Mayner

Traffic to Clonmel ceased in the early 2000s when IE lost the Coillte contract, traffic to Waterford resumed about two years later under a revised contract when Coillte took responsibility for loading/unloading including ensuring the load was secure before departure. Originally both the Clonmel and Waterford (Bellview) plants were planned to be rail connected, but ran into a barrier with IE apparently unable to obtain to obtain funding to construct private siding for freight customers. IE had been in negotiation during the mid 1990s to transport zinc from mines being developed in the Lisduff area but the traffic was lost to road after IEs funding application to the Department of Transport was rejected. The loss of the ore traffic from the Lisduff area marked a turning point in the fortunes of Irish Railfreight as IE seemed to be more pro-active that CIE and had been making headway in developing new traffic flows with minimal investment in new infrastructure or rolling stock such as grain, mollasses, domestic coal and pulpwood, the prospects of deepsea container traffic appeared promising with the opening of the new Bell Lines Belview Terminal and the long awaited EU funded connection to Dublin Port.

JIT evolved in Japan where different stages of the manufacturing process was carried out in a series of often independently owned workshops than in a single factory under one roof, using small vans and possibly handcarts to move components from the workshop to a factory for final assembly, This evolved into the Toyota Manufacturing Process and was later adapted by manufacturers in the West. Rail only appears to become a viable option for JIT manufacture for moving "train loads" (80-100TEU) to and from manufacturing plants, ports and distribution points, Irish freight trains have low capacity and transport light payloads by international standards. Although a lot of the JIT smaller shipments are moved by road, rail often forms an important part of the JIT manufacturing chain e.g. the IWT Liner is used as part of the chain to transport Coca-Cola concentrates from Ballina to manufacturing plants in Europe, the Coillte Log trains used to transport pulpwood to the Waterford OSB mill. In the UK rail has been used for many years to move steel, engines and other components to car assembly plants as part of a JIT manufacturing chain. Following the opening of the Chunnel the motor manufacturers integrated their UK and European supply chains using rail to transport vehicles and components between UK and European plants. In New Zealand rail is used as part of the distribution chain of the dairy industry both transporting raw milk (train load) from collection points to processing plants and in the transportation of dairy products to the ports for export.

The loss of cement Cement traffic was lost mainly due to Irish Cement loosing its monopoly position and the opening of the N50 Liffey Toll Bridge rather than strikes. Irish Cement lost market share in the North West, Midlands and East from the late 1980s with the opening of the Quinn Cement Plant in Derrylin and the Lagan Cement Kinegad. Competition from Quinn Cement lead to IEs loss of bulk cement traffic to Sligo. CIE closed the Cabra Bank Cement depot following the opening of the first phase of the M50 in the late 90s as it was simpler to supply bulk cement to the concrete plants in the Dublin area direct by road from Platin than by rail and road via Cabra Bank. The remaining bulk cement flows to Athenry, Cork, Tullamore and Waterford continued for several years after the ILDA strike and seem to have been lost when IE tried to increase their freight rates. I think that CIE/IE managed to hold on to railfreight for a long time because of CIE monopoly position, the poor state of the roads and streamlining freight operation and new rolling stock during the 1970s, conditions which had ceased to exist by 2000, with de-regulation of road haulage, good roads, a shift from commodity to a knowledge based economy and a worn out obsolete wagon fleet. Interestingly IE placed an order with a European manufacturer for new freight rolling stock including (bogie) bulk cement wagons in the early 2000s, but was forced to cancel because the IE railfreight division was unable to prepare a convincing business case. The big question with climate change and a post Covid environment is whether the current Globalised economic model with an economy based on exporting and importing goods and services to an from the opposite side of the World is sustainable.

The Union Pacific Railroad sued MTH (A high end American O Gauge manufacturer) in 2005 when the railroad attempted to enforce a licensing agreement for the commercial use of UP trademark material including "fallen flag" companies. At the time it looked like the railroad saw the model manufacturers as a potential source of royalty income, rather than free advertising. MTH negotiated a royalty free licensing agreement for all model manufacturers that applies in perpetuity for both UP and "fallen flag" companies. https://mrr.trains.com/news-reviews/new-products/2006/11/mth-negotiates-new-union-pacific-licensing-deal-for-all https://www.up.com/aboutup/corporate_info/licensing/index.htm

The first Tara ore shipments were dispatched through Foynes possibly in Barytes Wagons as a result of a dispute at Dublin Port. The Dublin Port Tara Terminal was built on Gouldings Wharf and redundant Gouldings Fertiliser workers picketed the Tara Terminal to put pressure on Gouldings to provide better redundancy payments.

It could be argued that the ILDA loco drivers walked into a trap set by senior management and the established unions and played into the hands of a Government that had grown frustrated with infighting between CIE management and the Unions. The future of the railways was in doubt before the publication of the Strategic Rail Review in 2001?, Mary O'Rourke as Minister of Transport instructed CIE to sell/develop surplus land in order to fund investment in passenger services and the Government was not prepared to subsidise loss making freight services as it claimed that it could not subsidise businesses to transport freight. Discontent built up among drivers about the poor standard of representation by the the established transport unions, the feeling seems to have been that SIPTU and the National Bus & Railworkers Union did not adequately represent the drivers interests and formed ILDA in response to concerns with safety concerns to a new rostering agreement. SIPTU and the NBRU was likely to strike if IE negotiated with ILDA, the situation was resolved when ILDA members transferred to a British transport union that were able to secure negotiating powers. I my experience the biggest problem with unions like most large organisations is that they become process bound and often fail to represent or support their members at times of crisis.

I had some CIE tan aerosol mixed a couple of years ago , but got an orange peel effect when I attempted to spray a coach tonight. I am not sure if its a problem with the spray can nozzle or the paint mix I had the paint mixed to a RAL code but mislaid the colour reference. Does anyone know whether a BS. or RAL code exists for the tan used from the 1960s to the 80s Thanks John

In my experience freight trains usually depart once the train is loaded/unloaded, a driver and a path is a available rather than waiting until the scheduled departure time in the WTT. I don't know if IE has reduced passenger passenger train frequency because of Covid travel restrictions. I would imagine Boliden will scrap the privately owned Tara Mines wagons once Tara mine closes, Canadian (Group Eleven) & Australian (Glencore) mining interests have stakes in Pallas Green https://arkleresources.com/our-projects/zinc/. Its anyone's guess whether the Irish ore fields will be developed or the mining is worth the hassle when the tax payer has to pick up the tab for the ecological damage and clean up when mining finishes.

Its an ambitious scheme and could be very interesting from a "main line" operation point of view with relatively intense by Irish standards Intercity passenger and Liner train operations during the 1990s. The scenic aspect could be quite interesting with relatively flat terrain not unlike the American Mid-West with distant hills and mountain ranges & Kildare Church spire on the backscene. It might be worth while looking up Bill Darnaby's "Maumee Route" and Tony Koster's "Nickleplate Road" layouts https://mrr.trains.com/how-to/track-planning-operation/2015/01/a-day-on-the-no-20 which were featured in the Model Railroader about 20 years ago. I have a 2% ruling grade between stations/yards on the garden railway which can make shunting/switching interesting if I am not careful, but should be less of an issue on a railway with mainly fixed formation trains and very little shunting apart from reversing trains at Kildare and the Tegral operation at Athy. I think the main challenge will be providing sufficient staging for a normal days operation on the Cork & Waterford Lines, it would be worth while trawling the IRRS Journals as they usually included an in depth review of timetable changes and carriage link workings, the big advantage of modelling the mid-late 90s was that the majority of Intercity passenger services were worked by similar rakes of MK3 coaches hauled by 071 or 201 diesels, with a smaller no of diagrams worked by Supertrain or MK2AB stock. While the Cork line was laid with CWR on concrete sleepers sections of the Waterford line retained chaired bullhead rail on timber sleepers until the early 2000s and opportunity for handlaid bullhead track with C&L chairs and plastic or ply sleepers or possibly 3D printed sleeper strip for use with Code 75 or 82 Rail

My first train ride was on a Summer afternoon in a non-corridor coach from Killiney to Tara Street around 1968-69 after taking the bus from the City Centre to Dalkey and walking along Vico Road with my mum her sisters and my cousins on a big day out! Don't remember the colours but the partitions were matchboarded possibly cream, the coach part of a Summer rake of GSR/GSWR coaches hauled by a black diesel that was leaking oil all over the place, my first impression of a CIE train.

It has been done as miniature engineering projects but they don't sound anything like full sized diesel locos

BTW - the Manor Class looks fantastic.......God's Wonderful Railway was always my favourite of the UK Big Four.............I might yet be tempted! Whatever about 7mm Gauge 1/ Large Scale Live steam is extremely addictive and expensive My first thoughts were that the boys had teamed up with https://www.accucraftestore.com/g1-aster-5mt when I first heard the phrase Accurascale Steam. Strangely enough Accucraft/Aster haven't any GWR locos in their current catalogue although Accucraft UK have announced a live steam GWR Mogul and a Cavan & Leitrim 4-4-0T as their first Irish loco.

98 final assembly back from the paint shops. Sub assemblies and tools. Before painting the loco was washed to remove any remaining traces of flux, verdigris and other crud before sand blasting with aluminium oxide with a Badger Air Abrasive Gun. The wheels were de-greased with Isopropyl alcohol before I masked the wheel threads, tyres and axles with Tamiya masking tape. The loco was primed with a Finixa aerosol etched primer, the initial coat allowed to cure before applying a second which acted as a surfacing coat. The loco was painted with an aerosol lacquer matched to a sample of GSR grey. The painted model was left to cure for approx a week before attempting assembly. First job was to clean out the axle bearing holes and fit the driving wheels. I usually use Markits wheels in OO they have stainless steel or nickel tyres, diecast centers and fit on squared axles which self quarter. I use the "live axle" system on OO gauge tender locos picking up the power through the loco driving wheels on one side and returning through the tender frames and wheels on the opposite this simplifies assembly and is extremely reliable. Checking that the live wheels are on one side I fixed the wheels to the axles using the Romford/Markits slotted axle/crankpin nut and screwdriver system, I first check that the wheels are seated properly on the axle before using thread lock to secure the axle nuts in place. I have had Romford wheels and crankpins work loose in the past, not a great experience. When I assembled the loco for test running I screwed but did not thread lock or loctite the crankpins in place. The crankpins unscrewed from the wheel centres when I attempted to remove the crankpin bushes while dismantling the loco for painting! Leading axle fitted, before threading rear axle through frames and gearbox. Big jump ahead with chassis assembled and brake gear fitted! I fitted etched axle nut covers to hide the crankpin nuts, but the cover centers do not line up with the wheel centers which could be interesting visually when the lcoos is running. Loco boiler smokebox and cab-running board sub assemblies. The firebox is a sliding bayonet fit at the cab end with a 10BA bolt securing the smokebox to the running board at the leading end. There is a cast brass step ring between the boiler and raised firebox and I have revised the boiler wrapper to form a full circle. This photo is a good example of the amount of metal that has to be removed from the boiler firebox to assemble the loco in OO with the driving wheels literally inside the firebox and boiler. Loco superstructure and chassis sub assemblies. The tongue at the front of the chassis fits into a slot behind the buffer beam, the body is secured in place by a bolt that fits through the drawbar and chassis into the cab floor. I hadn't finalised the backhead/cab floor design when I completed the test assembly. I have designed separate OO and 21mm gauge backheads and cab floors that can be slotted in place in the cab in a similar manner to the MGWR 2-4-0 kit. The tender is the Studio Scale Models GSWR tender with a re-designed chassis for use with a weighted tender system to allow the loco to haul a reasonable load. Tender chassis 2mm parallel reamer to remove paint from axle holes/ bearings rear axle. Tender chassis with temporary wheels showing springing of leading and center axles and axle retaining wire. Tender chassis brake gear sub-assembly fitted. The goop on top of the chassis is glue residue from a ballast weight. Tender superstructure, tool boxes and springs. I decided to fit these parts after rather than before painting the tender, 0.45mm wire pins are soldered into holes in the springs to assist location. Assembled loco & weighted tender chassis. 98 approaches completion. Buffer beams to be painted number plate and vacuum pipes & couplings to be fitted. I have completed the final amendments to the loco CAD work and expect to make an announcement on the expected release date of the loco within the next 4-6 weeks.

Still on the unfinished projects thread another step in finishing off some coach projects. I started the luggage van several years ago when I had the etched brass frets but no castings and completed the assembly when I received a batch of castings about 12 months ago. The model is finished with Tamiya AS12 "Bare Metal Silver" aerosol and is awaiting decals a final coat of clear finish glazing and door handles. After a lot of trial and error I found the Tamiya Bare Metal Silver the most effective way of reproducing the CIE 1950s silver livery both in terms of appearance and durability. I started building a pair of SSM GSWR 6 wheelers a couple of years ago intending to use planked plasticard for the compartment partitions. The project stalled when I ran out of planked plasticard, then discovered the idea of forming the partition by laminating three layers of plasticard together with the planking facing outwards would not work for the Brake 3rd was not going to work due to the resulting thickness of the 3 layers of plasticard, so I ended up making the partitions and floor from .030" plasticard. The partitions were spray painted with a Tamiya yellow to reproduce the cream colour of the prototype partitions the seating red. I seem to have mislaid the seating for the other two compartments since I started to assemble the coaches. Fitting an interior to an SSM non-corridor coach can be challenging as the interior has to be fitted & assembled in-situ as its not really feasible to fit the interior as a separate sub assembly due to the body design. Fitting the seating in the end compartment was bit tricky with the transom and captive bolt for fixing the roof in the way. I first fitted the floor and glued the seats at the end in place (superglue) before fitting the 1st of the partitions in place on the slot and tab principal. Second row of seating glued into position while fitting the partition! Fitting the remainder of the floor and partitions was basically a matter of progressing from one end. I will need to source some more seating possibly along with some more GSWR 6 wheelers to go with my 52 Class. The soldered joint to the captive nut that secures the roof at the van end failed so I fitted a 10BA bolt instead before re-soldering the bolt and supporting bracket in place, luckily the heat from the soldering did not damage the paint on the visible side of the roof. Roof bolted in place. I will treat the paint damage with a "gun black" and probably re-paint the roof before fitting final detailing, decals and galzing. Re-assembled Bk3rd one compartment now with seating. The coach is supposed to be in late GSR condition, painted with an automotive spray can possibly a Ford red. 556 passing the signalbox with a mixed on the test track. The loco actually works but I still need to sort out couplings which will be B&B rather than the Kadee I once used as standard on 21mm gauge stock. The B&Bs are more discreet and look less incongruous than Kadee's on 19th Century steam locos and rolling stock.

I am not sure about the 80 Class hauling freight but MPD and 70 Class railcars regularly hauled the overnight North Wall-Derry "Derry Vacuum" Irelands 1st Liner train during the 60s and 70s, in addition to hauling "perishable" and parcel traffic on the Larne line and p.w. duties. The MPD cars (Multi Purpose Diesel) were intended to haul goods and parcel trains from the beginning and were somewhat ahead of their time with a high horsepower diesel engine and torque converter drive but struggled with reliability. The railcars took over from a CIE loco at Lisburn and hauled the goods over the Antrim Branch and NCC main line to Derry. Jonathan Allen captured 71 River Bush hauling the 20:55 Waterside-Lisburn "fitted" at Downhill on a summer evening in 1979 https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/40139251611/in/album-72157717313152071/

Parish pump politics seems to be more of a problem in Ireland than other western democracies because of the lack of effective local government with power centralised in Leinster House with little or no power devolved to the Councils or regions. We have a three year General Election cycle with a considerable level of power devolved to Regional and Local Councils this helps to keep the MPs focused on policy and the big picture stuff, while the regional council focuses on the environment an co-ordinating services at a regional or provincial while the Councils focus on delivering services at a local level, true parish pump politics. The plus side is that we get to elect from a wider talent pool, the downside is that many of our politicians become invisible when elected and we have to pay taxes to central government and rates to two tiers of local government. Interestingly the regional councils rather than a national body like the NTA are responsible for the funding and provision of public transport, so the local rate payers know exactly how much they are paying in terms of subsidy for the public transport services in their region or locality.

Its possible that few people realise that the IE rail system came very close to collapse in the early 90s with worn out track and infrastructure on most main line routes. IE was expected to operate within a tight budget with insufficient funding to cover rolling stock and infrastructure renewals under the Governments "Building on Reality" programme with no major new investment in the railways following the completion of the Cork Line CTC & MK3 Intercity coach projects. The railways were basically in a gradual run-down to closure pattern as track and infrastructure wore out and locos and stock required replacement. Ireland's finances were in a precarious state following the oil shocks of the 70s and recession of the 80s the Irish Government struggled to fund essential services such as health and education let alone subsidise the railways. The Government started to loosen the purse strings mainly with EU money with the approval of the Kildare suburban services and 201 locos in the early 1990s but continued to keep IE on a tight rein until the major investment in track, signal and rolling stock renewals following the publication of the strategic rail review in the early 2000s. The main drawback is that rail will always be seen as an un-necessary drain on public finances and has little effect in reducing emissions or congestion when you consider the big picture while roading can be made to operate as a true user or polluter pays system with tolls, road taxes, duty on fuels, insurance levies and taxes on purchasing motor vehicles, while the Irish Government basically pays people and businesses to use rail through subsidies and tax breaks.

Markits produce 7 & 9mm blackened brass disc wheelsets and a 9mm spoked wheelset in OO. The wheelsets are available in either plain or pin point axle for inside of outside bearing use. The codes are: MRJO7 Di/b---7mm disc inside bearing MRJO7 Do/b---7mm disc outside bearing (26mm pin point) Its probably best to phone Markits directly to check on availability, the website gives an update on the current situation ++44 1923 249711 10:00-16:00 M-F markits@btinternet.com http://www.markits.com/default.html

IE's ownership of Rosslare Port allows IE to cross subsidise its loos making rail operations with the profits from Rosslare Port operations, though it could be argued that the the profits from Rosslare are insignificant in the overall scheme of things. There is an expectation for CIE group companies to use the profits from businesses such as Rosslare Port and CIE Group Properties to fund investment in public transport.

Nice to see the model railway portraying normal life. It was ironic watching the video with Miriam O'Callaghan challenging Varadker on school re-openings on the same day we had a case of community transmission among children in a New Zealand school, fingers crossed

A scheduled Limerick-Inchacore empty barytes may have been to provide a regular path for positioning the wagons for use on weekend p.w. work in the Dublin area. The Barytes wagons may have been restricted to 35-40mph max speed by the early 90s and an as required Timetable Working would have provided a slot for a slower train between 100mph passenger workings. CTC control with computerised train routing was extended to Cork and Limerick (via the Junction) by the late 80s and a timetabled slot with a computerised train Number would have made things simpler for the people at Train Control than having to manually enter a path into the system. One of the Irish Railscene videos from the 90s mentions the difficulty of pathing Foynes-Ballina oil trains via Portarlington during the closure of the Limerick-Claremorris line during the early-mid 90s. These trains were routed via Nenagh rather than via Limerick Junction due to the difficulty in finding a path for 2 axle wagons between Intercity passenger services. During this period the "day" Cork Liner and its return working was usually made up of 62'9" air braked container wagons which were converted to carry log traffic around 95-96 after the ending of the "Mail Trains" The other liners would mainly have been made up of 42'9" flats for container traffic & 47'6" flats for keg traffic with 2 axle wagons for IE fuel oil. Liner trains were restricted to 15 42'9/47'6" wagons or 12 62'9" wagons until 201 & 071 Class replaced the 001 Class and pairs of small GMs on Liner Trains. Trains of 18 42'9"/47'6" currently operated, but 62'9" and "Pocket Wagons" are still restricted to 12 Longer trains operated I have a note somewhere of a Tralee-North Wall Liner made up to 34 TEU (20') made up of 10 42'9" flats with 40' shipping containers and 14 2 axle empty keg flats. The train was awaiting departure (& a loco) at Tralee and the member of staff I spoke to emphasized that the train was longer than usual returning empty kegs to Dublin after one of Tralee's summer festivals. Liner trains would have carried "Sundries" & domestic freight traffic in IE/CIE owned containers until the ending of "Sundries" traffic and the shift to deep sea traffic in shipping company containers around 1993-4. Sundries traffic in 10' containers (business normally carried by courier or logistics firms) could be heavy occupying several wagons on a liner train.

I wonder whether any film record exists of the construction of the Silvermines Branch which was built during the same era and involved quite substantial earthworks, RTE filmed an Irish Language language documentary on the operation of the Silvermines-Foynes barytes ore trains in the late 60s which featured the loading & unloading of the trains. It was interesting watching the earth moving operation, I "served my time" with a Dublin house builder and organised site development work using similar plant D8 dozers and Euclid motor scrapers during the late 70s early 80s. As a general rule developers and contractors will avoid earthmoving during the winter months when the ground becomes saturated and instead concentrate on structures and bridges. No doubt Dick Hampton was working on a cost plus basis and got paid extra for shifting the mud and "unsuitable material". Some motor scraper operators/owners were larger than life characters the fighter pilots of the earth moving who wore cowboy boots and hats and smoked cigars while dozer and excavator operators tended to be much more stoic in nature.

A couple of photos of the empty coal train at the "town" end of the layout taken with an iPhone. Photos are usually taken in the opposite direction looking towards the engine shed. I was pretty amazed with the depth of field with this simple point and click camera compared with a Canon DSLR I usually use for model photos. 6T passing the station building. The corrugated shed and station building are based on Drumshanbo on the C&L all modelled in Wills material sheets the stone work painted in Floquil "Concrete" with the mortar courses picked out in an off white. The station is based on Drumshanbo in its original state before the addition of a second storey in 1917, the water tower and the cottage in the background are Wills kits the whole scene is only a foot wide from fascia to backscene. 6T was my second T&D Hunslet 2-6-0T assembled from a Branchlines kit during a Christmas holidays in the mid-1990s The level crossing, its planned to extend the layout on to a second fiddle yard beyond the hole in the backscene so the coal trains can run through to Arigna and mixed trains from opposite ends of the line terminate in Keadue as a double ended terminus in a similar manner to Fivemiletown on the CVR. There once was a curved stone wall with a gate pillar at one end between the level crossing gate and the Leyland Comet but disappeared under the furniture when Beeze our tabby set up shop at this end of the layout. The level crossing gates are again Wills and pivoted to open using a brass pin drilled into the gate and a brass tube into the baseboard. One of the gates was accidentally damaged but repaired with micro strip and plastic weld, the damage is virtually invisible from the viewing side. No 6T is always facing eastbound at the moment, as she does not look to pretty from the other side having lost a cylinder cover which I have been unable to find about 6 months ago. View towards Arigna this shot is almost impossible to take in daylight hours because of sunlight coming in through the window. The open and 62L are on the loading or cattle bank road, the loading bank surface modeled with Woodland Scenic scatter on pva glue on 6mm mdf, the crane is a Wills Scenics kit. I was pleased with the depth of field in the photo with the area between the water tower and end of the goods shed in clear focus. The signal and wagon lettering is by SSM. The goods shed based on Belturbet on the C&L again scratchbuilt from Wills material sheets although its lost its office chimney, background buildings are scratchbuilt in plasticard with Wills windows and doors. The two storey building with small window panes is based on "Gilligans" farmhouse and bar at Ballywillan on the Cavan Branch a survivor of a layout started in the late 80s, the buildings nearer the level crossing are based on photos of buildings in Strokestown and Keadue including an archway through the building typical of vernacular architecture in County Roscommon I enjoy the challenge of building locos, rolling stock, buildings and structures from kits and scratch, I had ambitions to become a railway mechanical engineer before entering a career in construction management and technology which involved similar technical and managerial challenges and sense of achievement in successfully solving a problem or completing a project.

I completed a Gst (local version of VAT) return in connection with one of my businesses (nothing to do with trains) recently and was surprised to find than an Irish registered computer software supplier was registered for Gst in New Zealand. As Murphah noted the big challenge is for the small suppliers many of whom are not registered for VAT in the UK because of low turnover, however the flip size is that a number manufacture and sell unique or bespoke items and their sales are less price sensitive than a small supplier selling more generic items. One of the interesting challenges for me is whether its worth registering JM Design for VAT in Ireland and the UK or using a platform such as e-bay for future sales of rtr models and kits. The business is already registered for GST in New Zealand which allows me to claim back GST charged on locally sourced and imported components and export the models at 0% GST. This allows me to supply kits at a lower cost than possible if the business was not registered and eliminates the issue of double taxation if a model is stopped by Customs upon arrival in Ireland or the UK. While the majority of JM Design kits manage to fly through under the Customs radar, customers are not exactly happy when a package is stopped by customs and they have to pay VAT and clearance costs.