Mayner

Hi Michel Good luck with the trams, will you be working to Proto 1:87 or HO standards? John

It was a bit of a corker I think it was filmed at Blakestown crossing on the Midland 184 trundles along with an RPSI set and magically transformed itself into the tail end of the Asahi Liner. Does anyone remember the cigarette add from the 1960s that featured an O Gauge model railway with a B141 hauled freight train? John John

Don't forget the odd ball ones like "The Most Fertile Man in Ireland" filmed around the oll Sherriff St Flats and North Wall Midland when it was a freight yard, lots of shunting and reach stackers lumbering around with containers. Classic Hammer Horror with Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu filmed around Dublin in the 1950s with a car chase along John's Road complete with Guiness Broad gauge Tramway. John

The Tin Vans are a lot shorter in overall length and wheelbase than the Lima CCT so they should be ok, end overhang is relatively short so tension lock or Kadees should not be problem. John

I wonder have Horby done anything with the wheels? The biggest problem with Lima was that after a few weeks running the wheel plating got badly pitted, pick up and runnng suffered and it was a constant battle to keep the wheels clean. The HO/OO stuff was not to bad their N Gauge locos lasted an average of about two weeks. John

It simple enough to use top hat bearings with a fold up subframe, on most systems the bearing also acts as a locating pin for the side frame. Most etched W iron units use this system and the result is a very free running chassis, its basically a matter of opening up the bearing hole in the subframe with a tapered broach until the top hat is a tight fit. Hurst Models do rigid fold up subframes sutable for the Ridemaster and French bogie sideframes in OO, http://www.hurstmodels.com/4/4mm_misc.htm. Personally I dont think its worth modifying the bogies if you work in OO the gauge as its impossible to disguise the fact that the track gauge is undersized 20%. I am trying to get round the issue by designing chassis suitable for 21mm & OO guuge supplied with extended axle wheelsets. John

Glenderg Ah there is nothing like the All Irelands, still All-Blacks Ireland Waikato Stadium 23 June. They have gotten over Munster at Thromond Park in 63 John

Irishthump. The layout looks quite restrictive in that trains can only arrive on one road or platform, all movements from the Down main to the Up Platform/yard would involve a shunt with trains having to set back along the Up line, a facing crossover between the main lines or a scissor crossing would make life a lot easier. One important point to remember if this is a terminal station the signal controlling arriving trains should only have red and yellow aspects. Depending on the main line signalling system the departure signals may have 2,3 or 4 aspects. As it stands you would get away with a two aspect signal on the country side of the crossover on the arrival road and two or 3 aspect signaals for departing trains, shunt signals would be needed to control movements to the yards and backing movements along the up and down main lines. If you go for a facing crossover some form of splitting signal would be needed on the station approach. The layout on the Northern approach to Dun Laoire was a good example of 4 aspect signalling of a double track station with a terminal bay and reversible working. John

If there is sufficient interest I will look at doing an assembled batch of each type similar to what David's done with the 2600s and DeDettrich stock. The Luggage Van is nearest to production as there is still some detail to be nailed down with the Heating Van, a real Heinz 57 variety job . John

Brilliant Photos:tumbsup: One of my favourite lines one of Irelnds most scenic lines. I have vague memories of the line around the headland at Ballyvoyle? and of the distinctive level crossings in Dungarvan during a childhood journey to from Dublin to Cork via Waterford. Later I was lucky enough to travel over the line before closure and more recently walked through the tunnel and over the viaduct. The section west of Dungarvan had a totally different character through fertile river valleys with several impressive viaducts and interesting stations. John

Tuam was a GSWR outpost full of GSWR locos in the middle of Midland territory The canopy is the original and at the time No 59 the pride of Tuam Shed seems to have been the regular engines for the Tuam Galway passenger trains. There is a lot of interesting stuff on train working over this line in back issues of the RPSI Journl and "A Decade of Steam" pubished by the RPSI in the 70s. In steam days Tuam was similar to a Division Point in American terms, with its own allocation of locos for working freight trains to Limerick and North to Sligo. John

Maybe a NWSL re-powering Kit http://www.nwsl.com/uploads/cat_chap2_for_web.pdf John

Should be a simple master to produce resin castings http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/52075-scratch-built-yeoman-arc-bsc-pta-tipplers/ John

Hi Frank I would not go too overboard on trees on a West of Ireland layout, the area around Loughrea is quite exposed windswept almost bleak countryside with little tree cover. The MRSI Loughrea layout captures the atmosphere of the town and countryside pretty well http://irishrailwaymodeller.yuku.com/reply/7240/Model-railway-show-for-D-n-Laoghaire#reply-7240. There were a number of plans for railways in East Galway in the late 1800 including a ilne from Craughwell to Loughrea and eastwards to Portumna and Birr in County Offaly which would have passed close to the Tynagh ore body. A line from Loughrea or Portumna to Craughwell would have made better sence for a commuter service to Galway as it would have been more direct that via the Loughrea-Attymon branch. In the 1960 Loughrea was mainly worked by G Class with a single coach G613 seems to have been the regular branch loco. DC Kits produce a resin kit and SilverFox Models rtr versions of the G Class. Domestic coal traffic was light or non existant on CIE In the West and Midlands most people used turf (peat) for domestic heating, though Bord na Mona basically strip mine peat for Electricity Generation over much of East Galway and County Offaly. BNM once sent out export Peat Moss http://www.bordnamonahorticulture.ie/home-gardening/gardening-products/improve-your-soil/irish-moss-peat by the train load from plants in Kildare and Laoise, perhaps BNM is exporting peat from a plant on the Shannon Callows out via Loughrea to Galway Port. Loughrea seems to have gone through something of a revival in the 1960s becoming a distribution centre for fertiliser and cattle traffic increased when the local Station Master had the authority to agree rtes with shippers. Even in the 1960s over 100 wagons of cattle could be sent out in several trains. John

About 15 years ago despite 24 hour security we lost about £15k worth of electrical cable over Christmas on a construction site in North Dublin. The thieves either had a hiab or used some of our lifting plant to load as some of the cable drums which were over a ton weight. The security company got the boot over the inccident but their insurers paid up without a whimper. John

Some models in the pipeline CIE “Tin Vans” and MGWR Meat Van these models were inspired by one of Francis Shuttleworth’s photographs of seemingly ancient and modern rolling stock in Sligo Station in the late 1950s. While kits and rtr models are available of the Bredin Full Brake, Dutch and BR Vans, no one has produced models of the once ubiquitous Tin Vans that ran in most passenger trains between the Mid 50 and late 60s with some remaining in service into the 1980s. Development work started on the Heating & Luggage Van in 2011 the original intention was to combine 3D Printing technology with brass overlays for quality of finish and ease of assembly, however to keep cost within reasonable limits, the models have morphed to mainly etched brass construction with combination of 3D and cast parts. Recently I have finalised the design for the Heating Van and assembled the test etches for the Hooded Van and a MGWR Meat van. The Heating Van was originally designed with 3D printed Buffers, fuel tanks, gangways, roof and battery boxes, but I have revised the design to include etched fuel tans, gangways and battery boxes. All models feature fold up assembly with tab and slot construction to simplify assembly, I have yet to finalise the detail parts such as axleboxes, springs, buffers. The kits will be supplied with wheelsets and axles suitable for OO or 21mm Gauge and the tin vans have a coupling mount for Kadee 30 Series Couples. At this stage I am tryng to gauge whether there is sufficient interest to supply the kits with bespoke castings or use near equivalent parts from some of the British Suppliers like MJT or Comet. Hooded Van Test Build. I have attempted to capture the distinctive Inchacore style buffer beam, Bulleid Triangulated solebars, recessed doorways and barred windows. MGWR Meat Van Nearly a permanent fixture on Midland Section Passenger and Mail Trains though ancient looking these vans lasted into the late 1950s Ancient and Modern At this stage I expect to release the Tin Vans in September with the MGWR Van to follow in December. I have to finalsie the prices but expect the Luggage Van to be around £40 the Heating Van around £50 for ease of asssembly I will probably supply the Heating with 3D printed tanks. Also in the pipe line 22'6" Container Flat the CAD drawings are well advanced I would expect to have the Test Etches for assembly in July/August. John

Typical Saturday Night in Coventry John

Each generation brings out its own unique style even genius always in a state of flux. We all threw shapes in our time. I suppose I caught the tail end of the 60s mid 70s generation not quite a hippy or a punk into Thin Lizzy, Lynnard Skynard, The Stones at the time never really appreciated the post Punk movement but blown away years later Nirvanna. These days its a matter of seeing the survivors of bands I never got to see in my teens and 20s. A 60 odd year olf Jagger strutting like a cockrell around the Stage at Western Springs in Auckland, Lynard Skynard at the Point, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison being their own inscrutible selves, though I did find Coney Island on a trip around the Ards. John

The Digitrax Zypher is another option 2.5Amp consul style controller with read back programmer at £140 in MG Sharp fully compatible with their other systems. I went for the slightly Empire Builder 1 as it ws in 2000 still running with the original firmware whatever that is in 2012. Going back to stack recall its just a way of bringing up the most recently used loco addresses and nothing to do with the number of locos you can have running. Digitrax claim that you can run up to 20 locos with the Zypher and the system can support 20 Throttles a lot in any language. John

They robbed the overhead cable off the Howth Branch before the DART was first energised in the 1980s. Though scrap thieves are not the brightest sparks if you know what you are doing its simple enough to isolate a section of overhead line. Scrap lead and copper from redundant water pipes and cables used to be a useful source of beer money on building sites, you had to be careful I remember one lad who dug up and tried to burn a live cable with shocking results. John

Wow!

The companies that specialise in manufacturing controls systems DCC or Analogue tend to produce better control systems than those that produce model trains like Hornby & Bachmann. Because its a pretty expensive purchase most people tend to buy into and stick with one system, but you can mix match decoders. Lenz, NCE & Digitrax are probably the most popular and widely available. As far as I know the Gaugemaster Prodigy Advanced DCC system is produced by MRC an American Company. Its a proven product that has good reviews in the Model Railroader. The most important thing is chosing a system thats capable of expansion and compatible with other DCC products, I have used Digitrax for over 10 years with a mixture of other companies, decoders and accessories. John

Is there a version with subtitles could only understand two words. John

Its a pretty widespread problem apart from copper our local line has been targeted for cast iron and steel including steam locomotive tyres, rail and fixings. A ban on the cash sale of scrap metal combined with joit clamp down by Revenue and Police on scrap merchants would largely eliminate the problem. John

Interesting piece on assembling these kits in RM Web which basically recommends buying the old Airfix version of the kits on E-bay, supposed to be cheaper too! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56338-dapol-wagon-kits-made-from-re-cycled-plastic/ John