Mayner

The turntable at Athlone loco depot fouled the running line on the Mayo line and interlocked with the signalling system, the problem may have arisen when the table was extended to turn the Woolwich Moguls. Athlone was a major depot in steam days Henry Fayle recorded 11 locos on shed at "new" loco depot and 4 locos at the old shed on a Wednesday afternoon in September 1937. Funnily enough we have the same problem at Keadue with the table fouling the main line, the table is supposed to be protected by the home and starting signals at the Boyle end of the station, though we have been waiting 5 years for the S&E engineers from Sligo to connect them up.

Visited Westport with an IRRS group in June 83 the visit was by service train with a bus transfer to Sligo with a visit to Ballina, I was lucky enough to get a cab ride on a 001 from Collonney to Ballymote on the evening Sligo-Dublin passenger, we were later blocked at Mullingar & Hill of Down by a 14 coach Knock special hauled by a pair of 141s Westport shed was still in use with a 001 Class possibly stabled off a bagged cement special a single 22'6" flat with a pair of Uniload containers was parked on the stub of the quay line just past the fueling point. Before Railplan 80 the goods yard had a single long siding serving the goods shed, with the stub of the Achill line retained to serve a small container gantry

Nice shot at Cabra Bank probably late 60s still in use for cattle traffic, platform on the left was probably for washing cattle wagons, villas on thee Cabra Road in the distance

Very impressive. Did you use a one or two part mould?

A bit of Hi-de-Hi on the railway

The wagon in the Derry photo may have been from the original batch of Bubbles, the chassis with the handbrake wheels is most likely to have evolved from an earlier design as opposed to a donor chassis from a 20' Flat. The coach style brake gear with handbrake wheel is similar to that used by CIE on fitted flat wagons, H Vans and cattle wagons up to the introduction of the mid 1960s. While the flat wagon chassis was similar it had a shorter wheelbase than the bubble, friction boxes and was only rated to carry 20 Ton tps://www.flickr.com/photos/holycorner/7080093371/in/photostream/ and passed into p.w. use rather than being uprated following the introduction of the 20ton flats in the mid 60s. Its possible that 4 shoe wagon style brake gear with handlevers was retrofitted to wagons like that in the Derry photo as wagons were overhauled in the 70s & 80s. Wagons were fitted with coach style brake gear as up to the mid 60s urgent goods traffic was carried as tail traffic on passenger trains running at up to 60mph rather than the 50mph max later allowed with Liner Trains.

The old Triang-Hornby clerestory coaches would be useful donor vehicle http://www.gwr.org.uk/protriang.html for older GSWR, WLWR & West Cork non-corridor stock of the 1890s. The biggest job would be replacing the clerestory with a simple arch roof with gas light fittings, the WLWR coaches had tucked in ends like the GWR coaches, the GSWR & CBSCR had plain ends. The newer Hornby clerestory coaches in GWR livery might pass for GSWR Rosslare stock in GSR days, not sure if anyone does a suitable 6 wheel bogie. The main drawback is the printed panel beading which makes it difficult to re-produce for early of late GSR era or CIE green. http://www.hornby.com/uk-en/gwr-clerestory-third-class-coach.html

I have a couple of CIE diagrams of cement bubbles DRG 45600/2 is an undated (post 73) outline drawing with imperial dimensions though tank capacity is specified as 21 cubic metres Painting surface areas are specified as: Tank 440sq/ft colour Manila BS 381C 367 U/frame 150 Sq, Ft approx. Colour Black. No information is given on lettering or logos. DRG 47400/1 (a) is a 1988 revision of 1987 metric standard general arrangement drawing, the revision relates to pipework alterations including a list of components The wagon is drawn with the Irish Cement logo although no other livery detail is provided.

[quote name=minister_for_hardship;88258 An attempt to copy what BR were doing in around the same time' date=' not sure if it was all that successful. Iirc saw a pic of a number of them at the then recently closed Tramore station, maybe they were stabled at other seaside type locations as well? Youghal maybe?[/quote] I wonder if the camping coaches were aimed at visitors from the UK, with through booking including train and ferry between stations in the UK & Ireland. This would have been appealing in the days before ro ro ferries and nearly every family having a car. Dungarvan seems to have had one or two camping coaches, not sure if there were any at seaside stations on the South Eastern and the Northern Line between Malahide & Laytown which would have been ideal for the purpose.

Marine version?

Incidents involving excavators and other hi-rail vehicles is a major issue on railways where routine maintenance like rail-distressing and sleeper replacement is carried out between trains. In recent years Kiwirail had a number of serious near misses and an incident where a digger was struck by a freight and the digger driver seriously injured. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/72133343/kiwirail-ordered-to-pay-110000-to-man-hit-by-train Poor planning and control of possessions and Dispatcher (CTC signaller) work load appeared to be a common thread with protection removed and trains signalled through worksites before the line was clear or incidents where the dispatcher mistook the location of the train or hi-rail vehicle (usually SUV or light commercial vehicle with rail wheels used as gangers trolley for track or signal inspections) IE does not seem to be immune to this sort of thing and was investigated by the RAIU for 4 possession breaches in one week in 2012 fortunately without injury http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/trend_investigation_possession_incidents.pdf

A sure sign of autumn a weta (Maori "god of ugly things") took up residence in the workshop. now safely re-located to the garden where there is a better chance of survival with plenty of leaf cover & something to eat.

The original brass frames are quite flimsy compared to the nickel silver chassis but have stood up well to 30 years use. I upgraded the chassis during the 1990s rebuild by bending strips of brass sprue into a U shape (horn guide) to prevent the axle brushes from rotating and adding a compensation beam to allow the 2 leading axles to rock up and down, the horn guides on the rear rigid axle are set to the correct ride height. Pick ups are simply short strips of phosphor bronze wire fixed to short strips of copper clad and hard wired back to the motor. I am unlikely to modify any of these locos to DCC. TMD/SSM Nickle Silver Chassis The replacement nickel silver chassis is unusual as it is designed to be assembled as a compensated chassis with integral compensating beams rather than the usual arrangement of a rigid chassis with compensation or springing as an option. NS chassis with equalising or compensating beams on the leading axles. The holes for the leading and middle axle are slotted rather than round to allow the axles to move up an down. The top hat axle bearings are pushed through the axle holes then soldered to the compensating beams which are supported by a central pivot. The rim of the top hat brushes supplied with the kit were too small and it was necessary to use a washer to stop the bearings pushing through. Close up of compensating beam and pivot The chassis for the new loco is kind of 90s state of the art with Alan Gibson wheels (Sharman no longer available) Branchlines 50:1 Multi-box gear box noisy but really good low speed torque for a shunter and a Mashima 12X24 motor smaller than the DS10 without the drawbacks. During the final stages of assembly I managed to ring the end off one of the coupling rods. The rods are not interchangeable between the brass and NS chassis due to a difference in axle centres. I have designed a replacement set of rods closer in profile to the prototype, Attock 6 coupled locos had a plain one piece coupling rod similar to the brass chassis. I am experimenting with phosphor bronze strip partially hidden behind the wheels rather than wire for pick up on this loco. Riveted smoke box my own design etched in brass, though these days I would make the part from sheet brass for a one off I am not satisfied with the funnel does not quite look the part. Must remember to add the boiler bands (paper) before painting I am not sure of the number at this stage most likely to be a loco that worked on the Midland during the 1950s

Two versions of the same loco built nearly 30 years apart more of a long running saga than a workbench. The TMD (Terry McDermott) MGWR E introduced 1983? was the first brass kit for an Irish steam loco. The kit like the J15 was originally designed with a chassis in 0.40" brass which is considered a bit flimsy for a chassis, a stronger nickel silver chassis has been supplied with kits produced from the late 80s. The original kit was a must for someone who modelled the Midland though a tender loco would have been a lot more useful, I had no real need or intention of building another of these locos until I found an unbuilt MGWR tank among a job lot of part built TMD & SSM kits at Expo EM about 15 years ago. I finally got round to building the loco in GSR/CIE condition a couple of years ago. A pair of 551 Class tanks at Keadue possibly the GSR has re-gauged the line in the face of competition from the SLNCR at Arigna Town. The tanks were less powerful than a tender engine but may have been easier on the curves. The first loco was originally assembled in MGWR condition in Dublin about 30 years ago, before a rebuilt into 553 in CIE condition while living in the UK in 1993, the riveted smoke box is an overlay from an SSM J15 not sure where the funnel came from. The original (brush painted) paint work was stripped down and finished in Howes "Dirty Black" with an airbrush with a satin finish using an air brush. The loco got a misting with some form of Floquil weathered black and a coating of satin about two years ago. 553 need a new cab roof/cab interior and vacuum pipes to match the ne 55w loco. 553 still has its original brass chassis & 1980s state of the art Sharman wheels, 40:1 gearbox and Anchorage DS10 motor. Mike Sharman & Iain Rice popularised the idea of compensated or flexible chassis, Mike producing an excellent range of wheels and enclosed gearbox. M.G. Sharp of Sheffield imported the "Anchorage" range of small powerful 5 pole motors. The DS10 designed for American N gauge was one of the smallest available was happiest at very high speed and bearings not up to the end trust with a typical British single stage worm/gear transmission The loco has a slight rear end waddle otherwise a smooth and reliable runner with a good turn of speed. 553 was assembled with a compensated chassis by simply letting the bearing float in the axle cut outs in the chassis. I made a keeper plat from brass rod and wire to represent the brake pull rods and to prevent the wheels falling out

Removing the wiper on the fireman's side was probably an economy measure during the Todd Andrews era. The Metro Vicks seem to have been introduced with a full sets of wipers there is photo of a newly introduced A3, C232 in the Irish Metrovick book. The majority of Metrovicks seem to have lost their second pair of wipers by 1959, they seem to have been replaced by 1968. The Irish Metrovick book has a good collection of colour and black and white photos of Metrovicks with one or two sets of wipers.

This does not appear to be the case when services like cleaning, catering and maintenance are "contracted out' in the public service hence my comment that little seemed to be gained in paying a foreign multi-national to employ workers on the minimum wage. Privatisation in Australia and New Zealand in the 1990s did not lead to an improved standard of service or pay and conditions for workers. The experience in the UK was somewhat different with a growing market and staff shortage leading for passenger and freight operators competing for staff, but the Irish does not have the critical mass in terms of population and freight tonnage to support competition between rail operators. UK operators carry about 100m/tm a year Kiwirail 18m/tm IE<1m/tm freight

You would probably end up with Transdev (Veolia) operating the DART, & Cork Commuter Services with Stagecoach and First Group carving up Intercity, Bus-Eireann and Dublin Bus between them rather than any actual competition on a paricular route I can't see any advantages in contracting out services to a Multi-National operator as the Irish Government would still be responsible for providing and maintaining the trains, busses, rail and road infrastructure and making up the operating losses, the operator basically paying staff a minimum wage and clipping the ticket.

Most probably a break up of CIE in a similar manner to the UTA into separate state owned railway, bus companies and road freight companies. Abandonment of secondary main lines would have allowed Government to focus investment to improve service quality on the remaining lines, perhaps introducing Blue Pullmans or IC125s on the Cork & Belfast lines in the Mid-1970s

Forcing CIE to retain rather disused lines would have been more likely to weaken rather than strengthen the overall position of the railways. Possibly leading an acceleration of line closures and reduction in investment in 63 & 64 as the Board struggled with its legal duty to achieve break even by December 1964. This might have had a positive side for the Irish Economy in forcing the Government to look seriously at breaking up CIE and liberalising surface transport. The option of giving County Councils first refusal on closed lines never gained a foothold in Ireland, Farrafore-Killorglin or Listowel-Tralee owned by Kerry Council and operated by an independent operator would have been difficult if not impossible to establish with CIEs near monopoly position.

I may need to hire Kevin as a press and publicity agent I hope to do an update in the next two weeks, Thump was kind of right the final version of the fret arrived last week, I just need to prepare a master for the cuplocks At this stage the plan is to release the wagon in late 2016.

The plan's are my own drawn to scale for 4mm, I usually use a drawing as a template when I am making a part rather than scribing or marking out the part. I dropped a clanger cutting out the seats for a scale width Irish coach rather than to fit the Dapol body shell.

One of the challenges with a garden railway is keeping up with maintenance & renewal work just like a full size railway The Easter Weekend seemed to be a good time for some maintenance work, but first job was to clear the line after last weeks high winds and rain. The T&D Inspection Car was the only thing running, one of the locos took a nose dive off a raised section of line loosing its funnel when it de-railed on a twig. The loco seems to have rolled over upon impact with the funnel buried in a bed of mulch and the loco upright. This area is due to be re-sleepered during the next 6 months, the sleepers on the Accucraft track are bleached out and turning to dust. Luckily I have found an alternative source of sleeper/tie strip from Sunset Valley in the USA expensive but should be good for at least 10 years. The worksite is the main line and siding tracks at the principal station/yard Jackson City. The ties were replaced in this area during the last 6 months, but ballast still needed to be completed on the siding tracks and tidied up on the main. In the past I had used loose ballast without an adhesive, which needed to be topped up either washed away by heavy rain or blown away when you use a blower to blow away twigs, leaves and other debris from the track. Ballast in this area is a combination of re-cycled and new fine pebbles screened through 8mm wire mesh to remove larger stones, bonded with dilute concrete bonding agent and a drop of sugar soap to break down surface tension. A certain amount of fines was used in the mix in this area to create the well trodden area of a yard. Gluing down is similar to the pva & eye dropper technique in 4mm & N, though washing away the ballast is less of a problem.

Nice to see a build of a Clogher Valley loco, I had a read though E M Paterson's book over the weekend very interesting and smartly turned out little railway right to the end, with the Atkinson-Walker railcar, "The Unit", re-built Castlederg engine with the remaining Sharpie engines in a mixture of red and green. I am thinking of building a CVR 0-4-2T mainly to find use for a Bemo -0-4-0 diesel chassis. One of oddities was that while the CVR coaches were Branchlines best selling kits in 4mm, the Backwoods Miniatures CVR loco literally failed to sell.

Nice to see a heating van modelled a boiler and generator set

Government attempts to introduce a Standard or Official form of language are usually doomed to failure, particularly on a people who have a history of rebelling against authority. The cumpulsary Irish became a tool for getting a job and few people could hold a conversation with a native speaker despite 10-12 years schooling Contrast this with North and Mid-Wales where the Welsh language is used for every day social and business life, though relatively few people understand its written form Te Puke - Irish