Mayner

Interesting photo of 543 formerly MGWR C Class No10 "Faugh-a-Ballagh" at Wexford in 1954. The Class had a reputation of rough riding being considered top heavy and poorly sprung, its possible the bogie is out for attention to a bearing.

CIE converted an ex-GNR DUTC AEC Regal bus into a railbus during Howden's brief period as CIE General Manager before becoming UTA Chairman. CIE seems to have lost interest after Howdens departure, like the UTA no need for railbuses or branch line railways when it could operate its own bus and road freight services. Oddly Thurles-Clonmel was one of the few bus routes licensed to a private operator after the railway closed, CIE found the Thurles-Clonmel route unprofitable and licensed the service to a private operator. Don't know if anything is available with a similar roof profile destination board arrangement.

Haven't had time to do anything on the model railway front since the beginning of June, though I recently managed to dust North Wharf off for a short operating session using A23r as motive power rather than the usual B121 which revealed a problem with buffer locking with the larger loco and wagons running through Peco Small Radius points. The backstorey was that Northwharf remained open for goods traffic after regular services ceased in the early 70s, an Ar supplied to work a special of imported animal feedstuff" and shunt the yard after a ship was diverted to Northwharf as a result of a storm. Looking the part train made up and ready to depart behind A23r. A considerable amount of shunting was involved in making up the train as only 3 wagons at a time could be loaded at the "Mill" Buffer locking developing as A23r begins to propel a cut of wagons over the crossover between the main running line and loop (Kadee 19 Coupler) Buffers now locked with wagons propelled through crossover onto loop, de-railment likely if loco continues to propel wagons. Loco and wagons buffers and couplings in normal position. Loco was uncoupled from the wagons during the shunt and the wagon moved with a pinch bar. Lesson ban 6 axle diesels from North Wharf! The model Metrovicks tended to be a bit clumsy for shunting and more importantly took up more space on the traverser than the Bo Bos reducing the train length for 4-3 wagons. The main reason for using the small radius points was to fit the "Timesaver" track layout into the available space! Curiously Jack Kennedy spoke about the SLNCR 0-6-4Ts regularly bufferlocking when shunting the yards, giving the photographers plenty of time to compose/set up their photos!

Great to hear that John Walker is still producing fine work after all those years, first came across John's work with his Ballinagee Layout over 40 years ago, the the time there was virtually no commercial support for Irish modelling, buildings, structurers, locos and stock were mainly scratchbuilt or heavily modified rtr. The main exceptions would have been the Woolwich (Wills whitemetal kit) and re-painted Palitoy LMS corridor coaches, the steam locos which included ex-DSER 0-6-0 442 and ex-WLWR 2-4-0 290 (Enniscorthy Pilot Loco) were built in plasticard with Arfix tender drive and scratchbuilt non-powered loco chassis

The pavilion on the slightly foamboard has a nice windswept East Coast atmosphere of where the Central Plain meets the Irish Sea in Meath and Louth with the station 'in the middle of "no where" between the village and the sea/quay with the plain falling off steeply to the sea. I'd think a less is more approach might be the most effective with just railway buildings, big sky backscene possibly church spire and roofs of buildings in village in background, there is not a lot to be seen along the coast from Rush to Drogheda and Gormonstown Station was a pretty good study in rural seaside isolation. Yaal have to work on the Louth dialect for the railway people and locals, spent a day working with railway people from the area thought they were speaking a foreign language maybe French.

One of the more interesting provisions of the Great Northern takeover agreement was that the Republic could subsidise loss making rail services in Northern Ireland if Stormont declined and vice versa. Merrion Street was equally inward looking declining to subsidise the "Border Lines' in Northern Ireland when it had the opportunity, which would have been a major good will gesture towards Northern Ireland and support for the Border Region (on both sides of the border) at relatively little cost. Ironically the Northern Ireland minister of transport who presided over the 1950s closures was from the economically liberal wing of unionism which favoured improved community relations within Northern Ireland and improved relations with the Republic. The Northern Ireland Government was opposed to subsidising the railways as they believed correctly that the could not be made to operate at a profit, while UTA road services could be made to "pay its way" The UTA was not slow about opening up cross border bus and intercity coach routes or carrying cross border road freight traffic.

Saw Hattons and automatically assumed it was rtr, though I bought a few Gem locos kits from Hattons "back in the day" Actual no's of locos built of popularity of a particular loco often seems to have little to do with a manufacturers/commissioners choice of a particular model the Triang "Nellie" was apparently inspired by the LSWR C14 not exactly a large or well known class and the recent Hornby Hush-Hush a "one off" With the intense competition in the British model railway market whether Hornby Hobbies under its current owners focuses its energies away from model railways towards the high turnover toy end of the the market.

Similar to the LGB G Gauge American Forney loco, curiously the GSWR built at least on of its 0-4-4BT locos as a Fairlie (double bogie) but appears to have been withdrawn/re-built before the "Amalgamation"

The majority of our wagons are available in undecorated form on pre-order. I am currently unable to supply rtr decorated wagons or undertake loco/stock building commissions as a result of family commitments. https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/

It looks like Hattons a planning to introduce a OO Gauge rtr Caledonian 2-6-0 Went through a phase of assembling kits of 'modern" British outline steam locos about 20 odd years ago only for Hornby or Bachmann to release a rtr model 6-12 months later. Never thought anyone would introduce a model of a Scottish 2-6-0 https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory/vehicledetails?id=3144935

As they say a picture or a couple of pictures are worth a thousand words. DSER 2-6-0 originally planned as a large boilered 0-6-0, boiler diameter reduced and pony truck fitted. GSWR 2-6-0 358 originally built 1903 as an 0-6-0 re-built 1907 as a 2-6-0 later re-built with GSR cab and large belpair boiler. A rather Scottish looking locomotive? K3 357 originally built 1903 as an 0-6-0 rebuilt with Belpair boiler and GSR cab K4 359 built as a 2-6-0 1909 rebuilt with Belpair boiler and Inchacore cab 1935 Chief spotting difference between the K3 and K4 seems to have been the framing at the front end and cab roof profile

The cattle wagon looks relatively modern by the standards of the time a 14' Van similar in appearance to the GNR(I) vans built into the 1950s, a wooden top rail rather than a metal rail at door head level and solid planked sides appear to be the main spotting diffrences.

The Brake Vans two different designs on with/one without veranda appear similar in construction and outline to a MGWR design dating from the 187O. Martin Atock held the post of Waterford and Limerick Locomotive Superintendent for 11 years before moving to the Midland in 1872 and may have designed the Brake Vans in the photos. The 'Covered Wagon" beside the crane in the second photo appears to be a MGWR design, the other covered wagons appear to be GSWR with their distinctive end framing with a single post supporting the roof. I think most of the wagons on Richard Chown's Castle Rackrent layout were based on British Rolling Stock Manufacturers drawings from UK museum collections.

There is a July 39 photo of Kilmeadan looking West in "Lost Railways of Co Dublin and the South East. The striped post in the background is part of the system for exchanging the electric train staff at speed. The striped post is fitted with a hoop apparently for picking up the staff from trains arriving at speed, staffs appear to have been picked up from a mechanism mounted on a shorter post. It looks like the GSR operated "up and down" running through crossing loops on the "Boat Train Route" at this stage with both roads of equal importance, this was unlike the Dublin-Galway line and the NCC North of Ballymena where one road through single line crossing places was aligned for high speed non-stop running and designated the main line, the other road designated the loop. Its possible the small platform was provided for manually exchanging staffs on trains held in the loop with the loco stopped past the end of the platform, starting signal for Waterford West? likely to be on the Waterford side of the bridge. Current signals likely to be cosmetic to provide atmosphere, signal cabin, crossing loop and sidings likely to have been removed following the closure of the Waterford-Mallow Line, staff sections became ETS Waterford West-Kilmacthomas, one engine in steam/train on line Kilmacthomas-Ballinacourtney

There was a risk of derailment with facing point 'locking (lifting) bars" with mechanical points moving under these wagons because the distance between bogie centers was longer than existing stock/locking bars. https://85a.uk/templot/archive/topics/topic_721.php The wagons were originally restricted to run between Dublin and Mallow with containers transhipped by road between Mallow and Cork. Its likely IE fitted longer locking bars bars to points at existing interlockings to clear the route into Cork as pockets wagons operated through to North Esk (Cork) before IE ceased running container trains in July 2005.

I repaired a dry joint on a MM 141 circuit board and soldered wires to decoders (in the days before DCC ready locos) The main challenge is holding the circuit board and the iron steady at the same time! I usually secure or clamp the circuit board, decoder, or loco to the workbench so it cannot move and support my elbow on the workbench while soldering the joint. Basically use a small soldering iron (18W Antex) with fine tip and small dia.-multicore solder, I have a number of Antex irons bought for model railway use over the past 25 years 18w for wiring and track laying, 25w general work and a variable temperature iron for loco/kit building. The main advantage of Antex Irons is that the iron coated tips stay clean and corrosion is less of a problem than other brands, and good supply of replacement parts including elements.

The Bray and Enniskerry Light Railway was an interesting prospect, either as an independent light railway or a line worked by the DWWR/DSER, potential weekend excursion traffic and Mystery Trains to the Village and Powerscourt. https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-bray-and-enniskerry-railway/9781845885939/ Powers to construct the line were obtained, though sure if any construction took place but an interesting stone 'railway style" bridge in the valley below Enniskerry and a prospective terminal site in the village up to the 1980s when it became a housing estate.

Classic Irish business acumen disrupting the market by importing European and Asian following on from Zetor tractors in the 1940s, Pino Harris importing Hino trucks during the 70s and the McGowan brothers importing Trix and Liliput model trains direct from the manufacturer much to the consternation of the UK Trix and Liliput distributors.

The Aire Valley was pioneering in terms of 3' narrow gauge modelling, but very much in the freelance tradition as opposed to a model of a particular prototype. I did not realise the final version of the layout was based on the Madder Valley in its entirety until I visited Pendon while living in the Home Counties during the late 80s. Very much a generational thing as Colin R commented when serious modellers built quite creditable railway systems often with everything scratchbuilt apart from wheels gears and motors and brick/stone paper. The Madder Valley was probably the 1st scenic layout with scenery, building and structural modelling (and atmosphere) of equal importance to locos, stock and what was taking place inside the railway fence. Funnily enough I started building bodywork from drinks tins on Triang chassis as a teenager in the 1970s, before turning to more conventional scratch and kit building during the 80s

Some nice photos of both 64 and 70 seat Laminate Coaches showing the distinctive original laminate panel and cover slips in josefstad 1 Jan 2019 post about half way down Page 2 of ECMs excellent thread on building a Laminate coach with the assistance of Worsley Works scratchbuilders parts. As they say the history of CIE coachbuilding at Inchacore is complicated.

Derek Naylor a pioneering OOn3 modeller built a model based on an NCC 2-4-2T for his Aire Valley Railway during the 1960s. A series of articles on the Aire Valley and its locos was published in the Railway Modeller during the 1960s-early 70s. The Aire Valley was inspired by John Ahearn's Madder Valley a self contained light railway linking a port with a hinterland, scratchbuilding techniques were fairly typical of the era with a number of locos and railcars inspired by Irish practice including a T&D look alike 2-6-0T, a CVR "Unit" rail tractor and a pair of 4w railcars inspired by early CDR practice. Stock and motive power was international in nature including an American Forney 0-4-4T, a German South West Africa steam railmotor, a Hunslet Heisler geared loco and American Back-Woods railtrucks1 If anyone is interested in a complete set of Aire valley articles please send me a PM.

While the early CIE coaches and the Laminates are similar in overall length and general styling there are a lot of structural and detail differences between the two types. The end profile and paneling detail of the earlier coaches including the Buffet Cars is completely different to the Laminates. The earlier coaches were narrower with an almost upright profile above waist height, the Laminates were wider 10'3" with a tear drop end profile, not unlike the Craven coaches. Older stock including the Buffet Cars tended to stick out like a sore thumb in trains made up of Laminate or Craven coaches because of the different end profiles. The cover slips on the panel joints are quite noticeable on the older stock with vertical cover slips above the windows, the Laminates were built using composite Aluminium, insulation (asbestos?) and ply panels. Preserved CIE 1953 Side Corridor Second(Standard) Class Coaches GSRPS Tralee 1993. The majority of pre-Park Royal & Laminate stock was withdrawn in the early 80s following the commissioning of the DART and introduction of the 1st Batch of MK3 Coaches CIE Diagram 64 Seat Laminate, Tear drop end profile, Vertical cover slips between panels, small windows toilet panels. To add to the confusion CIE rebuilt some 64 seat Laminate coaches using traditional coach building techniques during the late 70s-early 80s with a different paneling/cover slip arrangement to the original laminate stock! When is a Laminate not a Laminate? Laminate 1463 Mullingar 1981-2 withdrawn following a minor shunting accident, the coach was repaired and entered service with the RPSI during the 1980s Rebuilt using traditional timber framed carriage building techniques paneling and cover slip detail different to the original Laminates. Worsley Works introduced kits for the 64 seat and main-line brake end versions of the Laminates during the early 2000s, I produced etched side overlays for the earlier CIE coaches "shrunk to fit" the Dapol 60' Stanier coaches, at the time it was not viable to produce a full kit for the older type of coaches due to the multitude of types and relatively low level of demand.

CIE dose not appear to have had a type "name" for the coaches introduced in the early 1950s. Officially coaches would have been referred to by their purpose and running nos. for example Buffet Car 2406- Early CIE stock was similar in design and construction to the pre-war Harty/Bredin coaches, basically aluminium paneling (Harty/Bredin steel) on timber framing on riveted/later welded steel framing on GSR style bogies. CIE introduced new types including 64 seat open coaches, buffet cars, and brake end coaches, the original CIE coaches introduced 1950 were 60" same length as Harty/Bredin, coaches CIE standardised on 61'6" as a body length from 1951 and coaches built from 1953 onwards including the Dunsandle coach ran on Bullied Triangulated underframe with Commonwealth bogies similar to the later Park Royal and Laminate stock.

I suppose there is an argument that you can never have too many J15s on an ex GSWR section layout. The Z boiler version with large tenders did not entirely replace J15 with the saturated 101 Class boiler and there would not have been enough large tenders from withdrawn 4-6-0 and 4-4-0 locos to entirely replace the small tenders. Some number crunching from GSR locos indicates that 20 of the 60 J15s that survived into the 60s retained 101 Class boilers, interestingly the majority of J15s withdrawn in the late 50s had Superheated Z Class boilers, possibly the re-built locos were heavier on maintenance/worked harder than the non-superheated locos. I will probably pass-go on the majority of rtr models due for release over the next 12 months, I have more than enough modelmaking projects to keep myself occupied for several years.

The oval plate and label clip details are reproduced nicely on the current (Chinese) prints of the open wagons. The SSM open wagon is a model of the wooden underframed version of the IRCH Open, both the GSWR/GSR and GNR appear to have built both types of these wagons possibly using timber when steel was in short supply, there is a photo in the Inchacore 150 book of wooden underframe wagons under construction for beet traffic during the 1930s. The wooden underframe wagons appear to have been a favourite for carrying old style BR containers, but the Bachmann Type A container is too big to fit in the SSM wagon