Mayner

JHB Was that the famous excursion where the loco release was blocked by wagons and the passengers had to get out and push? I visited Kingscourt in an A Class hauled IRRS special around 75-6, work had just started on clearing the trackbed of the Oldcastle line from Tara Junction to the mine. The most interesting item of stock at Kingscourt was an ex-GNR 6 w ballast wagon parked by the buffers on one of the sidings at the South end of the yard. I had drawn the loading bank serving the siding closest to the running line rather than both sidings shown of the historic OSI map. There does not appear to be evidence of a loading bank at the North end of the yard. There is a 1939 J Smith photo of a cut of cattle wagons stored on the siding between the head shunt and the loco shed but no sign of a loading bank. The whole area was obliterated with the construction of the gypsum loading ramp and turntable. Looking at the OSI map and Eiretrains photos the most likely place for loading cattle was the loading bank on the goods shed road. http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20K/Kingscourt/IrishRailwayStations.html#Kingscourt_20040801_002_CC_JA.jpg It’s possible that cattle traffic may not have been heavy enough to justify a dedicated cattle bank and siding at Kingscourt. A large proportion of cattle traffic on the Midland was tied up with the seasonal movement of cattle from fairs in the West to farms in Meath and Kildare for fattening , a situation that would not arise to the same extent on an area that specialised in dairy farming and pork & bacon production.

I can certainly recommend Digitrax for durability and after sales service. I have used the mid level Empire Builder based system for over 16 years in N, HO, On30 and G Scale. The original DB 150 command stations are still going strong but I upgraded the system to radio control about 7 years ago with a combination of dual knob and utility throttles. I mainly bought from Tony's Trains Exchange in both Ireland and here in New Zealand.

I travelled over the like in 1975 or 76 and drew a sketch of the track layout. There was the remains of a loading bank between the two sidings at the south end of the station, the bank appears on the OS 25" map of the area. There did not appear to be room on loading bank by the goods shed road for loading cattle as this was covered by an extension to the goods shed. At the time gypsum was carried in a mixture of hoppers and open wagons and the sidings were in use for wagon storage.

I built a model of 533 in plasticard powered by a Lima tender drive about 30 odd years ago looked nice but getting it to run was another matter . The cattle wagon cast in resin (gooey) in a rubber mould the coach in plasticard from an over scale drawing. Drawings of the D16 and MGWR coaches appeared in a series of articles by Tim Cramer in Model Railways I would look at doing a D16 at some stage after the introduction of the G2 which should be available late autumn. The main issue with designing a kit for many locos is the sheer number of variation that arose in GSR/CIE days.

Its an interesting discussion in a way the original posters fantasy of a European railway using locally built GM locos came true with the Swedish firm Nohab building a European twin cabbed version of the classic F7 widely used across much of Europe even showing up in Turkey and Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSB_Class_MY An Irish MY is an interesting might have been as Nohab tendered to supply locos to the GNR and possibly CIE.

Stopped waiting parts just like many a CIE loco in the 40s & 50s. I managed to ring the end off one of the coupling rods during assembly I should have a replacement set during the next month or so.

Harry It would be worth while to keep the original brass chassis in reserve as a spare if you run into problems or decide at some stage to have a go at 21mm gauge I have a J26 still going strong on the original chassis after nearly 30 years service,which says a lot about the durability and accuracy of the original chassis. A compensated chassis is a better option for a small loco than a rigid one as you get more reliable power pick up with all wheels on the track. The axle and coupling rod centres line up accurately flex-chassis bearings simply slot into the openings in the frames. I used U shaped strips of scrap bass soldered to the inside of the frame to prevent the bearings revolving & made up a keeper plate from strip brass to prevent the wheels dropping out

STS had a fleet of similar wagons in the UK complete with green underframe running gear http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/icianhydrousammonia/h8bdddd2#h8bdddd2 The Train Ferry tie down hooks are an interesting feature of the 1995 batch of wagons. Fauvet Girel would have built the new wagons to meet current design standards and rather than tool up specially to produce a 1970s design.

The "modern" 4w wagons were fitted with 2' buffers and instanter couplings most likely to reduce slack between wagons and allow faster running 50mph compared with 35mph for loose coupled working.

I have a copy of "The Turf Burner" by J P Rowledge, it contains a GA and diagrams of the gas, steam and water circuits but no plan view. Both sides of the loco may have looked the same and the boiler may have been centred than offset. "The design was double ended, the girder frames centrally supporting the boiler, but differed from the Leader by having bunker and water tanks at each end. This layout was basically the Fairlie system" "The boiler was enclosed within the body and each driving cab had only one door on the left side facing the direction of travel" " The layout of CC1 was 'mirrored" along its centre line apart from the driving position, the air compressor and some of the brake fittings. The feature on the side of the loco and access panels on the ends appears to be connected with the feedwater heaters and gas system (heat exchangers?).

Northyard in New Zealand supply 28mm 2.03 dia axles Part No 471 @ $0.90nz & 12mm RE25/110 metal tyred plastic centre disc wheels Part 2197B @$0.95 nz ea http://www.northyard.co.nz/ The wheels are intended for S gauge very strong and of good quality with a nickel silver tyre on a nylon centre. Tyres are wide for 21mm but a good compromise for OO

Whatever about Hornby's financial position they have turned out some outstanding OO gauge steam locos http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82970-hornbys-best-ever-models/page-29. I think one of the main issues with Hornby is whether to cater for the train set market and the younger modeller or the adult collector. The take over of the Lima/Rivarassi has probably worsened the problem as most of the Continental and American models are quite outdated and inferior to their competitors models. The local model shop dropped Bachmann and Atlas about 4-5 years ago and only stock Hornby primarily for parents and younger modellers expanding on the Christmas train set. Although there is a Britannia, a King Arthur, a T9 and other mouth watering steam locos in the display case these are likely to be long stock or sale and return items as the adult collector is more likely to buy on line or from a box shifter. A parent is unlikely to pay over $300NZ for an Arthur or an O4 they might be happy to pay out $150-200 for the Hornby R2669 Train Pack with the ancient Triang-Hornby diesel shunter and 3 wagons. Much more play value and less likely to be broken than a highly detailed model.

The bulk grain containers appear in a number of photos of the North Kerry yard during the same era. The ISO grain containers, Keg and the Back to Back fertiliser swap bodies were mentioned in an IRRS paper written in the late 60s early 70s possibly worth a visit to the IRRS library. The containers appear to have been used to transport barley for a large brewery. Its possible the wagons were loaded on the rails at Rock Street as the maltings/grain silos were served by a private siding.

Cold Brrr.......... we lived in a classical Dublin 1930s 3 bed semi, my grandmother loved the fresh air with all the windows wide open even on a winters day, kept warm by the kitchen fire, paraffin and later Super-Ser bottle gas heaters in the living room and hall, only installed central heating when we had two wages in the house when I started working in the late 70s. Although a grandfather had was a GSR driver the railways were seen as a thing of the past and CIE a dirty word in our family, with my parents never using rail after experiences of cold, dirty trains breaking down on journeys to family funerals and weddings in the West. Maybe my interest in model railways was a form of rebellion and something my parents hoped I would grow out of when after months of negotiations I selected my first proper train set a Triang-Hornby "South African Goods" at the age of 12 or 13. It took an other year of saving up to buy a second hand Trix E2 locomotive and a Triang CKD coach, a point and some extra track. As a kid what inspired me to model railways was the trains in the Triang-Hornby and Trix catalogues and later in model railway magazines as railways had little or no relevance in many parts of Dublin and were very much out of sight out of mind. I suppose the lesson is that a small percentage of children will go against the norm and develop an interest in model trains, or become a dweeb or geek, than take up athletics or team sport.

David Franks the IE Chief Executive signalled a change in thinking towards freight including a cheap and cheerful re-opening of Foynes and a interest in competing for the Biomass traffic. Significantly spoke about substantially increasing train lengths and better scheduling of freight trains to avoid crossing on single lines. A reduction in freight rates by operating longer less frequent 80TEU overnight train may be more attractive than a daily 36TEU train for shippers like IWT. However investment would be required to increase terminal capacity and critical passing loops, there is little to be gained in running an 80TEU train if you cannot fit it in a terminal or yard In most Western Countries the rail infrastructure owner and local authorities often co-fund investment in improving line capacity with Port Companies and shippers funding terminal facilities and private sidings. A good example is our local freight line where capacity improvements now allow 100TEU trains increased traffic as a result of increased competition between ports .http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/news/140/129/Further-investment-in-busy-rail-line-between-Hamilton-and-Tauranga.html Even local government and haulage companies building rail terminals https://www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/news-and-media/keeping-connected/tokoroa-road-rail-terminal-opens-for-business/

Could end up with a similar situation to Williams in the US with a Kader takeover. Hornby by Bachmannanyone? A takeover by Kader would make sense to eliminate a major competitor drop the Bachmann name in favour of the stronger Hornby brand and rationalise the OO range.

The Dublin-Enniskillen Railway of the Railway Mania era opens up some interesting possibilities a less round-about route from Dubin to Cavan than the Midland or the GNR just might have had the critical mass of passenger traffic to survive the 57 closures. Linking with the Londonderry & Enniskillen, Derry might have developed into a port for trans-Atlantic liners like Cobh and carried heavy freight traffic for Donegal through Stabane, Had it survived long enough it could have carried cement and building products from the Quinn Cement and Glass Plants at Derrylin and Belturbet Cavan would have been a logical junction point with the Ulster Railway main line from Belfast through Armagh and Monaghan opening up the possibility of Dublin-Cavan-Armagh-Belfast passenger service. A direct Portadown Enniskillen line would have served the fertile Clogher Valley and opened up a more direct faster Belfast-Enniskillen route than the GNR lines via Clones or Omagh

The drawing for the BSSGV shows two brake cylinders, the Bredins are likely to have had the same arrangement.

The old CIE weed killing train dumped at Ballybrophy. Bogie wagons in black with white broken wheel emblem on cab. The train seems to be marshalled as it ran, with a 4w tank wagon behind the weed killing vehicles and a string of H vans for chemicals and stores. http://jandjcottrell.zenfolio.com/p487224326/h2e392ac#h2e392ac

What happens when traction control fails on 1000ton Milk Train on a 1:35 gradient Power required to haul a 30 wagon coal train through a 8.5Km Tunnel on a 1:33 grade (1:24-2:45)

At this stage I have had enough orders to release the kit, which should be available in April

JHB any idea when the last goods train ran to Abbeyfeale? The last flurry of activity at Newcastlewest is well documented but nothing on the last trains to Abbeyfeale and Lisowel,

The late Padraig O'Cummin the MGWR historian published a series of articles on MGWR coaching and wagon stock in the 1970s MGWR wagons were painted dark slate grey with loco and traffic coal wagons black, ballast wagons sand-beige (yellow clay) and some goods brakes mid green. Some evidence light grey used in 1924 for open box wagons. Traffic wagons and small p.w.d trucks and hoppers used MGW + number on one plank. Passenger train wagons, loco coal wagons and bogie rail wagons used MGWR + number I don't know about standard gauge stock the GSR painted C&L ballast wagons sand-beige /yellow clay in the 1930

The type of layout really depends on whether you prefer to watch the trains going by or shunting The 3' width is very tight for an oval and virtually restricts you to Set-track 1st and 2nd radius curves rather than the 2' minimum radius recommend for Peco flexible track. One option might be to model a small suburban station with short platforms on a double track line similar to Cork-Cobh, with the sharp curves at either end disguised by a tunnel, bridge or deep cutting. This would leave you around 6' for the station area, most Cobh line stations had a single short goods siding, several had staggered platforms which would make an interesting feature. A platform length of 2'6" to 3' X 2" width would look ok for the usual 141/181 or 001 & 2-3 coach Craven, Laminate or Park Royal. The occasional non-stop Boat Train or freight would add to the interest. If you prefer freight stock and shunting forget the station 10'X1'6" would be more than enough for a shunting plank, loco depot or small freight yard.