Mayner

Rather than hi-jack Richies E-Class thread I thought it would be better to run a separate thread on Bull-Ant power bogies/chassis. Hollywood Foundry produce custom Bull-Ant chassis in various gauges from 009 to S mainly for tram and traction modellers and some of the weird and wonderful rail-borne critters used in the American backwoods, Australian and New Zealand bush. I built an E Class several years ago using a Shapeways body and a Bull-Ant chassis as few rtr motor bogies or chassis had good enough low speed performance. Bull Ant Major for E421 Class In ordering a Bull Ant the buyer specifies the wheelbase and gauge, in my case 21mm to NMRA RP25 standards. I am not sure where the decoder came from possibly an ESU bought at an exhibition in Germany over 10 years ago. The business end showing the reduction gearing to the lay shaft. Hollywood Foundry now offer an option of rubber band drive for quieter running. Body mounting is with a butterfly bracket arrangement, in this case with a rigid as opposed to the usual pivot fixing. I added .060" plasticard packing pieces to the inside of the body and bolted the chassis to the packing pieces with 10BA bolts. E421 needs some repairs as I managed to drop the loco breaking of the buffers at one end and one of the butterfly plates. The loco also needs couplings & glazing and could badly do with some toning down.

If you order directly Hollywood Foundry & Steam Era Models (Black Beetle) will supply a rtr 21mm gauge chassis/motor bogie to order. I have a 21mm gauge E421 with Shapeways body on a Hollywood Foundry chassis & have used 21mm Black Beetle bogies to motorise a railcar.

Really atmospheric stuff at Heuston. Contradicts the view that modern infrastructure and stock are boring

While its disappointing to see that there is no provision for a second platform, rationalisation and re-signalling at Waterford was long over due. Its good to see what looks like new material used in the track work. The loop opposite the main platform was more or less redundant once Dublin-Waterford passenger trains went over to push-pull or railcar operation. Freight trains can now run to Belview without the expense of having to open Waterford Station Cabin, hopefully the level crossing at Abbey Junction is now un-manned. The biggest risk to freight is IE, Kilkenny County Council & Waterford Ports failure to grasp the nettle and eliminate the road transfers between Sallypark yard and the Coillte/Louisanna Pacific plant. This would reduce traffic congestion in the Ferrybank area and release most of the present goods yard for re-development High fares and slow journey time seems to be the biggest threat to Waterford-Limerick line passenger services. (25.65 Eu quoted each way!)

Excellent job Richie your models really captures the distinctive character of these locos.

As long as I remember there always seems to have been the view that the modern scene was boring and most enthusiasts spoke longingly about the trains that they grew up with whether it was the pre-grouping companies, the Amalgmation era, the Nationalised era of the 50s & 60s or the more modern eras. In the late 1970s I set out to model the contemporary CIE scene, the layout became historic the minute I started laying track and modifying rolling stock. The clock stopped some time around 1978 loose coupled goods & Newspaper trains continued to run although they were phased out on CIE, 071s and a/c stock failed to appear on the main line trains. In 10-15 years time todays generation of teenage enthusiasts are more likely to model the trains they grew up with and 1st travelled on than the current scene or as seen through the rose tinted glasses of their parents generation.

My recollection of growing up in the 60s was a lot more positive. People were migrating from rural areas, but finding work in the cities rather than having to take the emigrant boat On the down side there was a real sense that the railways were a thing of the past, dis-satisfaction with CIE for its poor service and frequent strikes drove people away from public transport and companies to develop their own transport fleets. Classical architecture and steam railway were at odds with an era where people wanted to throw off the baggage of the past. This was especially so in the Republic, the ending of an era of isolation and protectionism lead to increased prosperity lead to a form of "Cultural Revolution" a questioning of authority and the status quo. Including class, politics, architecture, art music, fashion Ireland had finally arrived in the 20th Century.

Great bit of work on the Metrovick seem to be turning a sow's ear into a silk purse

Got 12 hours head start on ye Have a great day

The traction problems are more to do with CIE/IEs aversion to fitting diesels with sanding gear or a modern traction control system ( like EMD Super Series wheel slip control or GEs Brightstar) than anything else. Internationally locos similar power & weight to the 071s & 201s haul far heavier trains to IE. A lot of the problems with both the 071s & 201s were due to high speed running on light poorly maintained track endemic on the Irish railway system in the 80s & 90s. Both classes had problems with stress cracking of bogies, the yaw dampers were a retrofit on the 071s, crankshaft failure common on early 701 engines and long since rectified. Its difficult to see IE having a need for new freight locos even with a major railfreight revival. The biggest challenge would be in preparing a business case for modern high capacity rolling stock and the infrastructure that will provide a positive return on investment.

The "Works" is on the site of the narrow gauge sidings and loading point in Arigna Village, part of the old loading bank/bunkers are visible from the road under the new structure. The WW1 Arigna Valley Railway extend another couple of miles to serve the Arigna Mining pits above Aughabehy. The Arigna Mining Company seems to have an incestuous relationship with the C&L was bankrupted as a result of a mining boundaries dispute with the Leyden's a local mining family who currently operate Arigna Fuels. The Leyen's acquired the Arigna Mining Company assets and mining rights concentrating its washing & screening operations at the Arigna Village railhead. No doubt the Arigna Valley would have become a bed of industry and magnet for competing railways had O'Reilly's Ironworks been successful

£500 for a Bandon Tank looks like a bargain for a loco complete with copper fittings compared to the prices paid by British enthusiasts for Barry wrecks in the early 1970s. Like owning a race horse buying the loco would have just been the start of the expense, at the RPSI paid nearly £3000 for 171s overhaul during the late 60s . At the time having a working steam loco might have generated the critical mass to establish a Cork based excursion train business or a heritage line in West Cork. CIE regularly operated excursion trains on the Youghal branch and turning the line over to an excursion group was actually considered in the 1st McKinsey report on CIE While the railways in Northern Ireland were under serious threat the RPSI appears to have been lucky to be in the right place at the right time 186 was donated, 171 leased from the UTA, RPSI locos were expected to earn their board and lodging on NIR metals by shunting and working engineers trains until a permanent base at Whitehead was established.

A bit more on the GSWR 52 GSR/CIE D17 Class I managed to unearth my well thumbed copy of a "Decade of Steam" [No59 3pm Galway Train at Tuam during Easter 1952 B] A Decade of Steam on CIE in the 1950s RPSI 197? Drew Donaldson, Jack O'Neill & W McDonnell Long out of print the book written from an enthusiast and an operating perspective provides a warts and all overview of the Classes in use on CIE in the 1950s together with an excellent selection of photos. Perhaps the IRRS might be persuaded to do a re-print or update. The book is divided into chapters on Goods Locos, Dublin Suburban Tank Locos, Other Tank Locos and Passenger Locos. Class D 17 Jack O’Neill & Drew Donaldson “I have heard these locos described by an English enthusiast as “poetry in motion. They had fine roomy cabs by Inchacore standards and could run like the wind. Nos 3,11,12,14 & 58 were based in Waterford. 12 & 14 were superheated in the early 1930s and usually worked Waterford-Limerick passengers and the Macmine branch train.” Drew Donaldsons first introduction to the class was on Whit Monday 1940 when No11 in saturated form (GSWR condition double smokebox doors & raised firebox) “worked up imperceptibly but inexorably into the 60s before Pallas on the Waterford-Limerick train connecting with the Down Mail her exhaust the merest whisper”. In post war years no 59 was giving a good account of herself in sharp contrast to the leisurely loping of the D14s over the same Athenry-Tuam section. Drew appears to have recorded speeds in the mid 60s with saturated 59 and the superheated No16. “59 a “beautifully steady engine” was a great pet Athenry shed who struggled with a leaking foundation ring afraid to send their inamorata to Inchacore in case she might never return. Drew goes on to say that early in GSWR (possible typo for GSR) days a D17 was painted green in an attempt to persuade the directors to adapt the livery.”

The pallet vans had at least 3 different types of ends. Its possible that Patrick may use the sides and underframe from the donor Vanfit s a basis for the plank GSWR version of the H Van. Hint Hint!!

Much more attractive than gritty post war reality a bit of the blarney & splendid scenery was what was expected of Ireland at the time. The movie must have attracted a lot of Americans to visit Cong & Connemara and profitable business for CIE Coach Tours.

[video=youtube;L6YrqZ7HZ-0] 59 a D17 or GSWR 52 Class loco seems to have been Tuam's regular passenger engine used on Tuam-Galway local services in early CIE days. Its possible that the ex-GSWR 6 wheel coaches were in regular use on the service at the time. "A Decade of Steam" gives a reasonably good account of CIE steam working in the early 1950s from an engineman's perspective. 59 is described as "Tuam shed's favourite" with the enginemen reluctant to send the engine to Inchacore for firebox repairs in case they would never get it back. The 52 Class appear to have had a reputation of higher speed and smarter running on the Tuam-Galway local trains, than the larger 60 Class working the Limerick-Sligo train. Possibly it was less of an effort for the Tuam crew to put on a bit of a show with a lighter train and a relatively easy section of line, than for the Limerick or Sligo crew to keep time with heavier trains on a difficult road over a much longer distance.

The GSWR were supposed to have been plans to build total of 10 500 Class 4-6-0s, this appears to have been cancelled after the amalgamation in favour of buying another 15 sets of Woolwich parts. The Woolwich had wider route availability than the 4-6-0s and could be assembled at a fraction of the cost of building a new loco. Another likely factor is that the GSR board may have quickly realised that the operating department was struggling to find enough work for the 13 4-6-0s already in service. CIE appeared to have had similar problems in the early 1950s Interestingly 500 Class cylinders and motion parts were used in the rebuilding several of the 400 Class into two cylinder engines. 402 was supposed to be the best of the re-built locos basically a 500 class with large driving wheels

Excellent work on a very distinctive pair of wagons Nelson. T The finish on the little 4wheeler reminds me of the open wagons I saw during my first journey on NIR in 1980, the GNR & SLNCR used low sided 6 wheel wagons for carrying ballast a few of the GNR ones survived into the 1970

NMRA going beyond DCC? http://www.nmra.org/news/proposed-standard-layout-command-control-lcc-published-comment "The Board of Directors has agreed to adopt standards for Layout Command Control (LCC), formerly known as NMRANet. LCC is an operating system protocol which will work hand-in-hand with DCC, handling all "non-motive power"-related functions on a model railroad layout, such as signaling. In essence, LCC is DCC for the rest of your layout. LCC was developed over the past several years by the OpenLCB Group, a large group of volunteers with expertise in electronics, networking, programming and model railroading, similar to the group that developed the Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI). The final draft of the LCC protocols and specification documents have been published for comment on http://www.nmra.org. Look for an article describing all the benefits of LCC in an upcoming issue of NMRA Magazine." Time Period: Sunday, March 1, 2015 to Tuesday, September 1, 2015

I found messing around with CVs and sound to be something of a passing fad. Apart from changing an address I seldom change a CV and got rid of all my sound equipped locos about 5 years ago. The new Bachmann Bluetooth system appears to be aimed at people "who wants something simple" to get started, rather than something that expandable into a more complex model railway system. The one advantage of DCC over proprietary systems is that the system was developed by modellers and has become an internationally recognised standard for digital control sytems. This allows modellers to mix and match the best of different manufacturers products as a model railway becomes more complex, rather than being stuck with a particular manufacturers control system, decoders and accessories.

Not exactly a stoppage more a case of running the weekly train when there is enough traffic. Tonight the logging train made it though from the landing site to the mill. Meanwhile back in the workshop work continues on the railcar chassis. 1st serious attempt at milling and turning. I was intending to build the chassis with one fixed and one rocking axle but ended up fitting sprung hornblocks to one axle as I overdid the slotting. Bolt together assembly with accurately drilled holes and turned frame spacers seems to be a lot quicker than the solder and fold up spacers used in most 4mm kits. View of the transmission showing Northyard gearbox and silicone tube coupling. The motor will be secured in place using silicone sealant once the chassis is painted. Little and Large G Scale T&D Inspection Railcar & 4mm CIE Wickham trolley

The Digitrax is in widespread use among American modellers in North America, The UK, Australia and New Zealand. While the system is getting long in the tooth change or development of the operating system or throttle design would probably result in a certain level of resistance from individuals and clubs with large layouts, where it is pretty much the norm for visitors to turn up with their personal throttle plug into the Loconet network and start running. With 15 years experience running a Digtrax system indoors and outdoors the main advantage are reliability, robustness and above all good after sales service. The command station from my original Empire Builder set bought in 1999 is still going strong. I still prefer the user interface on my DT300 Throttle from 2001 upgraded to RC in 2008 to the more recent DT400 series throttles introduced in 2005. I suppose the most surprising thing is that DCC manufacturers like Digitrax, Lenz, NCE, Zimo do not appear to have designed their products in terms of planned obsolescence, but realised that modellers think long term in terms of control systems and getting the customer through the door to buy the starter set was just the beginning.

Another week or so should be clear Wall and broken plant pots supposed to be part of an abandoned lime kiln or coke ovens/smelter, some landscaping and planting when the Triffids die back. Pumpkin pie for Easter? needs to darken. More pumpkins on the vine climbing our neighbours fejoa tree, starting to fruit sign of approaching autumn and longer nights. Back in the workshop the "engineers" have set up the railcar final drive to get a feel for the new fangled gasoline powered technology. The motor is a 3v unit supplied with the kit gearbox and neophrane tube coupler by Northyard NZ local specialist supplier of model railway parts (mainly S Scale) Luckily the axle and worm wheel diameter match. 1st stage in building the railcar chassis, drilling out the axle holes with my Christmas present a 50 year old Unimat set up as a vertical drill and milling machine. The first job was to clamp two strips of brass together with the aid of double sided tape, then mark out the axle holes and frame profile on the upper strip, centre pop the axle holes and clamp the strips in position on the milling table. Next stage is to cut out the profile of the frames with a milling cutter, which should theoretically leave me with a pair of identical frames with accurately drilled axle holes.

The classic was the re-boilering of DSER 2-4-2T, 4-4-2T & 0-6-0 with GSWR boilers and later the development of the X superheated boiler that could be made to fit the GSWR 52 Class 4-4-0, ex-Midland 530 Achill Bogie 4-4-0, 566 C Class 4-4-0 & 563, 567, 594, & 614 "Standard Good" 0-6-0s While there was a lot of focus on the high average age and number of types in the GSR loco fleet. The introduction of the Woolwich Moguls, Midland Cattle engines and 400 & 500 class 4-6-0s against a background of falling traffic lead to a surplus of large modern main line locomotives that were too heavy to run on secondary lines. This may have lead to the scrapping of 3 of the recently introduced but problematic 400 Class 4-6-0, ex-MGWR 646 Class 0-6-0 and the partial decimation of the ex GSWR 321 4-4-0 & 355 & 368 2-6-0 while the majority of the 3 Classes were modernised and worked on top link services until the end of steam The 5 342 Class mixed traffic 4-4-0s introduced in 1936 almost seem to have been intended to replace the 341 & the Coey 4-4-0s scrapped in the late 1920s. It almost looks like the 800 were intended to replace the scrapped 400 Class, restoring the number of express passenger locos to 10, releasing the 500 Class to take up their intended mixed traffic duties, releasing Woolwich for work elsewhere

There seem to have been quite radical changes in motive power policy between Maunsell's depart to the SECR in 1913 & Morton's takeover in 1930 Maunsell had developed a proposal for a 3 cylinder 0-8-2T banking tank (perhaps an Irish equivalent of his SR Z Class) which was dropped in favour of the 900 Class A1. Building of futher Maunsell's excellent 341 Class 4-4-0s was dropped in favour of the 400Class 4-6-0s >It is rumoured that frames intended for additional 341 Class locos were used to rebuild the 321 Class locos in the 1920s Morton the MGWR CME although more senior was pipped for the GSR job by Bazin the GSWR CME with Morton as assistant. Bazin seems to have been opposed to superheating small and medium sized locos, but Morton was allowed free rein to continue the superheating of the 650 Class 2-4-0s at Broadstone. Morton reversed this policy with most GSWR & Midland standard classes superheated with a range of standard boilers from the 1930s to the end of steam. The scrapping of the 900s was unlikey to be a complete loss, boilers, wheels, motion were standard with other classes. Bazin Bazin