Mayner

I picked up a G Gauge model of Schull & Skibereen No4 Erin from a modeller in the UK that was moving up to 3½" Gauge standard gauge. The loco was built in plasticard on a Playmobile (LGB) chassis. Although the plasticard modelling was reasonably good, work was needed on the chassis and the loco was earmarked for conversion to battery radio control as pick up was poor due to spark eroded tyres a common enough problem with older LGB locos. Before overhaul/conversion I compared the loco with an Ian Beattie drawing that appeared in a 7mm Narrow Gauge Association collection of Irish narrow gauge locos. While the loco is reasonably close to the drawing of the loco in its original condition, it appears to have been built to 14mm rather than 15mm scale in order to use the Playmobile rather than a scratchbuilt chassis. The mechanical overhaul is basically complete the connecting rods were re-jointed with solder rather than glue, new crossheads machined to replace the original with strangely off set piston rods. The prototype was one of the first locos in Ireland to use Walschaerts valve gear, though most of the motion was hidden by an inspection panel. Bogie pivot machined from brass to replace the existing nut and bolt arrangement. The radio control wiring harness includes a charging jack, changeover switch and Deltron receiver. I am planning to fit a small battery pack in the loco for shunting and use a battery trailing car with 2 7.2 battery packs for line work and visiting layouts. I will try and fit an LED in the head lamp, acetylene headlamps were a distinctive feature of the Schull and Dingle lines I will probabably end up scratchbuilding a short S&S train, although Worsley Works produce parts for some of the coaches they are to the more common 15mm scale for Irish 3' gauge and likely to dwarf the rather small loco.

The GNR (I) has a large following the U & UG were relatively modern go-anywhere locos Worsley Works produce etched parts for both the GNR (I) U & UG. OO Works seems to be a one or two person business, its possible the U may be based on Worsley Works parts rather than developed from scratch

RM Thread on OO Works http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/41670-who-are-oo-works-and-what-do-they-make/. Locos appear to be batch built from metal parts and reasonably priced.

Up to Buttervant and Cherryville Junction old railway inspectorate tended to focus on engineering and human error aspects of accident investigation, without digging too deeply about the underlying causes of why people sometimes cut corners to get the job done. At the time of the 1955 accident the signalling and water towers at Cahir was set up for Up & Down working through the platform roads, rather than a main line and loop situation where Up and Down trains can be signalled onto or through either road. The siding extension of the Up line on to the viaduct would have been for passing trains that were longer than the loop and to protect the main line from wagons running back during shunting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_loop Kiltimagh on the Burma Road had a similar arrangement and run-away in 1917 The main station building was on the Down platform with the water tower near the starting signal for Bansha at the Limerick end of the station, there was also a water tower or crane near to the starting signal at end of the Up platform to allow Waterford bound trains to take water without blocking the main line. The custom and practice at Cahir at the time of the accident seems to have been to bring Up mail from Limerick in on the Down platform road in order to load/unload mail without station staff having to use the barrow crossing. On the evening of the accident the loco of the Mail stopped to take water from the tower at the Limerick end of the station blocking the crossover from the Up platform road to the main line, setting up a trap for a heavy goods with limited braking power I don't know if Cahir had a down Outer Home signal in 1955 or whether BS3 entered the Clonmel-Cahir section under the "Warning Arrangement, either would have given the crew a better chance to reduce speed and stop at the Home signal before entering the station. Cahir was later signalled for Up & Down running along the main and loop in connection with the closure of the Waterford-Mallow line in 1967 and by 1980 had an Outer Home from the Waterford but not Limerick direction. The Woolwich were notorious for poor brakes with reports of near misses and run-aways with heavy goods trains. The crew of an Up Midland goods managed to stop a run-away between Clonsilla and Liffey Junction with the tender hand brake narrowly avoiding ending up in the Liffey, there were run-aways with Woolwich down the Gullet from Inchacore and through the Cork tunnel.

Managed to run the 1st train of the year this morning before the weather turned with rainstorms threatened over weekend. Freight arrives with diesel shunter cut in behind stock car. The shunter is used to shunt the yard and a local trip working while the train loco is turned and serviced. New Year resolution to paint the loco shed roof

Gormanstown Oct 3 train collision 1984 Crashworthyness of railway rolling stock does not really appear to have been considered on Irish railways before the 1960s. Rail safety was pretty much based on strictly following the Rule Book, an interlocked signal system and the automatic vacuum brake. The GSR & CIEs record of not killing a passenger between 1925-74 seems to have been more by luck than judgement Straboe 1944, Cahir 1955 & Dundrum (Co-Dublin 1957 were all warning signs that all was not well. And good examples of how the Rule Book is one of the first things go out the window when staff are under pressure or in the case of Cahir find a 'work around" to save time.

Its quite a challenge to fit a large main line station into a 10X8. The central operating well and baseboards around the walls with separate scenes with the viaduct, station and coastal scenery is a good idea and help make the layout feel larger than I actually is. It would be worthwhile to add a loop or loops on either side of the main line on the coastal scenic section on the opposite side to the viaduct, this would give you storage space for another couple of trains and add to the operating interest with say the Enterprise overaking a Tara Mines or a suburban train. It might be better to omit the depot buildings as they would block out the view of the station from the operating well and make it difficult to reach the platform lines. Before the Depot was built it was used as a depot for locos used on cement and Tara Mines trains & a maintenance area for bubble cement and gypsum hoppers. It would be very difficult to fit in a workable Navan Branch, but it would be easy enough to add in the cement factory branch into the operating well on the Northern side of the viaduct as a destination for freight trains

Modelling in 3mm (TT) on OO9 and OO would be a better option than OO9& OO to keep the scale/gauge proportions right. But would need a greater level of skill in loco and stock building compared to OOn3 or 21mm gauge. The other issue is that the track and stock would be to different scales At least one modeller has modelled the County Donegal in 3mm scale (TT) on N Gauge track scratch building railcars and rolling stock in plasticard on N gauge chassis. The main problem with OO9 for the Irish 3' gauge is that you would have to scratch build a chassis. The Irish 3' gauge locos and stock were much more massive than the British 2'-2'6" narrow gauge, the Welshpool & Llanfair was probably closest to an Irish narrow gauge line, but the Earl & the Countess quite unlike anything that ran in Ireland Scale and gauge does not really seem to be an issue with Tonyboley's planned layout as the narrow gauge appears to be freelance modern image.

The Frateschi loco seems to have the edge on the SW1500 in terms of bogies an looks like a low cabbed version of the B121 Class which would kind of make sense as some Brazilian lines were built to 5'3" The MIR 121 looks reasonable and runs well on the SW1500 chassis, the whitemetal body adds to the smooth running and pulling power. The loco was good by the standards of whitemetal diesels of the 80s, though may be overscale for 1:76 or OO, the original bogies were designed around the DS10 motor and the sideframes are longer than scale.

The official reason for the airlift was to allow driver and maintenance staff training to take place before the remaining 9 locos were delivered, the unofficial reason was that the CIE Chairman Paul Conlon was about to retire and wanted a publicity stunt.

Unmistakable excellent piece of urban modelling fair play for fitting it into an even more challenging place than the prototype.

1. Propel Commuter towards Mostrim clearing east end points 2. Pull Commuter onto Gantry road clearing trap points. 3. Uncouple loco from Commuter and buffer up and couple to Liner. There seemed to be enough room on the gantry road for the Liner (8-10 42'9 flats) and the commuter 4. Propel Liner towards Dromad clearing west end points. 5. Pull Liner into Loop. The shunt had to be carried out quickly to avoid delaying the UP and Down evening Sligo passenger trains which were normally scheduled to cross at Mostrim, delaying the Up Sligo would also have a potential knock on effect on the running of the down Sligo Liner and ESSO Oil train. I don't remember if the Up Sligo ran through when the shunting was taking place in the yard or when the Liner was staged in the loop. As far as I recall Longford had Outer Home and Advanced starter signals which would have allowed the shunts to take place on the main line if a train was in section from Dromad or Mostrim. otherwise the up passenger would have had to wait at Dromad until the main line was clear at least up to the home signal and a safety overlap

Its interesting how the discussion has focused on what the public expect at exhibitions as opposed to layout operation. I think it was Iain Rice who wrote that British outline modellers built models of railway stations while American modellers build model railroads and focus more on prototypical operation than exhibiting layouts. This seem to hold true regardless of whether the layout is built in the UK, Australasia or the United States, there is also some crossover Patrick's South Waterford layout, Castle Rackrent Drew Donaldson's and Sam Carse's County Donegal are/were models of railways designed for the enjoyment of the operator rather than the public at an exhibition. Its possible to build an exhibition layout for prototypical operation that will keep the general public interested Stoke Summit and Maybank are good but contrasting examples, but would the effort be better spent building a permanent layout that could be operated on a regular basis rather than an occasional exhibition? There is probably a critical mass of modellers in the UK to support specialist exhibitions such as Scaleform, ExpoEM etc.Richies hypotechical prototypically operated fine scale model of Askeaton would probably win an award and be published in Model Railway Journal but put the average punter to sleep. I am not sure if there is a critical mass of Irish modellers to support a weekend NMRA style convention in Dublin or Belfast with trade stands, clinics, and layout tours as opposed to conventional exhibition.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all:Happy1:

Little puzzle about what went on-on the railways not so long ago. February or March evening 1996 nothing better to do so checked out activity at Longford Station. 1.Longford commuter train recently arrived from Connolly 071 + 3-4 Cravens & van. 2. Coaches must be stabled clear of the main line for the Up & Down evening Sligo trains. 3. Loco is required to work the Longford Liner back to the North Wall. 4. Molasses tank wagons remain in yard. Task 1.Stable coaches clear of main line. 2.Couple on to Liner and position train in the loop for departure to Dublin with the least number of moves.

The loop at Manulla was lifted at some stage after the closure of the station in the 1960s, the practice of queuing a number of trains in section uncoupling the locos and coupling to the train in front was described described in an IRRS Journal article on working Knock specials. The same practice was also used at Ashtown to handle a large number of specials for the 1980 Papal visit. A temporary trailing crossover was installed and the Down Line between Ashtown treated as a siding for storing the specials.

Billyboy's loco looks more like an S2 rather than an RS2 The S2 was a pure switching loco restricted to low speed work, the RS2&3 was the first of the modern road switchers suitable for both switching and line haul work. [video=youtube;oeG2Ejj-bNc] The S2 is an end cab design without a short hood, runs on "Blunt" trucks and has a different engine to the RS2 & RS3 classes The early Alco diesel road switchers, freight and passenger locos were plagued by engine troubles and Alco lost market share to General Motors and later General Electric. Most of the Canadian Alcos were built in Montreal, North American production of Alcos shifted to Montreal when the US plant shut down during the late 196os.

They also stacked trains in the Claremorris-Balla section on Sundays, there was an IRRS Journal Article in the 70s or 80s that went into detail on the working of pilgrimage trains at Claremorris. The practice seems to have been mainly to eliminate running round in Claremorris on busy days by swapping locos between trains in section. Once the passengers had disembarked a number of arriving trains would continue into the Claremorris-Balla section followed by a light engine, The trains would then return to Claremorris followed by a light loco and the process possibly repeat itself if necessary. I am not sure if regular services were cancelled on busy Sundays, but in 1980 the Claremorris-Balla section was free between the departure of the Up Westport passenger at 09:37 and the arrival of the Down Athlone-Westport passenger at 13:22.

The canopy and roller doors in the West end of the goods shed and the blocking of the windows was most likely carried out in connection with the introduction of Liner Trains for bagged cement traffic in 1976-7. (1st pallet cement wagons introduced 1976) Loose coupled goods trains continued to operate for another year or so until sundries traffic was containerised using 10” & 20’ Uniload containers. One of the advantages of modelling Claremorris is that there was relatively little change in the track layout and general appearance of the station between the closure of the Ballinrobe line and the ripping out of the junction with the Limerick line in the early 2000s despite the change from loose coupled to liner train operation. Bagged cement trains to stations in County Mayo operated from the Limerick rather than Drogheda factory. The daily Limerick-Claremorris loose coupled goods ceased to operate after the closure of Tuam and Gort to sundries and wagon load traffic. The transition era from loose coupled to liner train operation would be an interesting to model, with loose coupled goods train carrying sundries and containers as individual wagon loads operating alongside the newly introduced Liner trains carrying Asahi, bagged cement, fertiliser and twice weekly North Wall-Oranmore-Claremorris ESSO oil train.

Hollywood Foundry & Steam Era Models (Black Beetle motor bogies)http://www.steameramodels.com/ will supply 21mm gauge power bogies at little extra cost if you order direct from Australia. I have a 21mm gauge E Class with a Bull-Ant and an AEC railcar with Black Beetle bogies

I had meant oil traffic was handled a the Southern Yard the old WLWR goods yard rather than the stub of the Ballinrobe branch. May 1969 edition of Irish Railfans News records that Galway and Claremorris were the latest stations to receive gantry cranes for container traffic and that all keg traffic except Belfast is now transported in special Lancashire Flats loaded by the gantry crane at the Guinness Sidings at Heuston.. Its possible Claremorris may have ceased to handle bagged cement traffic when IE went though one of its rationalisation processes in the late 80. The volume of keg traffic handled at Claremorris increased with the closure of Westport, Castlebar and eventually Galway to freight traffic.

Claremorris goods shed was converted to a bagged cement store with a canopy and forklift access through the gable end in a similar manner to Tuam and Gort as part of the Rail Plan 80. The yard layout and shed evolved with increasing goods traffic http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,533827,775117,12,9 Claremorris yard is interesting in that CIE modernised freight handling in the yard in the 70s with little or no track alteration, a gantry for container traffic was installed in the late 60s and ESSO oil traffic transferred from “The Southern Siding” to the yard in the late 70s.

The drawing on p71 shows the same seating arrangement as p70 but with the luggage compartment at one end. Drg © H Richards The drawings look GSWR rather than WLWR in design and the WLWR may have been listed with the GSWR composites because they had a similar seating layout. Drg © H Richards Some ex-WLWR composites had a luggage compartment, lavatory and 1/2 compartment ends, panelling quite different to the GSWR. The drawings in GSWR Carriage Diagrams were prepared in 4mm scale by Herbert Richards who modelled the GSWR

907 is included within a list of GSWR 1/2nd on Page 70 GSWR Carriage Diagrams TRA 1975 Richards and Pender. significantly Page 71 states that the information is incomplete for these coaches

Larne Harbour 1936 photo taken 3 years after narrow gauge passenger services ended. Irish Standard Gauge Railways (D&C) Photo L&GRP