Mayner

I used JMRI several years ago as an interface with a Digitrax system for route setting on an American N gauge layout. I never advanced beyond point control to detection or signalling. The main advantage was I had a lot quicker and easier to build a virtual CTC panel with JMRI than build a hard wired one, easier to alter and far less in terms of emotional loss & physical waste in dismantling/scrapping a physical panel when the project was abandoned.

I like the idea of steam working one of the specials as I have vague memories of a big blue steam loco with smoke deflectors from around the same period crossing the viaduct at Gormonstown. Its just about possible that steam may have been used on one or more of the specials. It would have been simpler for the UTA to roster as steam loco and a crew to a special move, than try and co-ordinate a pair locos and at least two sets of crews with CIE. Presumably Belfast still had enough steam drivers and firemen who still knew the road to Dublin and wanted on last trash at the mainline. In 1963 the UTA bought four ex GNR steam locos from CIE S Class 170, 171, 174 & Vs 207 Boyne. The 207 appears to have been used mainly used the Tourist Train an additional summer service on the main line, she seems to have held down this duty until the summer of 65, there is a photo n Irish Railways a Second Glance" of Boyne 'roaring' through Malahide on a southbound train in July 1965.

I built a minimum space 4mm shunting yard layout based one of the plans in Layout Design by Iain Rice.I was living in the UK at the time & going through an industrial railway phase. The layout was self contained with a small marshalling yard and hidden storage on an 8'x'1"6 baseboard but capable of being extended or connected to another layout. The layout started out as a small yard on a an industrial system worked mainly by industrial and ex-BR diesel shunting locos. Smaller less powerful locos did most of the visible work, shunting loaded and empty wagons in the yard and working trips to an off scene quarry. The more powerful locos an Austerity 0-6-0ST and a pair of ex-BR locos worked trips between the yard & British Railways exchange sidings. Manning Wardle propelling empties into quarry mainline on right Some industrial systems continued to use ancient looking Manning Wardles into the mid 1960s Ancient and Ancient Hunslet & Manning Wardle The diesel is a 1930s Hunslet standard design one of which became the 1st LMS diesel. Hunslet acquired the goodwill of Manning Wardle in the 1930s and supplied/overhauled steam locos into the 80s. Pride of the line Austerity with Hunslet Patent Underfeed stoker and gas producing equipment Modern image steam? Hunslet & the National Coal Board developed a gas producing system to reduce smoke and make more efficient use of coal, not quite sure how the loco ended up on a quarry system. Although I started and completed most of the work on the layout before returning to Ireland, the layout was stored for several years in the UK before taking it home thanks to some high level pressure from the presidents of the Milton Keynes Model Railway Society and MRSI. Bankfoot became a widely travelled layout exhibited on its own and with the late Frank Davis layout in Cork, Bangor and Warley. The layout was passed on to Frank before I moved to New Zealand in 2004 not before running a "last train" when an Ivatt 2MT picked up the last load of iron ore from Bankfoot a scene replayed in many part6s of the UK as many small maining and quarry operations closed down. The last train Ivatt 2MT 46455 drags the last train off ore hoppers out of the yard at bankfoot 46455 leads her train across the crossover from the loop to the main line quarry siding leads off to the left After 10 years I have dusted off the Bankfoot idea once again as a small British outline shelf layout to keep Keadue company in the office and a home for the stock. The theme this time is based on a BR branch line connection to a quarry somewhere along the Welsh Border country between Hereford & Chester something that was not exactly un common. The space is slightly better than the original Bankfoot a 7'6" X 4'6" L modelling will be restricted to between the railway fence due to a 12" width restriction with the shelf. The track layout will be similar to the old layout main difference will be signalling and a passenger platform probably disused, a couple of sidings for sorting laden and empty wagons into trains and a longer running line to the quarry. The main change is to extend the run round loop to handle a reasonable length of train without turning the layout into another typical branch line model.

With me its getting to the stage where I don't know if I have remembered something or have imagined it ether way its good stuff though

Kieran Brings back childhood seaside memories of dark green trains without an engine at the front speeding across the viaduct at Gormonstown all that's missing is the Tourist Train with its big blue steam loco and smoke deflectors, it was never the same after the summer of 65?

The C&L closed at the end of March 1959, the final train was a double header with most of the available coaches that were just about fit for service. Not to be outdone a double header was run over the Keadue branch with Dingle engines 3T & 6T and a train made up of Cavan & Leitrim, Tralee and Dingle and Clogher Valley stock. Shortly afterwards the road was broken where the line crossed the L2 to the North West of town and track lifted back through the cutting towards the station. Looking back from the L2 Sligo-Blackbull cross secondary road. I decided to re-lay and ease the curve when the layout was out in the workshop as one of the C&L 4-4-0Ts used to stick on the curve. I thought it was worth taking the pictures as the imprint of the sleepers in the ballast looked like a recently lifted line. Luckily enough it was easy to remove the pva/ballast mix without damaging the foam rubber track underlay. The Council finally paved the street in front of the background buildings though its barely wide enough for a mini. The carriage shed received a coat of dark brown enamel and now needs to be painted/weathered so that it looks like it did not receive a lick of paint in 30 years. I used the same brown enamel to give the turntable a rusty weathered look, the Peco HOm turntable has a steel rather than timber decking though I thought I would leave well enough alone. In real life a turntable would not have been allowed so close to a running line or tight up against the wall of a cutting, but it was a must have and there was no more space to fit it in. A fault has opened at the back of the loco shed, revealing that Drumlins are actually made f expanded polystyrene and the Arigna Mountans and sky of 6mm MDF. I have in filled the tracks in the loco shed with filler, then cleared out the flangeways with a sharp knife and the point of a small screwdriver, the area needs covering with fine scatter to represent 60 odd years accumulation of muck and ash.

I drew this one up mainly to see if it was possible to fit OO gauge E shaped block plan into a single car garage, rather than a more traditional around the walls effort. It just about fits in with a reasonable aisle width by reducing the minimum radius on the turn back section on the peninsula section to 2' radius. The scheme is just about workable in OO though would look a lot better visually in a wider room or in N or perhaps American or Continental narrow gauge in either HOn3 or HOm. This time I have included one medium and two small stations on the section between Barnagh and Abbeyfeale with staging on one side of the room. It might be worth designing the staging as two side, by side yards representing Careys Road & Tralee with a linking track to allow through running. Each yard would have its own run round and spurs for storing locos to allow for a more interesting timetable operation than tail chasing. Ideally Barnagh should be modelled as a summit section rather than on a flat baseboard with trains climbing from Abbeyfeale and the Limerick end of the staging. I have been getting to grips with Templot a track template design software for a small EM layout before I try my hand at serious planning for a broad gauge layout. John

Donelli gantries in use Indian style http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuEefyIAO9k CIE 1st used Donelli gantries to re-lay the Cork Line in the early 70s, usually a tractor and a harrow was used to scarify the ballast before dropping in the new panels. In Ireland the gantrys worked in pairs with two machines on a single 60' panel, a lot safer and less wear and tear on the plant. The gantrys run on cwr dropped by the welded rail train in advance of the re-lay, the machine can be used to lay jointed track with the rails swapped out at a later date or fitted with a bale to lift sleepers only allowing the CWR to be laid in a single possession.

Just a quick post to give an idea of the effects of the weather on a garden railway. After one week mid winter poor drying. Sun bleached sleepers, mainly in shade during winter this area is exposed to afternoon sun 6-7 months. Natural weathering. Limekiln/coke ovens built 2012. On the positive side I had trains running today (battery) after an hours clearing up/weeding.

Carrying on with the carriage shop thread after 5 years 5L finally got some glazing to keep out the driving Westerlies and the cold blowing in from the Steeps of Russia. I spent one winter working on in Drumsna and man it gets cold. There was a noticeable gap between the body side and roof on this coach so the glazing was brought up slighty above the level of the sides, scribed then folded slightly the folded bit touched in in one of Floquils 1000 shades of Railroad Black probem solved. The glazing is secured in place with double-sided tape which does not appear to have the drawbacks of superglue or crystal clear. End swing may be a problem with this coach on curves and I may need to re-lay the curve between the station and the roadside section as the C&L 4-4-0T tend to stick at one particular spot on the curve. I am completing some long outstanding jobs on the narrow gauge before moving the layout back into the house, including getting the turntable into working order. The table is a Peco HOm model, I looked at fitting a motor, but ended up copying a C J Freezer design from 1960 using Meccano gears and parts. The conversion turned out simple enough, 1st making sure the Peco turntable pit was nice and flat and the table revolved freely. The spigot from the Peco turntable is designed to fit over a Meccano 8SWG axle or rod. I was able to get all the necessary parts from the local Mecanno parts supplier though the gears are plastic rather than metal. The biggest job was pinning the axle and spigot with a piece of .8mm brass. drilling through the spigot and mild steel rod using a Dremel pillar drill, otherwise even if you Loctite there is a fair chance the spindles will shift. The turntable pit is basically designed to sit into a circular hole cut in the baseboard, leaving the deck with very little in the way of support. I ran a strip of softwood across the underside of the pit with an oversized hole bored out for the pivot. The turntable base was then screwed down to the strip with some small wood screws possibly 12mm No4. I used a slotted Meccano strip as the lower bearing for the pivot, this can be tricky to set up as the turntable deck has to be completely level. The Meccano collar and washer is to prevent the table rising up and keep the deck power pick up system in compression. With the Peco N & HOm turntables the rails pick up power off a split ring using sprung brass plungers. Setting up the worm gear drive is simple enough I used Meccano Trunnions to support the worm shaft with a hand wheel on the fascia to spin the engine around. I use "Blue Point" actuators which are basically a hand operated version of the Tortoise point motor to change frog polarity and to switch power between different track circuits, with RC rudder linkages to push and pull rods on the layout fascia to control the points. Besides the turntable there is a lot of scope for detailing around the loco shed, coal stage, basic interior detailing and ash and general loco shed muck.

The Park Royals were very smooth riding 1st journey in one was out to Bray during school holidays late 60s, Mallow-Killarney during the late 80s possibly early 90s. Up to the mid80s a uniform rake of Park Royals or Cravens for that matter would have been unusual, up to wide spread introduction of MK3s intercity sets were often made up of a mixture of TL wired Cravens, Park Royal,Laminate and older stock.

I have a fairly large G Gauge circuit in the back garden, built on raised timber framing mainly because its easier on the back than a ground level line and a lot less work to build. The frame work is all pressure treated pine (Tanalised) with the stations and yards are basically on open famed baseboards (4X2) with the track laid on decking timber the "scenery" fine pebbles or quarry screenings supported on weed mat laid on top of wire mesh. Plain running line between stations is laid on 9x2 or 6X2 pine boards. The whole lot supported on timber piles or cut down fence posts concreted into the ground. The railway has been in operation for about 5 years, no major work apart from replacing a few board that had warped or twisted. Some modellers now use composite (recycled plastic) decking as its less prone to twisting than timber. I have not found rail expansion or contraction a major problem, the biggest problem is keeping the line clear of falling leave, twigs and branches and snail shells. The birds soon discovered that rails make excellent anvils for breaking open shells. Scenery is mainly fine pebbles or quarry screenings in yards, with box and slow growing shrubs out on the line.

The Dean Goods is a good basis for conversion into a J15 or an ex WLWR 0-6-0. The WLWR engines may have been based on a GWR design Robinson worked on the GWR under Armstrong & Dean before moving Limerick. WLWR No2 Shannon (GSR222) as built would have been very close to the Hornby/Airfix model lined black compete with square firebox There is a very useful RM Web thread on converting the Dean Goods to the round top firebox version similar to 184 or the Limerick engines in GSR days. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/62553-backdating-a-mainlinehornby-dean-goods/

The GSV vans were converted in the mid late 70s from early CIE standard class side corridor coaches similar in style to the SSM Bredin 3Rd http://www.studio-scale-models.com/Bredin3rd.shtml. The 3200s were fitted with generators and wired for TL lighting and ran on Intercity services with Craven coaches if anyone is tempted.

Recent footage of a narrow gauge South African Garratt locomotive struggling on a 1:40 grade in poor rail conditions with a trainload of locomotive ash. The train is then divided to avoid stalling and "doubles the hill" to the summit. [video=youtube;Wu-Cmtk_apY]

I finally finished the tins. I ended up stripping down and re-painting the silver van, the original paint job looked good but tended to scratch if you looked at it, second time around seems a lot better. The SSM inspection car made it through the paint shops but must replace the glazing, I managed to get Kristel Clear everywhere The Blackbeetle was robbed from a Duetz which is due to get a 21mm gauge 28:1 version to get some decent low power torque as a shunter. Workbench more or less clear narrow gauge layout set up temporarily in background.

I had thought of designing/building a double deck layout, but did not work in as the mainly because you would need scaffold or a raised platform to operate the upper level as the layout is built on storage units 4' above the floor. I switched Abbeydorney around to maximise the length of run between Listowel and Abbeydorney and reduce the length of the hidden run from the Tralee end of the storage yard to Abbeydorney. In the plant the line from Tralee crosses over the Listowel-Abbeydorney to re-create the summit section near Ardfert and Eastbound falling grade into Abbeydorney at the expense of leaving most of the Abbeydorney-Listowel section hidden and loosing Lixnaw & the Tar siding. Abandoning the long hidden sections and using turnbacks at either end would be very interesting and challenging for lads who enjoy tail chasers. John

Personally the standard of finish on current rtr British models is so high I would be loath to re-painting or modifying a current Hornby or Bachmann loco into an Irish model. I think it would be a bit like re=painting a Heljan Class 26 or 33 in CIE colours and calling it an A Class. Apart from the Jinty & Woolwich and a few industrials none of the Irish locos were really close enough to a British Mainland design to use a rtr model or kit without major modification. Although I am more inclined to scratchbuild I would have less qualms about using a second hand model or a kit, the old GEM LNWR 2-4-2T show up on E-Bay the DSER used the 4'6" version the 5'6" tank looks very close to the WLWR/CMDR locos http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GEM-WEBB-LNWR-LMS-2-4-2T-Locomotive-OO-Gauge-/321427013942?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item4ad68b0136

How about Irelands largest class of 2-4-2T GSR F1 & 2? Large choice of livery DSER lined black, GSR Gray, CIE lined green worked Dublin suburban trains from the early 1900s to the 1950s, one seems to have been a long term resident on the West Cork another loaned to the BCDR during the Second World War.

MGWR F GSR J5 Weight Diagram courtesy of the late Bob Clements I haven't come across a section of the larger MGWR Locos. Same wheelbase as 2-4-0s and Standard Goods to turn on standard turntable. MGWR B GSR J2 MGWR Weight Diagram restricted to Dublin Galway line on account of weight withdrawn in GSR days. Straight running board without No crankpin splashers wheelbase and overall size close to an LMS 4F MGWR B Class tender

Although I have tried to be faithful to modelling Irish railways mainly GSR & CIE in 4mm scale, I had various flings with British, American and even freelance modelling in scale and had a long and sometimes stormy relationship with N American gauge. I first tried N in the late 70s frustrated at trying to fit a OO gauge layout into a box room and even more so with my efforts to kitbash and scratchbuild Irish stock. A nice scenic N gauge layout with repainted or slightly modified rtr stock seemed a good idea and I even ended up with a reasonable U shaped shelf layout around the walls of my teenage bedroom with stations based on Ardfert and Foynes. The layout was scrapped following a house move, in the late 80s I seriously caught the American modelling bug while living in the UK and built up a collection of American N gauge locos and stock to get something running quickly while I tackled kit building and modifying Irish 4mm stock. Having a 17 X11 space available I thought I would look at a N gauge North Kerry layout based on American “walk around” principals. Typical American style operation involves operators walking around with their trains crossing opposing trains and switching sidings and industries. Movements are usually controlled by a dispatcher or train controller sometimes in another room using radio or telephone communication, rather than a signal man at each block post typical of traditional UK & Irish operation. I though it would be interesting to see if I could fit in an E shaped baseboard arrangement in combination with a looped 8 arrangement to achieve a maximum length of run. Given the available space I have planned for a minimum isle width of 700mm. The main idea is to slow down the operation by a combination of maximising the milage between stations and operating the railway in accordance with the rule book. Visually the layout keeps to the idea of “sincere” design with only a single main line visible in most scenes with a view blocker down the middle of the peninsula and curved backscenes and layout fascias. The Limerick & North Kerry section of the line between Barnagh and Abbeydorney appeared to be the best choice to model a section of the line in station order with two medium sized and two small but interesting stations. [attachment=:name] The main potential drawback of the design is the length of hidden trackage and the use of hidden staging is more suitable for fixed formation train workings rather than traditional loose formation passenger and goods trains. The goods loop at Barnagh was mainly used as a refuge to for the crossing of goods trains and to allow shunting to take place clear of the main line. Baragh was also a cumpulsary stop for pinning down the handbrakes of loose coupled goods trains before descending the bank to Abbeyfeale or Newcastle slowing down the pace of operation. I have squeezed in both Abbeyfeale and Listowel on the peninsula both stations are long and narrow and seem to have been reasonably busy with freight up to the early 70s. Up to the ending of through freight operation, goods traffic seems to have mainly between Listowel and intermediate stations to Limerick with lighter traffic westwards towards Tralee, with Listowel, Newcastle and Abbeyfeale most important in terms of traffic. In GSR days Abbeyfeale was the terminus of a mid afternoon passenger working from Limerick and the terminus of a three times weekly pick-up goods from Tralee after the line over Barnagh closed to regular traffic. The distance between Abbeyfeale and Listowel could be extended by stopping a train in section between the two stations. Listowel was the most important intermediate station on the Western part of the line and one time junction with the Listowel and Ballybunnion monorail for someone wanting an extreme challenge. Shunting both station could be quite involved with in each one long siding used for all goods traffic. While the yard was not modernised as part of Railplan 80 block fertiliser trains operated from Tralee to Listowel and forklifts would have been used for unloading. Although regular passenger traffic was light and ended in 1963 specials operated for the Listowel Races, Knock specials and other events into the early 70s. I have included Abbeydorney as I griced the station in 78, it was the terminus for beet train operation in the lines final year and used as the run round for Westbound traffic from Ardfert which did not have a run round loop. It might be possible to squeeze in a siding between Abbeydorney and Listowel to handle the tar traffic for the Kerry County Council depot at Lixnaw. In order to maximise the length of run the main line is essentially a combination of the folded figure of 8 and dogbone, with a flyover arrangement with the line between the Tralee end of the hidden staging and Abbeydorney crossing over the Abbeydorney-Listowel section rather than by a grade crossing more typical of the American Mid West While there are no rtr Irish N scale models reasonable 3D printed A, C & 141 diesels typically used on the north are available through Shapeways. The models appear to be designed to fit on the excellent Lifelike EMD Switcher and SD9 chassis, repainted BR Graham Farish or Peco rolling stock would pass muster for passenger and goods trains, personally I use Microtrains (Kadee) couplers in preference to the typical Rapido N gauge coupler though the conversion may be something of a mission given the size and amount of goods stock needed for a layout of this nature. At this stage I am not sure whether or not I would opt to model an Irish railway in N, working in 21mm gauge a less ambitious scheme possible a small portable layout may be more realistic, though its mighty tempting to dust off the American N Gauge and use the basic layout plan for a railroad into some County in a remote part of upstate New York or New England with mill towns and lake resorts called Abbeyfeale and Listowel..

There is a report of the incident on page 121 The North Kerry Line Alan O'Rourke the train appears to have been the 6pm Limerick-Tralee." 6 auxiliaries (Black & Tan's) on board two on the footplate one of whom was killed, the other forced the driver (who was wounded by a bullet) to put on steam". The regular passenger service in GSWR & GSR days seems to have been three Limerick-Tralee passenger and a daily goods each way with a short Limerick Newcastle passenger which was extended to Abbeyfeale in GSR days. There seems to have been a daily Limerick-Tralee passenger,sometimes no regular services during the War of Independence, some of the passenger trains would have carried Limerick and cross-channel mail traffic for Waterford and Rosslare. Passenger and goods trains seem to have been mainly worked by J15s in GSR days, though GSWR and WLWR 4-4-2T also used. The 4.40 Tralee-Limerick mixed was involved in an incident in Dec 1922 when Ex WLWR 0-6-0 222 and its train ran down the headshunt at Abbeydorney and derailed the driver possibly nervous to get away. The train seems to have been made up of 6 coaches & some vans. Two thirds, a composite, brake third, fish van, passenger van, two laden wagons and a brake . The North Kerry was used as a diversionary route after Mallow Viaduct was blow up in 1922 with a Dublin-Cork ad Dublin-Tralee goods running over Barnagh.

You have really captured the atmosphere of the place, with the railway and town hemmed into a narrow river valley. I was always fascinated by the railways and canals in Mid Wales and the Welsh border country. Modelling the fast flowing waters of the Dee will be an interesting challenge

Not really Robinsons Irish locos were a lot smaller and quite different in outline to his Great Central locos, but might pass for an ex DSER loco some of which had Belpair fireboxes. The Bachmann SECR C is probably closer in general outline to the WLWR locos in GSWR/GSR condition. The MGWR bought a pair of locos from a cancelled order for the WLWR. The locos originally had square topped fireboxes but were brought into line with the rest of the ex WLWR 0-6-0s with round topped fireboxes in GSR days. I have not been able to find an on line photo of the 0-6-0s but they were very close to the ex WLWR 2-4-0s with the same boiler and cab.

Variety in train formation was pretty much the norm up to the widespread introduction of MK3 stock and withdrawl of the Laminates and wooden framed stock in the Mid-80. The Operating Department tended to use conventional stock (higher seating capacity) in preference to "Supertrains" on the heaviest mainline trains such as the morning departures from Heuston to the South and West, while Supertrains tended to be used on the more lightly loaded morning departures from the provinces and evening return workings. Dubln-Sligo, Westport and Rosslare were almost exclusively "Train Line" wired conventional stock usually a mix of Craven, Park Royal, Laminate, timber famed 1953 Buffet and early 1960 Inchacore built wooden framed 1sts and Standards, these trains usually ran with a BR or Dutch generator steam van. Suburban, branch line and cross country services tended to use non-TL stock with battery & dynamo lighting a mix of early 1950 timber framed stock, laminates and Park Royals with steam heating provided by Tin Vans or van conversions of early 50s & Laminate suburban stock. The difference in profile between different batches of vehicles is probably the most striking feature of modern Inchacore built coaching stock, the “Bredins”, early CIE, Park Royal, Laminates, TPO & Cravens all had different profiles, probably due to a move from traditional carriage building through component assembly with the Park Royals and Laminates towards modern stressed skin construction with the Cravens and ultimately MK2 & 3 stock.