Mayner

David Malone Surrey 4mm S4 Cliffony based on Dromad Alan Edgar (De Selby RM Web Cambridgeshire 4mm S4 kit and scratch built locos including models of GNR (I) Vs, S & U, NCC Mogul & Whippet Steve Johnston Warwick 4mm 21mm EM standards CIE Supertrain era

Test fitting the masters for the spring and damper assembly for the 22'6" & 20' Steel floored flats. Should be going off to the investment casters for the 1st stage of the casting process along with the 650 Class masters next week Close up spring patterns skeletal and steel floored flats. Axlebox, buffer and vac brake castings by MJT. The steel floor flats will be available in sets of 3 with OO Gauge wheels from late 2017 The skeletal in the 1st quarter of 2018. Price to be confirmed.

Quite regularly being on the joint between the Australian & Pacific tectonic plates. Our engineers are fairly adept at re-building roads and railways after earthquake damage and wash outs following Cyclones. Like California several of our major cities including the capital Wellington are on fault line, Auckland is built on a volcanic plain the 1931 Napier earthquake has been the worst in terms of loss of life, Christchurch was somewhat unexpected as there were no obvious fault lines in the area. One of the disappointing things has been the poor performance of so called earthquake proof buildings in Christchurch and Wellington following recent earthquakes Apart from knocking out SH1 and the railway, the earthquake also knocked out Wellington container port, this has resulted in the diversion of Auckland-Christchurch (645 miles rail + 4hr train ferry) to coastal shipping and an even bigger hole in Kiwirails bottom line. Like CIE in the early 60s Kiwirail is expected to stand on its own two feet without financial support after a once off Government investment of $1B in a Turn Round Plan, the railway efforts to break even continue to be frustrated by natural disasters (washouts-earthquakes-fires) and falling prices for commodities like coking coal and milk powder that make up a high proportion of rail traffic. The Government decision to repair the Main-Line North may reflect a change in Government policy compared to recent years where a number of lines were mothballed following de-railment damage or washouts.

I have been a great fan of Richard Chown's work ever since Castle Rackrent 1st appeared in the Railway Modeller over 40 years ago, I once saw the original layout at an exhibition somewhere in Angus. It will be interesting to see what happens to the layout, it is unusual by British standards having regular operating sessions and a crew of operators who ran a timetabled service or sequence of passenger, mail and goods trains through several stations from Castlerackrent to Port Láirge (the fiddle yard).Most of the buildings structures and track layouts are based on the North Kerry with the principal intermediate station Moygraney and interloper from Kiltimagh on the WLWR northern extension. The whole succession business is becoming a minefield with a generation of modellers' passing on and fewer people remaining who share the same interest together with a considerable duplication of historical material that becomes a burden to the beneficary. The age profile of our local modelling group is getting older with the problem of dismantling layouts and disposing of a lifetimes collections of model railways, books and documents as people pass away.

A significant milestone in reinstating the Main Line North between Christchurch and the Picton ferry terminal leaving 10km to reinstate First train across the Clarence River Bridge since last Novembers Quake https://www.facebook.com/pg/KiwiRailNewZealand/posts/?ref=page_internal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFEBag6XkUw

Don't ask me to do the math, but there are several stories of couplings breaking and loose coupled trains running away in McArnolds "Golden Years of the GNR" and David Smiths "Tales of the G&SWR (Scotland) & the Little Railways of South West Scotland. The usual cause was a coupler breaking as the loco suddenly took in the slack while climbing out of a dip at the bottom of a long grade. One of the guards main jobs was to apply the handbrake on the van to keep the couplers stretched out while going downhill and avoid this happening. The usual procedure when this happened seems to have been for the loco crew to put on steam to get as far ahead of the runaway as possible in the hope the train would come to rest in the bottom of a dip. On CIE there are well documented stories of brakes failing on Woolwich including the Cahir Disaster and a near miss on the Midland between Clonsilla& Liffey Junction a distance of 5 miles where the crew managed to stop the train using the tender and van hand brakes short of the Junction for the Liffey Branch otherwise it was next stop Holyhead! as they would have no chance of bringing a train under control on the Liffey Branch or Broadstone lines

The JM Design MGWR K Class 2-4-0 is based on the post 1916 rebuild when the majority of the class lost the upswept Attock "fly-away" cab and received more conventional smokebox doors and injector pipework.

A 20 or 30t van would not have had snowballs chance in hell of stopping a heavy train once the coupling broke and the train started to roll back down the 1:70? gullet.

The late 1960s was an interesting period with conventional (usually unfitted) wagons and vans running in mixed consists with recently introduced flats carrying ISO containers, palletised fertiliser and Guinness traffic, or bulk cement wagons. Brian Flannigans Flickr site has a good collection of photos of typical goods stock mainly in the Tralee area. Dublin-Tralee goods services were the last to go over to Liner (unit train) operation when loose coupled services ended in 1978 when a coupling broke on the last scheduled loose coupled goods out of Heuston Goods as the train climbed the Gullet to Inchacore and the wagons ran back into the station

Loose coupled goods trains on CIE main lines could load up to a max of 780 tons or a maximum length of 53 wagons subject to restrictions over certain route and sections of main line. As Leslie said the majority of traffic was carried in covered wagons, with open wagons and specialist wagons such as container flats, tank cars and grain hoppers pretty much in the minority. CIE had a handful of Lomac style well wagons which in later years were mainly used by the p.w. Dept for transporting small Priestman crawler cranes.

Noel. If you think the B121 was crude nothing could prepare you for the whitemetal A Class produced by Q Kits for MIR. Except for the A Class the quality of MIR pattern making and castings was far superior to most British outline "Modern Image" kits MTK and Q Kits produced some real shockers. 3D printing through the Shapeways of this world I that the designer/commissioner has much lower up front cost compared to other manufacturing processes with no expensive pattern making or tooling costs, its economic to produce one off items as the buyer pays the set up cost when they place an order.

SSM produce complete kits for 4 types of GSWR 6 wheel coach 1st, 1,2,3rd Comp, 3rd and 3rd brake The kits are probably an easier starting point than using the Worsley Works scratch aids and sourcing castings, bearings, seats and other parts. MGWR coaches are on the JM Design to do list

Lasted a good few years when the up and down Day Mail was cancelled following the closure of Carlisle Pier and the TPO & Van attached to existing Heuston-Galway trains. The Day Mail used to connect with the overnight "Mail Boat" at Dun-Laoire usually a very heavy A Class hauled train full of tired passengers many of whom had already spent 8-9 hours on the train and boat from Euston.

Its good to see that the Ballyglunin group have reasonably realistic objective of restoring the station building for community and tourist use and long term plan to re-build the goods shed as a theatre/exhibition venue/community hall? has a greater chance of community buy in and success than a railway museum largely dependent on outside support. Many rural museums in New Zealand and the United States are 100% volunteer operated and only open on occasional weekends during the year or by appointment like Kiltimagh. Our local preserved railway the 7km Glen Afton Line has 7 regular operating days every year plus the occasional charter (coach tour) and is 100% volunteer owned and operated with some sponsorship from industry, charitable trusts and government agencies. The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway operates a daily service for roughly 5 months of the year and is pretty much dependent on legacies, donations from its members to fund the restoration and maintenance of its locos stock, building and plant. Shop and ticket sales pay the shop assistants wages rates & taxes, and the running cost of the train

CIE seem to have used the D14 or 60 Class on the Limerick-Sligo passenger trains and slightly smaller D17 or 52 Class on the Tuam-Galway local trains and J15s working all goods traffic from the late 1940s until the end of steam. D17 no 59 the star of the Quiet Man seems to have been a regular loco on the Tuam passengers and in a "Decade of Steam" Drew Donaldson contrasts the smart running of the 52 Class with the "leisurely loping" of the D14s working the Sligo-Limerick trains over the Athenry-Tuam section. No59 was timed at 64mph between Ballyglunin & Athenry in 1952 and superheated No16 at 66 between Balyglunin and Tuam running in the opposite direction. Ex WLWR 4-4-0, 2-4-0 & 0-6-0 locos are likely to have shared the workings with the GSWR classes until withdrawn in the late 1940s. A Decade of Steam speaks about the staff at Athenry shed (surely Tuam?) struggling with a leaking foundation ring on 59 afraid to send her to Inchacore lest she would never return. I doubt whether the C Class would have had adequate power for goods trains over the Limerick-Sligo line as traffic density (Ton/mile carried) was higher over the line north from Limerick to Athenry, than the lines into Waterford or Athlone-Galway. Daily Limerick-Claremorris & Limerick-Sligo were required from the late 50s until the closing of the Burma Road in 1975. Its possible that locos working Limerick-Sligo goods were changed at Tuam in steam days rather than working through between terminals and the shed was far busier than would normally be expected for a relatively small through station. A steam loco would require major servicing having been on the road for 7-8 hours with a pick-up goods and the crew out of time on the road. Its interesting that by 1960 the Tuam goods now runs through to Claremorris in approx. 12 hours and the through Limerick-Sligo goods in approx. 17 hours probably without change of locomotive. Personally the greatest drawback to developing Ballyglunin as a tourist attraction is its remote location and its limited nature as an attraction a scene from a movie made 60 odd years ago, Cong and locations in Connemara have a much stronger appeal Perhaps a restoration with more of a community based focus such as the Kiltimagh Museum or Templeport Community Centre than a commercial tourist focus may have a greater chance of success.

Having converted the Bachmann Big Haulier to on board battery control it was difficult to resist running a double headed freight with the modified Bachmann Connie 2-8-0. The 4-6-0 is just about capable of pulling 5 cars and caboose without slipping the 2-8-0 can manage 8 the 2-8-2 12 over my hilly line. Locos on shed waiting departure this is the 1st time I had two battery powered locos on shed. #20 turned awaiting departure The turntable is a piece of decking timber that pivots on a coach screw. I had intended to replace the timber deck with a metal bridge and proper brass pivot but the current set up works and is trouble free. The locos was modified to resemble RGS 20 about 5-6 years ago with new plasticard cab, lowered running board, shortened smokebox deeper tender tank, detail fittings include Ozark Miniatures classification lights and builders plates. Locos backing down I have got to finish the plumbing from the tender airreceivers and tone down the paintwork on No 20 and order some decals! Double headed train taking the High Line at the Junction. The gondolas are cut in between the locos to help spread the weight on weak bridges/trestles. I am planning to add a wye track in the area to the right of the caboose for turning locos & trains to add more operating interest. Doubleheader on the 4% grade A bit like a 60 Class or D14 doubleheading with a J15 the locos seem to run well together once the 4-6-0 is leading. I was rather surprised when #20 managed 6 heavy 1:20.3 scale freight cars on the 4% though the morning was dry and sunny!

Autonomus freight vehicles is predicted to be among the next generation of disruptive technologies eliminating the livelihoods of millions of truck drivers within the next 10 years http://cerasis.com/2017/05/24/autonomous-vehicles-in-logistics/, while railfreight remains wedded to the 1950s American concept of running heavier and longer trains to bring down running costs. Truck manufacturers are developing hybrid and fuel cell technology to reduce carbon emissions and distributed power units for tractor and trailer units a road DEMU? Articles in Engineering & Technology Magazine speak of operating the motorway system in a similar manner to a traditional railway creating marshalling yards to consolidate and distribute line haul traffic into the trunk system at traffic hubs, some bright spark even suggested stringing cantanery over the motorway system to power hybrid trucks another suggested converting the railways into traffic routes for autonomu vehicles. In New Zealand HPMVs are eating into rails market share and many of the core parts of our State Highway system are not dis-similar to the Roads in parts of the West of Ireland where rail does not reach. Locally a 30 wagon 60 TEU freight is considered marginal & 100TEU profitable. One of the surprising things was the international failure to develop the freight DMU to transport freight at passenger train speed, this would have appeared to have been ideal for the relatively light freight traffic levels carried on Irelands railways and offered an advantage in terms of faster more frequent services required for high value freight and lower operating costs than IEs traditional 30-36 TEU freight trains.

The 3 WCR railcar trailers ran on converted T&D coach underfames, one of the trailers was restored and used on the preserved C&L at Dromad

Road tends to be more cost efficient faster and flexible for less than train load lots. The road transport system has the advantage of being a user pays system where the Government and Insurance companies can adjust fuel, vehicle and road user excise taxes and insurance fees to recover the full internal and external costs of road transport. Another big pro in favour of road transport in Ireland is that you can load a truck with butter or cheese at a Co-Op in Cork or Kerry and deliver direct to a supermarket in the UK or main land Europe. Road vehicle technology is also jumping ahead of rail, with larger more fuel efficient vehicles (HPMV) and GPS based fleet management systems improving roads competitive advantage over rail. https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/vehicle-types/vehicle-classes-and-standards/vehicle-dimensions-and-mass/high-productivity-motor-vehicles/

Threats of Ireland being fined by the EU for carbon emissions is something of a red herring. The European Emissions Trading Scheme is part of an international trading scheme that allows big energy users to buy and sell carbon credits or a license to pollute. Coca-Cola and other big international shippers that use the IWT & DFDS container service have admitted that they use rail because of the lower carbon cost to their business. Apart from Coillte, Tara & possibly Irish Cement there are few other shippers that could use rail to farm carbon credits. I am not sure whether buying carbon offsets and carbon farming reminds me more of selling indulgences or the South Sea Bubble. Regardless of the carbon trading scheme or the treat of EU fines its difficult to see a swing back to railfreight in a small island like Ireland with little or no heavy manufacturing industry and apart from Ballina most manufacturing and process industry within 40-50 miles of a deep sea port.

I recently converted a Bachmann Big Haulier 4-6-0 from track to battery RC control. I modified the engine to resemble RGS No 20 re-wired and converted the loco to DCC using a Digitrax decoder in 2010-11. I converted the loco to on board battery power to improve reliability as power pick up became erratic as the plating wore off the driving wheels after 6-7 years use. The conversion gives me a 3rd medium sized line haul loco and the opportunity to double head heavier freights rather than use the K27. Battery Sled RCS "decoder", sound card and switch gear fixed to tender floor, the speaker is a standard fitting on these locos. Battery sled installed above electronics and speaker on tender floor The sled is a piece of acrylic sheet RC system on test I re-wired the loco with in line connectors between engine and tender and wiring loom and headlamp. I modified the loco to resemble No20 by fabricating a new cab in plasticard and fitting new lower running boards also in plasticard. I reinforced the running board with KS brass box section & strip as the original Evergreen box sections had failed and broken off. Loco partially re-assembled showing power connectors between loco and tender I am not happy with the paint finish, I have been unable to match the Floquil paint I used in the original re-build and tried a satin black aerosol to try and match my two DRGW locos.

Quite a contrast to tiny volunteer groups in remote parts of the United States like the Galloping Goose Histroical Society in Dolores Colorado who are prepared to fund their own restoration without the expectation of Government funding. http://www.gallopinggoose5.org/what-we-do/

Excellent drawings Wrenn! good enough to build 12"-1' replicas of the Irish Railway Clearing House (IRCH) wagons widely used by the GSR & GNR(I). The GNR continued to build outside framed vans and timber underframed ppens to the IRCH design into the 1950s. The GSWR/GSR preferred steel framing and strapping the steel framed van evolved into the CIE H Van of the 1950s. In 4mm SSM do a very nice whitemetal kit of the open & Provincal resin kit of the GNR van

Marlborough Express article on 1st works train to reach Kaikoura since the 2016 earthquake. The train was 1km long! The repairs involved the demolition and re-building of a number of reinforced concrete bridges and viaducts with temporary steel structures. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/93513630/first-train-since-the-earthquake-made-its-way-into-kaikoura-today Some drone fottage of the damage, the stranded train and locos were recently removed by road. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/90984405/kiwirail-train-left-in-limbo-by-earthquake-shifted-for-track-repairs

I was recently in contact with Chris Gibbon of High Level for a suitable motor and gearbox for the 650 Class Chis advised that at this stage Mashima motors are still available and are considering Canon Motors as an alternative.