Mayner

Recent delivery advice from Accucraft that they are honouring the pre-sale price of $2500 for the 1:20.3 scale live steam Australian "Puffing Billy' 2-6-2T to US Customers regardless of recent tariffs.   April 23rd, 2025 Accucraft Victorian Railway NA Class, Baldwin 2-6-2T We are pleased to inform you that the Puffing Billy is finally ready to be shipped! Thank you for your continued interest in Accucraft products and for your patience throughout the process. The model is absolutely gorgeous, with exceptional attention to detail and finishing. Our team have done a wonderful job producing one of the finest models we've ever offered. We are also happy to inform you that, despite the recent tariffs, we are honoring the pre-sale price until the May 2nd. Accuracraft is a US owned business with its own factories in China More Information Subscribe to our Youtube Channel Accucraft reserves the right to change prices, colors, specifications and availability without notice. All items are FOB Union City, CA unless otherwise stated. Live Steam Station 33260 Central Ave, Union City, CA 94587 510-324-3399 • sales@accucraft.com Interestingly while I was staying with family in North Dakota during January the Canadian Pacific was loading a 100 Car Train with grain for China at one of the local elevators. A farmer told me that most of his grain goes to the Far East and the US Government will buy his surplus production if he cannot find a buyer on the open market, a Trade War could work out more damaging to the US than China.

Having produced kits and rtr models for 15 years with marketing through social media, website and New Irish lines. Sales of kits have been primarily been to a group of regular UK based customers by social media (mainly this Newsgroup). I suspect the majority are attracted to Irish Outline because its considered more interesting and challenging that modelling British Outline. The majority of RTR sales were through my website, this Newgroup the most effective in terms of marketing. One of the quirks was that samples supplied to model railway clubs generated few sales, a member of one club commented that he 'could not see the point' of buying an Irish outline wagon while plenty of British RTR wagons were available at a lower price. Interestingly used to get occasional enquiries on Facebook usually from the States requesting a valuation claiming that they had JM Design model trains from their childhood Demographic wise RTR sales broke down fairly evenly between Ireland & the UK----respectively 45% & 40% with 15% from USA with rest of the World marginal. While Irish and UK customers tended to buy 1 or 2 items, US customers consistently tended to place larger orders. When all is said and done Irish Outline is a tiny compared with the British and American outline markets and the IRM founders strategy of testing and establishing a presence in the UK market allows Accurascale to produce Irish Outline models. From small beginnings Irish owned multinationals have become world leaders in building materials (Roadstone) dairy and food (Glanbia and Kerry) engineering consultancy (MF Kent) Construction (Laing O'Rourke) so why not model railways?

Great to hear that your Knockloughrim diorama has found a (hopefully permanent) home in the actual station.

Ex-GNR (express passenger) locos are likely to have been used on the 'Trial Train' (newly overhauled coaches) between Inchacore and Portarlington up to the end of steam on CIE or sold to the UTA. So potentially a legitimate reason for running an S Class, Compound & Vs at speed other than an enthusiasts special on the GSWR main line

I was an NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) British Region member when I lived in England during the 80s & 90s, the British Region organised an Annual Convention and was divided into groups that organised local 'Meets' at regional level in the UK. The Meets and Conventions were basically private exhibitions often featuring modular layouts where members could bring and run their own stock (play trains), and a swap meet which included specialist American Outline retailers and second hand stands, the retail side usually best described as a feeding frenzy. At the time Victors (Islington) & MG Sharp (Sheffield) were major retailers, LSWR models a major mail order supplier, Totally Trains (Ross & on Wye) and Mac's Models (Alexandria nr Dunbarton),relative newcomers in the American Modelling the scene, not forgetting the Belfast Caboose and an American Outline retailer in Bodmin (Cornwall) & possibly others I have forgotten Back in the 80s American Outline models N & HO models tended to be of better quality than British outline models in terms of finish, detail and smooth running major American brands like Atlas & Walthers moved their production from the US to Europe and eventually the Far East. The majority of American locos ran reliably out of the box and the major brands adapted NMRA wheel and track standards as there was a fundamental expectation among American outline modellers, that the different brands of locos and stock should 'interchange' reliably just like the prototype. Going back to Scandinavian models, I hooked up with a lady of Scandinavian-Germanic origin over 20 years ago. Best described as strong minded put manners on most Irish lads, though most Irish and British people have some Scandinavian-Germanic DNA given the antics of our ancestors 1000 or so years ago.

I guess 10 years after the launching of IRM the founders of IRM and Accurascale understand the limitations of the Irish Outline market and whether or not it was worthwhile to market Irish outline models on the UK Exhibition circuit. There is an interesting contrast between the rapid expansion of Accurascale from a start-up to a major British Outline brand over the past 4-5 years with a mixture of modern image, steam era and industrial models (locos and stock) compared with the more gradual expansion of the IRM range following the initial period of rapid expansion up to the release of the 001/A Class. Interestingly while there were 93 and 96 responses to IRMs launch of the NIR Hunslets & GSR/CIE 800s respectively there are currently 1900 and 9800 replies currently to launch of the Accurascale BR Class 50 & Class 37. One of the IRM founders commented that their British Outline loco or wagon sold in significantly higher quantities than a similar Irish Outline model, possibly a 5-1 ratio, around 2020-21 Patrick told me that demand for Accurascale their British Outline wagons made IRM look like a cottage industry.

In the post 1960s era the three largest groups of Private Owner wagons to run in Ireland would have been the ESSO Tank wagons 971-1013 imported from the UK in the late 60s, Tara Mines ore wagons 31001-31025 & NET Ammonia Tank 32001-32020 wagons leased from Storage and Transportation Systems (STS)London There were also a number of CIE owned Branded wagons introduced during the 70s, Burmah Oil Tank Wagons 26723-26728, Pallet Cement Wagons 28001-28172. While IRM have released a model of the ESSO 35T tank wagon it is of the unbranded version of the wagon with modified tank mounts and hazard markings, rather that the original version introduced in the late 60s with original pattern tank mounts and raised ESSO shield and logo https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53527716615/in/album-72157661623942928. For people without access to the IRRS Flickr album the ESSO Teo tank wagons were visually similar to the UK Class A tank wagon with ESSO shield and simplified markings/lettering. IRM have already released the Tara wagons in their original blue livery witt Tara logo. Whatever about the Ammonia and Burmah tank wagons, the Pallet Cement Wagons appear to be a significant gap in RTR wagons for the late 70s early 2000s era with the original version with Irish Cement logo and balanced doors, and later unbranded versions with balanced doors and curtain sides. For the modeller with a main line oval layout in a restricted space the Tara Mines and Ammonia Tanks short train behind a 001 Class entirely prototypical. Going back to the County Down a series of papers on BCDR private owner wagons was published (Des Cookham?) was published in the IRRS journal in the late 60s early 70s, apart from the East Downshire the common thread was the use of private owner wagons to transport stone to Belfast during the 19th Century, a "Dr Richie" was one of the major quarry owners. The Dublin and Blessington served a similar function transporting roadstone and sand to Dublin, interchanging with the DUTC at Terenure goods trains ran through to destinations on the electric tramway system hauled by electric loco/works tram.

I friend once spoke about building a monochromatic North Wales narrow gauge diorama as the historic photos were mainly black and white! Gets over the argument over prototypical shades, but potentially challenging to execute.

Couple of photos of G617 with a single Laminate Brake similar to that used on the Loughrea Branch from 63 onwards. The coach was built from a Worsley Works set of parts, I took an each way bet with my 3 WW coaches finishing one side in late 1950s green & one in black and tan. Roof is a Comet BR MK1 extruded aluminium roof cut down the centre, widened to fit the profile of the WW shell, the resulting gap made good in motor body filler supported on a strip of plasticard, detail castings and interior Comet & MJT with some pre-painted Scale Link passengers, bogies use MJT coach compensation units widened to 21mm gauge, made a bit of a hash of forming the tumblehome. These days I would probably use a 3D printed roof. Interestingly when G613 and Laminate 1910? took over branch line working the loco was in the Black & Tan scheme and the coach in light green!

Back in the day before the Ballast Wagons were released IRM issued a press/media release in the Modelling Press that it was not feasible to fit the NEM pocket at the recommended height because it clashed with the brake gear detail at one end of the wagon & had adapted a lower than reccommended pocket and a cranked coupler as a solution. Interestingly Kadee's title page on European NEM HO OO conversions features a photo of IRM/Accurascale Ballast wagons https://www.kadee.com/convpl apparrently fitted with Kadee NEM 363-Series Adjustable Height Couplers. The Kadee NEM coupler Fact sheets recommends fitting a 363 series coupler in combination with 362 series adaptor in cases where the NEM pocket is not installed at the recommended height.

Managed to sort make some time to complete the overhaul of th G Class, though I need to order some replacement decals from Des as the originals have worn off with handling. The loco was originally fitted with Kadee 30 Series couplers which had a draft box mounted on the chassis and I decided to change to NEM pattern mounts, which basically involved plating the slots I formed in the buffer beam when I built the loco many years ago and forming a cutout for the NEM coupler mount, by drilling and filing with needle files. After a lot of headscratching I decided to fit the loco with a DCC decoder, in the end fitting a DCC Concepts 6Pin Zen with a Stay alive. In the past I experienced problems with decoders blowing with this particular decoder and drive set up. Testing on DC stall current was well below the decoders max 1amp rating, so left the chassis to 'run in" for a couple of hours. Decoder is supplied in an insulated wrapper, 6 Pin harness with connections to power pick-ups and motor & 2 wire 'Stay alive" soldered to the decoder "Stay alive connections. Capton tape on underside of running board in case of potential shorting between wheels/pickups and loco body. Space for "Stay Alive' on the cab floor, a G Class control desk was one of my earliest 3D prints but probabably end up fabricating a desk in plasticard (basically rectangular box. I followed the Digitrax and DCC concepts protocols for installing testing and installing the decoder, checking the motor stall current with an Amp meter on DC and running in for several hours on a circle of track, testing the decoder with a Digitrax test kit (supplied with my first starter set about 25 years ago , then repeating the test process after installing in the loco. I'll need to fine tune the Stay Alive settings as the loco still tends to hesitate/stall on Insulfrog points.

20 wagons was the maximum load for a fully fitted train of Bubble Wagons hauled by a single 001 or pair of small GMs (121,141,181) 20 wagons would have been the normal load on bulk cement trains to destinations like Cabra, Cork, Athenry, Waterford, Limerick-Athy trains may have been shorter & possibly Tullamore. Bulk Cement to Belfast and Derry transported in the consist of cross border Liner Trains. In loose coupled days single or short cuts of Bubbles were conveyed in mixed goods trains complete with Brake Vans, several Jonathan Allen photos published or Bubbles on Cross Border Goods Trains, and I remember in the mid1970s seeing pairs of Bubbles on a number of occasions in the middle of the consist of the Claremorris-Limerick goods train (most likely returning empty from Ballina (Asahi construction project)

Interesting the two Bitumen Tanks on the Sligo Liner passing Maynooth in the Video in Fishplate 7s Posted January 20, 2021 appear to be numbered in the 500 series although they appear to have domed tank ends and at least one of the Bitumen Tanks on the Sligo Liner in Valk's initial post appears to have domed ends indicating that its possible that some the Shell BP Bitumen Tank Wagons survived at least until Bitumen traffic ceased. The Burmah, CIE Fuel Oil tank wagons introduced during the 1970s ran on the "Standard" CIE 20' Skeletal Underframe complete with ISO spigots appear to have been considered new builds presumably in addition to the 300 27101 series flats, while the 26730-26740 series Tank Cars introduced 1978 apear to have been classed as conversions of the 27101 Flats which had largely become surplus to requirements with the introduction of the 22'6" Flats and large nos of Bogie Flats.

I am unable to proceed forward at this stage with the updated artwork for the Flat Wagons as a result of health issues & family commitments. My body sent me a warning that I was overdoing it shortly after my last post.

The wagon in the Lixnaw photos was basically the Inchacore version of the 1952 & 62 Charles Roberts featured in MOL_PMB recent post. The Inchacore built wagons appear to have been built on a 'Standard Irish' steel underframe as opposed to a British RCH tank wagon underframe. I used the tanks from the IRM Weedkiller Train set with my own 3D printed wagon Chassis, but decided it was not worth the hassle of trying to fit the lagging to the tanks. I guess Bitumen tanks based on the recent IRM Fuel Tank wagons would pass the 2' test or possibly the Bachmann anchor mounted tanks

The 'Jumbo Tank' wagons with domed ends built for Irish Shell BP tar traffic in 1972 appear to be something of a mystery with no running numbers or number of wagons built in the magazine article and apart from 26729 an otherwise watertight wagon number series of tank wagons between 26723-26728 (Burmah 5000Gal 1972 ) & 26730-26740 (4500Gal 1978) The fact that bitumen tanks of the same design exist at Ballyculane & Ferns and the magazine article writing about a fleet of wagons indicates that CIE built more than one Jumbo Tank with domed ends. Interestingly both Ferns & Wellington Bridge (serving Ballyculane) had closed to railborne tar traffic during the mid 1970s its just about possible that the Bitumen tank wagons may have occupied the 26729-26740 number series. The 'modern' CIE Bitumen tank wagons were similar in general outline to the 4w 35GWT tank wagons introduced on BR during the 60s though shorter, 'back in the day' about 1980! I shortened a Peco N Gauge 35GWT tank to resemble a Burmah tank wagon & one of the UK finescale mags featured an article om converting the Hornby 35GWT Tank Wagon into a bitumen tanker mainly by re-painting and weathering. The 'Jumbo Tank Wagons' in the video appear to be the ESSO variety with domed tank ends. There is an interesting series of 1976 photos in Rails Through North Kerry JHB & Barry Carse 2016 of 023 shunting/working 23855 (1950s Inchacore built Bitumen Tank wagon between Lixnaw Station and the Co Council depot.

I visited several multilevel layouts including those with spirals, a common thread is that the occupy large floor areas, double garages, purpose made layout rooms or basements, as the helixes, reverse loops or dumbells required to make these layouts workable take up a lot of space. The majority of multi-layouts visited tended to be in the traditional category popular for modelling American mountain railroads with two or more levels of track running through the same scene, the different levels linked by helix on an incline often in a folded 8 configuration with a single track main line with several yards and crossing places in a mountainous scenery complete with high steel trestles and tunnels. The Double Deck category appear to be mainly based on railroads/railways in a plains/prairie as opposed to a mountainous setting on a shelf style baseboard with a backscene, Bill Darnaby in the United States appears to have been one of the pioneers of the Double Deck concept with his Nickle Plate layout and built a mock up a two level mock up section in his basement to check deck clearances including a typical wayside Depot complete with grain elevator featured in one of the Model Railroader Railroad Planning annuals. MRH Mag forum provides practical advice in considering a Double Deck Layout https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/what-to-consider-with-double-deck-layouts-12212304 I have marked up to layers of Josef 2000 plan to provide an insight into the space required to fit a helix and a reverse loop. providing sufficient vertical clearance for the reverse loop to cross over the heilix could involve some challenging carpentry. Another point to consider is that you will need to take curvature into account in working out the maximum load of a loco hauling a train up a spiral/helix. On the prototype the grade is often reduced on curves (compensated) to reduce the effect of friction hauling cars around a curve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruling_gradient Level 1 Schematic showing reverse curve or half a dumbell at one end to allow trains to run continuously and spiral to allow trains to run to a lower level, Showing helix descending to lower level, the track on the bottom right could descend to a lower level or formed into a return loop outside the area of the helix. The terminal roads on this plan would need to be reversed/mirrored to allow a train from another level to terminate in the station, another alternative would be to reverse the direction of the lower section of the helix to run towards the bottom right of the layout

Oops posted to the wrong thread

I built a number of American style 'operating' layouts mainly, though the current iteration is large scale (1:20.3) in the garden over the past 45 (gulp!) years, usually dismantled as a result of a move to a different house or country. For me the main focus has been main/secondary main line operation between a Terminal and a fiddle/staging yard during solo operation with little or nothing happening at intermediate stations or sidings, 1st layout was Irish end to end in N Gauge in 1980 based on contemporary CIE secondary main line operation with Terminus Station, small Junction Station with crossing loop, open as halt and for seasonal beet traffic and junction to a goods only branch serving a port importing oil. Main line passenger services were 3 daily passengers services to Heuston, a Night Mail, Loose-coupled Goods or Liner and Beet & Oil trains as required. At the time I had grown frustrated trying to fit a OO gauge layout into the available space and N scale provided a more attractive alternative in terms of realistic scenery and train length, contemporary N gauge mechanisms were better quality than what was available in OO and at the time Irish rtr was a pipe dream some element of scratchbuilding/modification was required for Irish modelling regardless of scale. 2nd & 3rd layouts were N Scale American in the 17'6x8 ' attic of my house in Dublin and in a 24X12 garage of our house following our move to New Zealand. The initial Attic layout was a large oval set up on a shelf set up a purlin level with a crossing loop on one side and a staging on the opposite to get something running quickly and test feasible train length before building a 'permanent' layout. I found that 50 American (40-50') freight cars were the practical limit for the Micro-train couplers, but settled on a max 20 Car length (3-5 Diesel units) for the staging and main year. My main focus was on running through freights between the Main Yard (a Junction & Division Point) and the through Staging Yard. The operating sequence was based on the Delaware and Hudson in Binghampton NY the junction point between the routes from Canada & New England to the South & East and the route to Buffalo-Chicago and the west. The 2nd layout featured a folded 8 track layout to maximise the length or run and I located the staging tracks behind the main yard a form of 'surround staging' as described in the States, the main advantage of the extended length of run was that it increased the illusion of distance, a train taking 5-10 minutes to reach its destination after leaving the yard or staging (several hours in real life), allowed the operator to plan or set up for the next move. There is a saying that switching/shunting takes the same or similar time to carry out on a model as the prototype. In practice switching and running the through freights kept me and visiting operators so fully occupied, that we did not have time to switch the local industry tracks (Grain Elevator & Mill) or use the crossing track or switch the industries on the scenic section. Which begs the question whether they worth the time and effort modelling in the 1st place. 3rd layout in a 24X12 garage did not get beyond the set up stage because of a house move with the yard and staging set up on one long side and temporary track on the peninsula. Most valuable lessons learned was to set the staging at a slightly lower level than the Main Yard to improve the visual separation and placing one end of the staging close to the main yard, this would have allowed a more realistic length of run between the Main Yard and an intermediate crossing place intended to be a junction with a branch line serving a mine and the reverse loop. The current iteration of the 'American' layout this time on the Colorado narrow gauge a large loop in the garden with a branch/main line to or from a staging in the garage. My main motivation is still running trains between the Main Yard and Staging, operation is more laid back with one or two way freights during an operation session that can keep a visiting Operating Crew busy for an hour or so as switching a Car or two can take as long as on the prototype. Though recruiting and retaining a crew can be an issue these days

Very Impressive

I am not really familiar with the Irish railway drawings published in books and magazines during the lqast 20 or so years. An other issue is that out of print books with Irish drawings may not be available in the public library system New Irish Lines archive may be a good starting place https://newirishlines.org/archive/ It includes J P James 1992 archive of drawings published in magazines & on line copies of IRN (usually contain drawings) from 1992-2023 which should keep you busy. Diesel Dawn (Colm Flannigan) Colourpoint 2003 covers the development of the diesel railcar in Ulster from the 1930s-late 1960s and contains small scale drawings of many of railcars that operated in the province during this era.

The 'soft topped" or convertible wagons were gradually phased out on CIE during the 1950s most likely gone by 1960. Although the majority of Convertible Wagons were built in the 19th Century and were 14' long, the MGWR had some (approx 100)longer 17'6 Irish Railway Clearing House (IRCH) 'Standard Covered Wagons" of the Post WW1 era built as convertible wagons. The MGWR IRCH 'convertibles" had the same rood profile as a standard H Van but fitted with a removable canvas centre. CIE replaced its remaining soft topped wagons and GSR & pre-amalgamation 14' calltle Wagons (K) with longer KN wagons during the 1950s, but ended up with a surpluse of KNs as the traffic declined during the 1960s

During the 1950s Great Northern preferred option was to dieselise with German Diesel hydraulics with a 1000hp B-B for main line passenger and goods traffic, so a potential might have been had the Dublin and Stormont governments accepted the proposal

Academically your Tutor Examiners are likely to be more interested in your research methods and how you arrived at your conclusions than the accuracy of the data present or project findings. If you use AI or Wikipedia clearly state it & any reference to the source of the original data. e.g. Sean Cain as the source of the data from your use of Microsoft Trust Pilot Your school/examiners cannot reasonably expect you to research material thats not readily available from your school, local public library or an accessible on-line source, or reasonably expect you to buy the BNM books referred to by Paul. You can only be expected to use research resources you can readily access. If you are working to a deadline to submit the project, you need to draw a lne that you have completed your research and submit the project. As someone who once made a (good) living by researching & writing reports to tight deadlines, I quickly relaised that it was necessary to draw and line and only consider the most relevant information in order to complete my reports on time. If its any consulation my wife ran into a lot of hassle from her Academic Supervisor in 2007 over my wifes use of AI and an unusual presentation style in her final Doctorate Thesis, effectively refusing to sign off on my wifes work. The head of the Faculty advised my wife to submit the thesis if she (my wife) felt confident about the thesis. Interestingly my wifes Acedemic Supervisor who previously disowned my wifes thesis, jumped on the bandwagon to take the credit for my wife's success when my wife was awarded a distinction because of her use of AI and the graphic presentation style of her project. So my advice is if you believe in your have completed your research to the best of your ability, submit your project and ignore the background noise. My secondary school project when I was 14-15 was a proposal for a Heuston-Clondalkin suburban train service using a Railway World article on CIE as my sole source. The only criticism was that the external examiner did not consider a surban rail service an original subject for a project (at the time CIE had plans for an Underground system for Dublin which was never built!)

The Gulf Oil Whiddy Terminal was basically a tranship point for crude oil arriving by Supertanker from the Middle East and smaller tankers distributing the oil to British and European refineries. Even if the West Cork remained open (& a pipeline existed between the Youghal Branch & the Whitegate Refinery its likely that the refinery would have continued to receive crude oil by sea being more convenient and cost effective than rail. Had Bantry remained open its likely that the Whiddy Terminal would have lead to an increase in general goods traffic in a similar manner to Tynagh mine boosting Loughrea branch traffic although it did not transport the output, with ships supplies (food, consumables & spare/replacement parts) arriving by rail in H Vans. Grain wagons were just as likely to transport animal feed as malting barley and could be transhipped to a lorry for delivery to a customer. There is a photo in the National Library O'Dea collection of a grain wagon being unloaded at Fermoy using a small portable conveyor to transfer the load to a lorry, no need for a pit or a silo! Bantry Station was the towns second station, the original was on the hillside on the Cork side of the town near the current Hospital former Workhouse and seems to have been abandoned after the extension was opened, possible site for goods station or stone built 19th Century flour/feed mills or even a distillery, Middleton and Bandon had major distilleries why not Bantry? Alman's (Bandon) seemingly dependent on the US market closed because of Prohibition wiped out its major market, a lesson for us all today? What if Bantry survived into the Railplan 80 era most likely traffics would have been trainload fertiliser running for a locoa Co Op as required, Bagged Cement weekly tran possibly serving Bandon, Dunmanway? and Bantry (railhead for Skibereen) Another potential would have been a weekly Bell Liner conveying frozen fish from Castletown Bere (or possibly move the fleet to Bantry), at one stage CIE operated a weekly Bell Liner from Sligo conveying fish traffic from Killybegs (possibly 20' Refrigerated containers) On a practical note I'd recommend laying permanant track on cord or a dense foam underlay (I use camping ground sheets), the resilience of the foam allows for more reliable running and a lot quiter than laying track directly on the baseboard.