Colin_McLeod

Paul this is an excellent thread and your history of the spoil wagons is both fascinating and very informative. In their latter years as ballast hoppers they became prone to derailment and this resulted in a number of operational restrictions such as speed and loading.

Welcome to the forum.

Now you can see why NIR purchased second hand tried and tested coaches instead of more experiments at high index linked prices, with a delivery date of God knows when.

Congratulations

@amdaley Robert French was my Great Great Grandfather, his Granddaughter Natalie Marion French being my Father's Stepmother. I have a very interesting album of his photos taken in various towns around Ireland.

Surely you mean trains for teenage girls. They are the ones who thought it was cool

Agree. For example by the time I had discovered IRM, all the orange cement bubbles were gone. They are now even more rare than hens' teeth and when they do appear expect to pay c €100 per wagon. My solution: buy IRM bubbles of any colour, a tin of paint and some transfers from Model Irish Railways who trade on eBay with the username sylvimcnall-0

Our buy any colour of IRM bubble, a tin of CIE orange paint and some transfers from Model Irish Railways, (trading on e bay with the username sylvimcnall-0

Early trials before going into service on the main lines.

I was very impressed with that Polish layout. The long run with buildings etc at realistic distances apart and the rolling stock. There is a very definite eastern European look about it.

Remember you have limited time to pay the VAT or the parcel is returned to sender. You can pay VAT on line at www.anpost.ie

Excellent news. I'm looking forward to this model.

Looking forward to this show and to meeting the IRM people tomorrow.

They have arrived

Lisburn line passengers having to change at GC would be like Bangor line passengers having to change at Titanic Quarter or Larne Line passengers having to change at York Street.

Finally received the 'order despatched' email from Rails today.

Wasn’t it the same with the Hornby Dublo Deltic?

I predict that he same will happen with through trains; hopefully a lot quicker this time. I have a theory that to make things as flexible as they could be would have required investment in diamond crossings and maybe a couple of single and double slips to get all pointwork to fit in the space available. That extra cost could have been detrimental to the case for funding so it was all laid with simple turnouts. Now that the station is built and operating, the case for upgrading to through running could be put forward. Meanwhile, the track layout does NOT prevent through running. It is possible and perhaps a choice has to be made between 'frequency of journey' and the 'time the journey takes'.

Still waiting

Nothing wrong with your kit. I have six of them hauled by an MIR Hunslet in NIR light blue livery as a ballast train. However rtr is popular among those who are short of expertise and/or time to build kits.

Still waiting for any word.

Now that's something I would buy. Don't even need to do a loco. Serious suggestion; How about an IRM Jeep hauling a rake of IRM spoil wagons and a second Jeep at the rear?

Jim, they don't do things like they used to in my day lol By the way, Belfast Central Railway was not without its problems such as the gas main sub project that 'discovered' a live culvert resulting in the railway becoming a river in the Botanic cutting, nor the vandalism of the signalling cables on the first day of operation of trains from the Great Northern line, but these problems were overcome.

A similar thing occurred when a Guinness train was derailed at Gorawood during the Troubles. By the time the railway staff were allowed in to recover the train all the barrels had disappeared.