Mayner

Using loose coal would be become increasingly dusty and dirty and may lead to problems with poor reliability, on one exhibition layout that used real coal, the coal turned to dust as the exhibition went and the operators started to look like miners coming off shift in need of a bath. I once had a layout with working overhead iron ore loading bins, the ore( a Woodlands Scenics coarse ballast)started to break up and jam the mechanism, in the end we had to use small hand held scoops to load the wagons, unloading was off scene! One common dodge on layouts with coal mines or power stations is to have one train of loaded and one train of empty wagons running in opposite directions with the mine and covered unloading building on opposite sides of a view-blocker or backscene.

There is an interesting account of the incident in the July 2019 IRRS Journal and in N J Spink's "The Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties" book, the train which ran as a special from Enniskillen to Greenore was made up of 4 SLNCR & 2 GSWR 3rd class coaches and a GNR van from Enniskillen. At the time the SLNCR braking system was incompatible with the automatic vacuum brake system used by the GNR & GSWR. Interestingly no brake tests were carried out when locomotive changes were carried out at Enniskillen and Dundalk not unlike the recent "Caledonian Sleeper" incident when the train ran away on the approach to Edinburgh Waverley Station.

Completed well nearly! a second OO gauge 2-4-0 No33 Arrow in late MGWR condition. I originally assembled the locos as one of the final test builds for the kit in Oct 18 and decided to motorise the loco in OO. Hopefully I will get around to motorising the second test build as 663 and assemble a 21mm gauge chassis for Arrow at some stage. Before the arrival of larger locomotive the 2-4-0s usually double headed the "Mails" between Broadstone and Mullingar and regularly double headed heavy excursion trains in GSR & CIE days. I think I prefer grey to black for steam locos!

Nohab was the major European supplier of EMD powered locos in the 50s and 60s. The double cabbed Nohab like the NSB Di3 was basically the European equivalent of the EMD F7, Clyde Engineering produced similar locos in Australia. Interestingly Nohab tendered to supply diesel locomotives to the GNR(B) and possibly CIE, but would have been too heavy and too expensive at the time. The Victorian Railways B Class are probably close to what a Nohab loco could have looked at in GNR(B) colours https://www.victorianrailways.net/motive power/bdiesel/bdie.html

Paul Greene is a member of this newsgroup. Try sending him a personal message or ask Alan O'Rourke New Irish Lines https://newirishlines.org/contact/ editor to forward a message. Paul is the former owner of Studio Scale Models and the builder of the Kilbrandon S Scale Irish Layout http://www.s-scale.org.uk/gallery15.htm

There were plans at different stages to extend the Ballaghaderreen branch to Ballyhaunis on the Mayo Line which probabably explains the back-to front track layout. A number of MGWR branch line terminals besides Ballaghadrerreen had single road engine sheds including Cavan, Clara, Kingscourt and Killeshandra . There are several good quality photos of Midland section branch line terminals, loco sheds and trains in "Great Southern Railways" an Irish Railway Pictorial by Donal Murray published by Ian Allen 2006.

NZ turned towards towards US practice mainly because locos were more suited to local conditions and the US builders delivered their locos on time an to spec. The tipping point towards US practice arose when Baldwin quickly supplied an order of standard DRG 60 Class 2-8-0s to ease a locomotive crisis, which arose as a result of the late delivery of an order of similar 2-8-0s from Nasmyth Wilson. The British locos were substantially heavier than specified, the builders attempts to reduce the weight contributed to the delay in delivery and problems in service. The American locos were more suited to NZ "frontier conditions" with cheaply built lines to open up country to settlement and very basic workshop facilities.

David Malone's Cliffony does not seem to have got beyond the baseboard and structures phase, his modelling in recent years appears to have shifted towards modelling locos and rolling stock of the 60s and 70s era, colour photos of his work including re-gauged MM diesels, a G611 & 4w heating and luggage vans can be viewed in the new Irish Lines Archive.

In true Blue Peter fashion here is one that was pulled from the Oreti River in Southland and restored earlier !!!!!!!!!!!!! Rogers K 88 "Washington' Several steam locomotives have been recovered from the Oreti River including K88 & K 94https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/travel/resurrecting-railway-magic-mandeville The recovery and restoration is usually carried out by local vintage groups and individuals including farmers and business people than conventional railway enthusiast groups.

After the opening of the Sligo & Cavan lines the Midland tended to get local companies or the government to promote or build branch lines to be worked by the Midland. These worked branches were built to meet Midland construction and civil engineering standards although some of the Western Branches were technically Light Railways they were built to the main line standards of the 1890s. The Light Railway Western branches of the Midland, Achill, Ballinrobe, Clifden, Killala and Loughrea were substantially built with realatively easy grades, substantial brick or stone buildings, usually with a standard MGWR 2 road engine shed, water tower and coal store at terminals, these branches only became light in terms of axle load, when the main lines were re-laid with heavier rails and bridges upgraded to accommodate the heavier locos of the 20th Century. The small E Class tanks appear to have been introduced in the 1890s as a standard locomotive to work the Western lines and short feeder branches, but tender locos like the D Class 2-4-0s, L,Lm,Ln 0-6-0s worked goods and passenger trains on branch lines often working cattle specials from the big fairs in the West through to the Dublin Yards. There are photos and details of train consists on the Ballinrobe and Loughrea branches in the "Baronial Lines" E Class 0-6-0T were generally used on passenger and mixed trains from opening until replaced by tender locos from the late 1930s onwards, there is a photo of a D Class 2-4-0 at Ballinrobe shortly before the loco was withdrawn in 1922. The branch train was usually made up of 3 6 wheel coaches a 3rd, a Composite and Brake 3rd, 2nd Class accommodation was provided on the Midland until withdrawn in 1912. Apart from the Limited Mail Stock of 1901-2 the Midland only had a handful of bogie stock on the 1900-1906 era a quartet of tri-composite coaches with a center luggage compartment introduced in the late 1890s, possibly for through working of tourist traffic from the main line to the Clifden and Achill Branches. Someone once remarked that the Midland was a Patrician rather than a Proletarian Railway with a high proportion of 1st and 2nd class Bogie stock. Train frequency seems to have been 3-4 trains daily including a mixed in each direction on most branch lines from opening until services were cut back during the Emergency, with 1-2 trains daily on surviving lines with passenger services until closure except for a brief revival in the 60s on the Loughrea Branch and the survival of the Ballina Branch as a feeder line with main line connections. The reduction in train services from 3-4 to 1-2 trains daily in CIE days may have driven the need to replace the E Class with more powerful tender locos as goods traffic appears to have held up although passenger traffic continued to decrease. The L,Lm,Ln Standard Goods classes worked cattle specials from the opening of the lines, with the loco working through from the main line with the empties and working the laden train through to Liffey Junction or the North Wall Yards in Dublin for shipping, traffic from the large seasonal fair in the West could be heavy with stations like Loughrea, Ballinrobe dispatching 3-4 trains of 25-30 wagons during a large fair. In pre-Amalgamation days goods traffic appears to have been carried mainly in the MGWR standard convertible wagons, open box wagons and timber on twin bolster wagons, hardwood timber for export to Great Britain from the large estates was am inportant traffic in the pre-WW1 era, the Midland used gravel ballast in low sided open wagons from local pits with a pit at Dunsandle on the Loughrea Branch before the introduction of hopper wagons in 1905 and a change to limestone ballast with the opening of Lecarrow Quarry on the Mayo Line. Track was flatbottom approx 80lb yd, usually spiked down to sleepers on branch lines, with bolt fixing and sole plates at joints, half round sleepers were used on the Loughrea and Ballinrobe Branches when opened and both branches were re-laid with material cascaded from the main line during the 1920s. There may be a photo of this type of track in David Malone's Model Rail Digest article on modelling Irish broad gauge trackwork. A branch line from Ballinasloe to Mount Bellew or Moylough built by an independent company and worked by the Midland appears to be reasonably plausible large villages in excellent cattle country though the WLWR or GSWR would probably object.

The new Zealand DFT Class a close relative of the 071s experienced problems with cracked frames & engine mounts apparently as a result of vibration in the higher power notches after the power units were uprated from 1800-2400Hp. The Irish and New Zealand locos are variations of the same Standard EMD 22 export model. The NZR locos were originally supplied with a 1 non turbo charged 645 engine used in the 071 for use on drag freight work and later uprated to 2400hp for fast freight work, the export locos may have lighter frames than those supplied to the US market

The 071s developed cracks in their bogie frames at some stage in the early 1980s. There appear to have been sufficient locos in service at the time to cover the 071 Class rosters, CIE had something of surplus of main locos following the ending of loose coupled goods working in the late 70s and the electrification of the Howth-Bray Suburban services. Some 001 Class were out of service from the early 1980s and were never re-instated, 141, 181 Class took over Dublin outer suburban services from the (B)201 Class around the same time as electric services were introduced on the Howth Bray line, a (B)201 was used on the Bray-Greystones shuttle until replaced by a 121. After the (B)201 class was phased out of main line service a small number continued on pilot duties mainly in the North Wall Yards, all the Sulzers were out of service by the late 1970s and were never re-instated.

The photos are 3D renderings rather than the actual models and are likely to require considerable work to achieve a reasonable surface finish in 4mm scale. The 1:76 scale models only appear to be available in White Natural Versatile Plastic which has a coarse surface finish not unlike cement render. There tends to be a trade off between cost, surface finish and the level of detail that can be re-produced between the various 3D printing materials Most designers select a versatile plastic for 1:76/OO because the materials recommended for scale replicas are more expensive, fragile and have a layered effect not unlike the face in a limestone quarry. Brassmasters http://www.brassmasters.co.uk/cleminson_underframe.htm produce a good 6w underframe kit suitable for OO. Kirley built a rake of passable Midland 6wheelers using Alphagraphix card bodies on his own chassis https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93496-kirleys-workbench/page/29/, another alternative is to use the Alphagraphix card parts as a template for producing a scratchbuilt body in plasticard as practiced by David Holman on his Arigna Town thread.

I worked in an office in the area for a year or two before departing for New Zealand and explored the area between Grand Canal Dock and Pearse Station during lunch time walks, the residential side streets between Pearse Street & Grand Canal Street tended to be eerily quiet with little pedestrian traffic during the daytime almost like todays lockdown. The authentic street signs, street furniture and billboards cry out Dublin City in the early 21st Century

Iain Rice and the late Bob Barlow modelled a 4mm Martello tower on their Orford Haven layout in the 1980s. As far as I recall the tower was turned from a piece of mahogany and modelled in a derelict condition with the lead partially stripped of the roof exposing the roof structure, the back story was that the tower was used as a lock up by Customs after the Napoleonic wars.

I might as well post a photo of the original 4mm version, I did not have a 5p or $0.20 coin handy when I took the photos, . Angus did very well to solder the tiny T strapping & door latches to the Meat/Fish Van, I struggled with them.

The 201 or J11 Class was basically a tank engine version of the J15 both classes shared the same boiler and motion and appear to have been considered the "maid of all work" in terms of GSWR tank engines. Bill McDonnell wrote about their work in the Cork Region in "In a Decade of Steam", although built as goods locos some incl 201, 207-209 were fitted with steam heating apparatus for working passenger trains. They were built as shunting and transfer locos and seem to have been mainly used on the Cork Area, including passenger trains between Cork and Bantry, in addition to shunting, trip working (Glanmire Rd-Albert Quay & the "run of goods" Glanmire Rd-Rathpeacon) and banking heavy goods trains from Cork through the tunnel to Rathpeacon Marshalling Yard. I haven't seen any mention of them working in the Dublin area.

I suggested a small shunting locomotive mainly because the majority of the shunting at Polloxfen's Mill would have taken place when a main line loco was not present. Operation at Polloxfen's appears to have been similar in principal to a sugar factory or coal mine with the main line loco dropping off and collecting cuts of wagons from the loops within the mill yard. Polloxfen's staff positioning individual wagons for loading/unloading at the loading platforms or bulk grain loading/unloading building. Traffic appears to have been heavy while the siding was in operation, the original layout with two loading banks and two sets of loops appears to have been expended to include 3 loading banks with three sets of loops and a siding or sidings to a bulk grain loading/unloading building visible with doors closed on left in photo in JHBs post. Bulk grain for Ballysodare appears to have been loaded at Ferns and possibly Enniscorthy on the South Eastern and from Dublin Port, traffic was carried in a mixture of CIE and GSR built hopper wagons in CIE days, a number of CIE hoppers including some converted from H Vans are visible in a photo of the mill sidings in JHB & Barry Carse's Rails Through The West Wagons may have been moved around the yard by human or horse power possibly with gravity assistance,( possibly with a tractor or truck as a tug in later years.) when a main line locomotive was not available. Although the MGWR did not have anything exactly suitable or economic for light shunting at Ballysodare Mill the SLNCR had a pair of Hunslet contractors/industrial tanks Faugh-a-Ballagh and Waterford which were used for shunting an banking duties a couple of miles down the line at Collonney SLNCR. Given the space in interesting idea would be to use an industrial loco for shunting the mill sidings and working wagons up to the station for a main line locomotive to collect, the two long sidings off the Mill Branch before it connects with the main line almost appear to have been intended for this purpose. While a small shunting locomotive shunting would add to the operating interest and were commonly used on industrial siding in the UK and overseas, they were fairly uncommon in Ireland & Polloxfen's managed to operate its mill sidings without their own locomotive for many years.

Funnily enough I am looking at Ballysadare & Clara Mill siding as a corner industry on a 4mm layout, there an interesting series of the mill complex and the sidings around the turn of the 20th Century in the Lawrence Collection at the National Library. http://catalogue.nli.ie/Search/Results?lookfor=ballysadare&type=AllFields&filter[]=authorStr%3A"French%2C+Robert%2C+1841-1917+photographer"&filter[]=format%3A"Photo"&page=2&view=list Polloxfens Mill would make a spectacular model in its own right with the river running through the middle of the complex, various ropeways and conveyors to transport the raw material and finished product around the mill and the almost Wild West style conveyor head house above the railway sidings. Clara Mill does not have the appeal of Ballysodare but more practical as a background corner industry with a very simple track layout and towering grain elevators with plenty of corrugated iron. Loading/unloading wagons at Ballysadare would have involved a lot of shunting as only one wagon at a time could be positioned on the loading bank/head house sidings. Each siding was served by a loop presumably operated in a similar manner to a colliery with empties on one leg of the loop and full wagons on the other. Polloxfens do not appear to have had a shunting locomotive, though a small Hunslet like 299 or SLNCR Waterford would not look out of place. As David noted operation as a stand alone layout would be a bit one dimensional with H vans bringing out the finished product (feed, cereal or flour?) and bulk grain wagons bringing in grain from County Wexford or Dublin Port. I would not overestimate the number of wagons required for an Inglenook style shunting layout with 3 sidings and a headshunt. A loco and 5-6 wagons is more than adequate for such a layout with a head shunt long enough to take a loco and 5 wagons, more wagons and longer trains don't really add to the enjoyment of operating a shunting layout as it takes around the same amount of time to set out or pick up a single wagon as a cut of 3-4. I found that 24 wagons more than adequate for an operating layout with 4 yards/stations and could keep 2 train crews busy for several hours.

Its a MGWR goods brake dating from the 1870s most of which had disappeared following the arrival of the modern 20T vans like Galtemore's model in the early 1920s. The van retains wooden brakeblocks and may be in MGWR green, LGRP photo 7027 dated 18/7/31 of is No 29 at Broadstone in green livery with MGW lettering between the window and door at cill level & THIRD branding on the door. I built a 4mm model from known dimensions many years ago using plasticard and North West stripwood with plasticard cube rivet details, model checked out reasonably well against a drawing by Padraic O'Cuimin but I still need to repair the joint between the balcony end posts and the roof & replace those Kadee couplers with something more in keeping for an irish steam era model.

Besides the Timoleague & Courtmacsharry brake 5J the CBSCR had a pair of "Covered Goods Vans with Guards Compartments" at least one of which 5B survived into the 1950. There is a photo of 5J & 5B in Ernie Shepherds CBSCR book although similar in general size and general arrangement to the County Down vans the West Cork vans appear shorter on Irish Standard wagon underframes and had differing side door and guards compartment arrangements. Both had outside framing with diagonal bracing, the CBSCR vans looked very much like a standard goods van with sliding doors and a guards compartment with duckets at one end while the Timoleague van had a more guards van appearance with full length footboards, double side opening doors and no guards ducket. The CBSCR also had some massive looking 6w 10T goods brake vans, with heavy outside framing similar to the standard Irish Covered Wagon, with a single guards door and ducket apparently at one end and no end windows. The BNCR/NCC goods brakes looked like a shortened version of the standard Northern Counties covered van with a balcony at one end though no duckets. There are photos and drawings of the Northern Counties vans in the May & Nov 2017 editions of New Irish Lines archive https://newirishlines.org/archive/. The Midland does not appear to have built road vans built some odd looking 20T 6 wheelers in 1912 with guards compartments with raised cupolas at each end and a drovers compartment in the middle. A diagram exists but I have not seen a photo of these odd looking vans.

Fairly ambitious to incorporate two junction stations close together in a relatively small space though the looped 8 arrangement adds to the length of run. An alternative might be to replace one of the stations with a fiddle yard and keep most of the "main line" hidden and focus more of the scenic branch line aspect. Brian McCann built a very nice N gauge model of Bagnallstown featuring the station, the Barrow and Thomastown viaducts mainly using converted rtr equipment in the 1970s, the layout was featured as Railway of the Month in the Feb 1980 Railway Worth while having a look for the article for its scenic treatment and modelling of the distinctive Bagnallstown station architecture. http://magazineexchange.co.uk/cw/railway-modeller-magazine-february-1980-issue.html

Hi Victor Its great to see the growing interest in the Midland, perhaps its getting to the stage for setting up a MGWR modelling circle or what American modellers call a Special Interest Group (SIG). My Grandfather (who passed away long before my time) was a Midland driver and have been collecting information/attempting to model the Midland over the past 40 years. I was mainly interested in modelling the CIE period but have been creeping backwards towards the 192s-30s, the complex MGWR liveries of the Victoria and Edwardian eras are far beyond my painting ability. While there is good coverage in terms of carriage and wagon drawings for the 1900-1905 period there is a serious gap in locomotive drawings for that period as the Broadstone locomotive general arrangement drawings appear to have been mislaid or destroyed and no diagram appears to exist of the 7-12 Class 2-4-0 mail engines of 1889-90 or of the K Class 2-4-0 of the 1890s in their as built condition with flyaway cab. Tim Cramer published a number of drawings on Midland Locos and 6 wheel coaching stock in GSR/CIE condition in his Irish Miscellany series in Model Railway Magazine during the 1970s, the late Padraic O'Cuimin one of the recognised authorities on the Midland published the Baronial Lines of the MGWR a history of the Loughrea & Ballinrobe Branches and a number of IRRS papers on MGW carriage and wagon stock, together with some large scale (but un-dimmensioned) locomotive and rolling stock drawings. Tim Cramer's drawings should be adequate for 4mm use and some of the coach drawing overlap with the MGWR general arrangement drawings in the IRRS compendium which are quite faded. A Beyer Peacock General Arrangement drawing for the D Class 2-4-0s of the 1880s exists in the library of the Manchester Museum of Technology and may be available to the public, I don't know if drawings are available from British museums of locomotives supplied to the Midland, by Avonside, Kitson or North British loco, but a builders photo of the B Class 0-6-0s of the early 1900s is available from the Glasgow Museum of Transport. In the past I have built models of MGWR locos in plasticard on modified rtr or my own chassis with reasonable results, but later turned to scratchbuilding in brass and eventually designing and producing my own kits. There are tutorials on assembling my kits in the JM Design section of the Manufacturers section of the News Group. The Ks 2-4-0 is sold out, but the etchings for the Horse Box & Meat/Fish Van are available to special order with some of the castings available from Dart Castings in the UK. The SSM convertible wagon is in whitemetal and builds into a nice model and is an essential for modelling the MGWR from the early 1890s onwards, SSM also produce a nice whitemetal model of the Irish Standard open wagon which were used by the MGWR from about 1918 onwards. Jeremy Suter produced very nice whitemetal models of the MGWR open box wagon and Standard Irish covered wagon used by the MGWR in its final years but the Jeremy Suter kits are rare but examples may appear occasionally on e-bay or exhibitions in the UK. Though expensive and with a long lead time Ultrascale https://www.ultrascale.uk/ are probably the best option for 21mm gauge locomotive and rolling stock wheel sets. The Ultrascale locomotive and rolling stock wheels are superior to similar driving and rolling stock wheels produced by their competitors and are available in P4 and EMF/fine OO profiles. The wheel centers are cast into the nickle silver wheel rims which both eliminates problems with steel wheel rims rusting and working loose, the wheels have a wide boss (contact area) with the axle which both ensures true running and reduces the risk of a wheel moving on its axle, the driving wheels also have a superior shouldered crank pin system. Alan Gibson wheels are reasonable but I have experienced problems with wheel rims coming adrift and having to Loctite the rim to the center, they have a steel tyre which is likely to rust if exposed to rust during chassis assembly and use 14Ba brass bolts as crankpins as I found the AG steel crankpins had a tendency to "wring" off when tightened. Gauges and axles are available through the Scalefour society store https://www.scalefour.org/stores/stores.html, Jeremy Suter may be able to assist if contacted through the S4 Society. Living in New Zealand when I use Gibson wheels I obtain 28mm axles from a local supplier.

Its possible that the Newcastle Van may have been used to carry mails or parcel traffic. It looks suspiciously like a conversion of a standard GSWR 10T outside brake. It looks like there is a set of side doors in the luggage compartment, as the "door" panel appears to be proud of the main body framing and planking. The LSWR vans appear to have been set up with separate guards and goods compartments with a connecting doorway. Some of the LSWR road vans had single others had two balconies The GNR(I) built a pair of 25t 6 brakes with "Luggage Compartments" for the steeply graded Newry-Armagh and Keady lines.

One end converted to a van possibly for sundries traffic on a light traffic branch line. Purpose built "road vans" were used by the West Cork, NCC, SLNCR & T&C in Ireland and the LSWR in England, though they tended to look like a conventional goods van with a veranda or guards compartment at one end. Interestingly the guards steps and grab rails appear to have been removed from the "van" end of the converted ex-GSWR brake. Traditionally MGWR goods brakes included a drovers compartment and a cupola in the style of an American drovers caboose.