Leslie

Nice to see Slieve Donard your GNR passenger and good stock including GNR bulk cement wagons.

Just might give me the impetus to complete my models of 174 Carrantouhill and Q Class 132 though both on the heavy side for the Burma Road perhaps a GNR/MGWR joint line from Kells to Cavan and possibly onwards to Enniskillen, Ballyshannon & Donegal Town

On 3/1/2022 at 10:01 AM, seagoebox said:

I came across these while trawling through my files.... Limerick 9.6.1988

The two tank wagons appear to be different variants of the ESSO tank wagons.

The wagon on the left is a re-gauged ESSO UK Class A Tank wagon similar to the Heljan model https://fromemodelcentre.com/heljan-oo-gauge-4-wheel-a-tank-4089-in-esso-grey-with-esso-logo.html, the wagon on the right appears to have the shorter Class B barrel https://www.hattons.co.uk/203072/heljan_1102_4_wheel_b_tank_3328_in_esso_black_with_esso_petroleum_lettering/stockdetail but set up to handle Class A Traffic.

The end chevron s were replaced with self adhesive marker strip used on trucks and trailers at some stage during the 1990s most likely to improve visibility to road users on the Alexandra Road Tramway. The tank wagons were shunted on the Tramway using Port and Docks Board Tractors (Big purpose built 4w drive). The laden ESSO oil trains were made up ready for collection by an IE loco late just inside the Port Gates on Alexandra Road.

The majority of modern (post 2000) ready to run diesel or steam locos (Irish of British outline) should run reliably out of the box for testing your new layout, beware of second hand pre-2000 Bachmann, Mainline, GMR, Airfix or Lima locos as the mechanical design and material was often of poor quality and does not compare to current standards.

Hand built locos like the OO Works U and UG are likely to require some running in (on an oval) of track to allow the motor, gear train and bearings to 'bed in" and achieve reliable running, the mass produced rtr Chinese models with plastic gearing and built in slop tend to be more forgiving and run reasonably well out of the box.

An 0-6-0 like the UG should be reliable, 4-4-0s like the OO Works U are more challenging to balance and achieve reliable operation.

I assemble 2-4-0s and 4-4-0s with power pick up on the loco and the drawbar arranged to transfer weight from the tender to the loco, this improves reliability and haulage.

New irish Lines Article ballasting MGWR 2-4-0.pdf

Good progress with my first 2022 modelling project re-modelling the loco depot on the garden railway.

I decided to use timber decking for the entire loco yard area rather than my usual combination of weedmat on welded mesh and decking for the track support.

The track is a combination of new material with aluminum rail and salvaged material from the old yard. Aluminum rail is cheaper than brass and challenges with power pickup irrelevant as I no longer use track power. I used damp proof course as packing at the turntable end.

The K27 "Mudhen" 2-8-2 are too long to fit completely inside the shed useful for accessing the on-off switch at the rear of the tenders

The short spur road is useful for parking the "Motors" but may extend at a later date to connect with the yard,

I ballasted the yard tracks with quarry screenings locally known as Gap 8 Metal (max. 8mm screen or sieve).

The material is drying out the darker areas more recently placed.

The material tends to 'set" at once compacted once there is a certain moisture level.

I usually seal or glue ballast with concrete bonding agent (Pva) which works effectively for 1-2 years before starting to break down, so the loco yard is pretty much intended as a trial on how the metal performs as loose ballast without a bonding agent.

The water tower is a mock up it usually lives beside the main line in the Depot area, I am planning a vertical coal tower to the right of the water tower and some sheds to detail the area.

The depot at capacity with 2 K27s for main line freight diagrams and RM4 for the Mail & Passenger

Some early survey/location work on the Utah Extension to use up my stock of timber and track.

The timber is Rimu a native hardwood salvaged about 10 years ago from a pergola, so little chance of warping and twisting compared to the treated pine roadbed used on the rest of the railway.

The Utah Extension is extended to serve a coal mine like the Denver South Park and Pacific Ohio Creek extension which petered out a some coal mines failing to make it to the State Line with Utah let alone the Pacific Ocean. 

The Extension will be worked by a small 2-8-0 based at Jackson City while the K27s work the freights to an from the RGS and DRGW connection, these days 1 train out and back daily during an operating session unless traffic is extremely busy.

The loco looks really well very neat finish though it tends to remind me of Hudswell Clarke rather than Barclay

Did you 3D print or scratchbuild from plasticard?

 "Push Pull Control Car Layout"  The drawing appears to have been literally 'hot off the press"  as the revision was approved and CMEs Department released the drawing to me on 22/3/1989

I am not sure if the bogies are a LHB or a BREL design. 

BREL used similar bogies on contemporary MK3 based EMUs and Sprinter DMUs

The original drawing is to 1:75 scale and too large to scan on the home printer.

Title caption of CIE diagram of "Intermediate Car for proposed Railcars Set date 17/10/1986 which gives an indication of the time-line of the project.

Like the IC125 trains the IE Push Pull sets are a good example of what can be achieved by experienced railway engineers and managers using limited resources when a hi-tech solution is not achievable or affordable.

The MK3 Push Pull sets resulted in a big improvement in passenger accommodation replacing the Park Royals on Pearse-Drogheda suburban services while allowing IE to work within its capital budget.

The introduction of the MK2AC and International Train allowed IE to strengthen its passenger fleet when capital to buy or build new Intercity rolling stock was unavailable.

The MK2AC stock was acquired in a swap with Vic Berry for B201 Class locomotives, the International Train is likely to have been acquired from BREL at a substantially lower price than building a similar train.

The big drawback is that an organisation that has been forced to make do and mend for generations tends to loose control when the purse strings are opened.

2 hours ago, Vlak said:

Anyone have any information on the Burmah Oil oil flows, where did they run to / from and when did they cease?

 

Wagon Numbers 26723-26728 Texaco Siding Tivoli Cork to Limerick.

4 Wagons were introduced in Dark Blue for Class B (heavy oil) and 2 Wagons Class A Traffic in light grey and red. 

I haven't been able to find a photo of the Class A wagons on line, but there is a photo of a Class A wagon in an IRRS journal from 1972-3.

The arrangement of the Class A markings was unusual rather that a silver or dove grey barrel with a horizontal red stripe or red solebars, the upper section of the tank was painted grey and the lower section painted red.

Traffic started 1972 ceased by early 1990s when the wagons were re-purposed for Mollasses traffic from Foynes to different destinations.

The ESSO tank wagons were simply re-gauged ESSO UK tank wagons some of which initially ran with the ESSO logo.

ESSO tank wagon barrels was stored in a compound outside Inchacore  works for most of the 1970s, I don't know if these were retained as spares for the ESSO Teo wagons or whether the tanks were used in 2673-26740 CIEs final batch of tank wagons introduced in 1978 which appear to have used redundant 12' wb flat wagon chassis which were also used for the Bagged Cement and Beet Doubles.

21 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Here's an A Class in Co. Monaghan - Inniskeen to be precise.  Showing how filthy the silver livery became - I can just about make out the 'A' but can't make out the number......anyone?

https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304549

Nice contrast with the clean steam loco https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304611 working the Dundalk-Cavan-Monaghan goods during the same era.

An A Class was rostered to work the Dundalk-Carrickmacross goods between main line duties.

Dundalk-Cavan-Monaghan goods appears to have been rostered to steam to avoid tying up a diesel for most of the day and night, the goods was timetabled to depart Dundalk at 04:00 officially returning at 10:50pm.

Although one loco was used there must have been a crew change at Cavan or Clones to avoid the driver, fireman and guard going over their time on the road, possibly travelling on "the cushions" on the Cavan Mail Railcar or CIE Bus service. 

1 hour ago, Irishswissernie said:

When looking at the NLI Collections  I spotted this one uploaded on 23 December under the title Woo Hoo Choo Choo!. A superb view of Bantry taken by Fergus O'Connor with the prototype of the OOWorks 0-6-0st on show. The signal box roof appears to still being slated. Click on the image to enlarge, you can even read the wagon numbers. Copyright NLI.

 

Cracking photo, there is a an ex-works Pickering photo of 399 an open wagon with tarp rail and raised ends apparently intended for grain traffic  in Ernie Shepherds CBSCR book.

Looks like some alterations taking place to the yard.

Whitewashed coal stack on the left?

Some modelling projects large and small scale as part of the seasons festivities. Although we have been blessed with the weather we decided to take it easy and enjoy Christmas and the New Year at home.

I had been struggling with arthritis and hearing loss for several weeks, this week my symptoms suddenly eased and I have some energy at least for a while thanks to some new medication.

Re-building the Loco Yard Jackson City. 

The loco yard was over due for a re-build the two road Loco shed was too close to the freight yard lead and the shed roads too short to comfortably fit the K27 2-8-2 locos that work the road freights.

After lifting the track the 1st step is to install longer bearers or transoms to support the re-configured yard and shed.

The baseboard is basically open frame with 100X50 treated joists on timber piles supporting the bearers and wire mesh that supports the 100X25 trackbases and ground cover. 

All timber is CCA treated, though after 14 years there is some rot in the cut ends of the bearers.

The turntable is simply a piece of treated timber that pivots on a coach screw and galvanised washers, the pit is fibre glass resin built up in situ.

I decided on a concrete grain elevator for North Wharf based on the Kathryn Farmers Co-Op Elevator on the North Dakota prairie, though I got the shape of the storage bins wrong!

This was my longest most ambitious print at 18hrs and we ran into problems with the resin sticking to and pumpturing the PF film during the final stages of the print, fortunately I use a screen protector so there is no permanent damage to the printer.

Printing horizontally rather than at an angle produced a good representation of the 'lifts' from the concrete formwork at the expense of a PF film, the object is close to the maximum size that can be printed on the Anycubic Photon X printer.

The remaining section of the elevator is a similar size and shape with the addition of a Head House which towers above the elevator.

The elevator is similar in height to the Distillery Tower building at the opposite end of the layout to provide vertical balance.

I acquired some C&L Cattle and Open wagons in a partial swap for a loco kit, SSM produced custom decals to finish the rake, the wagons are still an unfinished project as I need to order Kadee HOn3 couplers when UPS resume shipping to this part of the World, add weight and possibly replace the wheels as the wagons are quite unstable, though the train makes a pretty picture.

90L & 95L fortunately I have a copy of P J Flannigan's Pan paperback book (one of my favourites) bought around 1970-72 which includes a reasonably comprehensive stock list!

1L, 8L built from Foxrock Models kits and 14L from my own resin casting on a Backwoods Miniatures chassis.

We paid a lot of attention to getting the Tare and load information correct, but forgot to specify a size for the panel on the Cattle Wagons

The wagons were spray painted in a satin/gloss grey before fitting the decals and finished with Gunze "Mr Super Clear Flat" aerosol https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Super-Clear-Flat-Spray/dp/B000W30PIW as Testors Dullocte is no longer available.

Some of the cheap large scale battery train sets available at the cheaper end of the market are ideal for younger children and surprisingly robust.

Similar sets battery sets were available in tinplate during the 1960s, my first set was a steam freight with the battery in the boiler, the second an American diesel streamliner, dismantled/wrecked both tinplate sets but my Lego train was a survivor.

My daughter and her friends enjoyed the battery set, but later commandeered my LGB & Bachmann Big Haulier locos and stock. They operated the railway transporting toys and fantasy characters to different destinations on the railway, they had absolutely no interested in watching trains run round and round.

Wooden trainsets with Chuggington and Thomas characters have great play value and seem to be mandatory in most American Railroad Museums and Heritage Lines, these days my daughter is not interested unless its got four legs lives in a stable and eats grass but has become a competent sculptor and model maker.

3 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I have thought of getting everything I own converted to kadees. Many don't have the "pockets", though. That's some 20 locos and maybe 50 items of rolling stock (so far). Some RTR, some kits made up. Some old, some modern.

What would be your advice on a project like that? I know the end result, if well done, would be a good one - but is it too much hassle?

 

The simplest option is direct fix a Kadee No 5 or No36 Long shank coupler to the model, no messing about with NEM pockets.

https://www.kadee.com/ho-scale-couplers-c-274_276_284/36-ho-scale-30series-plastic-couplers-with-gearboxes-long-2564-centerset-shank-p-270.htm

We used the No36 coupler as standard for scratch, kit and rtr rolling stock on the Loughrea layout.

Kadee No36 coupler direct fixed to a Dapol/Airfix  tank wagon assembled about 30 years ago!, the wagon once part of a rake of 10 has been through the wars loosing a buffer at one end and a coupler at the other end

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

Were the 201 engines of the 645 type?

The B201s had GM B-645 8 Cylinder engines 1100hp Gross the B121s were originally fitted with the GM 567CA 8 Cylinder engines. 950Hp Gross

10 hours ago, exciecoachbuilder said:

Mayner is 100% right with his answer. In the 70's / early 80's , there was no political appetite for spending money on the railways. In fact, i recall there was constant talk of closing railway lines and selling off big chunks of Inchicore works. We even had a coalition government transport minister, saying that had he  been in power, he would never have given the Dart project  the go ahead, incredible stuff imo. It took two rail disasters to bring the government to their senses.

I worked on the mk3 new carriage building ( NCB) project from 1984 to 1989, and I remember the talk at the time, being that there was going to be no more money 

to be spent on anymore carriage building projects on completion of the NCB project. Irish rail was to come up with a solution themselves and that the finance would have to come from the agreed budget in the existing contract. So they came up with their own push pull ideas. I have to be honest, I think that the Mk3 driving trailers are awful looking things, the carriage side light being used for the windscreen, just doesn't look right, and the cab is so big you could fit an elephant into the bloody thing, appalling. Ok guys, rant over......... Paul. 

 

 

 

Another factor in favor of the Push Pull sets was the lower capital cost compared with building railcars. The Push Pull sets were built to replace 141/181 Class locos and Park Royal Coaches on Dublin-Drogheda suburban trains, allocating (5-6?) 121s to push pull workings freed up the 141/181 for other freight and passenger duties and allowed the push pull fitted 121s to be used more intensively than on Intercity passenger or freight duties.

I don't know how many 121s were fitted for Push Pull operation possibly half of the class, the 'spare" Dublin 3 car Push Pull set sometimes operated as hauled stock on the Maynooth line behind a 141/181 loco.

The Push Pull fitted 121s were re-powered with engines and generators from B201s Class locos redundant following the DART electrification an excellent example of IEs make do and mend mentality during the late 80s early 90s.

The Heuston-Kildare Arrow suburban service was railcar operated from the onset because it was a completely new service supported by EU funding, Merrion Street cheese paring persisted with funding restrictions the new service running to an from Heuston rather than over the Loop Line to Connolly and Pearse Stations and 17 Mitsui railcars supplied to make up 8 sets and a maintenance spare.

The first big shift to railcar operation followed the introduction of the 2700/2750 series Sparrow railcars from Alstom in 1997-8. Apparently the Alstom 2700/2750 railcar were a lot cheaper that the Mitsui railcars, but went through a prolonged commissioning process and were all withdrawn proving less reliable in service than the 2600 & 2800 series Mitsui railcars.

14 hours ago, murphaph said:

Did the oil transfer train ever make regular trips to Inchicore Works? Were/are locos fuelled at Inchicore or more at Heuston?

The Oil transfers originally operated from the CIE Alexandra Road depot to Inchacore Works, re-fueling facilities were installed at Heuston during the post 2000 upgrade of the station.

Texaco/Caltex loose coupled Class A Tank wagons (silver drum red solebars) introduced in the early 60s were used on the train until replaced with CIE vacuum braked stores wagons during the late 70s

The Texaco wagons were similar to the Bachmann 14T Anchor mounted tank wagon https://www.bachmann.co.uk/product/14t-class-a-anchor-mounted-tank-wagon-'national-benzole'-silver/38-778.

The wagons were re-lettered as Texaco following a change of branding, but the original livery with the CALTEX lettering became visible as the paintwork faded in later years and interesting modelling challenge.

7 hours ago, railfan222 said:

Mayner

 

Your answer you gave still does not seem good to me. I have to ask the following:

1: Why couldn't have Irish Rail have simply build the control cars with traction equipment and then merged 4 of them into 2 sets of Mark 3 based railcars. Why would the Irish Government reject IE's desire to have commuter railcars.

2: Why would the Goverment reject  proposals for the MK2s to be push/pull trains?

 

Regards Kian. 

Hi Kian

My reply was given in good faith, without going into too much depth my reply is based on my recollection of events and published information (IRRS Journals, the railway press and IE drawings) of over 30 years ago.

If my reply is not good enough it may be possible to obtain Department of Transport, Cabinet Papers on rail investment and CIE Annual Reports for the period under the Freedom of Information Act or by an enquiry through the IRRS.

Murphaph's comment that it was about money is correct.

The decision to reject the railcar proposal was based on a Government policy decision to cease significant investment in the railways apart from a number of projects that were already in progress including the MK3 Intercity programme.

The Government had basically lost patience with CIEs increasing losses during the 1970s and decided to split the organisation into 3 operating companies with Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann expected to compete for traffic and operate within a capped operating subsidy.

In the big scheme of things it does not make sense for a Government  to fund operating improvements such as Push-Pull trains or new Commuter Railcars if there is no long term commitment to retaining the railways.

The Governments approach to the railways was framed by a McKinsey Consultant reports carried out in the late 60s that considered the options of retaining, running down or closing the railways.

The report recommended retaining the radial intercity routes and closing almost everything else as the cost in terms of state support was broadly similar for all three options, but did not envisage growth in intercity or commuter traffic.

The Government accepted and CIE began to implement the reports recommendations, but CIEs losses on both rail and road got seriously out of control because of the oil crisis, investment was curtailed and the system.

Because of the increasing losses and public discontent with service Mc Kinsey was commissioned in the late 70s to look at the organisation of CIE  and recommended splitting the organisation into three operating companies which were expected to compete with each other to achieve improved efficiency and quality of service.

The report does not appear to have made a specific recommendation on the future of the railways, but the Government decision not to fund further investment in the railways indicates to gradual run down and closure.

The Irish economy was in a very weak position in the 1980s with high emigration and railways and public transport would have been fairly low priority in a country struggling to fund a Health, Education and Welfare.

The rail investment policies of the 70s and 80s were only reversed from the mid-90s with the availability of EU funding for rolling stock and route modernisation, though IE was expected to fund route modernisation on some lines (Athlone-Westport) form its own resources (borrowing). 

The relationship between CIE/ Iarnrod Eireann and the Department of Transport seems to have been poor for a long time there was a resistance to providing an "an above the line" subsidy for operating loss making passenger services.

The Government only recently developing a contract model for public transport with the NTA and finally accepting the principal that the service sponsor rather than the operator is responsible for funding passenger rolling stock.

4 hours ago, railfan222 said:

Hi all,

 

Why was the application IE made for diesel railcars rejected and instead they had to adapt Mark 3 push/pull intermediates and DVTs?

 

Most rail operators had at this point had gone for DMUs and EMUs for suburban duties. Why could IE have not just simply made the control cars of the Mark 3 push/pulls into railcar driving cars and stick 2 or 4 intermediates into the driving cars. Then you would have a MK3 railcar.

The idea of MK3 push/pull meant that 121s had to be robbed from their main duties to operate in single formation with 6 push/pull coaches.

 

I do hope to get a good response from anyone in the know.

 

Regards Kian O'Leary.   

Quite simply because building new commuter trains would have conflicted with Government policy.

The IE late 1980s proposal to build diesel railcars was rejected because the Irish Government was not prepared to fund/underwrite further investment in the railways apart from completing the Dublin-Cork Line CWR/CTC upgrade and MK3 Intercity programme. 

At the time the Government did not not see a long term future for the railways, the independent consultants reports commissioned in the 70s and 80s were quite pessimistic and failed to forecast the increase in intercity and commuter traffic that actually occurred in the 70s and 80s!

CIEs proposals to build the Supertrains and MK3 Intercity  sets as Push-Pull trains with DVTs was similarily rejected, CIE even built a mock-up MK2D driving cab during the early 70s,  the MK3 intercity programme was approve because the Government was faced with a choice of replacing its older coaches or closing the railways following the Buttervant and Cherryville Junction de-railments. 

For several years (before Buttervant) the CIE Chairman warned the Government (in the Annual Report) that it could no longer safely operate the railways because of the poor crash worthiness of its coaching stock.

The original proposal was to build the diesel railcars using the existing MK3 jigs and toolings, with underfloor diesel engines and three phase traction motors.

The Push-Pull driving trailers were designed to be upgraded to power cars, the BREL drawings for the MK3 Intermediates are titled "Railcar Trailers".

The jigs and toolings were scrapped following the completion of the Push-Pull sets

Yesterday (Boxing Day in New Zealand) was a major breakthrough for North Wharf wiring up and commissioning the traverser and running the first train the entire 7'6" length of the layout!

I also managed to re-gauge E421 to OO but accidentally let the magic smoke out of the decoder though that's a story best left to another day.

With one section and all tracks live wiring was a lot simpler with DCC!. The umbilical from the traverser connects to a terminal block on the fiddle yard baseboard tray/

Literally 1st train to arrive in the Staging/Fiddle Yard

I found some suitable brass tube and a drill bit, to act as a sleeve for the removable locking pin that aligns the layout and traverser tracks, eliminating the risk of misalignment.

Had to commemorate the occasion on YouTube with a shaky iPhone video!

On 23/12/2021 at 11:57 PM, Westcorkrailway said:

Ordered one , I’ll be honest 103 Australian dollars frightened this shite out of me but the conversion rate was more lenient then I remember 

Prices are in $NZ which is usually exchanges at a lower rate that $Au or $USd. You can view the prices in Euro, GBP, USD if you let Shopify view your regional settings. 

As much as I would love to return to Ireland I am too attached to our 1920s bungalow on a quarter acre section, wife, daughter and Kiwi way of life let alone the cost of re-location to consider returning.

Prices for my models would have to be higher with Irish Vat, higher labour and production costs, I can just about afford to keep the enterprise going out of my back pocket at the moment. Shipping rates are broadly similar to between UK and IRL as postal rates are similar to the MacDonalds fast food exchange rate.

Hopefully at some stage I will begin producing  Kiwi and possibly Australian 3'6" kits & rtr locos and stock to broaden my customer base and improve the viability of the business.

Meri Kirihimete me te Hape Nū Ia! (Merry Christmas and a Happy New year

Although not quite seasonal (early spring) the driver of 941 made a snowman on the headstock of his loco while waiting to cross a southbound train at Rarimu on the mountainous central section of the North Island Main Trunk line (wellington-Auckland)

I moved most of the stock out of the fiddle yard in order to wire up the traverser and the resulting scene reminded me of Waterford North Wharf in the late 1970s when it was used to store redundant H Vans from a Dundalk-Kilkenny keg special probably one of the last loose-coupled goods workings South of Dundalk and over the North Wall-Waterford route.

018 and Van prepares to leave having shunted the redundant vans into position.

The next big job is to prepare some mock ups for the grain elevator and granary buildings at the end of the layout

E421 One of  Hans Tomalie's "Tank Engines" seems to be ideal for shunting and trip working to other yards.

The loco is a 3D Printed Shapeways body with additional detailing on a custom built "Bull-Ant" motor bogie assembled about 10 years ago.

Re-gauging to OO should be interesting because on one side the wheels are a press fit on the axles, I wonder if there is a 400hp Maybach sound file with an Irish diesel air horn?

I am only showing the cab end as one of the buffers is missing from the nose.

Hans Tomalie appears to have been diesel engineer a German national who 'jumped ship' from a German Warship before the outbreak of WW11.

He appears to have been involved in the dieselisation programme, but his efforts were never officially acknowledged staff feeling he "got a raw deal" and eventually returned in unhappy circumstances to Germany.

I may re-name the layout North Wharf as it got a certain ring to it

I recovered the second batch of "Flying Snail" Brake Vans from our pad-printers today following the lifting of travel restrictions from Auckland. (The city has effectively been in lockdown since 12th August).

I expect the vans will be ready for shipping early February as Christmas & Summer Holidays coincide in this part of the World with most businesses closed until Mid January.

We are now offering DHL Express as an option for shipments to Ireland/Europe and can offer a DTP service for shipments >€150 upon enquiry as the DTP fees are slightly lower than paying Customs Clearance fees and disbursements upon arrival.

We had customs clearance problems with some recent NZ Post/An Post shipments which have since been delivered following intervention from NZ Post. So far An Post & NZ Post have both failed to provide an explanation for the problem except the usual stock answers or respond to specific questions in connection with the declaration, we have not had this problem with shipments to other EU Countries or the UK or United States.

I have no further information at this stage on the decals for the CIE Bulk Grain, IRCH Standard Open or Covered Wagons.

On 21/12/2021 at 3:08 AM, Irishswissernie said:

Some wagons arrived from John Mayner in New Zealand today; I wasn't expecting these until next year! 

There has been some progress on Four Masters station but havn't much energy at the moment and its a bit nippy in the loft.

Nice to see that your wagons arrived though I could have sworn they set out behind B125,seem to have dropped off a container of BMC parts somewhere along the way.

Some thoughts on Motive Power for Eastdock.

The layout is only really suitable for small diesel and steam locos as a B121 and 4 wagons just about fits on the traverser.

Small tender locos will just about fit, I have a OO gauge 52 Class and MGWR 2-4-0 but don't particularly want to build a OO gauge chassis for a J15.

A MGWR E Class /GSRJ26 is plausible and my original 1983 TMD Midland 0-6-0T 563 rebuilt 1993 is probably overdue for a mechanical overhaul, though a MGWR Heavy Shunting Tank Class P/GSR J11 or exGSWR 201/J11 would be more appropriate.

I have a full set of detail castings that would suit a P Class, it would be simple enough to produce the sheetmetal work and the chassis could be adapted for a MGWR 'Standard Goods" which is already on the to-do list.

For 'Modern Image" use A B121 and G617 would be ideal. The B arriving and departing with trip workings from a major yard or station the G carrying out the Yard Shunting.

I am thinking in terms of a High Level Quad Driver https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/product-page/quaddriver-4wd-23mm-wheelbase to provide the necessary combination of reliable low speed running and torque, I am not a fan of Tenshodo Spud motor bogies for this type of use. I will probably replace the chassis in my Impetus RH88DS a reasonably good slow speed runner but very noisy.

The Ruston is just about plausible as a Port & Docks Board shunter.

The High Level chassis looks ideal for a motorised steam crane, though I would draw the line at motorising the cranes slewing and hoist functions.

I have an E421 with a rtr 21mm gauge custom Bull Ant chassis which just about might be worth re-gauging to OO as it does not fit in with current 21mm gauge motive power needs.

The B121 performs nicely with a MM Sound decoder at the default setting with a nice delay between the engine revving up and the loco starting to move.

10 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Someone told me that the GSR's "Bri Cualann"* is a tragically incorrect translation, but CIE's "Bré" is even worse!

(* excuse missing fadas etc)

A bit like the native speakers in the Gaeltacht being unable to understand the Montrose RP Irish on the wireless or TV.

The classic one was the GSR "Drumbsambo" got both the Irish and English versions incorrect, its unlikely anyone from Kingsbridge asked a local to spell or explain the meaning of the name.

Its no different from a stranger trying to figure out a local or national pronunciation from reading a book or map.

It took me a long time to pronounce some Welsh, English and New Zealand place names.

A bit like the old joke about the English language that the capital was pronounced as London and spelt as Liverpool or vice versa.