Mayner

A little information on the plough wagon. 3409m bought 1924 possibly war surplus built by a Belgian company 40 ton capacity 60' long bogies 49' centres.

I read somewhere think it was IRN that its planned to permanently close central cabin and control movements to and from the platform lines from the Waterford Check Cabin. The Line to Belview appears to be worked as an extension of the goods yard. From an operational point of view modernising/rationalising the signalling at Waterford is long overdue. I suppose the big question is whether the citizens of Waterford or the rail users & the NTA pay for the preservation of the cabin,IE is basically broke.

Spudfan Any idea what's the purpose of the machine that looks like a loco with hydraulic jacks? The underframe looks very light for a loco. The yellow machine with caterpillar tracks, dozer blade and Hiab crane is used for preparing the trackbed and laying track, saw one operating at Boora in the 90s

Not your regular excursionists I love it some very cool and happening people! Could make the branch a trendy venue for cultural events and parties. IE might even get Arts & Heritage Council funding.

It seems to be more co-incidence than anything else that Tyrconnel and myself started work on a G2 luckily we work in two different scales. Though Tyrconnel range is becoming increasingly tempting as I am searching for a 14BA nut and a crankpin bush that fell on the carpet. A G2 would be a very tight fit on your turntable 47' 1½" over buffers 34' 8¼ engine and tender wheelbase. The Midland/GSR would have probably used a Standard Goods J18/19 or possibly a H Class J6 for long distance coal traffic with a J26 or possibly the ex Fenit Hunslet 0-6-0ST 299 for the Arigna Valley shunt. The GSR used J15s sometimes with the leading rods removed on sharply curved Castlecomer Branch which served Deerpark mine in the Leinster coalfield.

I just completed the test build of the horse box, need to beef up the strapping detail on the doors. The production versions of the Horsebox and Meat Van should be available before Christmas. The horse boxes and vans lasted in CIE services into the late 50s, there is a photo of a van in CIE livery with flying snail in Des Cookham's Irish Broad Gauge Carriages. The kit features fold up and slot and tab assembly, suitable for solder or glue assembly designed for 21mm or OO gauge.

Most large organisations tend to have white elephants tucked away. Guinness spent/wasted millions on product development that flopped anyone remember Guinness Light? Apart from the 500 & 800 Class 4-6-0 & the Woolwich most of the GSWR and GSR steam locos of the 1920s & 30s were flops or not as good as engines they were intended to re-place. The whole business of the Drum Battery Train puts the waste with Alstom DMUs & EMUs into the halfpenny place, the final units were withdrawn after less than 10 years service because no one was willing to fund the cost of replacement batteries. This was at time CIE was struggling to import coal while new hydro electricity and peat burning power stations were coming on line.

The Fermoy & Lismore was basically the Duke of Devonshire’s private railway, no doubt the station buildings were intended to be in keeping with his castle. The Duke seems to have been something of a railway enthusiast ,besides financing the Fermoy & Lismore and other local lines in Munster the Duke had his own private engine Dunrobin and station on the Highland Railway in Scotland. The WDLR struggled to make ends meet, building its own station in Lismore probably cost less than paying the F&L for the use of its station and share of the signalling and infrastructure costs. The diagram looks like the F&L and WDLR each had their own signal cabin controlling the signals and crossover at the approach to their stations. This would have allowed passenger or mixed trains from Tallow Road and Cappaquin to arrive in their platforms simultaneously. The F&L side of the station is basically a typical branch line terminus with single platform roof, runround loop, goods yard and loco shed. The WDLR appears to have a platform road, run round loop and loco shed. Crossover 6 in the diagram may have been hand operated at some stage and used to allow a loco to run round at train at either platform. The crossover with the diamond crossing from the loop to the engine shed is a GSWR arrangement, which allow a train to shunt from the loop to the loco shed while a train is in section from Tallow Road. The WDLR appears to have had its own loco shed but no turntable shown in the diagram. Train working at Lismore in WDLR days would have involved a lot of shunting, possibly with two passenger trains in the station at the one time, locos running round turning and servicing before re-marshalling their trains and in American terms interchange traffic between the GSWR & WDLR. The GSWR may have routed goods traffic from the South-West to Waterford over the WDLR as a friendly connection rather than over the W&L which was considered a serious competitor. Small obscure railway almost no published information, no kits or RTR sounds tempting

The engineers equipment makes an unusual model, I like the look of that drilling rig. The scrap containers were very heavily weathered to a browny black colourprobably a combination of road dirt and brake dust. It might be worth while looking through back issues of the IRRS Journal from that era for equipment used in the electrification. CIE was acutely short of coaches at the time, s mainly loose coupled corrugated opens and the odd 1/2 height container wagon used or spoil. Ready mixed concrete agitator on bogie wagon used to transport concrete to work site for signal and mast bases, short trains made up of 4w open and closed containers to transport tools and equipment, MK1 4w container flats fitted with Haib crane for erecting signal posts. I lost most of my very grainy photos from the electrification. Loose coupled train made up of unconverted beet wagons and 4w container flats with half height containers seem to used to carry spoil, most ended up dumped a Liffey Junction. Atlas "Rubber Duck" excavators widely used, CIE Priestman crane on Lomac hired in Ruston or NCK crawler cranes for lifing in point and crossing work, baby Metrovicks n engineers trains.

Not exactly the smallest station on the line some good photos of the line in the Waterford Museum collection http://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/exhibit/web/BasicImageSearch/offset/15/location/_3_25_14_/ Apart from the trice-weekly Boat Trains traffic seems to have been very light, the route was indirect compared with the road for Cork-Fermoy and Cork-Waterford traffic. Like most cross country lines CIE didn't exactly encourage traffic with a single one train a day stopping service, goods traffic over the centre section between Fermoy & Dungarvan seems to have been fairly light. Fermoy and Lismore seem to have the look of an abandoned railway about them with few wagons to be seen in photos of the yards. Possibly would have been different had the route survived into the 70s with Cork Waterford Bell Traffic and Tivoli-Ballinacourty Oil-Magnesite, possibly export container traffic from Waterford Co-Op Dungarvan to Waterford or Dublin Port. A layout based on the line would make a wonderful scenic model with its combination of mountain backdrops compact station layouts and signature viaducts including Fermoy Capaquinn , Abbeyside Causeway, Ballyvoyle, Strabally, Kilmacthomas and numerous level crossings.

Different Country indeed porter wheeling passengers luggage in backround. The Supertrain publicity from the early 70s included hostess in more contemporary dress,dig those chequer board platforms and purple orange trains

What no Cork Examiner "The Paper" on the Cork expresses boy? For he late 60s era you will need airline seating and orange mini-skirted hostesses with beehive hairdoos :oin the Superstandards.

Good to hear that you are still beavering away and exploring the world of CAD & 3D design. The real fun begins in exporting from Turbocad to the photo engraver or 3D printing formats. I would not panic too much about lead or the soldering, from an occupational health perspective our exposure from hobby use are likely to be very low and unlikely to result n harm, in terms of heath effects there is little difference between soldering, using solvents to weld plastic and spray mist from painting. Good hygiene and adequate ventilation are probably the most important, with reasonably priced spray booths and extractor fans for soldering on the market.

While Inchacore built 1st 1145 &1146 were the 1st to be fitted with double glazing, the credit for air conditioning goes to the GSR at least one of the 1937 "Bredin" Composites was fitted with "Stones air conditioning plant". Presumably the intake air was fed through a refrigeration unit to adjust the temperature & humidiiy similar in principal to a heat pump and vented through the roof & window vents

Preview 1953 Corridor 3rd shrunk drawn in late 1950s green style to provide some contrast. The 61'6" coaches shrink down nicely to fit the Dapol body shell without distorting the overall proportions as the sides of the Dapol coaches scale out marginally lower than the Irish coaches. Half etching the sides leaves hinges, doorstops, widow frames and panel joints in relief, the builder can mark the outline of the doors using a square and a scriber. I have also drawn up a jig for cutting out window openings, & drilling out for door handles and grab rails.

I am looking at finalising the brass work for the flats later this month, then its a matter of sorting out some castings probably for release in early-mid 2015. While the lead time and turn round on the etching side of things is quite rapid, lead time form pattern making to the finished castings are much longer and less predictable.

After an almost classic tailchaser with Patrickswell I looked at Fenit as a sleepy branch line terminus. I initially looked at including Spa with its beet siding and treating the Harbour Commissioners line as part of the hidden staging, but eventually decided to omit Spa and include a representation of the pier and its railway. [attachment=:name] The layout is a lot more challenging in terms of trackwork and operation compared to Patrickswell, with little in the way of structures, the footbridge and lifeboat station weer the most prominent structures on the mainland & a rather plain looking warehouse on the quay. The backscene would be a challenge a panorama including the Dingle Peninsula and Tralee Bay. The layout is essentially a scenic shunting plank, with operation mainly around shunting wagons between the station yard and the Pier. Traditionally small tank locos were used for shunting the pier, the Harbour Commissioners bought Hunslet industrial saddle tank which was passed on to the GSWR as 299, an ex MGWR J26 from the Waterford & Tramore was the last steam loco used until replaced by G & D Class diesels. The small rail mounted steam cranes used into the 70s were probably the most distinctive part of the operation and a challenge to model. Locos and stock used seems to have been mainly restricted to standard small GSWR types in steam days, there is a photo of a J15 with a train of 6 wheel coaches in a photo before passenger services were withdrawn in 1934. CIE provided seaside trains on Summer Sundays running the Sunday Tralee service through to Fenit. Traffic from the harbour mainly appears to have been spasmodic coal and timber for Tralee and presumably other destinations in Kerry. The harbour struggled financially, the Pier was closed to commercial traffic during much of the 1949s & 50s due to structural problems with the causeway which connects the pier with the main land. The final traffic on the Fenit branch and Western end of the North Kerry was sugar beet from Fenit, Spa, Ardfert and Abbeydorney to the Tuam factory during the 1977 campaign. For a modeller starting in 21mm gauge the Murphy Models B141 and DC Kits G Class with a 28:1 Blackbeetle Motor bogie would be a good option to get things running before venturing into kit or scratchbuilding.

The main purpose of the planning exercise was to see if it was feasible to fit an American style walk around design layout inside an 11'x17'6" garage. The idea definitely seems feasible in N and just about possible in OO though probably better off in American N or HOn3 given the amount of rolling stock building required for an Irish layout of this nature. In 21mm gauge it seems to be basically own to a simple through station on a continuous run or a U or L shaped terminus to fiddle yard effort, the larger radius curves required by the finer scale standards basically eat up space. It is sometimes said that it is easier to build a double than a single track layout in a small space, I have slightly modified Patrickwell as an example of a small but operationally interesting station for a continuous run layout in 21mm gauge. [attachment=:name] The station was on a gentle curve in a plain but visually attractive setting with a natural viewing point from the south with the station building and signal cabin in the background. Patrickswell was the junction between two single lines where the line to Croom and Charleville (The Cork Limerick Direct) diverged from the North Kerry. The two single lines ran side by side westwards from the station for approximately on mile giving the impression of double track, at the eastern end of the station a headshunt to the goods yard trailed back on the up side towards Limerick also giving the impression of a double line. The track layout was extremely simple with 3 points a crossover between the Croom line and The North Kerry and a siding trailing back from the headshunt to a loading bank, in later years the home of a crippled CIE brake van and an ex GNR covered goods wagon. In GSWR days the signal cabin was on the South side of the line opposite the junction crossovers, but replaced with a standard GSR concrete hipped roofed cabin further west on the platform following Civil War damage. At some stage a second crossover existed which allowed trains from the Croom line to run directly to the headshunt and the goods yard also had a second siding. These appear to have been lifted at some stage before the Croom line closed in 1967. Although simple a layout based on Patrickswell could be interesting to operate mainly for through train operation than shunting, with trains operating along the single line from Limerick in prototype fashion before diverging onto the North Kerry or Croom lines or even using the double crossovers to allow double line operation between Limerick and Patrickswell or watching trains go round on a double line. In the diesel era the Croom line was an important freight link between Cork and Limerick for a regular overnight goods and cement specials until Limerick Junction was re-modelled in 67, Patrickswell seems to have been busy as a block post and used for crossing oil and mineral trains during the Foynes freight boom era of the 60s 70s closing in 87. Although no loop was provided the layout was signalled to allow trains from Limerick to run directly onto the stub of the Croom line or from Ballingarne onto the headshunt at the Limerick end. The first train to arrive would presumably do the shunt, with the second running through. Modelling the steam era would involve a lot of scratch or kit building the SSM GSWR 101, 6w coaches and whitemetal wagons would be a good start, the pre-amalgamation era has developed something of a cult following in the UK with Paul Greenes S Scale GSWR layout and the WLWR in 7mm with Richard Chowns Castlerackrent system and David Walkers Killanney. A pre-amalgamation Patrickswell with GSWR green locos and purple lake coaching stock contrasting with WLWR Crimson Lake and well maintained infrastructure, would make an interesting contrast with contemporary gritty reality of modelling. The final instalment of the saga will look at a number of options for a model based on Fenit hopefully including the pier line possibly with a little touch of Torpoint or Craig.

A narrow gauge railway was used for hauling out targets to the Curragh Camp rifle range. Does anyone know if it still exists?

Cravens originally had a reputation of being very rough riding compared to older stock. The coaches were very light and the B4 bogies used under the Cravens did not ride as well as a Commonwealth. At one sage a Craven was fitted with DB pattern bogies and additional weights to see if it would make ay difference. I like your description sausage slowly unravelling. Circular fluorescents used to up-grade the lighting from traditional light bulbs in a lot of the pre-Craven stock including Park Royals and Laminates. Not sure what lighting the Cravens had at first, had strip lighting when I started exploring the main lines in the mid 70s.

I noticed the price difference too, as I write this a pair of Maroon coaches should be winging their way south for evaluation. Possibly looking at a set of test etchings mid-September. The big decision at this point is whether to reproduce the window frames and cover slips over the panel joints in relief by half etching the sides similar to the Worsley Works Park-Royals or to engrave the outline similar to my Tin Van kits. It should be possible to buy the basic bits for a layout coach for around £30, with say another £10 for detailing (interior, castings, roof pipework, ventilators etc.

I noticed the price difference too, as I write this a pair of Maroon coaches should be winging their way south for evaluation. Possibly looking at a set of test etchings mid-September. The big decision at this point is whether to reproduce the window frames and cover slips over the panel joints in relief by half etching the sides similar to the Worsley Works Park-Royals or to engrave the outline similar to my Tin Van kits. It should be possible to buy the basic bits for a layout coach for around £30, with say another £10 for detailing (interior, castings, roof pipework, ventilators etc.

Just to whet the appetite a bit: 1339-55 Series Thirds 3201 Series BSGSV BSGV Thanks for that excellent summary of early CIE coaching stock. While there are issues with length and end profile I saw the re-introduction of the Stanier 60' coach in combination with overlays as a relatively painless and inexpensive way for modellers who might want to try their hand at kitbashing to add a bit of variety to their roster. Older stock was common on Dublin inner and outer suburban services up until the commissioning of the DART & Park Royal, Laminate and Craven stock with TL lighting were cascaded off the Intercity routes following the introduction of the MK3s. A typical outer suburban working to Drogheda or Dundalk would have been made up of 3-4 non TL fitted coaches and a brake standard steam heating van hauled by a B201

In a way the T&D is best supported of the Irish Lines with John Campbells large scale models a largish range of small size kits. I am not sure if the Branchlines locos and coaches are still available, while the 2-6-0T could be trick to build, the coaches were fairly straight forward and build into excellent models in 4 & 7mm http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/35253-dlts-ng-workbench-ww1-baldwin-tractor-neil-sayer-kit/ The two CVR coaches need fitting with interiors, glazing and lettering and the rather impossibly tall looking horsebox is in for a rebuild and re-paint, all that's needed is a tram loco or diesel tractor to pull them.

I have been looking at using the Airfix/GMR 60' Stanier coach as a donor body with etched brass sides for the 1st batch of main line coaches introduced by CIE in the 1950s. Dapol have released these coaches in kit form http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=177_60_87_220&product_id=1319 Several coach types were produced including: Buffet Car, Open Second, Side Corridor Second, Side Corridor Composite, Brake Second (railcar driving trailer). The coaches were initially introduced to provide modern trailer stock to run with the AEC railcars and later were widely used as hauled stock on both main and branch lines. Many of the corridor coaches were converted to Brake Steam Generator Vans to replace the tin vans on suburban trains, a sizable number of these coaches made it into preservation with the GSRPS, WISRA and more recently the DCDR I am looking initially at sides for the Buffet and one of the Brake Steam Generator Vans to fit the Dapol body shell, with other varieties to follow if there is interest for 10 or more of each type. The basic idea is to supply sides only to fit the Dapol body shell, and produce a correct scale length/width body shell if there is sufficient interest. GSRPS Buffet Car Mallow 1984? CIE rebuilt many of its older buffet coaches including some former GSWR coaches with B4 bogies in the late 1960s http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=3340