jhb171achill

Good decision - turkey’n’ham doesn’t look well on a layout....! (I’m in the same boat!!)

Put me down for twelve.

Superb! And the passenger shelter will be easy - I think it’s still there - standard NCC concrete box! jhb171Senior surveyed the line in 1947 for the NCC with a view to costing its conversion to Five Fut Three. Once the UTA came along, it was all scrapped!

Ireland HAS opened up. In order for the RPSI to function it has become (HAD to become) a bona fife registered railway operating company. Having said that, IE don’t publicise their theoretical “openness”. The elephant in the room is this - there isn’t the remotest hope, even in the eye of the Borissite-Thatcher Head, of any commercial company making a solitary red cent out of railway operation in this country. The directors of the GNR learned this in 1953, in my fathers time. What sort of crass idiocy might suggest otherwise sixty years later? Addendum: I accept the reality of the EU, and I support it1000%. However, I thoroughly support any spanner that might be thrown by IE and / or NIR into a pond which houses fish who advocate Thatcherite policies within our railways. Good night! Over’n’out.

Correct. One (dunno which) is now at Downpatrick and will be restored as a passenger brake vehicle, as one or two were actually briefly converted to in CIE days.

Could take a while - a wee birdy told me that the paddle steamer has got a flat tyre....

Operating a full-size public railway as a commercial entity anywhere on the island of Ireland is not going to be anywhere near economically viable. It’ll have to be subsidised. Therefore it is (a) cheaper to provide it through the nationalised service (no “fat cats” and shareholders to pay), and (b) of no interest to a commercial company - unless subsidies are paid to it - i.e. back to square one. Greece is almost certainly in the same boat.

That track really looks the business!

Indeed; fastenings irrelevant. You could have a dud and a real thing attached to a modern garden gate, by the same screws....

I'd be half inclined to sell the house and buy the other 80%!

As far as I remember there was a sliding door where the passenger area was adjacent to the guards area. Certainly in all variations I remember - with the exception of an elderly converted Bredin I was in once on the up Sligo night mail. But there were variations on many themes among the laminates by the time they were all withdrawn. I recall being in a laminate standard in 1972 with a most peculiar layout of doors, vestibule & jax at one end. Dunno what number it was, just remember the inside. It was on a midday down Cork with a newly-painted “Supertrain” Nos. 121+12?...

Weathering fixes that....

Bruce01, that's a good collection of stuff and seems in very good condition. There's a bit of money's worth there - don't let it go for a song. Apart from ebay, you might check out the Gauge 0 Guild, in whose magazine you might be able to place an ad. Before you name prices look up what each type of item - if there's an equivalent - is getting on ebay. If you decide to advertise here, the mods' rule is that you state a price here.

Even beforehand - CIE had it from the outset (1945) when as you say it was copied from the DUTC (who introduced it in 1941). The "snail" itself was based on the London Transport logo, but with "wings" added. CIE was nationalised in 1950.

Some have a weathered CIE logo on diagrams above? Is that on the models? Excellent realism!

Flying snail? Mk 2s wouldn't have carried it, as it was suoerceded some years before any Mk 2 stock came here, and it was a CIE logo, whereas NIR had the Mk 2 stock. Pre-Craven types of coaches carried it. Some models have been produced in CIE green with the "snail", by Bachmann, Silverfox and Irish Freight Models. Most are limited editions - check their websites for updated. The "flying snail" was intoduced in 1945 and discontinued after winter 1962/3.

Looking amazing, Eoin, can't wait to see finished job! Excellent finish.

Absolutely superb - thanks. If mine exudes half that realistic atmosphere I'll be happy.... Presumably ferts will feature at some stage!

That rake of laminates... could we see a closer look? Are they Silverfox?

Great to see it all back, folks. Well done to all concerned.

Possibly, yes..... I recall seeing coaches in scrap lines. The green was by now a flattish shade - hard to describe. The lighter green was by this stage showing a greenish creamy colour, rather than white as such. Maybe some sort of creamy colour..... I'll experiment with paints at some stage. I also seem to remember that if really worn, it showed as streaky, like the paint was washing off to show the darker colour underneath. On my first visit to Inchicore (mid 60s?) I wish I'd had a camera... there was all sorts of stuff about in scrap lines...!

That's a suitably shabby appearance indeed! Postal vehicles rarely seemed to be at the top of the queue when men with paintbrushes were about! I have an old Hornby coach which with a bit of alteration will look like one of the last pair of WLWR brake 3rds. I have painted it a flattish green to make it look like the earlier dark green turning as shabby as yours. The green looks right for this, but I am not sure how to go about adding the "eau-de-nil" lining to match the faded shabbiness - indeed, this lighter shade on a badly-weathered coach seemed to fade even more than the dark green. I had thought of approaching a manufacturer of lining to make a batch of "weathered" lining, but probably too much effort and expense for too little use. I will eventually have no more than two or three vehicles that i would want to look as worn as that.

Nice trackwork - great potential! I'm fiddling about with ideas for a terminus at the moment - I thought a 5'3" version of Letterkenny's track plan might be a good size for a layout.

According to jhb171Senior, his father considered the 400s a mixed bag - good ones and bad. Doubtless, as you say, due to the many variations as time progressed.... I wondered myself why not more 500s.....

At IRM Towers, many gems could be seen when I made a business call. The choccy bikkies were good too..... 9D376EAB-D0F9-4ADC-AEDF-E3E2F5888F3A.MOV 28C5614A-0336-4873-B395-FC37BE6E7407.MOV