Mayner

There are basically two alternatives methods of transferring a design to metal or plasticard. 1. Marking the profile directly on the metal with an engineers scriber, using straightedges and compasses. 2. Gluing a paper pattern to the metal or plasticard, using a craft knife to scribe the cut line. I have used both methods, but prefer to use paper profile to the metal or plasticard for more complex designs. D16 Chassis pattern Marking out the parts for cutting is probably the most critical stage of scratchbuilding a model, as you will need to consider the fit of the various components and the compromises necessary to build a working model, e.g. fitting motor and gear box, will it be necessary to enlarge the splashers to accommodate overscale flanges of OO gauge wheel sets, will it be necessary to cut away part of the boiler/firebox for OO wheel sets, additional clearance required between main frames and bogies to get round the curves on your planned layout. Much of this is challenging and can only be established by experimentation. For cutting out I usually used a piercing saw with a fine toothed blade to cut out the part slightly (.5mm) oversize and finishing to the line with a combination of coarse and fine files 6" and jewllers needle files. Duplicate parts like loco and tender main frames, cab sides, valences, tender sides & underframes are formed by laminating two pieces of brass or nickle silver together, cutting and then separating. I sometimes cut metal parts with a tin snips, but this usually results in more waste clippings than by using a piercing saw as you have to make the initial cut further out from the final cut line and gradually cut up to the line to avoid distortion. I have had little success scribing and snapping sheet metal as I usually use a mininimum of 0.4mm brass or nickle silver I prepared these patterns by hand many years ago and I cannot guarantee their accuracy, these days I prepare the patterns using a CAD programme and use PPD in Scotland to cut out the parts by photo engraving, my MGWR 2-4-0 is designed on similar principals. The biggest challenge with the Midland locos like the C is forming the curved running plate above the crankpin splashers, I usually form this with a shim brass overlay soldered to a flat running board . Although the parts are cut out by etching Scale 7JB thread on building an LNER D16 should give you a reasonable understanding of the challenges involved in scratchbuilding a large 4-4-0 of similar design to the MGWR C with curved running board and similar bogie design. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/147957-7mm-lner-d163-two-years-down-and-nothing-to-show/

The GSR diagrams of MGWR locos were published as a supplement to New Irish Lines several years ago, https://newirishlines.org/ carriage and wagon General Arrangement drawings are available through the IRRS digital collection http://irishrailarchives.ie/index.php/archives/maps_drawings/. Its believe that the MGWR locomotive general arrangement drawings may have been mislaid or destroyed at some stage, many of the carriage and wagon GAs in the IRRS archive are quite faded & some are damaged. If you send me a PM with your personal e-mail address I will forward copies of GSR & Midland loco diagrams.

I usually used a micro switch in conjunction with a Seep or Peco point motor to change polarity/achieve reliable power pick up with Peco N gauge points as I found blade contact to be un-reliable.

Possibly a coal or cattle special. Coal traffic was likely to have been heavy during the Emergency with up to 3-4 specials daily and cattle specials were run to serve the larger cattle fairs. Mohill, Drumshanbo & Bawnboy Road could each dispatch over 100 wagons for seasonal cattle fairs into the late 1940s Tralee & Dingle 3&4 were drafted in during the Emergency to assist the remaining C&L (6) and Passage Locos (3). The C&L implemented a "time interval" system in conjunction with staff and ticket working to allow up to 3 following trains to occupy the lengthy Drumshanbo-Ballinamore section of the tramway, the GSR streamilned the system during the Emergency installing telephones at Kiltubrid and Ballyduff halts eliminating the time interval element, the system also appears to have been implemented for a short time to allow two following trains to occupy the Ballinamore-Mohill section of the Main Line

It sure looks like a CVR guards van! I have to build one to go with my CVR coaches and horsebox. The Donegal bought "5 small vans" & "18 five ton wagons" *along with Railcar 10, "The Unit"(-engine) and other items at an in 1942 auction following the closure of the CVR. The CVR wagons appear to have been rebuilt as vans and listed as "Red Wagons"* for use with the diesel railcars. (* E M Paterson County Donegal Railway & Clogher Valley Railway. The GSR and possibly Irish Turf Board were also present at the auction, the C&L acquired a number of covered and open wagons.

I one of the Tralee GSRPS coaches may survive at Dunsandle, both coaches appear to have been transferred to Tuam when attempts to re-open the Fenit line failed. They were 1951-3 CIE side corridor stock I saw them in Tralee in 89 & Tuam in 93. I got a cab ride on E428 a visit to Tuam in July 1993. E428 was shunting carriages into the carriage shed following maintenance, No 90 was waiting for a new boiler to arrive from the UK. Ex GSWR 10T goods brake & MGWR? ballast wagon. The yard was disconnected from the main line and the yard abandoned when I next visited Tuam in 1996 though both the carriage and loco shed were still secure. While the efforts of both Westrail and the GSRPS were largely frustrated much of the rolling stock that was passed to the RPSI, DCDR and survives at Dunsandle would otherwise have been scapped when CIE disposed of redundant rolling stock in the early 1980s. While the GSRPS may appear to have been over ambitious in attempting to overhaul No131 acquiring a large fleet of carriages and attempting to re-open the Fenit branch, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity in terms of setting up a excursion train operation in Munster, Fenit was an ideal site for establishing and maintaining a tourist railway operation. Like Westrail the GSRPS evolved out of a attempts to preserve a disused CIE branch line in this case Cork-Youghal. The 1973 McKinsey Consulting Report on CIE had recommended that a preservation society take over operation of the Summer Sunday seaside excursions trains from CIE, the RPSI had recently started operating the Portrush Flyer excursions setting a precedent for an enthusiast society operating excursion regular excursion trains on the railway system.

The Connemara project stands a greater chance of success than Westrail or the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society as it appears to be lead by an enthusiast who also controls the track bed and therefore is not dependent on IE for corridor access. The major difference between Ireland and the UK (& other countries) is that Regional and County Councils have much more autonomy in terms of implementing transport policy and spending money than Ireland. In most Countries Councils are responsible for planning and funding public transport and tourist attractions. Most significantly UK Councils had 1st refusal to acquire disused lines from British Rail while no similar requirement applied in Ireland. Council power to acquire disused lines stimulated the second generation of railway preservation schemes in the UK with Councils leasing disused lines to preservation societies with lines such as the West Somerset, East Lancashire and North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Outside of the UK States and Councils have bought and established tourist railways with commercial operators on disused railway lines including the 64 mile Cumbres & Toltec in Colorado & New Mexico, the 60km Taieri Gorge railway in New Zealand, the restoration of the West Coast Wilderness Railway by the Tasmanian Government https://www.wcwr.com.au/ The best comparison with the latter would be Kerry County Council & the Irish Government funding the rebuilding of the Tralee & Dingle or Valencia Branch to promote tourism in County Kerry post Coronavirus.

Going back to the original question: Westrail's Tuam operations evolved out of the West of Ireland Steam Railway Associations attempts to re-open the Loughrea branch as a preserved railway in the late 70s early 80s. The association established a restoration base at Attymon and intended to re-open the line on a phased basis towards Dunsandle and Loughrea as funds and resources permitted. The organisation reformed as a limited company Westrail in the mid 1980s and transferred its locos and rolling stock to a new base at Tuam when it became obvious that running trains on CIE metals would be more achievable than restoring and re-opening a section of the Loughrea Branch Line. Besides the economic factors the change in focus from railway restoration to excursion train was forced on WISRA by CIE with the planned closure of Attymon as a blockpost and intention to abandon and lift the Loughrea Branch when the 10 year moratorium on abandoning the line expired in November 1985. Original stock included E428 & E430, and rolling stock from Mullingar Scrap yard, coaches were mainly departmental stock of ex GSWR origin, and freight stock suitable for use in engineers trains and material storage. oddities included GNR bulk cement wagon 2134N & GSWR 8678 the Loughrea Branch goods brake. Some restoration work was carried out at Attymon including the initial restoration of E428 and extensive body repairs/re-planking 8678. CIE had an acute carriage shortage when WISRA went shopping for suitable coaching stock in the late 1970s, Westrail acquired more modern 'ready to use" coaches as CIE withdrew its older coaching stock from the mid 1980s onwards, some restored coaches were acquired from the Great Southern Railway Preservation Society when that organisation folded. The Westrail Tuam Facebook page includes photos of what was achieved at both Attymon and Tuam. https://www.facebook.com/westrailtuam/?tn-str=k*F

Westrail was basically forced to cease rail operations as a result of significant problems in accessing the railway network during the early-mid 1990s. The company continued to operate a restaurant in Tuam station following the ending of railway operations. Westrail was unable to access the rail network from its Tuam depot from the early 1990s as a result of the temporary closure of the Athenry-Claremorris line and IE disconnecting the Westrail depot from the network when the line re-opened in 94-95? Westrail continued to operate trains using No 90 and hired coaches for two seasons based in Galway and Cork while the Athenry-Cleremorris line was closed. The Cork-Cobh operation appears to have been a commercial failure due to the high cost of hiring coaches and accommodating Westrail service staff in Cork during the operation. IEs disconnecting the Tuam depot appears to have been the final tipping point to cease railway operations as Westrail appear to have secured the long term loan of a larger loco SLNCR Lough Erne and secured Tourist Board funding for its restoration.

The aluminium containers appear to have been used during the 60s for traffic to & from Donegal travelling under Customs Bond through Northern Ireland, both over the ex-GNR line to Strabane and via the ex-GNR Antrim Branch and NCC Main Line to Derry following the closure of the GNR Derry Road. The Aluminium and Guinness containers were transported on 20'-12T capacity-1'wb flat wagons, the flats were fitted with end stanchions and re-classified as ballast wagons during the early 70s. The Aluminium containers were longer than the then standard Irish 16'11" flat wagon and it was necessary to stagger the Guinness containers on the wagons when Belfast and Derry traffic was containerised by the GNR(B) in the late 1950s Ex 25201 series flat re-classified as 24516 series ballast wagon, handbrake wheel broken off.

The 3 tier keg cages/pallets were intended to eliminate/reduce the pilfering of kegs from trains and yards which had been a major problem with the earlier designs of keg containers. A special forklift attachment was used for placing and removing laden kegs in the 3 tier cages, the cages had fixed sides unlike the earlier designs of keg pallet/flats. The 3 tier cages were transported by road between the breweries, rail heads and distribution depots. The Waterford Liner in its final years transported Cider from Clonmel in addition to beer, the cider traffic was transhipped by road between Kilkenny and Clonmel.ts possible that keg cages were increasingly moved by road when IE severely cut back its Keg Liner operations shortly before loosing the traffic in 2006-7? Destinations such as Galway, Sligo and possibly Waterford were served by a combination of rail and road from railheads at Claremorris, Longford and possibly Kilkenny in a hub and spokes operation CIE used heavy duty forklifts rather than container gantries for loading and unloading keg pallets following the introduction on keg pallets in the late 1970s. I don't know if anyone produces a suitable OO Scale foirklift but the Kibri Kalmar heavy duty forklift appears similar to the forklifts used by CIE & IE for handling keg, bagged cement and fertiliser traffic at many railheads https://www.modellbahn-seyfried.de/kibri_h0_kalmar_gabelstapler%2Cpid%2C91043%2Crid%2C539%2Cproduktdetailks.html Larger 25t Capacity forklifts with lifting bales were used for handling ISO Containers at depots like Athlone, Ballinasloe, Tralee that handled reasonably heavy container traffic but did not have a gantry or to provide additional capacity and speed up container handling at larger depots that had gantries.

Finishing touches to Aurora 34 & 650, Arrow 33 has returned to the works for mechanical assembly and a partial re-paint, basically she was a mock up for the black livery for No 34 on a borrowed chassis in the last photo, fortunately a set of wheels to complete No 33 & decals for 650 arrived from the UK just before the international postal service went haywire with Covid 19 restrictions. I ran into problems getting paint to stick to the Markits wheels and ended up de-greasing and etch priming the wheelsets before painting and sealing with clear cote for final assembly. 650 recently overhauled, vacuum pipe, front coupling hook, tender toolbox and coal load added. The tender top is removable to access a DCC socket. I managed to kink the handrail when setting the loco up for the works photos & the firebox wrapper is sitting down slightly at the cab. Sunlight playing on part of the smokebox, boiler and toolbox. Like the GWR the majority of MGWR locos were driven from the right hand side, Atock locos had an unusual solid (wooden) reversing wheel. 34 Aurora in the final MGWR black livery, the number 34 on the splasher side is part of a half etched overlay, as it would have been extremely difficult to produce and affix separate numerals in 4mm scale. The makers plate is engraved with the details of a full sized plate, just about visible under a strong magnifying glass. 34 drivers side, handle of reversing wheel just about visible, the canopy cab appears to have been built for speed rather than comfort with very little protection for the crew 34s tender is modeled without coal rails like the majority of K Class tenders in MGWR days, I managed to mislay one of the tender toolboxes between completing the loco and taking the photo. I must add vacuum pipes to the tenders they look rather bare. After ballasting the 2-4-0s are capable of hauling 21 4w IRM wagons on the flat without slipping a big improvement on the November 2019 Test run. I cast ballast weights with Woods Metal or Cerrobend a low melting point alloy with a large weight in the tender and smaller weights in the space between the motor and mainframes and in the lower part of the boiler between the motor and smokebox.

A recording may exist, a recording of 106 with sound on a Connolly-Bray special was shown at an IRRS Film Show after the loco was withdrawn in the late 70s, the Sulzer sound was distinctly different to a person that was used to listening to GM locos. Both types of Irish Sulzer shared the same engine and electrical system and are likely to have sounded similar. It might be worth while following up with the IRRS to see if the recording still exists.

The Pre-Amalgamation companies did not shy away from complicated trackwork especially where space was tight. The map is from before the yard was modified to accommodate the Cork City Railway and the Hibernian Road overbridge. Forget attempting to build Albert Quay with Peco or other ready to lay track point systems, lots of custom formations. At one stage the connection from the Main Line to the Cork City Railway and the goods yard appears to have been a 3 way point with a single slip completing the crossover on the goods yard side, there also appears to have been a scissors crossover on the connection to the Quarry loco yard. The photo appears to be from the signal cabin looking West possibly before closure of the West Cork system. Main line and connection to the Cork City Railway in right center, Rocksavage Wagon Works on right, train being shunted/made up on goods yard lead under Hibernian Road Bridge, weighbridge road with loading gauge to left of huts, deserted Quarry Loco Yard to far left of photo. It looks that the crossover from the goods yard to the main line was moved out towards the Hibernian Road Bridge eliminating a 3 way point and a single slip, which would have reduced track maintenance cost and simplified shunting in a complex and cramped yard.

A change from my imaginary stuff 12"-1' snow clearing on the 3' narrow gauge over Cumbres Pass in March 2020. I have a similar problem with Autumn leaf fall but a blower/mulcher usually does the job. Cumbres Pass after the snow clears. Fire control speeder at grade crossing at the beginning of the video. Train approaching Cumbres Pass viewed from the crossing. Windy Point railroad on shelf above highway. 489 at Cumbres Pass (10,015') highest point on the 3' Gauge in North America.

Interesting stuff: I explored the railway system by day trips on rail rover tickets in 77&78, I used to walk out to Myrtle Hill level crossing to watch the return working of the Youghal Goods usually a B141 with two H vans and a brake. I visited Youghal on an IRRS special and was surprised to see that there was relatively heavy (3-4wagons) traffic between Youghal & Moygeely. I was surprised to see the Youghal gantry was actually used to handle ISO container traffic as it was only rated at 5 ton capacity, either the gantry was grossly overloaded or the containers were empty or lightly loaded. At the time I worked for a company in Dublin that received a container load of fitted Kitchens from Youghal weekly. CIE was the distributor for Murray Kitchens in Youghal with road transfer to North Esk and distribution from Heuston Goods, Dublin traffic was heavy enough to keep a driver Richie and a helper fully occupied delivering to building sites and merchants in Dublin with a dedicated 2axle Bedford TK with 20' container bed with white cab and Murray Kitchen branding. Its interesting to see the conditions the CIE Depot Men accepted and worked in in the 70s. Water Street container depot looked like a real deathtrap with its congested conditions and the Youghal gantry an accident waiting to happen. Cork-Tivoli was interesting operationally in that trains trains to the siding operated "Wrong Road" against the normal flow of traffic from Cork Station to the siding under the protection of an ETS or electric train staff, presumably the up line was protected by staff instruments in Cork and Little Island signal cabins with a intermediate instrument at Tivoli. The Tivoli siding served oil terminals used by Burmah, Texaco & Pfizer Chemicals (Quigley Magnesite & Roofchrome Refractory products), the Roofchrome siding was extended to serve the Port of Cork Tivoli Container Terminal following the closure of Roofchrome Factory.

Yesterday the New Zealand Government announced that the country was going into lockdown for 4 weeks with all non essential business and public transport shut down and people expected to remain at home. Supermarkets were extremely busy on Mon. afternoon, packaged imported foodstuffs scarce though supermarkets introduced rationing last week. Fairly quiet in the supermarkets this afternoon, almost panic buying in the builders merchants, managed to load up with material for one or two non-model railway projects at home. The next few weeks should be a good opportunity to catch up on my backlog of half finished model railway projects, even started the final assembly of a Midland 2-4-0 for myself!

The saddle tanks appear to have been used as mixed traffic rather than shunting locos in pre-amalgamation days. There is a 1914 photo of CBSCR No 17 later GSR 473 working a long Clonakilty-Cork mixed train and an undated photo of a saddle tank arriving at Bantry with a mixed train (possibly in GSR days) in Ernie Shepherds West Cork book. Its likely that the saddle tanks were used on main line goods and passenger duties until replaced by the Bandon Tanks between 1906 and 1920 and may have been continued in use on branch line duties following the amalgamation until replaced by ex DSER & GSWR locos in the mid-late 1930s. The Hornby Peckett 0-4-0ST and Hattons 6w coaches would make good companions for the Beyer Peacock saddle tank on a Cork City Railway module or West Cork layout. The West Cork used a mixture of 6w and short bogie coaches some of which were of similar length to the 6 wheelers.

Irish 21mm flat bottom track on copper clad sleepers. Rail in the foreground is similar to Peco Code 75, the B141 and wagons are on Peco Conductor rail which has a lighter Coode 60 rail section. Track was prefabricated on the work bench and glued in place on the layout with white glue and ballast scattered on top. Marcway produce OO Gauge copper clad sleepers which are shorter than the scale 8'6" to minimise the narrow gauge look of OO gauge track. Peco Code 60, 70 & 75 rail is suitable for OO gauge use, 60 for lightly laid sidings and branch lines 70 & 75 suitable for general use. Code 80 is an N gauge rail section and does not look the part for OO or 4mm use. For flatbottom track rails are soldered to the sleepers using a liquid flux that allows the solder to flow between the top of the solder and foot of the rail, this eliminates a solder blob at the side of the rail.

The loco appears to be aimed at the British as a LSWR 330 Saddle Tank rather than the Irish outline market, available in four different liveries as opposed to a choice of numbers with the GSR version. The Beattie Saddle Tank fits in well with OO Works other Southern locos and fills a significant gap in rtr pre-group light railway locos as the Beattie Well Tank, Brighton Terrier and SECR P Class are available in rtr form, leaving the Ifracombe Goods and LNWR Coal Engine as the only significant gaps in ex-main line Colonel Stephens engines. It will be interesting to see if OO Works use the same tooling for both the British and Irish version of the loco.

Some of the Beyer Peacock saddle tanks retained many of their original features including sloping smokeboxes up to withdrawl, I suppose its question of whether OO Works consider that its worthwhile tooling up for the different features of the West Cork locos considering the relatively low level of demand for locos in this price range.

The LSWR saddle tank that also ran in Southern and two Colonel Stephens iterations makes better commercial sense (with a better return on the design and tooling costs) than a purely Irish loco with potentially greater demand for the English than the Irish version of the loco. The saddle tank also fits in well with other OO Works Southern engines. I understand that demand was fairly restricted for the OO Works locos locos with production limited to 100 units of each type and that the UG 0-6-0 was slow to sell out.

The 4-4-0 is "Whippet" an LMS re-build of an older series of Northern Counties 2-4-0s and 4-4-0s locos, there is a thread on scratchbuilding a Whippet by DeSelby on RMeb https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/80681-an-ncc-whippet/&tab=comments#comment-1292286. The 0-6-0 is a relic from the 1870s, the LMS built 3 new 0-6-0s possibly as replacements in the 1920s. The NCC have only a handful of 0-6-0 goods locos, the 4-4-0s & 2-4-0s worked the majority of trains on the Northern Counties up to the arrival of the Moguls in the 1930s

It was like Christmas seemingly with half of Hamilton in the local supermarket on Thursday with not a loaf of bread to be seen, turned out it was nothing to do with panic buying just a breakdown in a bakery that supplies half the North Island. The Examiner has some good advice for surviving the epidemic https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/ask-audrey-what-measures-are-you-taking-for-home-schooling-three-tonic-to-one-of-gin-988924.html

Demand for rtr Irish steam locos in the £250-300 price range is quite limited. A loco like the LSWR 0330 Tank makes better sense than a purely Irish loco due to a far better return on the investment in the tooling, potentially with Southern, LSWR and various light railway and industrial versions.