jhb171achill

See above pics!!!

That was done by Dempsey, of this parish. Everything I possess was weathered either by Dempsey or the equally talented Kevin McIntosh of Bray.

Castletown West continues to be tested. Scenery is a good way off yet, but we'll get there. Some of the resident locos to be seen here. The plastic platforms are off an old layout and are only there to establish where exactly to put permanent ones.

When in traffic, they were initially kept quite tidy, and repainted at respectable intervals. Towards the end, patchwork was the order of the day - the bogies might be shiny new brown, along with one end, with the sides and other end composed of panels with paint peeling off, faded, disfigured, or replaced with an unpainted panel. Initially, the CIE logo was ALWAYS on the second panel from the left, but latterly they mixed doors and panels up. I saw wagons with the logo at the other end, in the middle, and on at least one, TWO doors with logos; others again, none.

Fine lookin' beast The final one in this series - unless I find more!

An absolute pleasure to see so many familiar faces today, and others I know on here but haven't met - like J-Lo Arts and David Holman. It was an absolute privilege to see Fintonagh in the flesh for the forst time - it's just as stunning as the pictures suggest - SO much going on in such a small space, and as always with Mr. Holman, the scenic setting and immaculate attentiuon to detail is really exceptional. Fenaghy is another favourite of mine; the UTA in such excellent and accurate detail is a much-neglected subject, especially the erstwhile NCC section of it. Superb stuff all round, and an enjoyable day meeting so many people I hadn't met before, or haven't seen in years. As a result, I arrived back in Dublin at 17:30, not 15:30 as I had intended (and needed!) to.....

Autumn 1958, and 472 brings the late mixed train into Castletown West, against the backdrop of a spectacular sunset.

The late afternoon branch passenger train hurries through the boglands towards Castletown West on a gloomy evening in 1974. Scenery is now ready for grass, weeds and overgrown stone wall boundaries. The gritty dirt is dried out and washed turfy, sandy soil from Achill Island.

Now that I'm back from a few days away, here are a couple more.

He told me he couldn’t be exactly sure when any of the above would be ready. He deals with up to four separate factories, so it’s in the lap’o’the gods for now.

Not sure where it is, to be honest! All I know is that he did get to Rathkenny. He did not cover Ballymena - Ballyboley for sure, and I am unaware whether or not he did Larne - Ballyclare….

Another for tonight. I believe this to be mid-1930s.

You do realise that without a wagon number, Mr Weaver will kick up hell!

More, this time the LNER area.

No we’re not…….

“Halfway” liveries rarely last long.

I had a fair oul go at the scones and KitKats, neither of which appeared to have any suitable pockets for NEM couplings, let alone a place for a DCC chip (mind you, they would have been a bit chewy). Otherwise, they looked extremely realistic.

Saw the whinging, indeed. However, I think most of us with a bit of wit realised the realities as pointed out by some club members.n It's a bit like then preservation issue "Why doesn't the ITG / RPSI / DCDR put everything at Moyasta and everywhere else into fully-restored heritage use next week....?" In the tiny market that is Ireland, we're lucky to have shows at all, and people to man them and organise them. I have started 3D printing large parcels of 500 euro notes in order to be ready for the next IRM announcement. All children, cousins, kitchen sinks, uncles, parents, siblings and neighbours are long since auctioned off. My credit card is at the doctor's this afternoon.

Well done Ken, in both your treatment and the latest developments at the port!

I knew I'd get excellent info on this one! Apparently it was built in 1932.

Nice scenery in the background (right)...Scotland, perhaps? This is again, I believe, from a visit in the 1930s.

Another 1930s view.

It is 47 years ago, today, that the closure took place of the Burma Road, Listowel - Ballingrane Junction, Ardee and Loughrea branches…. I got to Loughrea and Ardee by rail, but sadly not the other two (though I was in Foynes by rail two or three times….

As you suggested in your first post, a well-run club can cater for all. I'm not a member of one, but if asked to set one up and given sufficient budget, I'd go for a "generic" layout, which was just a bit of fun for all, but with space within the club for a rivet-counter's paradise, where a high-end strictly accurate model of something could be made up - this would double as a highly impressive exhibition layout........ tis a broad church, of course.

That I don't know - I'll see a few of the people at a private function tonight so I'll make enquiries and if anything comes of it I will tip off MRSI and others. To be honest I doubt it, but no harm in asking.