Mayner

Princess is in Dublin as a FR marketing exercise, she has already been on tour in the UK and was on display a Paddington Station and possibly the NRM.

I caught the sound bug about 10 years ago first with a Shay and later with a pair of rod engines and a Baldwin diesel Switcher for an interchange with a logging line/coal mine, the main advantage was that using sound on a switching layout forced me to slow down operation to a prototypical pace. The layout never got beyond a test track above the work bench and I sold the sound equipped locos when I started building a garden railway. Apart from designing and building models I am mainly interested in pick up goods or way freight operation, I found sound unnecessary in the garden as it takes nearly as long to shunt as the real thing especially having to walk several metres to change a switch or uncouple a car

to paraphrase the Pistols is DCC a rip off. I went down much the same road as Warbonnet with sound equipped locos (steam and diesel) before coming to the conclusion F8 (sound off) was the most useful button. The tipping point for me was having to leave a club room due to the high pitched drone of a consist of a friends SD70s bouncing off the walls of the layout room giving me a headache. I think Alan O'Rourke putting the whole DCC thing in context in the most recent edition of New Irish Lines where modellers seem to be becoming more obsessed about being able to turn a loco's cab lights on and off (something thats rarely done in practice) and forgetting the principal purpose of a loco is to haul trains. Cost is another factor like lost things to do with electronics, DCC chips are said to be good for about 10 years, why pay more than twice the price of a chip and sound system for a loco. I have two control systems one DC powered off a 30 year old H&M Safety Minor and one DCC where I have spent a fortune upgrading and adding additional trottles andd functions, yet I can still only run one train at a time.

Looks good those modern liveries are tricky.

There are a few pre-assembled vans awaiting replacement roofs and buffers, which should be available from September. Specially for Richie I will need to leave it outside dunked in diesel over the Southern Winter to weather. Standard black and tan era hot water bottle. never mind the length feel the width

I thought I had better do an update thanks to prompting by Mr Bracken on RM Web. The delay has mainly been due to having to replace all the 3D printed parts mainly with brass and obtaining a great big rolling mill from the UK to roll boilers and pre-form coach roofs and sides. The mill finally arrived thanks to a machinery broker from Clare and the workshop is beginning to look like the inside of a sheetmetal works. Thanks Des! I am planning to do a final test build of the vans with the new metal roofs in July finalise buffers and axleguards and release both versions of the tin vans before Christmas. Heating van with revised brass roof Meanwhile a patternmaker has been busy beavering away in the UK and castings for the MGWR van are currently on order and should be available for those of a historic bent in September. Luggage Van (plastic roof to be replaced with brass) Once the castings and roofs are sorted out I will be able to confirm price for a kit or assembled version. The 650 Class 2-4-0 is making good progress I hope to do a test build in August and will post photos to give an idea of the various options and whats involved in building.

There is an Irish connection with the Festiniog in the 1830s original railway was promoted and financed by Dublin business interests and was very profitable with a monopoly on the slate traffic out of Bleanau until LNWR and GWR built lines into the area, Princess is pretty much in the same condition as when she last ran in the 1940s some bits may date back to 1860, the England locos were fairly standardised and parts swapped around within the class. The Festiniog is basically a small gauge main line railway and locos are basically worked flat out the England locos may be small but have a nicee exhaust [video=youtube;FYQlez-SVmU]

During the past few weeks I have mainly been catching up on a backlog of other projects mainly loco work in various scales before starting work on the layout as such. Keeping to a Midland or GSWR secondary line theme a dozen yards of Code 70 fb rail, wooden sleepers and spikes arrived, followed by a session of pretend cresoting using Carr's sleeper stain before reaslising an acrylic wood stain would be more effective and economic. The sleepers are 1.8mm stripwood rather than ply which should give an interesting full depth sleeper effect, I am planning to follow American practice and spike down the fb rails rather than solder and printed circuit board, bullhead will be on Carrs chairs of course. I also framed the baseboard on the opposite side of the workshop which gives me a u shaped area approximately 17'X11' for the railway. The shed is a converted garage with a roller shutter door at one end which I hope to replace with a wall and doorway when fund allow hopefully at some stage next year. I have actually managed to do some work on the layout building a traverser for a fiddle yard at one end using plywood and drawer sliders from the local DIY shop. I am starting to re-use track from a 21mm gauge layout I started a couple of years ago for the traverser and hidden trackage with the fancy stuff on the visible sections. I am looking at two single lines one in bullhead the other in fb running from the traverser into a station to give the impression of a junction between two separate companies as an excuse to mix GNR and CIE locos and stock.

Although I have vague early childhood memories of a big blue steam loco with smoke deflectors 207? and dark green railcars on seaside trips in our Fiat Topilino to Gormanstown my first longish rail journey was on a day trip to Butlins in an AEC railcar as a teenager in the early 70s. We took our usual position immediately behind the driver, I am not sure if the Drogheda and Dundalk trains started from the Main Line or Loop Line platforms, CIE had only recently introduced large scale through running between Bray & Howth following alterations at East Road, previously there was only a single line North facing connection from the Loop Line to the Down Belfast line immediately past the end of the platforms. Crossing Spencer Dock the sidings on the South side of the dock were still in place but out of use, this siding once lead to coal yards and cattle docks in the Mayor Street area now occupied by banks and the Dockland College. The Midland yard was still a traditional goods yard chock full of wagons, at East Wall Junction the line from the North Wall trailed in on the Up side, GNR signals were perculiar with short arms and some posts were telegraph poles. The area past the Roadstone ready-mix plant at East Wall Road was still tidal slobland, no sign of landfill or industrial development. Access to the plant was interesting with a Bailey bridge across the Tolka. Clontarf Railcar depot was unchanged since GNR days with 3 roads through the shed and a loop alongside the main line, signals change from semaphore to 3? aspect colour light the first sign of modern infrastructure from Clontarf Road to Howth Junction. Some outer-suburban trains ran semi-fast I am not sure if we stopped at Killester or Harmonstown, Raheny was still pretty much a country station with housing development concentrated along the Howth Road. At the time Howth Junction was quite rural a couple of railway houses and Palm Trees on the platform between the main Line and Howth Branch. The journey settled down into a steady pattern, with a few people getting on or off at intermediate stations, most were still handling good traffic with wagons in the yards at Portmarnock, Rush and Lusk, Skerries, Balbriggan and even Gormanstown. The driver saluted the drivers of approaching trains and acknowledged station staff and track workers. In those days a ganger raising his right arm was a signal to the driver that he was aware of the train and everyone in the clear, no high vis jackets or radio communication. The rides at Butlins were brilliant for 14-15 year olds in the days before theme parks, there were a few anxious moments on the train back to Dublin in an ex GNR corridor coach behind a black and tan B141 we had never been on an express before and wernt sure if we werre going to end up in Belfast, Dublin or Cork or maybe wishfull thinking, we were brought back to reality when the train as checked for about 5 minutes at East Wall Junction nothing ever changes. Around the same time we explored the Howth branch which at the time did not have the attractions of Bray, Bayside was under construction Sutton and Howth full of GNR atmosphere. The Hill of Howth car shed still in existance and the yard still in use, Howth had a single platform with run round loop and a siding by the sea wall sleepers covered in sand. The stub of the Hill of Howth Tramway was in use as a private siding into Parsons steel work with a Bulleid open full of swarf and waste steel. A few years later possibly 1976 I went on an IRRS special behind a 001 Class to Kingscourt, Drogheda was really modellable in those days, natural tree lined backdrop between the station and Buckleys yard, North and South signal cabins, loco depot Buckleys siding, two goods yards and a reversing move to access the Navan Branch. There was no facing connection from the Down Belfast line to the branch, trains from the South had to set back past the South Signal Cabin over a trailing crossover onto the Up Main before moving forward onto the branch, presumably a single slip formed one leg of the crossover, the Oldcastle trains used to start either from the main line platforms or the present day bay platform. Another oddity was that the staff for the branch was raised and lowered in a basket from the very tall cabin, the yards were cramped and most shunting moves would have fouled the main lines, the middle road seem to be used to store wagons placed by the yard shunter or pilot loco awaiting pick up by main line trains. The contrast between the GNR line to Navan and MGWR to Kingscourt was striking, the GNR line had a more main line atmosphere with bullhead rail on chairs and impressive station buildings, Duleek and Beauparc had closed at that stage, though the wooden railcar halt at Lougher was still in existance. Business at Navan looked healthy with about 20 H vans and a pair of Guinness Keg flats in the yard. Navan had a 16t fixed gantry similar to Tralee, Dromad and other stations, presumably as a railhead for Kells, Oldcastle and possibly Cavan. The site of Navan Junction was all but obliterated but preparation work had started on the siding to Tara Mines. At the time the Kingscourt line was still laid with MGWR FB rail spiked directly to sleepers, ballast was not too plentiful, while the line from Clonsilla Junction to Navan was built to main line standards without a single public level crossing, the Kingscourt line is quite the opposite, stations were modest built from the local brick. All intermediate stations were closed and sidings lifted these stations followed a common platform with a single platform and goods loop serving a loading bank, Nobber and Kilmainham Wood had separate store road. Kingscourt was pretty much intact with the track layout pretty much as in Midland days with two sidings on the down side in the area now occupied by the Gypsum store. These were connected to the main line by a trailing crossover near the platform end, yard side of the crossover was pure Midland with a double slip similar to Edenderry. Gypsum was loaded by a turntable arrangement at the North end of the yard sited between the headshunt for the loco release and the one time caattle bank siding. Although the turntable was still in existance the loco shed ws demolished. Although hopper wagons were normally in use, gypsum for Platin appears to have been loaded out in Bulleid Opens the yard was full of empty and laden wagons. One oddity survived at Kingscourt an ex-GNR 6w ballast wagon which may have been used to carry sleepers. At one stage bricks from the local factory was an important source of traffic with a loading bank and crane by the running line rather than a separate siding.

Early 70s I was probably 14 possibly 15 listened to Radio Luxenburg & Thin Lizzy but hadn't yet progressed to the purple flares and afro hairstyle. During the school holidays a cousin who was an apprentice barman used to take me and his younger sister by train on day trips to the seaside, on his day off probably a Wendesday. Bray was the normal destination but we had one trip to Bultins. We lived in Crumlin and would normally catch the train at Tara Street a brisk walk from the Bus Terminus in Fleet Street or else a long walk to Amiens St for the train to Mosney. AEC railcars seemed to be the norm for off peak working in those years though my first trip by train was in a GSR or possibly GSWR non-corridor from Killiney to Tara St possibly behind a black C or A Class. My mother and her sisters took us on a summer weekday outing by bus to Dalkey and a walk towards Killiney wheer the train seemed the only means of getting home. The best thing about the railcars was the view ahead sitting in the row behind the driver, sometimes in 1st Class seating though these sets normally seem to terminate at Pearse possibly outer suburban workings from Drogheda. At the time there was a lot of interest the Amiens Street-Dun Laoire section was particulary interesting still with its GSR power signalling system, 1930s style signal cabins at Amiens St and the overtrack cabin south of Westland Row, manned crossing boxes between Landsdown Road and Merrion Gates, Mailvans at Westland Row, The Boston carriage sidings and Grand Canal Street Shed still a diesel depot responsible for supplying power for Galway and West of Ireland workings, light engine movements of 121 Class for turning between Westland Row and Amiens Street. Very little freight on this section a few cattle wagons at cattle bank at IMP Grand Canal Street, horse boxes and cattle wagons stored at the RDS sidings, mainly used for stabling and turning IRFU specials to Landsdown Road. Freight had all but ceased at Dun Laoire with the odd wagon to Irish Lights. Parcel traffic seemed busy often with a Sulzer and a parcel train in the original D&K station. In those days we would only see a mail train when meeting visitors off the Mail Boat or a Thursday evening buying freshly caught fish at Crofton Road bridge. The railcars were getting on a bit and as BR, CIE, NZR and UTA found out British Leyland had little or no interest in supplying spares to the railways. As the engines and transmissions became more work the railcars struggled with the long climb to the Vico Road tunnel, on one day we were treated to a sauna as the interior of the leading car filled with steam on the climb from Sandycove to Dalkey, once over the top the rest of the journey was uneventfull. Dalkey was in a way the first country station on the line, it acted as a terminus for some peak hour cross-city working, North Bound trains could depart from the down platform. Occasionally a couple of open wagons presumably with briquettes for the signal mans fire would be left in the goods yard, which later beacme a temporary home for the 3 Sugar Puff locos. Killiney though normally switched out was another station that was signalled for reversible working. The approach to Bray was interesting the course of the original coastal line between Ballybrack and Bray was visible in many places, the base of the signal cabin at the Junction of the Harcourt St line was in use as a platelayer hut and the trackbed was clear towards Shankill. The magnificent lattice signal gantries dominated the Northern approach to Bray the harbour and sea front briefly came into view before being obscurred by Victorian and Edwardian hotels and guest houses. Most trains crossover onto the up line and the main station platform, the layout was unchanged from GSR days the cattle bank siding at the North end was mainly used by the engineers, the carriage siding on the down side was once used for charging Drumm units leaving the station we would run down the alleyway buying ice creams and large bottles of lemonade as we planned our day. Usually a dip in the sea, followed by climbing Bray Head, then the ammusement arcades (mainly the dodgems) before going to the chipper and the train home to Dublin. If we had time or I was let I would check out the railways side of things, the goods yard was still in use with a couple of H vans outside the goods shed, probably sending out Solus light bulbs from the local factory, there always seems to have been a Solus van in the yard, a couple of open wagons of briquettes for the station and signal box fires. The loco shed was still roofed and in use as a loco depot though the 3 long carriage sidings on the up-side at the south end of the yard were out of use and partially lifted. These were later brought back into use as storage for new container wagons and and later DART units. In those days services south of Bray seems to have been very scarce, apart from the Rosslare trains, services were aimed mainly at commuters with a daily service from Wicklow to Dublin and return and a slightly more frequent service from Greystone. A couple of incidents stick in my mind from that period or slightly later (a) A heated discussion with a family member at Bray that there was no way CIE would paintthe side of a railway carriage black, it had to be dark blue. (b) A family grumbling about having to pay a return fare between Greystones and Connolly during the CIE "Great Train Robbery" half fare on "Main Line Trains" promotion. Did CIE think Greystones was "bog railway"? or words to that effect. For me the myth exploded a few years later, Bray was no longer a place spend a summer afternoon or the railway the most pleasent way of getting there. DART seemed to bring some of the pride in the job back, the journey around the head either in a railcar or a proper train one of the Worlds greatest short train journies, but nothing compared to sitting up behind the driver for the first time apart from taking control of the throttle and brake.

Nostalgia is a funny thing I have similar stories from about 20 years ago communting on Network South East and Scotrail and once even fell asleep and missed my stop after a few after work drinks with friends. While I have vague memories of trips in AEC railcars to Bray and Mosney, BR Class 158 Super Sprinters in Scotland and 321 EMUs bring back the fondest memories.

The LNER & Eastern Region had a great tradition of high speed, the region went for the Deltics in the early 60s as the only diesels that could match the streaks for power and speed. John

A trip to Hong Kong with a deposit of $20k up front for the initial CAD work and the deeds to your house as security . It will be interesting to see how Arran gets on with comissioning a container flat, business with China is based very much on being prepared to work face to face with the manufacturers and their agents. I think one of the main problems is that Far Eastern manufacture has raised unrealistic expectations about quality and price, locos seem to sell fairly well mainly because of demand from collectors who want every variation of each loco produced, for every wagon or coach sold. The availability of decent rtr locos has shifted the focus from scratch & kit building and modification to rtr models which has opened up opportunities for batch builders of RTR stock like D&M with their 2600 DMUs & Enterprise stock. 20 years ago I some one told me professional model makers were producing limited run rtr railcars or coaches I would tell them to see a shrink. The next few years should be interesting for rtr greater access to computer and 3d modelling and desk top manufacture and higher prices from the Far East could make local manufacture more economic.

Another fairly productive weekend in 3 different scales, I basically promised myself that I would concentrate on finishing projects I had already started, though I have built some baseboards . The J26 is starting to look like a loco, with just some details to complete before painting. The funnel & safety valve covers are temporary, the kit is supplied in its original condition the MGWR reboilered the locos before WW1 & GSR/CIE fited riveted smokeboxes and built up chimneys in the 1940s. The smokebox is my own and Des is sending a GNR "Ross Pop" safety valve cover & J15 chimney for my CIE version. The E Class was Terry McDermotts first Irish etched brass kit released 30 years ago, and although complete building the loco is more like assembling a scratch-built loco (without having to cut out the parts) than the later TMD & SSM kits. The main change from the instructions is I built the loco with a removabe roof, so I can model the cab interior, this involves removing the tabs from above the cab sides and a brass strip arrangement to hold the roof in place. I built one of these locos in the 80s with a then state of the art Anchorage DS10 motor and Mike Sharman 40:1 gear box, the current loco has a Mashima motor and a Branchlines 52:1 multi-stage gear box which keeps the cab clear and provides greater low speed torque needed for freight and shunting work. The Midland introduced these locos for branch line working and shunting and they seem to have worked mainly on the shorter branch lines like Loughrea, Edenderry & Athboy until replaced by tender locos or the ending of passenger services. In GSR days 3 were transferred to the Tramore line, others ended up in Cork and Tralee. They seem to have been a fixture as station pilot in Galway, while one of the last working at Liffey Junction until replaced by a G Class. F Class injector. Pipe on the top right hand side is the live steam supply, the U shaped contraption is the pipe from the saddle tank, crooked pipe on the left feed to the boiler, vertical pipe overflow. Compared with an Irish loco detailing an NZR loco is fun and games, despite having a load of photos I ended up crawling over F185 in the dark to figure out the plumbing but thats another story. Most of the detail castings are in cast brass which is an absoute swine to drill, fortunately I got a drill press for Christmas, I basically drilled out the pilot hoes in the castings and used Loctite rather than solder to secure the pipework. The injector well injects water from the saddle tank into the boiler using live steam. Getting there. Plumbing more or less fitted, the loco body splits in 4 sub assemblies, with the saddle tank, smokebox and firebox as one unit, the cab and bunker are removable. On the large scale side body work modifications are nearly complete to the GE end cabbed diesel, I am thinking of a DRGW diesel scheme dark gray with tiger stripes on the ends, there has been a surprise spurt with the 2-8-0, I have narrowed the tender body by 1/2" and fitted the cab roof and the loco is now in proportion with the rest of my LGB & Bachmann stock. DRGW C21 Mudhen? This started life as a Bachmann Connie 2-8-0 a 1:20.3 scale model of a Mexican 2'6" gauge loco which is out of proportion both with 1:20.3 scale American 3' gauge stock and Bachmann & LGBs 1:22 scale narrow gauge stock. Apart from the new cab the loco has lost its outside Baker valve gear and the running boards have been narrowed and the head amp moved from the middle to the top of the smokebox. This will probably be battery remote control like the diesel as the Digitrax RC has proved un-reliable in the garden.

http://chestermodelrailwayclub.com/dingle.htm Should be worth visiting Blennerville between 30May & 1 June the last run with the original stock and John Campbells & Neil Ramseys live steam live steam models on display.

A 121 would be easy enough to produce either as a kit or a one piece body shell the real question is whether it would make commercial sence having to buy and modify a 141 with Paddy's loco at some stage in the future.

Ex-GNR BUT railcars also worked on the Wexford line as they were slightly more powerful than the AEC there is a picture of a set in mixed black & tan, green and blue & cream at Macmine Junction before the station and North Wexford line closed. I remember reading somewhere that in the mid-late 60s Wexford trains were often made up as 4 car sets of railcars and powered intermediates in order to keep time on the grades.

I saw Adavoyle Junction in its early stages at a model railway exhibition in Bristol about 25 years ago, the minute he saw I was interested Tony invited me in to have a play and explain how his locos were built.

I am trying to gauge the potential interest in a kit for the 20' steel floored flats use under the bagged cement, beet doubles and early container wagons. The pattern maker who is a professional UK model maker has basically completed the masters for the MGWR van and I am looking at the flats as a follow on. The kit will be suitable for 21mm & OO Gauge would combine a brass floor and 1 piece fold up underframe with whitemetal solebars, headstocks and buffers with etched brass brake gear and details. Going on past performance we are looking on at least a 12month lead time from planning to production. Spring, axlebox, siphon vent patterns MGWR Meat & Horse Box.

As GM171 saidThe Dapol Prestwin is probably the best starting place for OO. If you are looking at doing your own underframe Dart Castings/MJT produce a useful range of castings for springs, axleboxes and buffers, but nothing exactly suitable for CIE.

I suppose it boils down to balancing expectations and price. Leslie initially mentioned a 20' skeleton container flat, Bulleid Open and possibly a Cement bubble in the £20-30, in resin similar to Leslies other hand built wagons. Presumably hand finished vacuum resin castings from a scratchbuilt master. A number of people have suggested using a proprietary rtr chassis, the main draw back is that the Dapol or Bachmann chassis are too long and narrow and have running gear that does not look remotely like the standard CIE 20' chassis and they are absolutly no use for a skeletal flat. Provincial Wagons have already proven a correct chassis can be done with the GNR Cattle and Covered Goods Vans, there is little point in continuing to go down the same road using proprietary chassis as IFM & MISOR. The Dapol Prestwin is a tad short but would pass muster for a steel decked wagon or cement bubble, but would add considerably to the final cost. Although I have not seen the Provincial Wagons or MISOR Guinness container wagons in the flesh, the MISOR wagon appears to be a higher priced but better model with the Bachmann chassis set back behind a set of cosmetic solebars presumably cast as part of the wagon deck. As far as the quality of the product goes no one is buying blind the quality of the models is pretty evident from PM & IFM have websites/price lists all of which have photos of the wagons.

Rich has basically said what I was going to say if someone is going to the trouble of comissioning a rtr chassis the cost of tooling up and producing a chassis of the right width will not to affect the cost. A narrow OO width chassis will look crap too narrow for OO Gauge container or wagon body. The problem of fitting OO gauge wheelsets can be got round by using a longer axle or forming a boss on the back of the axle guard, like the old MIR wagons I think an injection moulded or die cast bogie flat on injection moulded bogies would be a better option for a rtr model than a 4 wheeler. The main problem with the 4 wheelers is an injection or resin model would be too light and a die cast chassis more expensive and complex to manufacture.

I dont think anyone has asked for 21mm gauge rtr models, but if someone is going to the trouble of designing or commissioning a wagon or coach its a small step to at least explore the option of specifying OO Gauge wheel sets on 28mm axles. As Rich hinted the main issue with the skeletal flats and oil tankers is that its impossible to design a chassis that looks remotely right unless the solebars and axleguards are in the correct position. MIR managed to produce whitemetal wagon kits that were easy to re-gauge 30 years ago, so there should be little problem in designing a model with the solebars, axleboxes and brake shoes in the right position, the set up costs for OO wheelsets with slightly longer axles should be minimal on a run of 1000 wagons. Personally modelling Irish Broad Gauge using HO or EM gauge track creates more problems than it solves, as apart from having to scratchbuild everything the track is now a different scale to the models. For "modern image" its probably best to stick with 4mm its basically a matter of swapping out the wheelsets with MM diesels and replacing coach and wagon bogies, for steam outline the Tyrconnel & North Star kits are probably the way to go, its an easier scale to work in and Slaters supply suitable wheel sets and axles.

The CIE 20T van was based on an older GSWR design, CIE tended to scrap anything not built in Inchacore and most DSER, MGWR & West Cork Vans had gone by the 1960s. Some of the older vans were quite Wild West with raised cupolas and drovers compartments. I will post up some sketches when I get a chance

David We seem to have managed to turn Arigna into a major industrial centre with coal & iron traffic flowing over the SLNCR and narrow gauge connections to Sligo port and eastwards to the GNR at Belturbet!