Mayner

Use of a marginally narrower gauge than 21mm. One of the arguments against using 21mm gauge with EM or RP25 profile wheels for modelling Irish steam outline locos is whether to compromise by widening/distorting the body to allow the wheels and running gear to fit or whether to reduce the gauge. The issue with wheel clearences with sheet metal bodies in P4 as the wheels are basically scaled down from the prototype as opposed to a compromise designed to allow reliable running in a limited space. The use of 20.2mm as opposed to the prototypical 21mm is not significantly different from the EM Gauge Society use of 18.2mm for Standard gauge compared to P4 18.83. The EM (Eighteen Millimeter) Gauge was initially developed to provide a more protypical gauge and wheel standards than OO and subsequently widened to 18.2mm. 18mm appears to have been selected as a results of the limitations of the techniques and components availabe at the time. While not my personal taste reducing the gauge below 21mm would potentially allow modellers to use steam outline locos with plastic injection moulded, die-cast or 3D printed bodies without major modification. Stephen once said that it was not practicable to produce an EM gauge rtr version of the Accurascale Manor s it was not practicable to achieve sufficient running clearance as a result of the characteristics of the meaterials used, similarly its necessary to modify the running board and splashers of Bachmann LMS 3F & 4F 0-6-0s and 0-4-4T for EM or S4 gauge. I have built several 21mm gauge steam outline locos from etched kits using Gibson OO/EM profile wheels, acheiving sufficient running clearance on locos such as an SSM J15 or GNR S was challenging, basically paper thin clearances between wheels splasher sides. There are similar issues converting the 1st generation of MM B141/181 Class to 21mm gauge the original RP25 profile wheels foul on the bogie sideframe. Two of my B141s are fitted with Ultrascale wheelsets, the third retains it original Bachmann wheelsets on new axles with ther rear of the bogie sideframes ground away to provide clearance. Components: One of the advantages of forming a society, group or becoming a trader is the ability to source componets in bulk potentially at a trade rate or discount. Wheels axles. For example Markits fitted an order (1000+) wagon & coach wheel sets on 28mm axles (suitable for 21mm gauge) into their production schedule when I placed an order several years ago. Similarly Markits were willing to produce a 21mm gauge axle suitable for their steam loco driving wheels based on a minimum production quantity of 1000. Markit wheels are extremely robust, relaatively simple to use and ideal for intensively used locos. I am not sure if the business is currently in operation as I understand that the owner was ill. Utrascale may be willing to reduce their 12 month lead time if a group or society were to place a bulk order for 'drop in wheelsets" for Irish GM diesels, or a bulk order for replacement diesel locos placed with an Irish or UK machnie shop. Track points. While Templot plug track may be suitable for finescale use, a simpler system based on a one piece 3D printed sleeper strip with integral rail fixing is likely to be more attractive for general use particularly those using re-gauged RTR quipment with their existing RP25 wheels pushed out to Irish "Broad Gauge" Injection moulded plastic flexible track bases may be worth considering a number of UK cottage industry suppliers including SMP(Marcway) C&L produced EM flexible track using plastic bases many years before Peco produced their EM gauge track system in colloboration with the EM Gauge Society. Similarly a society could comission Marcway to produce a bulk order of 21mm gauge points as opposed to producing 21mm gauge points to order.

If there is a level of support for 21mm modelling as Dave suggests the first step would be to form a group to promote the gauge, develop an agreed set of standards and commission companies to produce track, drop in wheelsets and other components. One of the biggest challenges facing a 4mm 5'3" group would be agreeing on a set of standards that would "meet the needs of the many" as Dave put it, in particular the questions of wheel profile, running clearances and minimum radius curve. Adapting a 5'3" Standard using or derived from one of the "finescale" Standards such as P4 or EMF would potentially involve the costly replacement of the NMRA RP25 wheelsets fitted to the majority or RTR Irish outline locos and stock, a high level of precision in baseboard and track construction and larger minimum radius curves than commonly used in OO. The majority of my (mainly steam outline) locos and stock run on EMF profile wheels set with a Back to Back dimension of 19.3mm together with a flangeway gap of 1mm through pointwork similarly derived from EM Standards. Brendan on this forum sets the existing wheelsets on re-gauged IRM to a Back to Back of 19mm, similarly David uses a Back to Back of 19mm on his 7mm 3' Gauge (21mm models) with a 1mm flangeway gap. The 19.3 B-B based on EM standards may reduce hunting (side to side wobble) and on plain track compared with a 19mm B-B and reduce the risk of a wheel set "dropping down" where the track is slightly wide to gauge. Personally a 4mm 5'3" track standard derived from the Double O Gauge Association "Intermediate" https://doubleogauge.com/standards/ or NMRA (United States) https://www.nmra.org/index-nmra-standards-and-recommended-practices possibly with the gauge reduced to 20.2 or even 19mm may be a better option to 'meet the needs of the many" than using a P4 or EM derived standard. The selecting a narrower gauge that 21mm in combination with an "Intermediate" standard would reduce the narrow gauge effect compared with OO, potentially allow smaller radius curves that feasible with EM or P4 and potentially allow scale width steam outline locos to be modelled with plastic injection molded or 3D printed bodies. Personally I have never seen the absence of ready to lay 21mm gauge track or pointwork an issue, scratch or kit building steam Irish outline locos was always a greater challenge. A lot of my influence came from American modelling where traditionally there was a preference for hand-laid track (spiked to wooden ties) even on Basement Empire style layouts. Using a bit of lateral thinking a group could sponsor/commission 5'3" 3D printed or plastic injection molded track bases and custom order 5'3" gauge pointwork through Marcway Models Sheffield https://marcway.net/point.php Ultrascale could be commissioned to produce "drop in" wheelsets for diesel outline locos, or potentially commission a machine shop to produce replacement stepped axles for the recent generation of RTR locos with revolving roller bearing caps. David on this Newsgroup commissioned Marcway to produce track and points for both his 7mm Broad and Narrow Gauge Layouts, while modellers in New Zealand have commissioned local manufacturers to produce brass rail and injection molded track bases in a number of scales. So it can be done if there is sufficient interest and a will, particularly with the availability of "21mm friendly" locos and stock from IRM & MM something that was unimaginable 20 years ago.

Tony invited in to the operating area behind the 2nd layout when he 1st exhibited it at the Bristol Show in 1978. I don't remember whether I asked a question or made a comment or simply recognised an Irish accent, but I was invited immediately in behind the layout something that never happened at another exhibition. I was living at the time in London but later moved to Shropshire (for a short while) not realising Tony was living nearby in Ludlow. The Adavoyle layouts appear to have been a colloborative rather than an individual effort first on Merseyside and later the Welsh Marches, I think at one stage he was involved with the Aberystwyth Club on the West Coast of Wales quite a distance away.

Currently in the care of the South Dublin Model Railway Club the current layout is the second iteration of the Adavoyle layout started by Tony Miles in 1963. Tony pioneered Irish finescale modelling in 4mm, he developed his own track and wheel standards from the prototype around the same time as and independently of the Model Railway Study Group who developed P4. The majority of locos and stock originally used on the layout were either scratch or kit built, tender locomotives were powered by a large motor in the tender powered on the split chassis/axle pick up system, with power transmitted to the loco driving wheels by a carden shaft driving a gear box on the loco extremely powerful, some locos also had working inside valve gear https://www.templot.com/GNRI/adavoyle.htm

One of the main differences between British and Irish outline modeling is the total absence of a group advocating for Irish fine-scale modelling. The Peco EM gauge track system is exclusively available to members of the EM Gauge society an organisation that was established by members of the Manchester Model Railway Club after the Second World War, other fine scale modelling groups working in 7, 4, 3 and 2mm scales developed their individual standards and partnered with specialist manufacturers to produce the necessary components including flexible track systems, point kits and individual track components, wheels, suspension systems etc etc. Interestingly the majority of Irish fine scale (Broad & Narrow gauge) layouts featured in New Irish Lines over the past 15-20 years were built by people who live outside of Ireland, mainly from England and a lone German. Their main motivation probably to produce something entirely different to the local modelling scene/prototype. I guess Irish 21mm Gauge modellers could always form a group to develop and agreed set of standards and then underwrite the production of a track system and 'drop in' 21mm gauge wheel sets for Accurascale & MM Irish outline locos and stock, something I can't really see happening.

Any photos of the current layout? Have Liners ceased running to the Common User Terminal and road transfers introduced between East Wall & the Port? Interestingly 'back in the day" the East Wall Yard being too short to accommodate a full length Liner Train (15-18 bogies) was the excuse given by IE for discontinuing the container trains operated for "Norfolkline" between Waterford Port & North Wall.

An evening in the Car Shops. Time to catch up on some freight car maintenance and repairs as large scale cars appear to be more easily damaged than small scale. Cars are uncoupled by lifting the coupler lift arm just like the prototype. On one Box Car the bracket that supports one end of the lift arm was broken and required repair/reinforcement. I basically carried out the repair uning 0.7mm brass wire as a split pin and gluing back the broken pivot. The brackets that support a roof hatch at the same end had broken off and were replaced with plasticard. The repairs touched up with my own 'red oxide' aerosol. Stock cars appear to get heavy wear in this case coupler pin disconnected from the linkage and paint worn off the lifting arm Pin re-connected and paint touch up completed. For some reason the handbrake wheels on the stock cars have not survived/don't appear to be as durable as those on other cars with approx 50% missing (broke off/lost in service,) I am planning to 3D print replacements once I get a chance to sort out the mess in the print workshop/tool shed. Another Stock Car ened up with a damaged foot step (brass thankfully), possibly a switching incident. 'straightened up" by the blacksmith and bolted to the underframe, (the bolts are spare fixing bolts for a coupler) and touched up with my custom black aerosol Another urgent job was to replace the lanterns in the Long Caboose a discontinued Bachmann Spectrum model with parts unavailable Luckily Accuracraft caboose lamps are a direct fit in the socket in the Bachmann body. I ordered and collected a stash of Accuracraft spare parts while I recently visited the States as its has become challenging to order parts from overseas. The caboose has a beautifully detailed interior, I need to replace the toylike Bachmann figures. I need to fabricate a new stive pipe for the Caboose the original broke off and is likely to be missing 'somewhere' along the 300' or so of track and no suitable replacement is currently available. The most troublesome car on the Road is a Bachmann Spectrum tank car that initally oscillated quite badly from side to side while running down grade I fitted plasticard rubbing strips at one end to reduce rocking, but the problem persisted. The car ran steadily on Accuacraft trucks and the cause was eventually traced to the different Bachmann wheel profile although they used the same back to back dimension. The problem was eliminated by reducing the Bachmann back to back dimension until the car ran steadily. Oddly enough the Bachmann K27 and Long Caboose run steadily although I have not checked the wheel profile or back to back. In the end I decided to replace the Bachmann trucks with Accuacraft although the narrow gauge Freight Truck is currently un -available settling for Caboose Trucks instead. The pivot arrangement on the Caboose Truck is quite different from the current Freight Truck using a turned bolt and a spring as opposed to a long self tapper and a washer. At this stage its a case of monitoring the Tank Car in service and replacing the mounting point of necessary. The most famous use of these tank cars were on the "Gramps" Oil Trains between the loading point at Chama New Mexico and the refinery at Alamosa Colorado. The oil company and tank cars were apparrently named Gramps as the owner was a grandfather. I also have a couple of Accuracraft Conco tank cars which are more traditional in design basically an oil tank on a wooden framed Flat Car. Some day I'll get around to painting the Bachmann car black and adding lettering and numerals. Next major job is to fabricate a replacement end balcony and ladder for one of my short cabooses and replace missing footsteps with some 3D printed replacements I printed about 2 years ago.

One point to note is that the Shopify "Shop Pay" checkout and payment system retains customers card and shipping details, this allows one-click checkout on Shopify on-line stores that offer "Shop Pay" I found this out accidentally when I pressed the 'buy it now" button while buying a book from a US Shopify site although I hadn't actually registered with the site. At the time I had used Shop Pay to pay for items from IRM. Interestingly the US site 1st thought I was in South Africa and quoted prices in Rand, not realising I was in New Zealand until I clicked on a particular item.

Are you opening a Toy/Model Shop for British and Irish expats to the Canaries? Last time I saw so many model trains and die cast was a Model Shop in Cologne Germany about 20 years ago. I never really got into the collecting lark apart from American N & Large Scale though largely given up.

It might be worth while checking out whether custom built Bull Ant motor bogies are available through http://motorbogies.com/ in the UK. Back in the day (2010 would you believe) I commissioned a rtr 21 mm gauge Bull Ant to motorise a Valve Design (Shapeways) E421 More recent Bull Aunts used a rubber band step down drive, should sound less like a tractor than my version. Mine is currently out of service after I bent one of the axles when I attempted to convert the loco to OO for a shunting layout, though re-building as an E401 with Paul's etched body seems mighty tempting

Though Ireland would have applied to become the 51st State or at least a US Overseas Territory by now avoid all this fuss with major US companies using Ireland and a tax haven and off-shoring "American jobs" to Ireland. Afterall Mary Harney once said the Irish people felt closer to Boston than Hamburg (or was it Berlin) as a people and in terms of doing business. In a way Donald reminds me of Charlie Haughy in terms of personality. Anyway wasn't his mother Mary Anne MacLeod born in a Scots-Gaelic speaking household in the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides from a Clann/family displaced by the Highland Clearances. No doubt there is some Irish Ancestory on the mothers side as the Gaels brought the Gaelic language, customs and Christianity to the Highlands during the early middle ages.

Hi quality multi-media NZR coach kits with 3D printed bodies, underframes and roofs are produced in S and 9mm Scale by locally based suppliers, so print size and distortion shouldn't be an issue. https://nzfinescale.com/emporium/164-kits/bp91-addington-car-kit/. Main priority at the moment is completing a long list of unfinished projects.

ln hindsight a 3D printed core or shell would nicely complement the overlays for early CIE coaching stock I produced about 10 years ago. The overlays for CIE 'standard" 61'6" coaches were 'shrunk' to fit an Airfix/Dapol 60' Stanier coaches, but could be re-sized to the correct length and height. BSSGV 1901-4 Brake 2nd Open 2nd Buffet car. Ironically while I built several of these coaches for customers, I did not keep any for myself which kind of adds an incentive to build some scale length/width coaches for myself.

Possibly Accucraft 7½" Ride-on through the Corridors of Power https://www.livesteamstation.com/accucraft-ride-on Only thing there made in China, possibly some concessions from Xi, so Donald, Xi, Putin and Kim can play trains together and give the rest of the World a break.

Returning home from a month in the land of ice and snow one of the first tasks was to get the garden under some semblence of control again. Weather appears to have been hot & dry with no significant storms when we were away, but a lot of vegitation and debris to clear since we ran our last train just before Christmas. Finally managed to run a train after tea on Sunday evening. RGS Motor 6 had been used to clear the route before 463 set out with a Freight while I was mowing the lawn. But had struggled with the grades on her return journey, and had to return on a "Caboose Hop" later to collect a pair of box cars that had been left behind. Loco shed has had it missing windows replaced, will probably fit Motor #6 with a coupler as she seems to have been used as a light switcher in addition to track maintenance duties #463 returning with its train, generally 463 is capable of hauling 7-8 cars & 2-8-0 346 4 cars on the grades of the High Line, on Sunday 463 struggled with 4-5 and 346 could just about haul 1 although the rails were dry. Possibly oxidation or plant resin the cause of the slipping with no trains running for over a month! 463 made several runs over the High Line today gradually building up the load from 6-9 cars without a banker, though 346 continued to slip with 1 car! Our second K27 #464 had been out of service since her tender coupler failed while working a Stock Special last May and I decided it was time to prioritise loco and stock maintenance to keep the railroad running. Had some Large Scale parts delivered to my father inlaws place in the States and brought home as personal luggage. Coupler was basically a direct replacement for the failed pocket with an additional vertical bolt which hopefully may reduce the stresses around the coupler pivot point. 464 a Bachmann K27 introduced in 2007 is basically falling apart as a result of wear and tear and compenent failure and it no longer worth while carrying out major work, just enough to keep her in service. It gearbox failed shortly after I bought the loco in 2016-7 and managed to source a replacement before Bachmann ceased to stock the part, the plastic tender trucks and leading truck disintegrated and were replaced by a fabricated brass leading truck and tender trucks by diecast C19 trucks. 463 an Brass Accuracraft K27 was bought as a long term replacement for 464, but 464 is useful despite its condition and a stronger puller Although 464 could do with a re-wire, the cable looms are no longher available and loco-tender connections in poor condition on one side, the RCS power and accessory controller is integrated with the Bachmann circuit board, the chip thingy on the right is actually the radio receiver! Surprisingly 464 powered up, speed direction, light and sound functions operated correctly although the loco has not been re-charged in over 8 months! Accidental damage and breakages are a major issue with finely detailed Large Scale models despite minimal handling. The Hand Brake wheel assembly on this and another Stock Car came adrift while running on Sunday on one instance the shaft dropped down between the rails causing a derailment while running through a switch (point) Several cars require inspection and repairs before they can run again and one Caboose a set of replacement balcony railings and roof ladder. A lot of work to run a very occasional train!

Initially though the DCC Concepts 6pin chips were not capable of handling the current draw & friction from a combination of Mashima motors & High Level gearboxes. One chip blew when testing the installation on DC after approx 30 minutes running, but ran fine on DC when I removed the decoder & fitted a jumper in the DCC socket. Didn't burn any more chips but poor running with 6 pin Digitrax and TCS decoders although when tested motors did not exceed the decoder current rating. Locos are wired similarly with a DCC Concepts harness with a 6 pin socket in the tender, motor insulated from the chassis power pick up on one side from the loco with return through the tender. My worst experience was burning out several chips on evening about 25 years ago while converting some N Scale locos to DCC. This was back in the day before "DCC Ready" locos when it was necessary to mill/grind away part of the chassis block and hard wire the decoders to the locos. Digitrax graciously replaced the zapped decoders. I still have my collection of N Scale locos though the chips may be well past their use by date and have not been run in about 10 years!

The Cork and Bandon appears to have taken the lead during the early days of Irish Railways. In the "Trains we Loved" C Hamilton Ellis spoke of the railway 'dignifying its engines by Gaelic names, moreover inscribed on plates in Erse and not Latin characters" 1 "Rith Teineadh" 2. "Sighe Gaoithe" 3. Fag an Beallach" all introduced in 1849 appear in the loco list in Ernie Shepherd's CBSCR book. 1 & 2 were Adams patent combined light locos and carriages that were withdrawn in 1868. 3 was supplied by Tayleur possibly a tender loco that lasted until 1890. In a way the Adams patent combined loco and carriage were the precursor of the modern railcars for passenger services and were quite popular at the time and used on a number of railways including the Eastern Counties (later Great Eastern) Londerry and Coleraine and Cork & Bandon

If you haven't already try and get your hands on a copy of RM Arnold's NCC Saga apart from an image of a "Whippet" in Crimsonlake on the dust jacket, the book is full of photos and enginemen's tales from the NCC including the Derry Central. Not a conventional railway history book more a folklore social history of a railway and its people. Interestingly the Derry Central had an Irish lanuguage company seal "Céad Mííle Fáilte"

IRM and many other businesses internationally use Shopify as an on-line sales platform, so IRM customer data likely to be stored on the 'cloud" somewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopify

Andy done Bruckless recently mentioned on this site, Letterkenny? There seems to be a lot more Irish Narrow gauge as opposed to Broad (OO or 21mm) gauge layouts on the UK exhibition circuit and featured in New Irish Lines. In a way the West Clare seems to be one of the less interesting of the narrow gauge lines, more of a long secondary main line that branches in two near one end, similar operating pattern to the Broad Gauge one-two daily passenger, a daily goods a bit like the Further North Line in Scotland

"Back in the Day" Comet Models has a particularly striking exhibition stand that featured contemporary rtr British Outline steam outline locos whizzing away continuously on their replacement chassis and their beautifully finished coach kits with flush glazing at a time the majority of plastic rtr coaches had their glazing set behind relatively thick plastic sides. The TMD/SSM etched GNR, GSR and GSWR etched coach kits were a similar break through for Irish modellers, in the early 2000s Worsley Works began producing etched sides, ends and underframes for 'modern" Irish coaches including the AEC Railcars, Laminate, Park Royal and Cravens on a similar principal to the Comet Kits, but without a suitable roof extrusion or detail castings. The Railcars and Coaches build into nice models, but there models of a particular era and there are challenges particularly around the roof and sourcing suitable running gear/bogies. When I sourced the parts about 20 years ago my initial thoughts were to use an extruded roof similar to those used by Comet and other British manufacturers, but the $11k NZ -€6k price tag for a die to extrude a wider Irish profile coach roof put that particular idea to bed, instead I formed the AEC Railcar roof using balsa, glider tissue and dope, with lining tape jointing strips and cast whitemetal vents, I used standard Comet BRMk1 roof extrusions cut longitudinally widened to the Irish profile with the resulting gap filled with body filler supported on a plasticard jointing strip, followed by a lot of sanding before completing the roof detailing. Functional coach bogies were MJT "Torsion Bar" bogies widened to 21mm gauge, while the railcar runs on "Black Beetle' bogies supplied to 21mm gauge rtr. The main stuff up is the coaches run on BR pattern Commonwealth Bogies as no suitable castings were available and the MTK AEC railcar bogie sideframes are to a 9'6"" as opposed to the correct 10' wb resulting in a misalignment between the functional and cosmetic bogie sideframes. Ten or so years later when I began to design the Tin Van kits my initial thoughts were to use a 3D printed body core with etched cosmetic overlays, but ended up producing the vans as conventional etched kits as a result of the limitations of the 3D printing process and cost. While the large scale release of relatively inexpensive high quality rtr models has lead to a expectation that manufacturers like MM or IRM will produce rtr models of once common items of stock such as the AEC Railcars, Laminates, Tin Vans and the various Passenger Brake Vans, I still believe that there is a place for kit and scratch building as it may not be viable to produce some or all of these models as a result of the size of the market. This has been reinforced to a degree of the lower than expected demand for the forthcoming Intercity Railcars, recent sale of Bulleid Wagons and IRMs recent instruction to the factories to reduce minimum order quantities for some models. So what of the Worsley Works Irish coaching stock and what could be done to simplify its assembly, a number of New Zealand kit manufacturers have shifted to a multi-media approach combining laser cut, etched and 3D printing. 1. The issue of the wider Irish profile could be overcome by 3D printing the part possibly including basic detail such as jointing strips, including a domed end for AEC railcars. 2. A one piece 3D printed floor/ends & underframe including truss bracing and battery boxes as opposed to individual components. 3. A one piece 3D printed interior including partitions and seating. 4. 3D printed functional bogie suitable for 21mm or OO. Using etched coach sides as opposed to a fully 3D printed body eliminates the risk of print defects inherent in resin printing in particular both sides of a coach body with a near identical surface finish on both sides as opposed to 1 good and 1 bad (soft) side sometimes present with 3D printing. Just floating the idea around rather than actually planning to do anything at this stage.

Brilliant model Alan, I guess I'll have to learn to stop worrying and fit a DCC chip to one of my 2-4-0s I wired a number of my 2-4-0s for DCC with a socket in the tender (similar motor and gearbox to yours) but ended up with fried chips, though they run fine on DC.

Authentically modelled Irish narrow gauge layouts appear relatively plentiful judging by the content of New Irish Lines over the past 10-15 years, though relatively few of the builders of these layouts post content about their modelling on social media. A high standard in all aspects of modelling is a common tread with finely detailed (often scratch or kit built) locos stock, buildings, structures, pw, signaling and scenic modelling. Irish narrow gauge layouts have been featured in a variety of scales from 16mm (live steam) down to 3mm with 4 mm predominating. Chris Romain's 10mm Scale Killybegs layout featured Nov 2016 NIL is particularly fine & realistic. The Donegal appears to be the most popular, possibly followed by the C&L and Dingle. Andy who posts on this Newsgroup is a prolific Irish Narrow Gauge modeller who exhibits a number of Donegal Layouts, Castlederg (CVBT) Arigna (C&L) Alan Gee's layouts include BurtonPort and Ballyshannon and has scratchbuilt locos from various lines including the CDR, CVR, Swilly and the original West Clare Bagnall 0-6-0T Simon de Souza produced a very fine model of Dromad station on the C&L and comissioned high quality kits of a no of different C&L wagons (Foxrock Models) The Chester Model Railway Society produced and exhibited the Dingle Layout currently on loan to the Blennerville visitor center, while Paul Titmuss produced a very fine model of Annascaul and Lispool before turning his attention to the CVR with a model of Clogher. A 4mm model of Schull also appeared at one time but I am unsure of the identity of the builder. On this Group Patrick produced a 3mm diorama of Capecastle on the Ballycastle line, David a CVR layout that's morphed into a CDR-Swilly layout, Galtymore produced a 3mm layout based on Kiltubrid on the C&L , meanwhile my 4mm Keadue C&L layout continues to atrophy in my home office to be dusted off occasionally No Irish narrow gauge layouts are not exactly scarce

In my experience with the G2 2-4-0 and D17 4-4-0 a greater preference among 4mm Irish outline customers for complete kits as opposed to a set of etched parts. Although I would have preferred to supply both locos as sets of etched parts, the majority of customers expected the locos to be supplied as complete kits and not prepared to buy a set of etched parts only. Based on sales of G2 & D17 kits its likely that there is demand for 10-12 complete kits of the D16 Class at a price point that will cover manufacturing but not design cost. Interestingly I produced 3 different versions of the G2 the late MGWR & GSR/CIE round topped boiler versions sold in broadly similar numbers, while demand for the Belpair Boiler version was significantly lower. Motorising and balancing a D16 on the principals used by Alan in his BCDR 2-4-0 and my G2 & D17 kits using a High Level Gearbox and a weighted tender should not be a significant issue.

A paper on the E401 & 421 Classes written from an drivers perspective by Dan Renehan appeared in an IRRS Journal during the late 70s/80s went into detail on the operation of both classes. The E401 Class were basically a "Southern" engine largly based at Inchacore, used on Kingsbridge pilot duties (Passenger & Goods) and for working Islandbridge Junction-North Wall Transfer Freights both as Train Engine & Banker. The E401s were replaced by 'main line' locos (often B101) as train engine on transfer freights and train loading reduced following a runaway at Island Bridge Junction after the brakes on a E401 failed while descending the grade from Cabra during the 1960s. The raised silencer cowling (& silencer) was removed from the majority of the class following an exhaust fire occurred when one of the Class was working hard as Inchacore Works shunter. Apparrently oil tended to collect in the silencer resulting in a smoky exhaust and tendency to catch fire. Ironically the loco that caught fire the last of the E401 Class to remain in service retained its silencer and exhaust cowl until scrapped. The E421s appeared to be considered a "Northern" engine allocated mainly to Connolly used for shunting at Connolly & North Wall and North Wall-Liffey Junction Banking duties and do not appear to have been used to haul North Wall Transfer Freights. Apparrently the hydraulic transmission on the E401 and E421 Classes were set up differently as a result of experience gained with the E401s. The transmission on the E401s was set up to allow the loco to accelerate and reverse direction quickly while shunting wagons while the E421 had a slower acceleration rate as a result of a high level of transmission wear experienced by the E401s shunting and operating transfer freights. Perhaps a case for different DCC decoder accelleration rates for the sub classes.. One snippet from the Inchacore 150s book is that a German diesel engineer rumored to have 'jumped ship" from a German warship before WW11 assisted in CIEs dieselisation programme a photo in the book of an ex-works E424 is titled Hans Tomalie's "tank engine", which may reflect the "Works" view of the E Class as replacements of the GSWR tank locos used on similar duties,