jhb171achill

Having delved into the Catacombs, and perused 1950s working timetables for clues about signalling, I found out a little more. Westport Quay and Cahirciveen - Valentia were operated then (and for many, many years earlier) as "one engine in steam", thus allowing little in the way of catch points, no ground signals and just one home starter, and home approach signal. This will make life MUCH simpler! Valentia had had a signal cabing, but ended up with a ground frame; so did Westport Quay. The lever frame at Valentia both in signal cabin and GF days, had but five levers; three for points and two for signals. This would have meant one signal each for home approach and home departure. This, therefore is what i'll have, as my plan is to recreate the sort of small terminus which would have one mixed and one goods a day, coming to life big time whenever it was beet season, GAA All-Ireland day, or Knock specials. This type of system was probably reproduced in other places in latter days; I know that Ardee cabin (which i was in one time) wasn't exactly packed with levers, and Castleisland could possibly have been similar.

A fantastic layout, really captures the atmosphere of the 1950s on the narrow gauge. Any more photos?

That's probably more like it. I want to have a good look at what Valentia Harbour had in its latter days. Anyone familiar with the diagram? I haven't had a chance to look at photos yet but will do.

They say "north east" of the existing one. What will become the down main would be east or south east of it, I would have thought. Will this new one have a "corner" where it faces the W & L behind the loco shed too?

You're quite right, bsgsv. I intend it to be as accurate as possible, so traps would need to be included indeed. Snapper's analysis looks correct, and had such a layout existed, it would almost certainly have been signalled like that originally. Both Westport Quay and Valentia, and many another place, were simplified over the years, and I'm looking at a likely accurate alternative. You'd be surprised where three-way turnouts would be found - while pricier to install, land was pricier still. Polloxfen's grain sidings in Co Sligo had a couple. I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures of them somewhere on the narrow gauge (now THERE'S a quiz question!). In my scenario, space dictates, especially as I want the more realistic looking long-radius points on the rest of the layout.

Interesting..... a platform on the "main line" of the W & L (after 160-odd years!)..... So, the main (only) platform will become one face only, presumably, and there will also be a new down platform?

The first one is holding a rabbit in the air. The second is playing with his super-soaker. The third and fourth are playing the famous old shovel pointing game.

Wow! A thing of great beauty indeed!

It's soooo tempting to say that they're the "wrong livery", as their overalls should be filthy!!!!

That would never do! (Imagine a J15 in NIR "red bull", or an ICR in lined NCC maroon..................................................................................!!)

Well, the years have made me bitter and the gargle's dimmed me brain.................!!

Aaaaarrrggghhh! Looks ghastly.......to make! (Or have made!) At least mine's less complicated by far.

I would certainly intend the point rodding to be static, not working!

Interesting, Luke - that appears to make perfect sense. Any other thoughts, anyone?

I'll check that out, Tony, many thanks.

Folks I attach a track plan of a station very vaguely based on some sort of combination of Westport Quay and Valentia Harbour - the basis for my current venture. The idea is to have it signalled for passenger working / ETS. I have an idea of what signals should be where; the loco siding would in this case be just a hand point off the goods road at the top of the diagram, presumably, and there would be a home signal at the platform end for departures. But what of shunting signals? And positioning of point rodding? Thoughts on a €50 note to the usual address......?

Cheap wagons! A few 5-plank yokes which will be good enough for a repaint and a level of weathering of truly ghastly level! If you search about at rejects an the like, they can be as cheap as £5 each.... Also a few accessories like a road van suitable for repainting as a P & T van of the fifties or sixties. I want two of these to meet mail trains... There are also several wooden-planked British goods vans which are a very good approximation to some GSR goods vans built in the 1940s. Again, I'm looking for as cheap as chips.

Folks and folkesses (if any!) I have been trying several times to order stuff from Hattons online, to no avail. Every time I try to save a list of things I've ticked to buy, a message comes up to say "sorry....blah blah blah....fault reported to webmaster....etc". It doesn't work. I spent some considerable time trying to buy quite a god lot of stuff, yet their website - which at best is interminably slow - just doesn't work. Any thoughts, or alternatives with as large a range as they have? I emailed at one stage - no answer. I doubt if they have a "webmaster" - if so, he's Rip van Winkle as he's been asleep for a long time.

A good accessory for a model J15 is a crew: driver and fireman in overalls, plus a tall figure with a black beret and long brown overcoat - Bob Clements hitching a lift as he often did! Once I get the present layout up and running, various well known characters will appear about the place in the form of little figures.....

Well, it's the season after all.......!

Looks as close as anything to many standard styles, particulary GSWR. In this guise, it fits perfectly into its surroundings. Maybe Glenmore is an ex-DSER location, or maybe it's ex GSWR, like Rosslare - Waterford, Palace East - Bagenalstown, or somewhere between Waterford and either Mallow or Gowal Limni!

A single one (193 from memory?) was repainted all-grey about 1961/2, only months before withdrawal. Uniquely, it had a black smokebox and chimney, but was otherwise "sheep-dipped" grey. None were lined in any way, ever, but many had black edging around the crimson buffer beam. No other black at any stage.

He also made two stationary steam engines, and started on a locomotive (only boiler & cylinders); the standard of workmanship on the latter was exceptional, and he parts moved very smoothly. He was an excellent wood-caver and turner too. He built a model also of a GSWR convertible ("soft-top") goods van, to a scale of about an inch and a quarter to the foot. It remains in actual GSWR paint. Apart from the above model (which he made as a toy for my father about 1920-ish), I don't have any of the other stuff, which a relative has. So at least it survives! It would be my hope that some day it can all be displayed alongside Maedb in Cultra.

Good evening all I have had a lengthy phone call tonight with Roderick of the excellent 00 Works, who as most will know is planning a launch of a RTR J15. After several previous conversations over the livery, I took some more photos of my grandfather's model, ninety years old at the moment. This was a coarse-scale 00 gauge model, but the photos are to show the grey paint which is original. Before photographing it in daylight, I took the precaution of checking that the paint hadn't faded or become discoloured as old paint can. The test proved positive, as they say, by filing away gently at a small section on the tender. So - this is what the GSWR replaced their lined black with, starting around 1915-8, and which the GSR and CIE continued with unaltered until the end of steam. I'm posting this for general interest as well as for Roderick's information - I can confirm that he has gone the IRM-style extraordinary lengths to ensure accuracy in all areas, a difficult thing with a long-lived cl;ass with so many examples - so these locos will be eagerly awaited. I'm sure I don't need to add that like any new model, it will come as it would have looked "out of the paint shop"; buyers can weather down - as the prototype would have had - to whatever extent preferred. The grey was known to darken in time, usually as a result of a combination of rare cleaning, big intervals between repaints, dirt and oily rags used for cleaning. Exact matching with colour card size will follow. It is - rightly - OO Works' intention to get this historically important (if dull!) livery properly right. The pictures follow earlier postings of mine, of the same engine in different light, including artificial.

I'm not sure where I got that from, harry - it was probably a joke!