jhb171achill

For N gauge especially, that's a very neat little model. It raises the issue: a great need in the RTR world is a proper scale AEC railcar set, in CIE, GNR, UTA & NIR liveries. If not N, certainly OO. While on the subject, a proper RTR 80 class set.... Between the two, they are an absolutely essential part of the railway scene, especially in the north, from 1950 to 2000!

Just reminded me..... anyone remember Harry Enfield's character "William Ulsterman"? Superb stuff!

The weathering on the wheels looks very realistic too. Well done, Nelson.

The spiders are the wrong way round too.

From €5 to €100! Quite a range!

When this livery was introduced, CIE had a bewildering collection of carriages of many origins, ancient and modern. While six-wheelers wouldn't last much longer, and no passenger carrying ones would ever bear black'n'tan, Bredins, laminates and Park Royals mingled with wooden bodied carriages of a multiplicity of designs. Most MGWR types were gone, and all DSER and WLWR ones, but among the larger GSWR stock there were many vehicles still in service, of both of the GSW's basic side profile designs. Add to this the CIE and GNR railcars, inherited GNR stock both wooden and steel-sided, and it was noted that with the plain green livery, uniformity was guaranteed - so - with the new livery it also ought to be. Thus, exactly, as you have done above, the policy from day 1 was to have the white line and tan ("tan lines"?) edging all of exactly the same height from rail level. This showed up as a bit odd on some older vehicles, where the division between black and tan, and the white line, were carried across the vehicle cutting panels in half, where a slightly different alignment would have looked more logical on that vehicle taken in isolation. The idea was to make visual uniformity out of chaos!

Now that you mention it, Eoin, I remember you mentioning that. A terrible shame, as you say. Maybe an outsider recommending your services and wares.........?

The cobwebs are the wrong livery.............

About time. In my opinion, the actual Fry models ought to be displayed; they are too valuable and unique to wear out. Detailed photos of the innards and home-made mechanisms which power them would be of interest. In this day and age, more modern state-of-the-art models by Murphy, Provincial, SSM, IRM and the other manufacturers here would make a better operational display. For readers of this website, no introductions are necessary, but in all reality the regulars here would collectively do a better job than anyone else at assembling a working layout, starting with baseboards and ending up with high-end scenery. The opportunities are there. Using kits alone, the NCC, GNR, and CIE / GSR areas and eras from 1930s onwards would be easy to replicate, in so mnay cases just with RTR off-the-shelf models. Perhaps a consortium of kindred folks here might open discussions with whoever is putting this all together?

This looks really well - superb painting too...

Excellent work - a real treasure.

Thanks for that, Boskonay... so only feasible if the buyer can do all the design stuff themselves....

A question to all you 3D-ers..... This is a medium I know little or nothing about, hence the question: suppose I was to provide someone with a drawing of a coach, let's say, or even a loco, as a one-off job. Using best quality available materials, what sort of cost is it to produce one or two items?

Excellent job indeed! Having taken my pills, I can be calm and conniption-free. I haven't had a fit of the Screaming Fits in a week, and I'm recovering well after my last episode of the Heeby Geebies..... A heavily weathered chassis will show little or nothing of its actual colour, so it's useful for black wagon chassis in general. The above could well be grey underneath! Looks completely realistic. Of all the wagons that ever existed, the bubbles were probably the worst weathered in modern times! For those with GSR / CIE steam engines, if the model is black, and of a type that never had black examples, heavy weathering can make them look acceptably realistic.

If he parked them along the border, then hey presto! There's his wall.....

That's a TOP class job, Noel.

Buying separately is a good idea. You'd often see them sitting in goods yards.

And that grey is entirely the wrong shade.

An absolutely superb layout getting better and better. (Glad it didn't become a greenway!)

Dugort Harbour takes shape. Highly impressed after a visit to Baseboard Dave in the distant lands of Deepest Edenderry....

I think there are still a small number of GNR and UTA / NIR men alive. Frank Dunlop and Barney McCrory spring to mind.

The CVR stuff certainly appears to be a mix. CIE narrow gauge wagons ended up in a deplorable state - thus, rust. A few CDRJC wagons appear to have had some black ironwork, but others all grey. When jhb171Senior visited the CVR in 1937, nothing black was to be seen on any wagon ironwork - at least, not by him. However, I have certainly seen photos showing black on some stock at least, so it is likely that the policy changed at some stage. As Mayner says, however, on the NCC, UTA, GNR, GSR and CIE, ironwork was never picked out in black. Nor on the BCDR. Exception: the BCDR had eight private owner wagons belonging to C Ritchie. Initially at least, these had black ironwork. The East Downshire wagons also look as if they may have had black ironwork, but photographs are inconclusive given weathering and rust. In reality, black and white photos are highly unreliable for colour shades - very obviously!!

I absolutely love this ongoing work of art. An aside, in the photo; this is where modellers have in the past assumed black painted ironwork; rust on same, despite being originally painted body colour! This will appear darker in black and white photos. (You can see one end member in better unrusted order). I always presume that this common misunderstanding is behind the "zebra stripes" on Whitehead's "Ivan" (though it doesn't excuse the cream inside balcony ends on it, also responsible for misleading modellers! Dunno where they got that one.....!)

Interesting stuff..... with its main line railcars, the NCC was well up to date - easy, when you had a parent with deep pockets.

RIP