Mayner

Its a pity they did not film the concourse, the bars in Chicago Union Station bring back some happy memories from 2003 & 2004 We have been through Chicago Union Station a number of times on AMTRAK and METRA services METRA platforms are a lot less claustrophobic than the AMTRAK platforms. American train crews tend to be enthusiastic about their work, we once had a METRA Conductor giving a running commentary on the towns, districts and railroads on a Saturday morning run from Harvard into Chicago, the traditional uniforms and ticket and the ritual of the Conductor placing your ticket above your seat is a real throw back to the days of traditional railroading. I spent several days taking pictures of trains including the California Zypher on Donner Pass in 2001 and finally got to ride the train from Denver to san Fransisco in June, getting on the train in Denver is a lot less frantic than Chicago!

Should make Peco, Dapol and other British rtr and kit manufacturers more competitive outside the UK which is good news to anyone buying track, kits, detail parts and tools from the UK.

There is the legend that 800 was scrapped and her name and number plates swapped with 801

:trains:Used to work near Pearse Station in 2003-4, during off peak periods there used to be a great line up of 201 powered Pushpull Sets stabled between the station and the Boston Sidings. From memory the 201s were in the as delivered paint scheme the large yellow nose scheme was introduced in 2005. Never thought I would get nostalgic about the MK3 Push Pull sets, though I developed similar feelings for Network South East 1st generation DMUs on Bedford-Bletchley & Gospel Oak -Barking trains

A great impetus for scratch building and British manufacturing industry Perhaps Hornby might resume manufacturing in Margate

I almost get the impression that the Government would prefer to let CIE and the railways eventually fade away, than grasp the nettle of breaking up CIE than develop a coherent surface transport policy including adequate funding for rail infrastructure and service based funding

Most likely the stone goods store at the city end of the station which may incorporate part of the old passenger station from the 1860s before the present station was built. IE and various developers have been floating around schemes for commercial developments for the past 20 year The present signal cabin is a fairly modern standard GSWR/GSR/CIE design and unlikely to be of historical significance. Perhaps a group of enthusiasts might like to buy it and restore it as a club house, if Cork ever goes over to power signalling

Wonder has he been to Woodlyn Park, Waitomo, planes ships trains? http://www.woodlynpark.co.nz/

The Limerick-Ballybrophy line used to be treated as a main-line rated for 70 mph running and the two daily passenger trains running through between Huston & Limerick up to the late 1970s. Before the re-modelling a train from the branch could run direct to the three main line platforms, trains ran round on the main line as there was no release from the Limerick bay platform. Trains crossed over from the branch to the island platform by an impressive double slip crossover at the North End of the platform. The foundations of the single road engine shed is just about visible at in the arial photo, the shed was last used as a shelter for asbestos removal from the Metrovick diesels and Park Royal coaches

Its probably better to look out for a used Atlas, Walthers or Bachmann Spectrum loco. The Model Power RS2 is based on quite old tooling, the chassis and running may not be up to current standards. The Model Power RS2 was originally introduced in the 1960s manufactured for AHM and Mehano in Yugoslavia. I used a few of their N gauge locos. Best described as disposable locos, the only advantage was that the models were cheap even when compared to Bachmann and Lifelike. I don't know if running quality improved when Mantua took over production. http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/ahmhoscalelocomotives/id31.html

Derby either built or re-gauged a number of Midland Railway vans to replace NCC stock destroyed as a result of air raids on Belfast. Slaters did a kit of a standard Midland van, though the vans sent to the NCC had slightly different diagonal bracing https://slatersplastikard.com/linePage.php?code=G3W024

A bit techy for modellers, probably best to try and chat to someone who has driven or maintained 071s or 141s.

The EU Emission Trading Scheme or the modern equivalent of the South Sea Bubble. Ballina Beverages admitted that they mainly use rail because of the lower carbon emission costs compared to road transport. http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm This provides a subsidy to high energy sectors such as mining, power generation and heavy industry to use rail, which is not available to light industry and the service sector. Coca Cola & Coillte/Smart Ply Europe are likely to be classed as major energy users and are required to buy carbon credits or offset their emissions if they exceed their quota or allowance. It my be more profitable for a cement company to offset it excess Irish emissions by building an energy efficient plant in a less developed country than return to rail in Ireland. Possibly explaining CRH expansion into Eastern Europe, India & Asia during the last 8-10 years

A company that does laser cutting for sheetmetal work, or graphics or architectural models may be able to help. http://www.cncgroup.ie/technology.html http://www.snowlaserstudio.com

Travelling through Cherry Orchard was running the gauntlet for passenger on evening trains into Heuston in the 70s & 80s. CIE & the Gardaí did not seem to be too bothered about attacks on trains. While the Mk 2s & MK3 coaches were fairly safe passengers were sometimes injured by flying glass in older rolling stock.

I think the change from Grey to Orange bubbles was tied with CIE using up its stock of grey paint in the late 60s rather than an attempt to colour code wagons with different brake gear. The grey wagons in the Cabra Bank photo appear to have the later type of brake gear with 4 brake shoes rather than the earlier style with 8 shoe coach style brakes and hand brake wheel. The prime purpose of the paint is to prevent corrosion, the paint job on a newly built wagon should be good for at least 10 years before a repaint, this could result in considerable overlap between livery styles with a class of wagons built in small batches between 1964 & 72. Its just about possible that grey, orange and vanilla wagons may have ran at the one time The grey and orange wagons in the earlier photos certainly look cleaner than the later vanilla scheme. Was it something to do with the loading process at Platin, or was it simply that there was nothing to be gained for Irish Cement or CIE by keeping the wagons clean? An owner or road fleet bulk tanker driver by contrast would be quite religious about keeping his or her truck shining as the cleanliness of the truck is pretty much a reflection of how they run their business.

There were a number of design variations between the 1955 & 1959-60 batches of tin vans, plus in service variations among the Tin & Hooded Vans. The Tin Vans were originally introduced with full depth outward opening doors, the doors seem to have been shortened at an early stage most likely to avoid striking the edge of the floor and difficulty in closing. The final batches were fitted with recessed inward opening doors similar to the hooded vans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4U5MWhTpnM In later years windows on both tin and hooded vans were replaced with solid panels on an add-hoc basis, possibly to replaced damage panels. some tin vans lost most of their small windows apart from a single window in the guards compartment, in some cases the large boiler compartment window was replaced by a solid panels or possibly double doors. The vans were culled from main line service in the early 70s following the introduction of the Dutch Vans and CIEs programme of rebuilding Bredin and early CIE coaches into heating and luggage vans. A small no of the 4w heating vas were retained for suburban and branch line duties. There are photos of 4w TPOs in use on the Sligo Line in the early 70s and may have been used on Ballina-Limerick passenger trains. Some of the hooded vans lost their gangways and were repainted in an all over orange colour scheme similar to the Van Hool & Atlantean busses. These vans were used on Connolly-Dunlaoire mail trains until replaced by 20' ISO containers on 4 w flats. The underframes from the hooded vans had one last fling on the main line in 77 or 78 with Sean Connery & Donald Sunderland as coaches in the 1st Great Train Robbery!

Has anyone a copy of a CIE GA or Weight/Painting diagram of the 6w Heating Vans? I will consider producing a set of etched brass parts for the van including chassis and roof, if I get a minimum of 10 expressions of interest and a copy of the all important drawing.

The assembly of the vans seems to be a lot quicker than modifying the Dapol coaches, ties in with the view that its quicker to assemble a brass kit than modify a plastic rtr model. Paint prep is basically neutralising flux residue by dipping overnight in a mildly alkaline solution followed by a wash in warm water, breaking up any salts & verdigrass around soldered joints with a tootpick and scrubbing with a old tooth brush. The model is dried and the surface of the brass lightly burnished with fine wet & dry paper or a fibre glass brush. I try to avoid getting solder on the surface of a model, but it is relatively easy to remove with the blade of a screwdriver, scraper and clean up with a fibre glass wet and dry. Into the booth! During the cooler months I keep the workshop warm overnight with an electric heater and use a cheap Chinese spray booth which vents through the window. This basically eliminates any problems with paint smells and overspray in the work room. I hope to get a metal booth big enough for my large scale stuff, either through Mirco-Mark or have one made up in one of the local sheet metal shops. Freshly primed TPO I use VHT automotive etch and surfacing primers on models 1st warning the can on the heater and store the model in a warm place. Although round 15C black aerosol was drying with a greyish tinge this morning. Flotilla of vans primed stored overnight before painting 1st coat 12 hours later! The vans have been painted with a combination of Tamiya spray enamels and Humbrol enamel using the trust airbrush. The silver van is basically ready for a clear finish and decals, the others at the 1st stage of painting, though the UTA painted a few coaches in an eau de nil colour in the early 60s. After a lot of trials and tribulations I now use Tamiya AS12 "Bare Metal Silver" for silver and aluminium coaches, as it avoids the surface finish problems with metallic paints. I will leave these coaches for 3-4 days to allow the paint to harden before masking and applying further coats.

Eoin I like our clamping arrangement for holding small parts during soldering, is it part of a resistance set up or something you made yourself?

Don't know if its the rose-tinted glasses but the orange bubbles seem to have been cleaner, possibly some change in the loading process when production was shifted from Boyne Road to Platin in the mid-70s.

Testing out a new section of trackwork the most exciting and nerve wracking thing for model and full size railroaders:trains: When I was in the States I remember a Canadian Pacific section crew asking the Engineer on a local freight if he wouldn't mind running his train back and forth 4-5 time across a newly installed diamond to make sure it was ok. I like the way you have recessed the switch gear into the layout fascia eliminating the need for a separate control panel and turning the Tortoise point motors on their side.

Thurles was probably the closest to JT22CWs concept the loco depot was in use into the late 70s and certainly supplied locos for Thunderbird duties. I was on an up IRRS Special from Youghal that was blocked in the station while 007 ran wrong road to Templemore to rescue an Up passenger that had broken down. The depot was likely to have been used to supply locos for the Lisduff Ballast train and servicing locos on South Wexford-Thurles beet specials. Its just about possible that some depot modernisation would have been justified as a base for long distance commuter trains to Heuston and ore from the Lisheen & Galmoy zinc mines which were developed in the mid-1990 went out by rail. The 4 road loco shed was a stone building with a typical GSWR sawtooth roof profile, the GSWR, GSR & CIE had a similar love of pre-cast concrete to the Southern Region typically used precast concrete after 1900 for loco sheds, offices and messrooms.

The original idea was to produce a plastic coach that could be economic to produce as a kit or rtr form in small batches by a firm in Auckland using rapid prototyping technology as an alternative to injection moulded plastic and eventually evolved into a brass and whitemetal kit. http://lep.net.nz/processes/precision-3d-printing/http://lep.net.nz/processes/precision-3d-printing/ While resin casting from a 3D model was the preferred option tooling cost and the short life of the mould was one of the deciding factors in favour of etched brass and whitemetal.

Standard Open A flotilla of Tin vans Tin Van Sub Assemblies Stevie B is partially right, one of the ironies of better quality rtr Irish models is that more people are prepared to wait for an eternity for a new rtr model than attempt to modify a rtr model, assemble a kit or let alone a scratchbuild. While there is probably greater demand for a rtr model of one of these coaches than a kit or scratch aid, there is unlikely to be enough demand to justify commissioning a manufacture to produce a brass or plastic injection moulded model. Part of the underlying problem is the sheer variety of Pre-1964 CIE coaching stock and relatively few liveries, collectors are likely to buy a maximum of 1-2 models of a particular type and few active modellers are able to relate to the pre Supertrain era.