Mayner

The more serious modellers tend to use couplings with a delayed uncoupling function. Kaydee is basically the standard for American stock (& Irish) https://kadee.com/ British finescale modellers tend to use a variety of couplings based on the old continental hook and loop coupling or inverted versions of the Triang tension lock.Spratt & Winkle B&B, Dingham not a lot to choose between them reasonably effective, reasonably priced and fiddly to assemble. I used B&B on a British shunting layout very unobtrusive & reliable

Great to see that you have got trains running Tony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More planning and theoretical stuff: I prepared a block plan to scale and it looks like its feasible to fit in a folded 8 plan with a 1m minimum radius in 21mm gauge with two stations and perimeter staging in the available space. The basic reason for adapting a folded 8 design is to improve the illusion of distance between stations on a single track line, by increasing the time it takes a train to clear a section and the loco of a train shunting station A does not have to enter Station B while carrying out a shunting manouvre. I thought it would be useful to look back at what worked and did not work in the past before, developing the plan further let alone starting track laying. A U shaped N Gauge layout in an 11X11 room came closest in terms of meeting my operating requirements for a CIE secondary main line in the 60s & 70s with a small intermediate junction station open for passenger & seasonal beet traffic and a medium sized terminus open to passenger and freight traffic. An operating sequence based on the Sligo Line with passenger, goods and mail services with the addition of a goods only branch serving a small port with an oil depot modelled off scene and seasonal beet. There was sufficient distance and visual separation between the two stations to avoid resorting to a "twice round" plan. My second N gauge iteration was an American looped 8 layout based on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad in the mid 1970s a Class 1 Railroad that acted as a funnel for traffic between Quebec/New England the Mid-West, Eastern & Southern States the center piece was a large yard where trains were re-marshaled and motive power changed a very different kettle of fish from a secondary Irish main line. The layout was designed with perimiter staging with the staging yard immediately behind the main yard and a scenic section with a large steel trestle and a small town with crossing siding and a spur serving a coal fired power station. The illusion of distance was reasonable taking 3-5 minutes for a freight to work at scale speed in either direction between the main yard and staging, but also capable of Scaletric operation by finescale modellers! In practice the main focus was marshaling and running 6-8 through freights in an operating session, as a consequence there was seldom time or the inclination to switch the local industries or stage "meets" at the crossing siding, though it was used as a refuge for locos on pusher service out of the main yard. A Montreal-Washington express freight or a Buffalo-Newark Intermodal was much more exciting than switching a grain elevator or power station! My current American Narrow Gauge garden railway is a much more relaxed operation a large oval around the garden with two small and one large town or yard fed by a branch from a storage yard in the garage/garden shed. Separation distance is good except between two of the yards where a loco switching a long train will occupy most of the section. While operation is mainly out and back between storage and the main yard, I am starting to explore the option of operating a trip or turn from the main yard to the two smaller turns, the main limiting factor at the moment is insufficient stock and the chore of working everything back to the garden shed at the end of a Sunday operating session. This Sundays operation session was interesting I ran a through freight behind a 2-8-2 which ran-round and round while I was mowing the lawn and other gardening. Then switched the cars into the yard & turned the loco at lunch time, ran an empty livestock special from storage to the main yard behind a small 2-8-0, picked up some empty gondolas, then worked a turn dropping off the stock cars at one town and the gondolas at a second, before running back with the caboose. Finished gardening then ran a "caboose hop" with a small 4-6-0 to run a stock special with the stock cars. 2-8-0 then ran out collected the gondolas before marshalling all the cars in the yard into a train to be double headed with the 2-8-2 after tea. Final runs were a bit tricky as it was getting dark and both stock special and freight were too much for the locos on the 4% grade to the shed and I was not in the mood for sending out another loco in pusher service or particularly wanted to "double the hill" How this will work with a 4mm layout I am not sure, this sort of operating model requires a lot more rolling stock than a simple continuous run layout watching trains run round and round, does the garden railway satisfy my urges for realistic operation and small scale modelling my kit/scratchbuilding urges and may not bother to operating a 21mm gauge model railway if I ever get around to building on which is what has largely happened during the last 15 years with Keadue my Irish narrow gauge layout.

CIE bought a pair of mini-snow ploughs for the 071s following the blizzard & big snow in January 1980. Dublin was basically cut off from the rest of the country for a week with most of the main roads blocked, though CIE managed to keep most of the main lines open. On the day following the blizzard CIE ran a special from Cork with emergency food supplies for Dublin. The Sligo line took a week to clear mainly on account of fallen trees. John

Teleportation might be the solution. If its any consolation Auckland is about 30 years behind Dublin in terms of public transport infrastructure despite having a City Transport authority with power to manage road, rail and ferry services. The city is going through the same soul searching as Dublin between a heavy and light rail connection from the CBD to the Airport, while roading projects are funded directly by central government. Recently completed heavy rail electrification and roading projects simply add to congestion as demand quickly exceeds capacity with increasing population in a rising economy. Ho for the good old days of a stagnant economy when there was little traffic on the roads and public transport ran half empty

The Midland Cavan branch was very indirect compared with road for Dublin-Cavan traffic over 20 miles longer and served a sparsely populated area which probably contributed to its demise. The branch seems to have been built to feed cattle traffic from the midlands into the port of Belfast. The GNR is likely that the GNR would have closed the Dundalk-Omagh line and branches if it had been allowed to operate road services in Northern Ireland, it already had established a direct Dublin-Cavan-Enniskillen bus service an an extensive network of bus routes in Cavan, Meath and Monaghan There is a tale of a J15 arriving unexpectedly in Dundalk from Cavan with the CIE weedspray train at some stage after the 1958 take over, irate telephone calls & telegrams to the traffic people in Dublin. The last passenger train over the INW & Cavan branch appears to have been a circular IRRS tour by an ex GNR AEC railcar set going out over the GNR lines returning by the Midland. The A Class on the Monaghan GAA special may have arrived from Dundalk rather than Mullingar, some of the coaches seem to have been ex-GNR including a re-gauged LNWR coach. Cavan would be an interesting place to model beside CIE & GNR locos and stock UTA 4-4-0 No 81 Carrickfergus Castle was on hire to the GNR and regularly worked into Cavan in the early 1950s

Its an interesting one everything in the photo looks a bit to clean and well maintained for a railway in terminal decline in the late 50s. The track layout in the photo has more in common with the CIE rather than the GNR yard, the connecting line between two companies was laid in bullhead. CIE continued to operate the Midland and GNR Cavan branches as two separate systems up to closure, with Cavan served by a steam hauled goods and a diesel railcar mail train from Dundalk & a C Class hauled goods from Mullingar There are photos of GNR locos and railcars being turned on the Midland turntable & the WTT included whistle signals for working between the two yards so its not unlikely that a CIE loco would work into the northern yard to interchange traffic with the GNR. Cavan would make an interesting model if I had the space!! Possibly Roscrea stand of trees in background GSWR signal cabin and cattle bank sidings (long lifted) in the distance

596 appears to be arriving in Cavan, the location is fairly distinctive the train appears to be on the connecting line to the GNR yard. The Midland platform road and goods yard on the left, the diverging line on the right lead to the cattle bank, loco shed and turntable. In the 1950s Cavan was distinctly odd a CIE station with more GNR than CIE traffic. The Clones-Cavan line was still treated as a main line with a frequent by Irish standards service of through trains to Belfast, while CIE operated a daily goods from Mullingar. Looking the other 604 with train station and Midland yard in background. "A Decade of Steam" Photo Drew Donaldson?

Interesting one JHB oil burning ex-MGWR Cattle Engine J5 0-6-0 on the passenger rather than an Ex MGWR C 4-4-0 (D6 or D7), well dressed people at the station, good to see that everything wasn't in black and white those days well dressed people at the station.

SSM produced a whitemetal IRCH open wagon kit, good for the GSR/CIE & GNR(I) versions. Fairly simple to assemble. Alternatively the Hornby Dublo/Wrenn/Dapol 5 plan open looks close if you ignore the brake gear Provincial Wagons commissioned a run of Dapol opens in GNR livery & GNR with CIE branding .

Its difficult to see demand for a kit of an Irish model exceeding 100 units. The Irish market is predominantly rtr with a very small proportion of modellers prepared to assemble a kit regardless of quality or ease of assembly. RTR is dominated by high quality Chinese commissions by Murphy Models diesel locos and coaches and Irish Railway Models freight stock, and a number of smaller producers such as Provincial Models, Irish Freight Models and Silverfox Models who produce small quantities of rtr models using resin & 3 D printing techniques. The 1960-2000 scene in Southern Ireland (CIE/Irish Rail) is reasonably well covered by rtr models and kits, Northern Ireland (NIR) less so heavily dependent on kits The big gap in the market appears to be for models of locomotives and rolling stock introduced since 2000 and architectural models both north and south.

There was one batch of 47 footers 30279-30284 built for keg traffic in 1978, these wagons were used to carry containers when container traffic from Ballina to Dublin and Waterfrd Ports resumed about 10 years ago. ironically the 62' bogie log wagons in the background of the Ballina photos were originally introduced as container flats in the early 1980s and converted to carry logs after mail traffic finished in the 1990s

Haven't seen it personally Brian McCann built a CDR exhibition layout about 20 years ago in 3mm scale on N gauge track. Brian's modeling was/is to a high standard, think he modeled one of the villages on the CDR complete with station. The railcars were scratchbuilt in plasticard with Kato power bogies.

The HO sleeper size and spacing creates an illusion of making the gauge look wider and the distance longer than it actually is which works very well where there is a single track like in the last photo. The correct 4mm sleeper length and sleeper spacing tends to make OO gauge look like 3'6" Cape Gauge used in South Africa and my part of the World.

I understand that the RPSI considered loaning 27 to Westrail for use in the West of Ireland before IE embargoed the Athenry-Claremorris Line in the early 1990s. Apparently the RPSI & Westrail came very close to a loan agreement for the loco, but the plan fell through at teh 11th hour when Westrail lost their main line connection at Tuam.

Automotive paint suppliers like Vinny Byrne's can usually supply enamel or laquer in spray can or for brush application if you have a BS or RAL code or a sample. Usually costs about $17 (not sure what you would pay in Ireland) for a 350ltr spray can of a custom colour My local paint supplier has successfully colour matched existing models, no shame in bringing a loco or coach into a paint suppliers, they are only interested in keeping the customer happy and bringing in the money. Transfer/decal carrier film tends to show up on a matt finish unless you use rub on decals. A gloss or satin enamel is the best option for locos and coaches and finishing with a satin or flat laquer if you intend to apply decals or transfers.

The small GMs basically replaced locos like the J15 on the goods and D14 on passenger services with a little extra power to spare as a diesel would not stand up to the same level of abuse as a steam loco. In an ideal world it would be nice to see 184, 186 & Lough Erne given at least a cosmetic restoration rather than stored out of sight out of mind

Ballinamore hub of the C&L narrow gauge lines in CIE days. A very busy place when the coal trains from the Arigna mines were running.

Dave I wasn't sure if the master for the Marks Models 201 was produced by Noel Dodd or Tony Mirolo both highly talented modelers. Are there any photos that could be posted of Noel's Greystones layout an Irish & UK exhibition staple of the mid-late 1990s? For those that are not familiar Greystones was a massive exhibition layout that featured a near scale length model of the station and its environment.

Dave. Have you managed to acquire a Marks Models resin 201 Class kit? As far as I recall the kits were cast from a master produced by an MRSI member who produced a fleet of plasticard 201s that ran on lengthened Athearn SD45 chassis during the mid-late 1990s. The scratchbuilt 201s were built and finished to a high standard and close to the standard of rtr diesel locos available at the time. John

I came across my planning notes from around four years ago, it looks like I considered a multi level end to end layout and a layout with an island in the center of the room before deciding on a single level U shaped scheme. I tested the center island concept by dividing the with of the room into 1m units based on a 900mm minimum radius & 100mm min distance from the edge of the square, I later prepared a scheme using 1136mm squares based on a minimum radius of 1000 for 21mm gauge, with a minimum aisle width of 500mm. I abandoned the center island concept as my workbench occupies the centre of the room. The main station in the initial plan was based on Kiltimagh, the second a typical of smaller stations on the Limerick-Sligo line with a goods loop and single siding, though the diamond crossing crossover arrangement is similar to Ferbane on the Banagher branch, at this stage I still seem to have had fantasies about an upper level. Kiltimagh did not work visually in the space available with most of the yard hemed in between the two level crossing gates. I eventually looked at Tubbercurry which appeared to be a better fit for the available space & the bonus of a loco shed and turntable, Ballingarne Junction seems to have slipped into the plan though I don't remember if this was intended to be part of a multi level or island set up. Hopefully I will find time during the next week to draw out the block plan for the folded 8 scheme to scale to see if the concept can be made to work in an Irish context., I may need to widen the baseboard to fit a hidden line into the area behind the main station.

I have used the Wills corrugated sheets for buildings on various layouts, including a loco shed, Wills also do a thin translucent sheeting which is useful for roofs where you dont want a thick edge showing https://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk/Wills-Kits-SSMP216-Corrugated-Iron-4-sheets-(75x133mm)-per-pack/ ii you want something more realisitic Ambis Engineering EIW Corrugated sheeting http://www.ambisengineering.co.uk/Products/Products_Index.htm. The main advantage of the Wills sheets over the EIW sheeting, is that there is no need for a supporting structure.

Gisborne Airpost still has an operational level crossing controlled by miniature colour light signals. The line carries steam charter specials in connection with cruise ship visits. Air traffic normally has priority with the signals released by a tablet in the control tower http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/08/gisborne-airport-runway-with-railway.html

It looks like the was taken in the early-mid 1980s before the Bell Lines terminal was transferred to the Holyhead Yard and the run down of the Transtrack sundries services. Sundries traffic handled in the Midland Yard included a lot of high value urgent traffic including cigarettes, spirits, lubricating oil and motor parts which became a prime target for the growing logistic industry once road transport was de-regulated during the early 1990s. The sidings in the Midland Yard south of the Sherriff St bridge were used for loading/unloading general container traffic using large fork lifts, including scrap in open containers for the Galway Metal Company & grain traffic Up to the introduction of the IWT liners there was little direct wharf to rail container traffic through Dublin Port, the majority of rail borne container traffic through Dublin Port involved a road transfer from the Holyhead Yard to the container wharfs north and south of the Liffey. The Transtrack Store was built on the site of the old MGWR goods store which was destroyed by fire during the late 1960s. Most of track south of the Sherriff St bridge was abandoned in 2003 for the National Convention Centre and Treasury Holdings apartment developments and the remaining (Cork, Limerick & Ballina) container services diverted to the former groupage terminal on the north side of the Sherriff St bridge. The decision to run down freight and develop the North Wall site appears to have been as a result of Government pressure for CIE (Mary Harney as Minister of Transport) to cash in on its (under-utilised) assets to free up money for investment in passenger services. At the same time the closure of Asahi and failure of Bell Lines severely cut into the traffic base and profitability of rail while dis-functional labour relations within IE played into the hands of management and Merrion Street.

One of this years New Resolutions was to start some new builds along with finishing my un-finished projects. Top of the list were a pair of hooded vans for the mail and passenger trains as I did not keep any for myself when I released the vans in 2013. Following Eoin's example made a simple jig or fixture to temporary clamp the parts together while soldering the sides to the floor and ends. In this case I screwed the floor to a sheet of MDF and used a piece of stripwood to clamp the sides against the floor and ends until soldered in place. The ends on the JM Design 4w vans are designed as part of the floor and fold up into position to speed assembly, rather than assembled as separate parts.The doors are designed to fit into the recess, solder is locally sourced 139° with dilute "Ranex Rust Buster" (phosphoric acid solution). I usually use an Antex 55 W TCS Temperature Controlled Iron but I have recently graduated to a Hakko Soldering Station The vans were built on Bulleid Triangulated chassis with the usual Inchacore bufferbeam arrangement with the flanges facing outwards, tricky to form from flat metal parts. Designing a workable arrangement for the underframe was tricky as the axleguards/W irons usually fit behind the underframe channels, designing a headstock/buffer beam that would fold up easily was challenging to say the least. 1 Solebar one buffer beam. Folding up solebar flange in vice . The finished article The head wrecking stuff folding up the buffer beams! Fold 1 Fold 2 Completing the channel/fold 2 Completed buffer beam in position Van with solebars and buffer beams soldered in place. Solebar folded up and held in position for soldering An evenings work. Next stage running and brake gear