Mayner

Although Abbeyfeale was a much smaller town than Newcastle or Listowel the station seems to have been reasonably important in terms of traffic serving as a railhead or a large area of North Kerry and West Limerick, at one time there were even plans for narrow gauge feeder lines to serve the town and villages south of the man line. During GSR days in addition to the three daily through passenger trains Abbeyfeale was the terminus off a daily passenger train from Limerick. The working was unusual by GSR standards worked by a tank loco and involving bunker first running as Abbeyfeale did not have a turntable. Abbeyfeale again acted as a terminus for a short while in the early 70s when regular operation over Barnagh ceased and the Limerick-Tralee goods trains were replaced by trice weekly trip workings from Limerick to Newcastle and Tralee to Abbeyfeale. Operation over Barnagh resumed and Abbeyfeale was served from Limerick for a short period following a bridge strike at the western end of the station. There is a photo of a supertrain livery B201 hauling one of these trains through Ballingarne in AJ O'Rourke's North Kerry book. Traffic to Abbeyfeale appears to have ceased with the ending of sundries traffic some time before official closure. The buildings and structures at both stations appear to be to a standard design for small stations on the North Kerry, including, Barnagh, Devon Road, Lixnaw and simply shouts out North Kerry. Abbeydorney originally had just a single siding the goods loop appears to have been added in GSWR days to break up the long section between Listowel and Tralee. Loads were restricted to 25 wagons between Tralee and Ardfert with heavier loads allowed westward to Tralee. A high beet loading bank appears to added in CIE days allowing beet to be tipped directly into wagons, Abbeydorney a loading ramp and possibly a mechanical shovel may have been have been used for loading beet from ground level bins. The ramp could only be used by one vehicle and was too steep for a truck or tractor and trailer. Signalling at Abbeydorney was interesting, while most of the shunting signals from the loop to the main line were probably the original with an upright revolving lamp housing, movements from the yard to the main line were controlled by a modern(ish) disc signal on a standard GSR/CIE galvanised steel post. from memory the disc was a disc rather than the square pattern often used by CIE. Next episode I will look at my most likely 4mm plan a simple U shaped design with two stations and an N gauge double decker walk around design to fit a similar space.

Really impressive rake, I think the look far better reasonably clean than heavily weathered,

The whole business of motivation is a very interesting thing, I think the majority of Irish based people who model the Irish scene for much the same reason as someone in the UK models the local scene because its familiar and achievable in OO with a mixture of rtr locos and stock, flexible track and points. Outside of Ireland the motivation is almost the reverse with a focus on the exotic aspects of Ireland's railways, much more kit and scratch building, a focus on fine scale wheel and track standards, the correct gauge, historic rather than contemporary and above all a focus on the unusual like the SLNCR and the narrow gauge.

Just noticed Hibernia engraved? in the splasher marvellous stuff. Modelling the early railways may be becoming fashionable there was a recent thread in RM Web about the build of a OO gauge mode of a Liverpool and Manchester 0-4-0 with a motor in the tender with a carden shaft drive to the loco. Very smooth running but looked odd shunting BR steam era rolling stock.

Looking at the cut stone work below the cabin it look like the GSR or CIE plonked one of its standard hipped roofed cabins on the base of an older box. I wonder how the signal man got the electric train staff for the Athlone Branch ain crews? A basket arrangement on a rope was for Navan Branch trains at Drogheda South cabin. Portarlington got very busy when main line train frequecies were increased and Galway & Westport services were diverted over the branch in the early 70s. The signal man would have needed an assistant to do the walking and climbing between the station and cabin, or possibly a subsidiary staff instrument in the station building to allow a staff to be remotely released while the signal man remained in the box. With greatly increased train frequencies and the Athlone Branch a main line the signal an would have been worn out waking up and down the stairs and crews no longer time for cup of tea and a natter between branch linearrivals and departures, In GSWR days Portarlington probably had East & West Cabins, the GSR& CIE re-signalled several of the larger stations like Athenry, Bray, Claremorris, Dun Laoire replacing a number of cabins with a large standard hipped roof box. I wonder are there any photos of the original?

Happy St Patrick's Day. We had a 12 hour start on everyone bit bizzare sitting in a pub on a Monday morning with the other half having brunch, hardly anyone in the place, drinking Guinness & watching Ireland beat France. The downside was that Tuesday Morning came 12 hours earlier

Inspirational stuff David although the larger scales are easier to work in, detailing takes 2-3 longer than 4mm because there is so much more that can be seen/modelled.

I had fun and game trying to get an acceptable finish with the silver initially tried an automotive aerosol before trying a Tayiama flat silver enamel with much better results. Starting to look the part luggage van. SSM did a custom sheet of red numerals and letters for the silver vans. Flotilla of black & tan vans nearly ready for launch. Finishing these though a lot longer than expected mainly due to extremely humid conditions, in the evenings masking tape would not remain stuck to the model let alone paint . Decided on a SSM Inspection Car for a quick an simple project I could complete, also had a 35mm Blackbeetle out of a G Class. Swapped around the Lomac wheels for the 3' wheels supplied with the bogie. Could not resist the idea of a detailed interior with those deck chair seats, for a jaunt to size up the state of the track. Not sure if it was my Beetle the bogie was not symmetrical had to trim off a piece of the end of the gearbox at one end and cut off the pivot pin and raised boss in the centre. Its important to do a trial fit with the floor and power bogie to get the model to sit at the right height. As a late Christmas present I treated myself to a portable spray booth does a great job. To reduce paint build up inside the booth I line the base and sides with kraft paper,.

The great Dunleer cigarette robbery. Dunleer was briefly re-opened to freight for a couple of hours in the 90s when a gang literally hjacked a 40' container of cigarettes off the afternoon Dundalk-North Wall Liner. Duneer station was a secluded spot, robbers used a mobile crane to do the lift empty container found a couple of days later. The Great Train Robbery video I interesting just before the BR corporate image era, the train appears to have been placed on the Aylesbury branch at Cheddington next station south for examination after the robbery hence weed grown trackwork

Wow! Martello Towers and Hibernia 11/10 for originality!

A brief look at the eastern end of the "main line" the busiest section of the North Kerry between Carey's Road and Ballingarne. Definitely worth including this section of the line possibly including both Patrickswell & Ballingarne in an American style possibly two level "walk around" style layout. The stations buildings on the original Limerick & Foynes line at Patrickswell, Adare and Askeaton are to a common attractive cut stone design, the track layouts very simple. Patrickswell and Adare closed to freight in 1974, the signal cabin closed in 83, Knock Pilgrimage and GAA specials continued to call into the late 1980s. A crippled CIE 20t brake and a GNR standard van with one end pulled out seems to have been permanent features until the siding was removed in the early 1980s. [ATTACH=CONFIG]12376[/ATTACH] Adare looking west. Patrickswell was the junction between the North Kerry and Croom Branch or more grandly named Cork-Limerick Direct Railwayt line from Charlesville originally a GSWR stalking horse to access Limerick the CLDR had running powers over the W&L to Carey' Road Junction where the GSWR had its own separate goods yard which handled freight traffic for Cork and Kerry, Guinnes, Grain & catte until the end of loose coupled freight. The station layout at Patrickswell was odd in that the Croom Branch and North Kerry were worked as two separate single lines through the station, no crossover was provided at the western end between the two lines, crossing two North Kerry or Croom Branch trains involved a shunt. The Croom branch lost its passenger service in the 1930, but the line remained an important freight link until Limerick Junction was re-modelled in 1967. The Croom Line had a nightly freight service to and from Cork, plus Castlemunget-Cork cement specials. Patrickswell closed The platform is a good example of Irish railway approach to regulation low and without ramps. A glimpse of Newcaste with the one time rather church like entrance to the station platform [attachment=:name] View along the platform from the stop block, difficult to guess what is original & what is re production. Terrance of houses on the right are on the site of the Goods shed and yard. North Kerry Yard was on the left hand side behind the station building. Next piece we will look at common features among larger North Kerry & Burma Road stations and a possible design for the layout.

Personally I think using a Spud presumably to keep the cost down really lets down the model. The Spud is a nice bogie for running around at high speed, a Black Beetle particulary the 25:1 would have been a better option for a shunter.

Mike Edge prepared the master for the DC Kits G Class, I am not sure if the Silver Fox G is basically a rtr version of the DC Kits loco. Going back to the B101s the engine room windows were clear I spent half an hour inside the engine room of 106 sheltering from a downpour during an IRRS visit to Inchacore Works The Birmingham Sulzers had spacious engine rooms there was room for about 10 people around the engine and generator.

Well David got me thinking. Newcastle West another station with an unusual track layout, there are a number of photos in A J O'Rourke's book and the news section of the IRRS Journal from the early mid 70s I had a look around but did not take any photos before the track was lifted in the 1980s. Originally built as a simple terminus by the Rathkeale & Newcastle Junction Railway in the late 1860s, it became a junction when the Limerick & North Kerry opened its line to Tralee in 1880. The original station appears to have been a simple single platform branch terminus with a turntable and loco shed at the end of the running road and a single siding serving the good shed and loading bank. The single platform appears to have been extended and a second loop added for the opening of the Tralee line. This would have allowed two passenger or mixed trains to use the platform in a similar manner to Waterford. The diamond crossing arrangement across the down? running line to the goods yard was a fairly common W&L arrangement, Listowel had a similar crossover from the Up Main to the goods yard up to closure. [attachment=:name] The "North Kerry Yard" with a second platform road run round and turntable appear to have been added in the mid 1880s to allow longer trains to cross. The layout was later simplified with Up & Down main running along the platform and the diamond crossing and second loop removed, the down Home Signal from Limerick is now the down Home at Dromad on the C&L. Some re-signalling may have been carried out when the wooden signal cabin was replaced with a GSR/CIE hipped roofed block built cabin in the mid 50s. In CIE days the running line on the East side of the station appears to have been treated as the main line with the North Kerry Yard as a bay platform. The crossover near to the twin bridges at the Limerick & Tralee end of the station was laid out for reasonably high speed running, the crossover at the end of the platform much sharper. Passenger trains continued to run over Barnagh up to 73 with specials from Dublin & Limerick to the Listowel Races and Knock and seaside excursion trains. One special was made up to 14 coaches double headed by B141s with a relief loco sent to assist the run round at Abbeyfeale. The line had a brief resurgence in freight before closure Newcastle was the railhead for steel traffic for ESB in connection with transmission lines from Tarbert Power station. ESB leased the North Kerry Yard and both yards are chock full of open wagons in photos from that period. The final traffic appears to have been meat in containers from Rathkeale, cement and fertiliser to Newcastle. A couple of Back to Back fertiliser specials operated in the last few months, before closure. The last train delivered a H van of cement and returned with 55 empty wagons to Limerick. I haven't space for Newcastle but it would make an interesting major station on an American basement empire style layout with Abbeyfeale or Listowel or maybe both as secondary main line stations. Richard Chowan did much the same with his Castlerackrent, Moygraney and Western an O Scale WLWR broad gauge modular layout with models of several North Kerry & Burma Road stations.

My Honda CRV is just about eligible to vote, 200k on the clock and still going strong.

Might be worth listing the items on E-Bay or the RM Web classified, there still seems to be a lot of interest in old whitemetal kits in the UK. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70333-what-have-you-done-with-your-keyser-kit/page-9 The steam tram, panniers and trams should be snapped up. Airfix body and Kemilway Chassis is probably for the Standard Class 4 2-6-0 may be more difficult to shift as Bachmann have released a nice rtr version of this loco.

Funnily enough the group that built the Malahide & Dromin Junction layout in the late 60s whittled down oversized broom handles for their cement bubbles. Eamonn I like your drive for the inspection car, not sure if its still available Branchlines did very nice compact gearbox that would take the hassle out of meshing the gears and wear would be less critical on those un-brushed bearings. Setting up power pickups would be fairly difficult so a Blackbeetle may be the best solution

Originally each province was more or less a law onto itself until the Colonial Government intervened in the 1870s, most of the early lines were in the South Island linking the local port with the hinterland. I think the first line was in Southland Standard Gauge weird Crampton locos and wooden rails. The Canterbury Provincial Government built North and South from Christchurch and built about 80 miles of 5'3" before the Provincial Goverments were abolished in the1870s. The track was re-gauged and locos and stock exported to South Australia. A couple of years ago I came across a siding laid in the old Canterbury Provincial Government double headed rail & chairs a p.w. mans equivalent of finding the lost arc The frugal Scottish settlers in Otago went for the new 3'6" gauge with Fairlie loco, one class were 0-6-4 back tanks complete with Inchacore style cab, bunker and outside framed trailing bogie.

Nothing compared with yer-man who turned up in Anasaul during the Emergency and asked the local Garda "ven is der next train to Dralee?

The minimum radius depends on track standards 3' seems to be about the minimum for OO wheel track standards, in S4 you pretty much have to work to scaled down prototype radius Templot starts blinking if you go below 4' Diesels and bogie stock are fairly forgiving but bogie and outside cylinder steam locos can be a challenge because of reduced side play in chassis and tighter clearances.

I'didnt do nuttin Mister! Got to hand it to Richie bringing the North Inner City to life. All you need is an RTE camera crew interviewing the local "community activists"or the late great Tony Gregory

I have been kicking around ideas for a layout for a good few years, but always seem to have moved just as I got things started. I have reasonable space in a convert garage 18X10 for a layout in OO or N, but a bit tight for anything other than a small terminus to fiddle yard effort in 21mm gauge. Having dabbled I American modelling I wanted something interesting to operate than watching trains go round and round or a loco shunting a small terminus. Although I prefer the Midland the Burma Road & North Kerry keep cropping up. If I was still working in N I would probably go for an American style walk around possibly multi-level scheme with several stations modelling the main line from Patrickswell through Newcastle to Abbeyfeale. Given space and time working in 4mm a remote county station with a simple track layout would be a better proposition, Barnagh fits the bill in terms of simplicity and remoteness with a few interesting twists that lifts it out of the ordinary. [attachment=:name] Barnagh was the highest point on the CIE system at the summit of a steeply graded (by Irish standards) sections from Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale. Train loadings were severely restricted over Barnagh a J15 was allowed 40 wagons from Limerick to Newcastle but 25 Westwards to the summit with similar restrictions on East bound trains from Abbeyfeale. The yard at Barnagh was designed so shunting could take place clear of the running line and allow loose coupled goods trains to be remarshaled if it as necessary to divide a heavy goods train and "double the hill" if a banking locomotive was not available. Curiously the A, B & C Class diesels were similarly restricted to 25 wagons but this was eased with the introduction of the 30T brake vans in the 1960s. Run-aways were a potential problem and all loose coupled goods were required to stop and "pin down" the brakes on at least 10 wagons (more in bad weather) before descending the hill in either direction. The North Kerry line seems to have been reasonably busy up to the Emergency with 3 Limerick-Tralee, 1 Limerick-Abbeyfeale return passenger trains, a daily goods, plus overloads and specials. Through trains were worked by J15s with ex WLWR & GSWR 4-4-2T & 0-4-4T on the Abbeyfeale service. Most passenger trains on secondary lines conveyed urgent van traffic, the Abbeyfeale passenger train may have acted as an overload for the daily goods moving traffic between Newcastle and Abbeyfeale and saving on the cost of having a banker and loco crew available in Newcastle. Next step might be to look at some of the bigger stations on the North Kerry

Great looking uncluttered railway room & viaduct Interestingly the Lyttleton-Christchurch line was originally built to the Irish 5'3" gauge. I suppose you could end up with pairs of 141s working the coalies to an from t ort while the DXBs are serviced and re-fuelled at Middleton Yard.

Used to be one of my favourite spots watching a B141 and a couple of laminates threading its way across from Glanmire Road onto the old Cork & Youghal formation. Really captures the atmosphere of the area.

The W&H was a bit like Walthers in the States both a manufacturer and distributor the catalogue listed most of the kits and bits available in the UK. The catalogue used to be available from both Southern Model Railways & Monch Place. Kieran McGowan used to get a bit of free advertising by stamping everything sold from Monch Place