Mayner

Self drive rail http://railcruising.com/

Not quite modelling or Continental in its strictest sence recent steam hauled excursion on the Midland Line

There seems three main considerations if you are planning to commercially produce the a rtr model 1. whether the market is big enough and you have the resources to comission a mass produced model like Paddy Murphy, Heljan etc, 2. whether there is enough demand to batch build rtr models in brass or resin like DK or Silver Fox, 3 produce kits of models you personally like to cross subsidise your own personal hobby. Its hard to know whether a DART would fit into category 1 maybe category 2 or 3. Rapid prototyping is often seen as the solution to all problems as apart from the designers time there is little set up or tooling cost. I have seriously looked at batch production kits resin castings using RP technology as opposed to 3D printing and it worked out considerably more expensive than conventional techniques. No doubt RP will become more economic for small runs but that day is some time off.

I have a Worsley Works G Class with an early version of the ESU Loco Pilot decoder which basically sits on top of the power bogie within the hood. I would strongly recommend a Black-Beetle with 27:1 gear ratio in prefrence to a Tenshodo Spud for a small shunting loco.

The article indicates that next years performance will "be constrained" by a Chinese supplier aka Kadar cutting back on production. To a certain degree with Bachmann established as UK leading brand the writing was on the wall for Hornby once Kadar took over the company that supplied Hornby, Proto 2000 and other brands. Kadar's position in the US is weaker they would probably have to take over Atlas or Athearn to get decent market share, as Bachmann's American models haven't exacty got a great reputation (diecast steam locos excepted)

J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no one told us with our poor parched throats:(

Jack Kennedy good to hear he is still with us! I first met Jack in the Southern Model Railways Shop in the Grafton Arcade, I won't say how many moons ago Very encouraging brilliant stories about the railway he even gave me a a load of photos free gratis, a true Gentleman

The 11.1mm spacers are intended for OO. Originally the S & J15 were supplied by TMD Models with 11.1 and 15mm square section brass spacers bored out to accept a through bolt, the screw in spacers are a more recent development. I tend to follow your example and produce my own rather than use the brass spacers provided.

I vagulely remember seeing TPOs with pick up apparatus and nets at Connolly, I think it was phased out in the late 60s/70s as most of the smaller stations on the Cork Line like Sallins where the odd mail bag was dropped off or picked up closed.

Originally TMD or was it SSM supplied the kits with 15mm brass spacers for 21mm use. If you can live with the compromise I can supply a set of 15mm etched n/s fold up spacers.

Chinese manufacturing is being seriously hit by the European recession, Kader (Bachmann) lost serious money in 2011http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=70564 so potentially less R&D for new models and fewer low volume comissions. While commodities like food are doing well coal and metal prices have collapsed leading to mine shut downs here and in Australia not good. Maybe its time to dig out the cardboard and low cost modelling materials and bring skill back into modelling again

It would make a splendid model with the railway soaring across the town just about dooable in OO Johnnie Walker of the Wexford Club and more recently Brian McCann built a couple of inspirational layouts featuring railway and village scenes from the South East. It looks like the station layout was more extensive in Boat Train days with the passing loop extending out onto the viaduct at the Western end of the station and a cattle bank serving the Fair Green. http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,639405,606320,7,9. If you had room for it a double deck twice around the room layout following operating American practice arranging crossings and shunting at several stations and yards would be interesting. Perhaps Carrolls Cross with its quarry, Kilmacthomas with the viaduct and village scene Durrow with its tunnel and Ballyvoyle Viaduct, with a double ended fiddle yard representing the rest of the system would keep a man busy for many years.

Interesting stuff those Mail Trains almost remind me of Amtrack in the same period passenger trains trailing a string of freight trucks. Most of the TPOs were new builds in the late 1950s with a handfull of ex-GSR Bredin Suburban coaches re-built in the late 1960s like the one in dave Rolands Photo. There was an explosion of parcel traffic in the early 70s and CIE re-built a lot of old stock as parcel brakes which also ran with the mails. All long gone now John

Stall type point motors like the Tortoise are the simplest, instant detection when you wire a LED into the circuit between swich and motor.

Estimated shipping to Ireland around $150 which appears a bit on the low side, add Customs Clearance and VAT if its shipped by Fed-EX.

Most of these printers are probably manufactured in China, TurbCAD also market printers with compatible software priced from $1200-$11000 US. If you are tempted to have a go first try producing a simple model model using one of the free-3d design packages like Google Sketchup or Autodesk 123D http://sitesupport.123dapp.com/home and having the design printed by a bureau like Shapeways or I Materialise. Shapeways can be a pain to deal with but their frosted detail material is suitable for our use and capable off producing small detail parts and I Materialise have a good reputation, local companies that offer a rapid prototyping service to industry may also be able to help.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2735[/ATTACH The 3-d Cad the easy bit, the headwrecking stuff is converting the 3-d drawing to a format the printer can use. Personally I think its probably easier and a lot cheaper to either scratchbuild or prepare a 2 d design for etching or laser cutting than mess around with 3-d printing in its current state.

Jeremy Suter produced some whitemetal wagon kits about 10 years ago including a standard 10T van, GN & NCC container wagons with bread containers, MGWR loco coal and a UTA parcel van all designed for 21mm, it might be worth enquiring if he would be prepared to do a re-run?

I think the low level of capital expenditure was more to do with insufficient net income to fund renewals and pay a dividend to ordinary shareholders than anything to do with tax avoidance. Rather than new locos and passenger stock the GSR appears to have concentrated capital investment which paid off in modern terms of cost savings and operational efficiency, like the Midland Line singling, Kingsbridge, Harcourt Street and Amiens Street-Dun Laoire power signalling schemes and the new Inchacore Erecting Shop. To a certain degree the GSR in the 1930s was ahead of the UK in superheating older superheated loco could be charged to current expenditure and use up to 20% less coal to do similar work to a saturated engine. The draub GSR livery and image was probably a hangover from GSWR obsession with economy, committees were formed to hunt and melt down brass number and name plates and carry out work study of Inchacore piecework rates. While at the same time the road transport side of the business built really modern Art-Deco tourist coaches and streamlined horse-boxes

My first thoughts was why did The Cavan & Leitrim want with Exactocsale. It looks like Peter Llewellyn is planning to replace worn out C&L toolings with Exactoscale http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/ind...e_fromsearch_1 .

First class really neat. Did you use plastic sections or metal?

This week was mainly spent preparing and lining the walls on two sides. While there was little sign of rot or insect attack I got a nasty shock when one side of a stud broke away while I was nailing in bridging or nogs to support the bottom edge of the plaster board. Treated the area around the affected stud for borer (similar to woodworm) but otherwise very little sign of attack. My basic reasoning is that if the garage has survived for 80 years it will probably last longer than a modern building with a design life of 15-20 years. Ready for lining the timber is probably rimu a very slow growing hardwood that was once widly used for just about everything, very durable unless subject to constant damp. The garage probably dates from the 1920 no bridging, I installed nogs to support the edges of the sheets. Sunday Afternoon GIB fixed and joints taped two sides. Fixing the boards horizontally is a good time and timber saver for lining older buildings with framing at imperial centres and cuts down on the amount of taping and jointing. The square opening in the far end is for the connecting track from the garden railway, the Irish Layout will be based out immediately above basically along the horizontal joint in the plasterboard. I am looking at a metal stud shelving system with adjustable shelf brackets. [attachment=:name] Next weeks challenge to clear this and get ready for wall lining. Its mainly a mixture of baseboard framing, G Scale track, fixings and goods knows what. John

I dont know if there is any connection, but a minimum space 7mm Irish Broad Gauge layout Port Lairge Wharf appeared in 80s and is still on the Scottish Exhibition circuit http://home.btconnect.com/Enhance-Ecosse/llcase.html. This is part of Richard Chown's Castle Rackrent empire based on 19th Century WLWR practice the fiddle yard is called Port Lairge Market! The running lines along the waterfront is a fairly recent deveopment, in the 1970s main line was diverted to run along the riverside to provide space for the present day gantry road and freight loops. Originally there were sidings in the area between the main line and the river, complete with a rail served wharf used for importing coal, Port Lairge Wharf?

Some ????????????? do this sort of thing on purpose http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=cLEm-SQb6co&NR=1

Yes its built from an Anbrico kit originally built in OO9 more or less in accordance with the instructions with a Fleischmann Picollo 0-4-0 steam loco power bogie rather than the Anbrico whitemetal version. I rebuilt the car as an articulated unit about 20 years ago with a re-gauged Fleischmann diesel shunter chassis as a companion for a Backwoods Railcar 14. I had a nasty surprise during the latest re-build the whitemetal castings appear to have become brittle and easily damaged.