE Full Brakes, Bagged Cement scratch built plasticard body on std Farish 4w wagon chassis, generally meeting the 2' rule, buildings scratchbuilt in embossed and plain plasticard based on Foynes (incl roof) Ardfert and low relief office/public buildings from Sligo I found operating the layout satisfying running regular Sunday morning operating sessions for the 2-3 years the layout existed, while I quickly seem to loose interest operating smaller layouts with less operating interest. The N gauge layout was abandoned following a house move and I started work on a 4mm 21mm gauge layout based on Ballymoe on the Mayo line in a 17'6" X8' attic 2-3 years later, layout did not progress beyond the basic tracklaying stage and some station buildings due to a move to the UK. I refurbished the attic and started work on an American outline continuous run layout following my return from the UK 10 years later, initially set up oval test track around perimiter of attic to establish maximum feasible train length using Kadee couplers while I built a couple of 3'6 X1' modules based on the N Trak principal in a spare bedroom (7' max length available above workbench!) While it was feasible to operate a 50 (American freight car) train on the test track, I decided on a maximum 15 car train length (30-4w British/Irish outline) on the planned N scale layout (2-Co Co 3-5-Bo Bo locos) both to keep/yards/trains at a reasonable length to fit in the attic and avoid having to double/trebble my car fleet in order to operate the planned train sequence. The layout was eventually constructed with a fixed baseboard around the perimiter of the attic to accommodate the staging/ hidden trackage with modular scenic sections featuring an industrial area and yard on one side of the attic and a section with a tall steel trestle and a small town with crossing place and industrial siding on the opposite side. The layout was in a looped 8 format with trains having to complete 2 loops of the room to return to their starting place! Although we had a number of operating sessions with visiting operators, it was only really feasible to run long distance "Symbol Freights" from staging to main yard or staging during our operation sessions, and the crossing place and industries seldom operated. I dismantled the N scale layout following our move to New Zealand in 2004 and although we began expanding the Nscale (re-using the Irish built modules) into our 24'X10' garage in Auckland with the intention of creating an American style 'walk round" layout with central peninsula, we once again moved home in 2007 and shifted to Large Scale modelling in the garden, although American outline the operating concept is similar to the Irish outline layout I built over 40 years ago. Staging/fiddle yard (complete with turntable & pilot loco) in the garage, an intermediate crossing siding (American for loop!) and spur (siding) and terminal with sidings, spur tracks and loco depot. Although freight trains can load to 10-12 cars, 7-8 cars (14-16 Irish 4w) seems to be the happy place in terms of loco haulage capability and works visually (looks like a reasonably long train.)

Possibly float the idea with Marks Model about minimal order quantity for Hornby to comission an Irish version. No retooling as such so basically set up costs for a livery variation similar to Marks commissioning of the UTA Jinty. Possibly sell well in Cork because of the local connection and general general modellers looking for a small loco with minimal effort.

New Irish Lines (NIL) newsletter issued a collection of loco and tender diagramss from the "GSR Drawing Register" between Sept 2104 and Dec 2016. Apparrenty it was originally intended to publish the diagrams as a companion volume to Locomotives of the GSR(The Bible) Clements and Mc Mahon Colourpoint 2008. While reasonably detailed diagrams of ex-GSWR locos omit a section/end view, some diagrams of locos from smaller absorbed companies (West Cork, Macroom,Tramore) and GSR built locos are basic outline in nature and not really suitable for modelling purposes. https://newirishlines.org/ The NIR editor Alan O'Rourke may be contacted at alanorourke@hotmail.co.uk Tim Cramer published a series of articles on CIE/GSR locos & stock in the British Model press between the late 1960s and 90s, the articles typically combined detailed drawings, photos and notes on particular classes. Model Railway Constructor (69-70?) Plans Page--CIE (GSR) No 90 7mm Drg elevation, plan and sections. ---CIE Class B4 4-6-0 ex CBSCR 4mm Drg elevation, plan and sections. Unfortunately MRC Plans Page were undated, but likely to have been published at some stage between 1969 & 1972 Model Railways, Irish Miscellanery 1. "At the sign of the Flying Snail" (1975/76?) 4mm Diagram with principal dimensions (& section) and notes CIE (ex-GSWR) D19 4-4-0 2. "CIE (Ex MGWR) D16 4-4-0 Apl 1976 4mm Diagram with principal dimensions (& section) and notes 3. CIE (ex MGWR) J26 0-6-0T Oct 1976 7mm diagram 4. The Yanks at Inchacore" CIE B141 Class Mar 77 5 Argadeen T&C 2-6-0T May 77 6. GSR 800 Class "Maedbh" Oct 1977 Tim also published a servies of articles and drawings on rolling stock incl Atock MGW 6wheelers Brake 3rd, Lav Comp and all 3rd. I am happy to forward copies of the magazine articles on request.

ISO Containers had replaced Covered Vans and Open wagons for general freight during Celtic-transport, the original posters 90/00s preferred modelling eara. Since the late 70s coal and scrap metal was transported in open topped (full height) ISO containers on 4w Flat Wagons, (load not visible when viewed at rail level). Containers used to transport coal (Foynes-Ballina ) and scrap (North Wall-Galway) were basically standard 20' containers with the roof removed. During the late 80s/early 90s some new freight flows emerged sometimes loaded on private sidings, Avonmore Mollasses--Foynes to the Midlands, Cawoods Coal Dublin Port & possibly Dundalk to Arklow and possibly Sligo, Avommore Bulk Grain Waterford IAAWS (siding) elevator, possibly Foynes, later North Wall- Portlaoise One possible scenario would be for the loading/unloading to take place on a private siding (behind a high wall) offscene possibly with an industrial loco (RH 88DS or similar) carrying out the shunting while the Main line loco delivers and picks up a complete train. With 'modern' fitted wagons you don't have to worry about finding space to fit a Brake Van. I once built and exhibited an 8'X2' (incl 2' fiddle yard) British outline industrial layout which featured a working hopper for loading 'ore" into mineral wagons. The layout was based on Iain Rice's Bankfoot design though added a working hopper for loading mineral wagons rather than the cable worked incline in the original design. The basic operating pattern was that a 'main-line" loco would arrive or depart with a train of a max of 5 wagon if operating self contained while a second smaller industrial loco shunted the yard breaking down and making up the trains shunting the wagons under the hopper to be loaded 1 at a time. Physically loading the wagons certainly added to the operating interest and visitor enjoyment at exhibitions. The Airfix/Dapol/Parkside mineral wagons of the era were quite robust, we simply emptied the wagons into a plastic container, I hadn't the space or desire to build a working wagon tippler

One of the main drawbacks in attempting to model IEs freight operations during the 90s-00s was that individual wagon load traffic had ceased and the majority of private sidings had closed by the late 70s and CIE essentially operated a 'no-shunt' railway that operated fixed formation trains. While the majority of private sidings were set up to handle train load traffic, a number of private sidings continued to operate connected to Dublin Port's Alexandra Road Tramway that handled short(ish) cuts of wagons into the 00s. Wagons were mainly (apart from Tara, Asahi & Cawoods's coal) moved along the tramway by Dublin Port tractors, though locos coupled and brake test carried out to ESSO Oil trains while on the Tramway before crossing East Wall Road. One alternative would be to assume that CIE/IE had taken a more pragmatic approach and continued to operate individual wagon load traffic and private sidings using its fleet of 'modern" fitted wagons introduced from the mid-60s onwards not unlike BRs "Speedlink' wagon load service that operated between 1977 and 1991. Dunkettle may be just about doable for a mini-micro layout with a single siding serving a Texaco fuel rack, with two short sidings crossing the road to serve (a) Burmah Oil (b) Roofchrome Factory/later Tivoli Port. Tivoli siding was served by a trailing connection only to the Cork-Cobh Line so trains departing Cork for Dunkettle ran wrong road. Marino Point, Mallow, Barrack St and Adelaide were basically laid out to handle train load traffic possibly without short sidings, Barrack St closed disconnected by mid-1990s following the opening of the new terminal on the stub of the Irish North Line. The up yard at Rathpeacon was quite extensive likely to have been disconnected when CTC was extended south from Mallow during the 90s. One of the long roads in the up yard was used as a lay bye siding to allow North bound passenger trains to overtake freight/Liner trains during the late 70s, once travelled on the evening Cork-Dublin train that overtook the B&I Liner that had departed Cork st about half an hour earlier. The yard was later used to store a rake of GSRPS coaches after the connection to the GSRPS base at Mallow was disconnected from the railnetwork around 78-9 in connection with the extension of Cork line CTC to Mallow.

J R Campbells merchants was one of the signature features of Drumshanbo with its short siding, corrugated store and timber/farm gates stacked against the railway wall encroaching onto the platform! The station building and corrugated store on my Keadue layout (wife calls its a diorama) some day I must replace the wooden fence with a stone wall as a rest for some Campbells stock of farm gates and timber.

Back to the Wreckbench. Decided to dispose of a pair of my older Large Scale locos that haven't turned a wheel since I converted the garden railway from DCC track power to battery RC seven or eight years ago. Mainly to clear up space to start work on a 4mm layout. One of the locos an LGB Forney 0-4-4T turned out to be a bit of a challenge. Originally bought as an "1881 Wild West" loco from a US dealer, she was fitted with a NCE 4amp decoder and went through a partial repaint before entering service on the Jackson County about 16 years ago. Interestingly while the Forney type were rigid main frame locos with a trailing bogie, the LGB Forney is closer technically to a Single Fairlie with a centrally pivoted power bogie and powerful-sure footed despite their relatively small size. The Forney became one of the every day workhorses of the Jackson Country until replaced by (larger!) battery RC powered locos as I shifted from G (mainly 1:22.5) Scale to F (1.20.5) scale following a 2016 visit to the Colorado narrow gauge. The Forney type was mainly used on the Maine 2' narrow gauge and standard gauge elevated suburban lines, theoretically LGB narrow gauge models are meter gauge, though may have taken a pragmatic approach and simply "re-scaled" its Forney to match the proportions of its other American outline stock (mainly Colorado 3' gauge). "The fun and games" began when I attempted to enable analogue(DC) operation on the NCE decoder. The Forney did not respond to DC after I fitted the decoder and I had mislaid the LGB Analogue Jumper which would allow the loco to run without a decoder. I eventually managed to trackdown the decoder manual and a (2008) "My Large Scale" article on converting the Forney to DCC which I had originally used as a reference when I installed the decoder and included a diagram of the 'jumper' wiring. The NCE manual indicated that the decoder was supplied with analogue mode disabled and managed to enable analogue mode by re-programming CV29 using a Digitrax command station and throttle, referring the the NCE programming CV29 Information Sheet. Problem was the loco would only run reliably in a forward direction on DC, intermittently starting in reverse when selected, but changing to a forward direction when I closed and re-opened the throttle. In the end I re-programmed CV29 using a different command station and throttle with identical results! As a final check I attempted to check/re-programme CV29 interfacing the JMRI Decoder-Pro app with my DCC system, unfortunately the RR-Cirkits "LocoBuffer-USB" interface which I once successfully used for route setting on an American N gauge layout about 20 years ago is now obsolete. Fortunately I was able to cross check that I had used the correct CV29 value from Decoder Pro and the NCE tables. I sent in a query to the NCE help desk on the problem so will be interesting if I get a response. The next step was to set up an 'analogue jumper" with the aid of the wiring in the 'My Large Scale" article, but it did not actually work in practice as there was no link on one side between track, motor and functions. T In the end I simply installed jumper connections between the rails and motor bushes in order to allow the loco to run on DC, the lighting (head tail and interior) operates on FO, F2 may be used to operate a smoke units, F1 spare. At this stage all bulb holders require replacement, with a long lead time for replacement, so working lighting or DCc functions largely irrelevant. "DC" jumper! using parts from the local electronic store! My idea of DCC ready! 10 Pin header connected to the decoder tucked up under the leads to the motor bogie and smoke unit! 10 Pin DC header plugged into the board loco operating on DC without lights or other functions! Cab, bunker and pilot have been re-coated in a semi matt black aerosol sealed with a flat aerosol clear. Cylinder block has since had the same treatment. I originally had planned to finish the boiler and brasswork in black but decided to leave as is, at one stage green metallic "Russia Iron" boiler jackets and polished meytal work was a feature of many American locos. The Forney is a Chinese assembled LGB loco with plastic motion and handrail brackets rather metal on German manufactured locos. I replaced the plastic handrail knobs/brackets on this loco were easily damaged and were replaced with locally produced brass castings using one of the originals as a master. I need to replace the lamp numbers to match the smoke box number No 4 inspired by a Bridgetown and Harrison or Sandy River loco. The other loco in for attention is a Bachmann "Spectrum" Mogul again bought from a dealer in the States, fitted with a Lenz Decoder with stay alive a very reliable loco until she split a plastic gear on the driving axle (a common defect Bachmann Large Scale locos), gear and axle since replaced and a spare in stock and runs relaibly on DC! The whole DC/DCC thing could be a moot point track power is becoming the exception among large scale modellers in NZ as they convert to battery RC Hopefully with the large scale Farlie and Mogul largely out of the way I might get a chance to catch up on my 4mm Irish modelling projects.

The GSWR and to a lssser extent MGW adapted pre-cast concrete from the early 1900s for buildings and structures. The goods shed at Attanagh on the Portlaoise-Kilkenny line is/was? as pre-cast structure similar/identical to that at Mountmelick both likely to have been built following the GSWR takeover of the Waterford and Central of Ireland, Clonmel loco shed was another early 1900 pre-cast structure. Edenderry engine shed on the Midland is unusual rebuilt with a flat-roof which incorporates pre-cast components. Pre-cast was also popular for smaller structures like plate layers huts, signal mileposts, and signal post. The home signal at Loughrea survived for many years after closure with a MGW pre-cast post. The Refreshment Room/Station at Parkmore on the Ballymena narrow narrow gauge is/was a 1920s replacement of an earlier building destroyed by fire, the NCC upgraded/replaced the buildings a Ballycastle with pre-cast after its 1924? takeover of the Ballycastle line.

While my initial thoughts were that most of the smaller yards and private sidings had closed as CIE shifted from individual wagon load to fixed formation Liner Train operation for general freight/container traffic and Block trains for single commodities like Cement (bagged & Bulk), Fertiliser, Ores to fulfil the Railplan 80 objective of establishing a 'no shunt railway" Irish Rail began to adapt a more pragmatic approach with the hope of increasing traffic/profitability with a number of new freight flows using (underutilised/redundant stock) that emerged during the late 80s/90s mainly in connection with traffic in Animal Feed (mollasses and grain to the Midlands. Mollassess was loaded at a small bulk terminal an extension of a redundant zinc ore spur at Foynes and conveyed in block trains of previously redundant oil tank wagons (Mid 60-early 70s era) to Limerick then distriubuted by scheduled Liner Train to their final destinations Mullingar & Longford typically cuts of 6 wagons. Initially grain was carried in 20' purpose built containers on 22'wb flats at Foynes and later Waterford and railed to the Portlaoise Avonmore plant at the end of the stub of the Portlaosie-Kilkenny line. At Waterford grain was loaded on a private siding that served an IAWS elevator, in its final years grain was loaded at Dublin Port with road transfer to the North Wall yard and railed on bogie flats to the Avonmore Plant. Although unloaded on a spur outside the Avonmore plant, work had commenced on installing a run-round loop beffore the traffic ceased in the early 2000s. Its just about possible similar traffic flows might have extended to the North East if the Irish Government had been supportive for railfreight during the early 2000s. Earlier Bulk Grain and Tar Traffic (individual wagon load) increased during the mid-late 50s, but largely gone by Mid-1970s. Bulk grain tended to be handled in concrete/corrugated iron/asbestos additions to existing stone mills, tar simple siding with steam heating plant (in shed) to transfer to road tanker. Modern private sidings tended to be set up to handle 1-15 wagon trains of bogie wagons co-op siding Farranfore. Personally I think it would be easier simpler to build a mico layout set in an earlier period, industrues, railway rolling stock all operating on a smaller scale and buildings and structures architecturally more attractive and rail traffic conveyed in individual wagon load rather than the gtrain load.

Worth enquiring with the National Railway Museum York Sharp Stewart loco drawings (most likely GAs) are included in their North British Locomotive drawing collection https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co27933/north-british-locomotive-co-ltd-drawings. The 7mm Narrow Gauge Society published a book of 'Irish Narrow Gauge Scale Drawings" which includes CVBT No4 and CVR Railcar 1 https://7mmnga.org.uk/sales/publications/publication_details.php?ref=NLE06. The drawings are in simplified diagram form rather than general arrangement, as far as I recall the drawing of No4 includes CVR modifications.