jhb171achill

Absolutely ridiculous, especially from a so-called postal person! I have to say the post office near me (yes, we still have one) is very good, but if a post office can't tell the difference between a British postcode an eircode; and don't know where Co. Laois is, hmmm...... They'd know where Normandy or Alabama were, without ever necessarily having set foot in France or the USA!

Arrrrggghhh!!!! Wish I was there. 49 was itself one of the clean ones I saw, in Lisburn, probably round that time. I think - but can't be sure - that the other clean UTA loco I saw was another of the same class, or maybe a "D" class 0.6.0. I never once saw a clean "Jeep"; to this day it seems odd to me to see No. 4 in pristine state at the start of a Railtours! And the only J15 I ever saw in steam was in Amiens St, and was filthy on the same level, the only paint surface showing under the rust and gunge being the drably faded grey paint on the cabsides......

Those coaches look really well.

I agree too!

It's an absolute gem of a layout, Noel. A layout which really captures a moment, an atmosphere, is art as well as, and as much as, technical skill.

I hope it's genuine Dundalk superglue, Patrick. Don't be putting York Road or Inchicore stuff on it, or it'll fall apart completely.

This captures exactly the atmosphere of the period. Rakes of carriages with no two alike, and no two in the same state of wear and tear, were absolutely the norm throughout the black'n'tan era. Our "two foot rule" (the meaning of the expression only being explained to me the other day!) applies here perfectly. The carriage may be far from authentic but it certainly looks right, especially with the other with it. It actually bears a vague resemblance to the most recently built MGWR bogie stock just before GSR times. Some of these lasted into CIE days, though probably not black'n'tan times - but they could have, and it certainly looks right for its environment. And it's a very fine paint job indeed for a 12 year old. Brilliant stuff. (Now all ye need is brown chassis on those goods vans!) ;-)

Excellent wanderings. Love the BnM stuff. A good main line there! Question: what's the longest continuous BnM line now, and do any trains traverse its entire length?

Get well soon! (I hope that's a 12" to the foot scale model.........)

I repainted some BR Mk 3's about 1990. To add the "tippex" lines, I just used a commercially available "letraset" lining of the right scale width, that you'd get in any stationery shop and varnished over it.

Thanks, Railer, for clarifying that. That's a good use for it indeed.

Tis a fine looking model indeed. And they were to be seen all over the GNR system, with the occasional foray onto the NCC in UTA days. At the far end of the GNR's territory, they were to be seen about Dublin briefly in the early 60s. I am sure I've seen a pic of one out on the Cork line doing something. So, on a layout, those locos are extremely versatile. My only memory of them is of seeing two at Adelaide. No. 49 itself was shunting and the other was dead - dunno which it was.

In the latest ITG magazine, among the usual roundup of what the current state of the rolling stock fleets is, there is a reference to a vehicle no. 7161 "preserved" in Inchicore. What is this?

Patrick, on the basis of your original post, I'd say a yellow felt tip will do the trick.

It's a good shade too light (looks totally white in top pic) but at least it's not white!

Why not!

If it's straw, it's too light...... That said, I do salute the maker for producing this model. As always my criticism, where it exists, is with liveries, not production - and certainly not of the hard work that both manufacturers and scratch builders put in. It can always be repainted! However, easier to get it right first time.

Proper chimney, remove cowcatcher and add proper buffer beam, round-topped dome and super-sized headlamps, and dip it in a tin of grey paint and you've a Westish Clareish looking thing indeed.....

Proper chimney, remove cowcatcher and add proper buffer beam, round-topped dome and super-sized headlamps, and dip it in a tin of grey paint and you've a Westish Clareish looking thing indeed.....

Hard to tell, Patrick, without making a mess of an expensive model! At the very least, you could absolutely weather it within an inch of its life, but the white lining is going to hard to make into anything remotely believable. So; UTA LOCOMOTIVE LIVERIES The UTA lining style was a pale yellow / straw colour and red. Tender and tank sides, and cab steps, had a thin red line inside a slightly wider straw line. Running plates had the red above the straw. Connecting rods were red inside only. Boiler bands and outside cylinders had the thin red stripe, flanked on both sides by the wider straw band. On the BCDR section, numberplates were usually red with raised yellow-painted numerals. I have seen a pic of one (208) which appears to have ploished numerals but it could be the picture. UTA locos of GNR parentage had straw painted numerals on cabsides edged in red. The motley collection of diesel shunters inherited by the UTA had the same style, although latterly ex-BCDR No. 28 was plain black, unlined. Numerals depended on ancestry: ex-NCC shunters had red plates as steam locos, while ex-BCDR stuff had painted numbers a la GNR. On the NCC section, the numberplate backgrounds were also red, but the raised rims and numerals polished bare metal. This included the narrow gauge section, the rump of the B & L. One "Jeep", I think it was No. 5, carried an experimental green livery, by all accounts like Isle of Man locos had in the late 60s, for a matter of months when new, before the then-new UTA decided it wouldn't wear well. Given how they looked after their steam locos cosmetically, it's probably just as well that such a light livery was given its marching orders. Maybe Weshty might do a purpose-made set of transfers to cover over this awful error on the production model?

Correct, Patrick. A straw colour plus red, not white and red. The lining on the UG model is British Rail!!!! Which was a white-lined very light grey with red. And yes, red con-rod. As others have commented, a very attractive livery when clean. Of course, many of us will remember it in a very heavily weathered and worn dirty state, but few will remember it clean! Personally, I can only remember two or three occasions when I saw a reasonably clean UTA loco. The current lining on No. 4 is correct.

That's the one! Some years later, I added details to it and repainted in it lined BR black with proper numerals and crests, just to see what it would look like. It turned out surprisingly well. I sold it about 25 years ago.....wish I'd kept it.....

Perfect! Now I'm educated....... though live frog wiring will forever fry my head.

Ah! Makes sense..... at the risk of appearing utterly imbecilic, what's the origin of the two foot rule?

I'm intrigued....what's the "duck test"?