Mayner

In certain respects its almost an ideal time to for building a mid 50-early 2000s era Irish outline layout with the sheer amount of quality RTR locos & stock released since the mid 2000s. The majority of wagon stock (with a few exceptions) introduced since the mid 50s is available in RTR form and CKPrints help fill some of the gaps in post 70 stock/containers (Pallet Cement, Fuel Oil bodies, UniLoad, Coal & Oil Containers. The "Standard Irish" wooden bodied wagon and earlier versions of the H Van had largely gone by the early 70s. Maindraw back with using a British prototype is that Irish and Britsh wagons were quite different in appearance (mainly brake gear & body detail) so challenging even to convert a British outline kit, though tank wagons built to a common standard. A lot depends on what you are trying to achieve as a modeller; whether your interesting in modelling/operating a railway or more interested in modelling individual locos and pieces of rolling stock. Applying the 2' rule, some British outline opens in weathered CIE livery (allover grey) less likely to stand out like a sore thumb and blend in as part of the train/model.

Interesting; I distinctly recall Pete McParlin telling me that he had only sold 1 CVR 0-4-2T during a conversation almost 30 years ago. During our conversation Pete spoke about poor demand for his Irish 00n3 kits and used the CVR loco to reinforce his point. At the time I was a regular customer and had no reason to doubt Pete's word. Good that Backwoods Miniatures has sold at least four of the CVR loco kits (still currently listed on the website). A CVR 0-4-2T has been on my to-do list for several years, have to decide whether to scratchbuild the loco, prepare a set of etched parts or trial the 3D printed route. I assembled a pair of CVR Coaches and a Horsebox from Branchlines kits about 35 years ago & need a suitable loco.

1980s-90s was probabably the heyday for Irish outline wagon kits with Model Irish Railways (MIR) of Portadown producing 60s-70s era wagon and diesel loco kits until the late 2000s. 1. Model Irish Railways (MIR) Ian McNally. Initially whitemetal later resin kits: CIE 121,141,071 diesel available complete with wheels gears & motor. A Class/001 body possibly ex-MTK. NIR Hunslet 1 piece resin body. 80Class etched overlays/whitemetal ends to fit Lima MK2 body shells. Wagons. CIE Cement Bubble: Pallet Cement: 20T-14' wb 4w Container Flat+ 20' container: 42' Bogie Flat + 40' container: Bogie Fertiliser Wagon: Bogie Cement Wagon: Bogie Ammonia Tank Wagon. Wagons originally had whitemetal chassis (reasonable quality & standard of detail) replaced with one piece resin chassis after 2000. Cement bubble vacuum formed plastic body, containers plastic injection moulded kit, Bogie Cement & Ammonia one piece resin bodies. Sylvimcnall-O continues to sell MIR decals and spare parts on E bay https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=117226927670&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_ssn=sylvimcnall-0 2. Studio Scale Models. Post 1960 Etched kit CIE 30T Brake Van. Etched body glue or solder assembly on Dapol Prestwin chassis. 42' Container Flat, Ammonia Tank Wagon (brass kit)Pre-1960 Etched kit GN 20T Brake Van (relatively complex kit). Cast metal kits. GSWR & MGWR "Convertible" Wagons (gone by late 1950s, Irish "Standard" Open Wagon GSWR/Midland/GSR/CIE some lasted to late 60s/early 70s. 3. Jeremy Suters Irish Kits. High quality whitemetal kits introduced late 90s/early 2000s. Likely to be rare sold at UK exhibitions and advertised on New Irish Lines. Pre-1960 mainly Ulster subjects: GNR(I) Standard Covered Van: GNR(I) Bread Container Wagon & Container (both duplicated by Provincial Wagons/Leslie) NCC version of Bread Container Wagon, UTA Parcels Van converted from GNR Bread Van (possible Provincial duplicate: MGWR Loco Coal Wagon gone by late 50s? Post 2010 Fallen Flag suppliers. Model Irish Scale Rail (Martin McKay) planned to introduce an extensive range of RTR CIE wagons using resin body on Dapol chassis. Despite favourable reviews of a Bulleid Open & H Van in the May 2013 edition P173-4 of New Irish Lines https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ad8q0xs64ed1b9be0ktwe/New-Irish-Lines-Vol.-6-No.-5-2013-May.pdf?rlkey=ev4qbxmrymaqeqczbofgnsdh5&e=1&dl=0 the business does not appear to have been a success. Irish Freight Models initially produced wagons with resin or 3D printed on Bachmann? rtr chassis later shifting to producing resin bodies rtr coaches and coach kits. JM Design. I produced etched kits/detail parts since 2010, produced 3D printed wagons mainly RTR between 2021-24 with very little interest in/ demand for kits. Most wagons produced would have operated to mid-1970s Details on wagon produced I guess MIR/SSM/Jeremy Suter/MISR/IFM/JMD wagon kits will eventually appear on-line auctions, exhibitions and executors scales.

Remember seeing Wallabies (marsupials not Aussie Rugby Union Team) at Fota when I visited the park in the 80s & 90s. Surprised thay havn't taken the train to Cork. Kangaroos are listed on the parks website. https://www.fotawildlife.ie/pages/animal-and-plant-listing/eastern-grey-kangaroo

My first memory of a train on the Midland, westbound train approaching Kilcock GM loco possibly late 60sS?, two probabably Park Royal coaches topped and tailed by Bulleid Vans. Family was returning home to Dublin after a Sunday afternoon drive in with my Dad a fisherman checking out the Boyne and its tributaries. Had intended to compare with a Park Royal assembled from a set of Worsley Works parts about 20 years ago. bascially to check whether it was worth upgrading the bogies. Main issue was non-matching roof profiles and mine had collected almost 20 years grime in the display case.

Is a 'signature on delivery" option available for UK and EU deliveries? Quite common in this part of the World even for relatively low value items sent by NZ Post or courier/logistics companies.

I remember a local importer/former major Auckland model shop owner complaining about 15-20 years ago that modellers importing models (locos & stock) direct from the UK and States without paying duty and customs charges were undermining his business and charging duty/customs charges on each individual item was the only item. He had seen the writing on the wall in terms of modellers importing model from overseas retailers or direct from the manufatures and sold the business. The new owner focusing more on diecast, RC aircraft and cars, effectively running down the model railway side of the business only now stocking Hornby, rather than the once large range of British, American outline by several major manufacturers. Now apart from Hornby and a handful of retailers that stock Bachmann or Atlas model railway items (in an area the size of the UK has to be imported. The delay in eliminating the De-Minimus exemption was that until recently it cost more to collect the duty/customs charges than it generated in revenue, the almost world-wide change to electronic/automated customs clearance systems around 2021 has changed all that, and the Irish Government have been pretty efficient that Customs and An Post extract every cent.

North Wall-Sligo followed by North Wall-Wexford were the first routes to convert to Liner Train (mixed freight) operation initially with fixed formation trains possibly during 77-78. The change over on the Sligo line was covered in a Weekly Notice or possibly Nuacht the CIE newspaper, as it specified that traffic for Sligo Line stations could only be accepted in ISO equipment, and (gross) container weight/load limits at each station. As far as I recall 7½ Tonne Mullingar & Boyle, 25 possibly 30T Longford & Sligo. The scheduled Liners typically conveyed sundries traffic, individual containers (full/half height/keg) individual tank wagons (effectively what was once wagon load traffic re-classified as Unit Load and transported on fully fitted trains. Possibly North Wall-Dundalk or North Wall-Mayo & Galway (Galway & Westport Liner running via Tullamore) North Wall- Ballina Ashai out by Tullamore return by Mullingar. The "Southern" with Dublin-Tralee was apparently the last to go over to Liner Train operation for sundries traffic after a coupling broke on a Dublin-Tralee loose couple goods while climbing the Gullet and the wagons ran back into Heuston Station possibly 78-9. Its possible the 'final' Dublin-Tralee goods was still operated from Heuston Goods and traffic did not transfer to the North Wall until Tralee traffic went over to Liner Train operation. The runaway and changeover to Liner Train operation is likely to be covered in IRRS Journals of the era & CIE weekly notice/staff newsletter. During the mid- late 70s one of our suppliers used CIE to ship its output from Youghal (road & rail) to Dublin & leased warehouse space at Heuston Goods. The supplier used a 2 axle (possibly Ford D series or Bedford TK) truck with skeletal bed for transporting 20' containers, driver (Richie) & helper possibly a member of CIE staff. Interestingly during the changeover period from loose coupled good to Liner Train operation ISO Containers on 20T Flats appear to have been used on some routes in place of the traditional H Van & Open wagon. While travelling by train from Dublin to Waterford in 1978 I remember seeing a 20T Flat with a CIE side door container and a second with a Half Height being loaded/unloaded in the goods yard at Athy a station that was scheduled to close to sundries and wagon load traffic under Rail Plan 80. Loose coupled trains continued to operate for beet and PW operation for several years after the majority of goods/freight traffic converted to Liner Train operation, one exception was Dundalk-Belfast cross-border freight operation (operated by NIR crews) which appear to have run of several as loose-coupled trains with 'modern" fitted stock for several years.

My two Acurrascale Park Royals arrived today one by DHL this morning on by Royal Mail International Tracked this afternoon! Both shipped from James & James Fulfilment on 4 June! Quite an achievement 6 days Northampton to the Waikato by RM International , currently NZ Post investigations are struggling to trace an important document I sent by Courier to Ireland nearly 3 weeks ago. Was charged a recently introduced "Low Value Regulatory Tax" (goods less than $1000NZ in value) on the DHL shipment but no customs charges on the Royal Mail shipment. The new tax appears similar to Trumps 2025 ending of De Minimis exemption for 'low value" goods to enter the country free exempt from duty and import tax. The new tax does not appear (at this stage anyway) to apply to goods arriving by post. Can't complain the new tax amounted to $2.21 on an order of over $500, no import tax or DHL clearing fee charged. Several years ago when I went through a phase pase of buying Large Scale locos and stock, was charged 5% import duty, 15% GST (VAT) + clearance and bio security fees &approx ($40) on shipments of over $1,000 in value.

Checked out Gabriel (Peckett 4-4-0T) and the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway when we visited Northland about 20 years ago. At the time the railway was going through a difficult time, the NZ Transport Agency had withdrawn the railways operating license in 2001 and Gabriel required a major repairs. The group that controls the railway began to gradually restore and re-open the line and recently completed the overhaul of Gabriel complete with a new boiler https://bayofislandsvintagerailway.org.nz/. As far as I recall the loco built 1927 for use in a Cement Works only acquired the name "Gabiel" after it passed into preservation during the late 1980s. Apparently Peckett supplied five 4-4-0T of the same/similar design to Gabriel: Two to the S&S, Two to Borneo (plantations?) & One to New Zealand (Cement Works which also operated 2 small Peckett 0-4-2Ts) One of the most distinctive features of the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway is that the line runs down the main street of KawaKawa (a reasonable sized town) in similaar manner to the Clogher Valley through Fivemile town. The main street is on SH1 the main road linking Northland to Auckland and the rest of the country and can be quite busy. At one stage the line was a section of a main line from Auckland to the port of Opua in the Bay of Islands served by the trice weekly "Opua Express' with 4-8-2 and main line EE & A1A A1A locos & diesel railcars regularly operating over the line. I must find an excuse to visit Northland again and ride the train.

Some brickwork test prints before attempting a building facade. 1st attempt replacement chimney stack for Keadue Goods shed. The original (made using Wills scenic materials) disappeared several years ago after it became dislodged from the roof. Much quicker to draw a 3D model than to assemble the chimney using Wills scenic materials (Brick material sheets, chimney cap & flue) 3D model sample panel for flemish bond brickwork. Basically I "set out' the openings by laying two coarses of brickwork then copied subsequent coarses to the the top of the panel. Brickwork incl joints are close to scale dimensions, main point of the test was to check that the brickwork would look ok in 4mm scale. The test prints were printed vertically, horizontally and at 45° angle. The grey is an etch primer, the brown a custom aerosol I once used for painting CIE wagons. Progress with the facade beginning to add-in /sculpt the 'soldier coarses" above the windows and the archway above the hall door. I used a 2D drawing of the facade imported into Fusion as a template for the 3D model, one of the quirks of my 2D software is that it sometimes appears as a mirror image when imported into different brands of software something I have got used to over time.

Refurbed turnout in distance, need to remove dirty ballast before reinstating connection to the two sidings. Kind of reminds me of some photos I took of the Holyhead Yard Dublin after it was disconnected in connection with the Spencers Docks redevelopment over 20 years ago. Work in progress, replaced ties/sleepers on panel between the siding/loop and refurbed turnout. Ties on Stockyard/Freight House (goods shed) road quite bleached out will need replacement soon! Its useful to have a train to test the newly refurbed trackwork even managed to successfully run a Stock Special Reminds me of listening in (on a scanner) to conversation between a train crew and track gang during relaying work in the States about 10 years ago. A Canadian Pacific track gang had just completed refurbing a diamond crossing between CP and BNSF lines in Minessota. Asked a crew of a Shortline train about to diverge from the CP to the BNSF if they could continue on the CP line and run their train 9-10 time over the crossing to check that everything was ok, next CP train was not scheduled for several hours and track gang wanted to pack up and go home. Shortline crew were on a tight scheduled and also wanted to go home and declined the request.

There was an interesting article on G Class from a drivers perspective by "Spare Link" in a GSRPS ? 1980s newsletter. Apparently a G611 was once rostered to a "Guinness Shunt" at Heuston Goods to the annoyance of staff "do they think this is Duffy's Circus" (hadn't a great reputation at the time) , at one time a G611 emerged from the Phoenix Park tunnel hauling a pair of Cement Bubbles and a Brake then dropped its transmission on the climb from Islandbridge Junction to Inchacore. Possibly G611 Class rostered to heavy duties during the periodic loco shortages during mid-late 60s. The G601 Class was originally introduced with the "experimental" re-opening of the Banagher, Castleisland and Newmarket branches to regular good traffic, all three lines had closed to regular traffic in 1947? One of the ideas apparently floated was 'one man" operation, (possibly driver only of short unfitted goods?) While the Clara G Class appears to have been restricted primarily for working the Branch goods- (22 mile distance) & shunting at Clara (2 goods yards, 2 private sidings), the Castleisland and Newmarket branches are likely to have involved an element or main line working. Castleisland goods likely to be worked by a Tralee based G Class with the branch goods running through from Tralee. Similarly the G that worked the Newmarket branch may have been based at Mallow, with the branch goods running through along the Kerry Road between Mallow & Banteer. Spare Link wrote about the G611 that replaced a Midland Tank at Liffey Junction (1961-2?) working Edenderry Cattle specials (monthly?) from Liffey Junction (51? miles) and the final cattle special to Drumree on the Meath Line (track considered unsafe for anytrhing heavier. The Drumree special apparently received an exemption to load to 17 wagons (being the final train), the transmission overheated on the climb fromk Liffey Jnt to Clonsilla where it stopped to allow time to cool. Loco dropped its wagons by the cattle banks at Drumree then ran to Kilmessan to pick up a wagon. Shunting was challenging at Kilmessan and Drumree on account of the grass grown state of the track, apparently on the return journey the crew needed the help of some locals to push the loco and cattle wagons from the cattle bank road at Drumree to the main line rails were that slippy, train and crew eventually made it back to Liffey Junction. CIEs use of the G Class for branch line goods & main line "trip workings" was not unlike British Rails use of its 204hp 03/04 "shunters" while CIEs E Class and BR 08 mainly used for heavy shunting and short distance trip working. Interestingly in this part of the World small shunting locos were once widely used (operated by a member of station staff (not a driver) for shunting small/medium goods yards, speeding up service trains by minimising the time spent by main-line loco and crew shunting. These days small shunters are still widely used shunting private sidings at large industrial sites, main line loco & crew simply drop off and collect train of wagons.

I ordered two Park Royals. First one pre-order with IRM a couple of years ago & a second through Accurascale when the Palvans went on pre-order earlier this year. Yesterday (Friday this part of the World) received notification that both orders had been shipped. Original IRM order via Royal Mail, Accurascale order by DHL delivery expected 9 June.

This months Garden Whistle contains three useful articles/tutorials on 3D modelling. 1. A Well Wagon/Depressed Centre car. 2. 3D printing without the hassle. 3D printing figures from photos using AI 3. British Rail Class 27 Part 4 Cab (design and printing process. Models are all large scale! I'll forward a pdf. copy of the Garden Whistle if anyone is interested.

Worse still large scale 'standardisation' would probabably have cost more to implement than it would generate in potentially cost savings. Better to target investment in initiatives that would generate immediate savings in operating costs, such as the large scale superheating of small locomotives (incl J15) that generated an immediate saving in operating costs, through reduced coal consumption (10-15%), signalling upgrades Kingsbridge-Dunlaoire power signalling scheme and rationalising of signalling at major stations. (closing duplicate cabins Athlone, Claremorris, Athenry). An interesting snippet from "GSR Locomotives" is a comparison (from official records) of the GSR & GNR(I) between 1925-1940, although both companies were experiencing an underlying trend of declining revenue (passenger & goods), the financial performance of the GSR (from use of locos & stock) was superior. Its said that the superheating of the J15 & ex-Midland "Standard Goods' contributed to the GSRs superior financial performance.

One of the most significant remaining jobs in completing 181 & 229 is assembling the loco & tender brake gear. I had what was basically a beefed up version of the TMD/SSM gear etched to complete 124 as the brake gear was missing when I bought the loco as part of a job lot of part built TMD/SSM at a UK exhibition about 25 years ago and I found the brake gear quite challenging to assemble when I completed 191 about 31 years ago. These notes may be of use to people who bought my Superheated J15 conversion fret as it includes a set of brake gear parts. 191 assembled in the UK 1995, once my pride and now beginning to show its age. 124 completed in NZ approx 5 years ago, my own brake gear. I wrote about how I soldered the brake shoes to the hangers on this thread about 5 years ago, my description of how I held the components in place did not make sense and I had forgotten how I actually achieved it, so quite a bit of experimentation before I actually figured out how to keep the shoes and hangers in position when soldering. Fiddly not quite the word shoe on left hanger on right, holes drilled out 0.5mm Hole in the centre of the hanger is significant. Components folded for assembly, 0.55 hole in the piece of wood is part of the assembly jig Piece of 0.45 brass wire pushed into 0.55mm hole in piece of wood, threaded through hole in centre of hanger and soldered in place to form part of assembly jig. Shoe threaded onto wire, short end of wire fits into hole drilled in strip of wood (my tumblehome forming jig) possibly pine, more stable for this type of work than balsa. Hanger threaded onto wire, bent over at approx 90 using X-acto blade as guide shim, loose end of wire threaded between forked ends of hanger. (thinner end of shoe is at the top) Piece of stripwood holds the loose end of the wire and brake shoe in alignment while soldering. 1 completed brake shoe and hanger assembly, only 11 to go! Test fitted to 229. Two sets of brake shoes and hangers plus some spares. In early days GSR a committee was tasked with auditing Inchacore 'piecework' records as part of a money saving efficiency exercise. Apparently some of the the records bore little resemblance to reality, some J15 fitted with more than 6 axleboxes (at the time crews paid to repair locos on a piecework were paid for refurbing individual components on a loco. The same committee was tasked with recovering name & number plates etc. from pre-amalgamation possibly melting down into GSR stock of non-ferrous metal or sale. I'll assemble the brake gear as separate removable sub assemblies that fit to the loco, what I find the relatively straight forward part

Had a good little earner for a short time about 20 years ago re-selling newly released Bachmann American On30 stock bought cheaply in bulk on eBay from a box shifter in the States. Interestingly while mine and log cars sold out quickly, I struggled to sell the more high valued locos although I was the only 'stockist' in the country. At the end of the day the true test of the market depends on what people are actually prepared to pay, in the long term a lot of collections end up being picked up cheaply when owners loose interest or at deceased estate sales. About 10-15 years ago a member of the local garden railway group picked up collections from modellers/collectors who had lost interest/moved on only to loose interest in model railways himself. I visited a model shop in Auckland about a year ago with large stocks of diecast mainly from deceased estate sales.

Reminds me of a mix up with suitcases that occurred to a friend at Dublin Airport while returning from the York (Easter) Exhibition and several swap meets when his suitcase (full of diecast) was picked up by another passenger from the carosel and taken out of the airport. Everything was sorted out in the end with security supervising the exchange of suitcases, though in my minds eye I had a vision of a drug deal going wrong with one of the guys opening up a suitcase of die-cast cars at the exchange rather than a suitcase of drugs or cash. I had thought of buying 3 packs of vans with different end pressings and doors to make up 1 'variety pack" of palvans for myself and 2 to sell, but decided in the end it was not worth the hassle.

Catching up on some deferred maintenance replacing timbers/bearers on 1:6 switch/point Jackson City yard. I used AMS 3' Narrow Gauge (45mm) flexible track in combination with Sunset Valley switches/points when I started tracklaying on the Jackson County approx 18 years ago. I used Sunset Valley narrow gauge switches (approx G Scale) as at the time AMS did not produce narrow gauge swithces/points. I hand laid a number of switches using AMS rail on yellow cedar timbers/ties machined to match AMS ties to blend in better with AMS ties. I gradually ended up replacing most of the AMS & cedar ties with Sunset Valley as the plastic AMS ties began to break down as a result of UV exposure after about 12-15 years apart from some plaint treack and a single switch in Jackson City freight yard and some plain track on shaded areas of main-line which had shown little sign of UV deterioration. Anyway time to replace the timbers on the one remaining switch with cedar timbers after both 'headblock' that support the throw/locking bar to the switch broke off/failed during a recent operating session. Although Sunset Valley supply replacement ties/timbers as spare parts from the United States, I decided to trial FDM timbers 3D printed in the 'makerspace" at a local public library. Ended up using a PLA filament available at the library printers are unsuitable for printing in a UV resistant filament, but hopefully should last several years. Headblock timbers broke off severly decayed. Switch removed to outdoor work bench showing state of remaining timbers, 3 D printed timbers on right matching profile, length and spacing of Sunset Vally No6 switch. Just home from library Re-assembling switch with track gauges on curved/diverging road. Blue pliers is a special X-acto pliers for holding and inserting rail spikes. Spikes waiting to be driven home into 0.7mm holes drilled in timbers Jaws of pliers are milled to securely hold spike before driving home (hammer of pliers) Spike driven home, it was starting to get dark so had to stop for the evening for the second day

If I was a few years younger I'd probabably change to an electric car (charged overnight at home) to escape the clutches of the oil companies and ever increasing fuel prices. In this part of the World "in the interests of fairness" the Government have imposed Road User Charges (a tax per Km travelled) on 'light electric vehicles" to close the tax loophole where owners/operators of electric vehicles did not required to contribute to the upkeep of the roads through the payment of excise duty on petrol. At this stage its planned to replace exices on petrol with Road User Charges (RUC) a system already used for diesel vehicles (cars, trucks. vans), though its hinted that the new charges based on distance travelled could work out more expensive for drivers of fuel effecient cars that the current system (excise on petrol) RUC has a different meaning/connetation in New Zealand to the UK and Ireland . I last regularly commuted by rail (80 mile round trip daily) while working in London over 30 years ago, an enjoyable time young and full of energy, but can't say I miss the rat race with its overcrowded trains. My rail use in Ireland was mainly leisure travelling around the CIE/IE Network on rambler tickets while on my summer holidays in the 70s & early 90s, journies on the Enterprise & to Galway before leaving Ireland over 20 years ago. Lasting memories significant disruption (bus transfers) due to engineering works on both journies and a night time journey in the dark from Belfast Central to Drogheda (lighting system failure) and bus transfer to Connolly, we hired a car when we last visited Ireland 8 years ago.

A bit of digital modelling setting out/laying the foundations for the first of the Sackville Gardens buildings using Fusion 360. The first step was to find the originals for the external windows and door sets I had etched in 2012 and work out the approximate dimensions for the facade on the CAD I use for 2D drawing by literally counting bricks using Google Street view. I served my time with a Dublin housebuilding company (almost 50 years ago) that extensively used brickwork as a result of which gained both practical and theoretical knowledge of building in brickwork. The building facade on Sackville Gardens were laid in Flemish Bond brickwork when in its basic form each coarse (or row)of bricks in the facade appear as alternating long (stretchers) and short (headers) bricks. (I wont go into the actual arrangement of brickwork in the wall! http://www.1stassociated.co.uk/articles/brickwork-types-and-brickwork-bonds.asp I decided to 3D print the facades on Sackville Gardens rather than use Wills material sheets or embossed brickwork, in order to model flemish-bond brickwork more accurately with its use of cut bricks with their own nomenclature used to form ends, openings and corners. First stage was setting out the brickwork at cill level on one side of the door opening, distances based on horizontal brickwork modules by literally counting bricks. The 2D drawing was imported into Fusion 360 as a 'canvas" and then calibrated to one of the principal dimensions on the drawing in this case 123.4mm Forming the 3D model of the brickwork is basically an exercise in sculpture. The outline of the brick panel basically drawn as a 'sketch' in Fusion then extruded into a solid in this case 3mm thick. Brick courses then drawn individually as a sketch then sculpted into the solid using the extrusion tool set to cut. 1st brick by the doorway is a standard header, 2nd a "3/4 Bat", followed by the stretcher/header pattern all based on photos, plain panel under the window will be extruded as a cill. I will need to draw out the first two coarses above cill level, then simply continue to copy the two coarses until I reach head height, not a lot different to a bricklayer setting out actual brickwork, though with 1/2 brick cavity walls there was no need to use flemish bond while working in Ireland, may have been used on a facade on a project in the UK but I was well away from the nitty gritty of actually setting out work or co-ordinating brickwork with different building elements at that stage. Took about an hour to "sculpt" the brickwork on the left side of the window.

Ran some trains today while cutting old cedar shingles for kindling on the outdoor workbench with a band saw, today Friday is the begining of "Kings Birthday Weekend" in this part of the World the begining on metrological winter and usually a weekend of model railway conventions & events on heritage railways. Weather forecast is good for Saturday, but deluge promised by Monday! Jackson City yard fairly clear, leaf fall just about ceased from our largest trees & very little rain & weed growth during last 2-3 weeks. I had put #348 into the year to leave the main-line clear for our RGS Galloping Goose Motor #4 but her battries may be knackered did not make it far out of the garage despite fully charged batteries. K27 "Mudhen" 463 parked "in the clear" at Arboles to let motor #4 through. Two small trees on right appear to be 'miniature' connifers planted about 10-12 years ago, tree behind the tankcars a 'dwarf" species both of a similar size when planted. This area is in almost permanent shade and weeds quicly take over following damp weather, treated with weedkiller several months ago. #464 completed only two laps of the circuit before failing today, despite a fully charged set of recently fitted batteries. Although fitted several years ago #348 & #463 batteries still appear to be ok, still holding a charge. #464s batteries although new had been in storage for a couple of years, though may be ok for Motor #4 on passenger/mail/duties.

Possibly the key for releasing the ground frame for the Omagh Market Yard branch. There is a photo of a member of staff operating the frame at the branch junction & an Aug 1957 photo of an GG3 (Big D) shunting tank wagons at the branch terminus in 'The Great Northern Railway Itish Railway Pictorial, Tom Ferris Midland Publishing 2003.

Some work in progress on the 3D printed corrugated & concrete store. The walls were printed in two sections of 175mm close to the maximum length that could be printed horizontally on my machine. Roof initially in 2X100 & 1x145 mme sections (vertically!), but re-designed to print in 2 sections (with an additional stiffening rib) after the print began showing signs of bowing/deflection at the gutter line. Temporary positioned before final fitting by the backscene. The site is an at angle rather than parrallel to the backscene, will need to narrow one end and taper the roof for the store to fit! Concrete walls will be un-painted concrete (hopefully same paint match-pot as mill building, steel work and recessed doors green. Next challenge is a terrace of Victorian houses for the area between the maltings building and road bridge based on housing overlooking the railway on Sackville Ave and Ossery Road. I produced etched window & door sets for this frontage for my first attempt at a port layout about 12 years ago. Original plan was to use Wills material sheets but 3D modelling may be more flexible for modelling the actual facades. Next step is to 3D model 2-4 courses in Flemish bond brickwork, the basic 'building modules' of these houses before building the facades. Someday hopefully I'll get around to completing the maltings and tower building based on Grand Canal Dock, I have the windows somewhere the main problem is finding the willpower to paint the brickwork incl picking out indvidual bricks, 3D modelling individual bricks and mortar courses not really a problem to me.