Mayner

Its probably better to go for double track rather than single track and concentrate on one station when building a layout in a small space particulary if you can have a bridge as a view blocker at each end similar to Dalkey. I gave up trying to fit Ballymoe a small Mayo Line two platform crossing station into a space 17' long, the two station and crossing loop took p nearly 10', the 3' radius approach curves on each end just did not look right for a station on a straight section of line in fairly open country

Micro Mark and North West Shortline in the US produce similar tools for cutting plasticard. The Duplicutter & Duplicate-it have an adjustable stop and is great for accurately cutting large multiple parts such as wagons sides, ends, floors. http://www.micromark.com/duplicate-it,9546.html I have also used the Duplicutter with an Offra Cutter for scribing planking on wagon bodies. The Chopper & Chop-it are guillotines with adjustable stops great for cutting multiple parts in plasticard or stripwood. http://www.micromark.com/chop-it,9547.html I have a NWSL Chopper & a Duplicutter both of which must be getting on for 20-25 years. When the hardboard under the blade gets worn with cutting I just fill the groove with plastic filler and keep going.

At one stage I converted to N gauge as an alternative to working in OO in a small space. By going for a spacious design, fitting in no more track and buildings than an equivalent space in OO, I was able to run 5-6 coach passenger and 15-20 wagon goods trains with reasonably large radius curves by gauge standards. At the time moving to N was no disadvantage as there was little or no Irish rtr available and N gauge locos and stock better than contemporary OO. I stayed with N rather than shifting up to HO when I my modelling interests shifted to American modelling, personally large diesels HO and long freight cars look totally wrong on tight radius curves.

The Waterford and Tramore was famous for only having doors on one side of its coaches as the platforms at Waterford and Tramore were both on the one side of the line. Curiously some of the UTA MPD units were built with drive on the RHS & some on the LHS. Placing the driving controls in a cubicle on the RHS rather than in a full width cab would have followed in W&T tradition and importantly allowed passengers to board through the vestibule doors at either end without major structural alterations to the aluminium body framing. Some of the 1904-1908 main line brake standards built in the early 50s were built with driving cabs for use on the AEC railcar worked Westland Row-Galway/Westport "Cu na Mara" express service to allow the train to split at Athlone. The use of the driving trailers was short lived as the train grew from a 4 to a 6 car set and Westport eventually got its own fast direct services.

Before Tara mines the Dolomite trains were the heaviest in Ireland usually worked by pairs of 141s. The Ballinacourthy-Tivoli oil magnesite-oil trains seem to have been an A Class job and were unusual for a train carrying bulk traffic to run with laden wagons in both directions. It would make sense to re-marshall the train at Waterford to have the laden wagons behind the loco and the empties at the back. While Waterford station was attractive with the elevated signal cabin and the rockface, re-signalling was long overdue the fact that the bay platform can handle all passenger services is proof that the signal cabin and mainline platform are surplus to requirements.

The Tramore line got 3 AEC railcars and 2 Park Royal coaches all with bus seating. Two of the railcars faced Tramore the third faced Waterford. The driving trailer would allow a service to operate if the Waterford facing car was out of service. One of the drawbacks was that on busy days busses were also needed to supplement the train even a 5 coach set seating approx. 500 could not cope with the crowds on busy days. The Tramore railcars were sent to the Thurles Clonmel line on closure then to the Dublin suburban operations. The Park Royal driving car seems to have been converted back to an ordinary coach, boarding passengers through a single doorway would have been extremely slow.

Excellent work with the MPDs Kieran very true to the prototype with the kitbashing of ex LMS coaching stock.

I found a copy of Tim Cramer's article includes a drawing of the station masters house and a platform shelter plus a couple of photos taken shortly before track was lifted. I will scan when I get a chance. Also found articles and drawings no No90 the Bandon & Midland tank locos working on the West Cork in the 1950s if you ever get a whiff of steam. Albert Quay in GSR or early CIE days would be a Corker for a layout There was a great article on Albert Quay including a track layout in one of the Irwell Press magazines and Ernie Shepherds CBSCR (Ian Allen Publishing) includes a lot of good photos of the system in both the steam and diesel era.

Waterfall could be a nice simple passing station for West Cork layout either historic or a station for Albert Quay-Bandon or Clonakilty local commuter services had the line survived. I always fancied the idea of a West Cork layout in a large space in N gauge modelling main and branch line connections at Clonakilty and Drimoleague junctions, perhaps with through railcar services to a from Cork to Clonakilty, Skiberreen and Bantry combining and dividing at the junctions similar to the Glasgow-Oban & Fortwilliam services in Scotland. Tim Cramer published an article on Waterfall including drawings of some of the buildings in Model Railways magazine in the 70s, the layout was basically two platforms a crossing loop and a short siding. I will send a PM if I can find a copy of the article.

Its a pity there seems to be nothing on the web on C & D of 1939 similar in styling to the LMS articulated railcar set of the same year.

My father great man for conspirancy theoies used to say that the Drumm Trains were "sabotaged" off the rails. I am not sure if he was thinking about the Sandycove de-railment or the DUTC shutting down Drumm train operation when it took over the GSR The whole saga of the Drumm Trains seems to have been initially tied up with the Shannon Scheme the ESB providing special discounted electricity rates and the Dail voting substantial money for battery development for trains A&B. Things had changed by the mid 30s with the ESB charging the standard rate and the GSR taking on the entire risk in building the final Drumm Battery Trains C&D. C&D introduced 1939 only lasted less than 10 years in service. C&D had a much more modern appearance compared to the earlier units with rounded cabs and steel framed bodies similar in styling to the Bredin main line and suburban coaches. The main draw back seems to have been short battery life (difficulty in obtaining nickel) though services were also affected by restricted ESB hydro generating capacity during the Emergency

Irish Broad Gauge Carriages is basically a concise history of the evolution the Irish railway carriage from the 1840s up to the 70 Class Railcar trailers the last Irish designed and built carriages. The ITG stock book is probably better source for the more modern stock than Broad Gauge Carriages. http://www.irishtractiongroup.com/shop.html

Keep an eye out for Locomotives and Rolling Stock of CIE&NIR Doyle & Hirsch. (3 editions) cover the 70s & 80s probably the nearest thing to an Irish version of an Ian Allen ABC spotters notebook with photos and details of each loco and most coach and wagon types. ITG published similar books covering locos and wagons only.

One of the attractions of building and operating a garden railway was that it felt more like the real thing. My garden railway The Jackson County found itself in a similar situation to Irish Rail in the early 90s needing major work on the track. The first sign of trouble was when the gauge started spreading in one area. The ties bleached out noticeably after about 6 years, the rail fixings then became brittle and spalled off. The engineers tried replacing every 5th tie to hold the gauge, a run-down short line money always tight, speed low, the mines and logging camps almost played out. County Surveyor and State Government start hearing complaints of standing de-railments an inspector is sent. Emergency re-laying Tie strip completely failed on some lengths. Recovery train propelling back over re-laid section. Replacement track panels for the re-lay. The little diesel is an LGB DRGW Switcher converted to on board battery RC, with receiver in cab control gear and batteries inside engine housing. The original track was Accucraft (AMS) American 3' narrow gauge track the replacement Sunset Valley narrow gauge. The bleaching and UV damage only became noticeable after about 6 years. Luckily enough I was able to find a suitable replacement tie/sleeper strip for the existing rails, hopefully the replacement ties will have a similar service life to the rails. The area where the track failed is exposed to afternoon sunlight although UV radiation is supposed to be stronger down here the Waikato is probably as sunny as the West of Ireland

I started setting out sleepers and point timbering on the curved approach track to the station. Track and ballasting for the station board is nearly read for transplanting to the layout. I have followed Iain Rice's technique in "An approach to building Finescale Trackwork in 4mm" in prefabricating complete sections of ready ballasted point and crossing work on a sheet of paper rather than assembling the track in situ on the layout. On this layout I am experimenting with Templot templates glued with spray mount to a sheet of kraft paper, the complete formation will in turn be spray mounted onto 6mm dense foam (ground sheet) on 18mm ply baseboard and hopefully result in quiet running. Approach crossover timbering I gave the template a wash of dark grey water colour to prevent the white paper 'grinning" through the ballast resulting in twisting and curling of the template and backing paper. Plain sleepers in ballast Sleepers and ballast are laid on white glue (pva) applied with a small artists brush. I found that it is easiest to work in a small area laying no more than 3-4 sleepers and completing the ballast as your go, otherwise its easy for the glue to loose its tack leaving bald spots in the ballast. White glue can easily obliterate the template markings so I first glue the area within the width of the sleepers, place the sleepers in position, then glue the area outside the edge of the sleepers (shoulder or 6') then sprinkle the ballast in place. I then usually place a weighted block of timber or strip wood on top of a finished section of sleepers which helps keep a level top and iron out any crinkling. The layout will be on an L shaped book shelf with the approach tracks to the station on a curve. The turnout from the main line to the loop is part of a crossover from the platform road either to an engine shed or possibly a private siding. I had originally intended to use up my stock of SMP (Marcway) flexible track on the plain track on the layout but discovered that SMP & C&L Bullhead rails have slightly different profiles with the SMP an narrower head. The plain track between the crossovers and approach to the platform and goods yard will be laid with C&L components to reduce potential running problems in this area. The layout is supposed to be the goods only remains of a light railway branch line, some where along the Welsh Borders between Hereford and Chester with quite a bit of influence from the Tanat Valley line near Oswestry but with a hint of the LNWR thrown in. The layout is mainly an excuse to run my British outline main line and industrial stock and a prod to finish some nearly complete loco and wagon kits.

Nice job on the Diner the North Atlantic coaches are so distinctive, a set in LMS NCC Crimson Lake behind a matching Mogul or U2 4-4-0 would be an absolute stunner. I like the idea of combining the Worsley Works sides with the Comet parts, hopefully the business will survive following the owner Geoff Brewins recent death

Just came across this on the Eiretrains web site. Mainly Bell and Liner traffic out of the North Wall 001s & single 141s working most of the traffic, a few surprises including the 62'9" flats on the Galway Liner

My first train ride was from Killiney to Tara Street in a black and tan non-corridor behind a black A or C class some time in the late 60s early 70s. Up to around 1972 CIE used to make up a rake of late GSWR/early GSR stock for summer holiday traffic on the Bray line. The Dapol/Airfix suburbans with their flush sides are fairly close in general appearance to late 1920s built GSR non-corridor stock.

The coaches in the pictures are in preserved condition at Tralee and Tuam the late 80s early 90s. The GSRPS restored several of these coaches in Tralee & Mallow for use on excursions and the Fenit Line some of which found their way to Westrail in Tuam and the last of these coaches is preserved at Dunsandle. JHB is probably the best to advise on livery, photos indicate that some early CIE built stock was painted plain unlined dark green without flying snail logo, repainted into the light green scheme with a single narrow eau-de-nil line at waist height before being painted into black and tan. Lettering in the green era seems to have been in light green (eau-e-nil)

I don't know if its the light colour the Dapol vents tend to stick out like a sore time. The one advantage is that they are separate from the roof moulding, so should be fairly simple to detail the roof of the Side Corridors with the distinctive toilet filler pipework in brass wire and replace the vents with something from Comet or MJT. Coachman (Larry Goddard) had a thread on RM Web on detailing the Airfix/Dapol LMS coaches, including a re-skinning job with etched brass sides, advice on flattening the Dapol roof and detailing the interior http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67996-making-use-of-dapol-lms-coach-kits/ A slightly more modern version of the Corridor Seconds on Bulleid Triangulated underframe and commonwealth bogies.

The recent thread on modelling Limerick Junction raised interest in building pointwork with C&L and similar systems. I am using the system on a small British Railways layout partially as a decider whether to go with flatbottom or bullhead pointwork on an Irish layout. The C&L system is based on using ABS plastic chairs and sleepers and chairs in combination with nickel silver or steel rail to represent traditional Bullhead track used on railways in the in the UK and by most of the bigger Irish Companies especially the BCDR, DSER,GNR, GSWR & NCC. On CIE this type of track was widely used on the Kerry Road, Dublin Waterford Line and Wexford Lines until re-laid with CWR in the mid late 1990s. C&L supply point kits and individual components many modellers use ply or wooden rather than plastic sleepers cheaper and more realistic. Chairs The C&L system is based on a standard 3 bolt chair for running lines and a slide chair to support the moving switch rails at the toe end of a point. A number of different types of chai are used to support the rails around the crossing and check rails in points, with C&L its basically a matter of cutting and splicing a standard chair. Some systems (Exactoscale) manufacture special chairs. Chairs threaded on to a stock rail Not as tedius as it looks quite therapeutic if you take your time Building a crossing Ready made crossing vees are expensive, I use a jig for filing and soldering the vee probably takes about 5 minutes. partially assembled V waiting to be fixed in place The metal strips are for soldering the "wing rails" in place and maintaining electrical continuity. Model points are usually assembled by first fixing the straight stock rail in place (long straight rail. Then fixing the vee and wing rails in position .... Step 1. Straight stock rail and chairs positioned Step 2. Positioning the vee using gauges. This point is built on a Templot template, the position of the crossing nose, switch and other critical details are marked on the kraft paper backing before the sleepers and ballast was laid. Steps 3-6 jumping a head too fast point almost complete You basically work across from one side to another building a point once the first stock rail and Vee is positioned the second stock rail is gauged from first stock at the toe end and from the vee at the crossing, then the blades and gut rails fixed in position. The track gauges are roller gauges, the brass gauge has sections milled out for gauging across converging rails at switches and crossings. On average it takes me an evening to build one of these points. With the formation more or next complete the next job is to install the droppers for the wiring and tie bars, then weaher the sleepers and ballast, before fixing the assembly on the layout.

Side Corridor (compartment side) Buffet Buffet kitchen side The donor coaches are Dapol 60' Stanier Coaches. Plastic is removed from the area between the windows leaving a strip below the waist and a narrow strip above the windows. The sides are fixed in place with contact adhesive. Comet Kits RTR Conversions and Building Coaches the Comet Way http://www.cometmodels.co.uk/ are probably the best instruction for this type of modification. Comet recommend gluing the roof to the body before cutting out the sides when carrying out this sort of conversion. The flush glazing units on original Airfix/GMR/Dapol coaches were also used to lock the body in place on the floor and locate the roof. I have built the models with removable roofs clipped in place to strips cut from the old glazing units glued to the remains of the Dapol sides. I may be possible to kitbash the Dapol interior to fit the Side Corridor coach or scratchbuild an interior using plasticard and Ratio or Comet coach seats.

The first batch of Buffet Car and Corridor Standard sides will be ready for shipping in about two weeks at $32NZ(£16stg)+shipping. The TPO/Tool Van will be available in November. The first batch basically covers existing enquiries/orders, please send me a p.m. if you want to be added to the list for the next batch of sides/TPO kits. 1953 Side Corridor Standard Close up window/door details Iarnrod I am not planning scale width/length CIE coaches in the immediate future or at least I have released the 20t flats and MGWR vans and loco. Tin & Luggage vans are out of stock.

Richie: Great concept with the different era's from modern state of the art the 1860s to the increasingly run-down and obsolete as the port shifted Eastwards. Modelling an urban Irish layout warts and all is a challenge and a welcome change from a country station in a scenic setting. As a South sider I never got to explore the North Wall quays and yards until the late 70s, I will always remember going with my parents as a nipper to see what seemed to be the whole US Navy tied up along the South Quays from Butt Bridge to the Grand Canal Docks some time in the early 60s. To me the most striking thing was the dockside cranes of which there is little trace. Like most ports the Docks was melting pot of races and culture that never really recovered from the loss of traditional dock work and the community being dispersed to Corporation housing estates in the suburbs in Brendan Brehan's words to Hell or Kimmage. The decline seems to have set in from the closing of the LNWR passenger station and hotel when the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company lost the Mail Boat contact to Dunlaoire in the 1920s. Your plan has a bit of the Iain Rice's London Dock schemes about it, not sure about modelling the Quayside sheds (Campshires). Visually they cut off the view of the more interesting 19th Century buildings and streetscape from the river. The North-Wall Liverpool passenger boat also carried cattle up to its replacement by Car Ferry in the 70s, cattle arrived by rail and were driven "on the hoof" down the North Circular Road from the Cattle Market for loading on what's now City Bank and the Dockland University. There was an interesting photo in Heitons head office of a coal boat being off-loaded into railway wagons on the quay outside the Point Depot in GSR days.

For some reason I kept thinking of Dianna Rigg in the Avengers