jhb171achill

Tony Looking good! In terms of raised running bed, yes that is a good idea. For absolutely maximum accuracy, you might like to study photos to see where the high and low bits were. The GNR (and GSR) often had a central "drainage trench" between the rails.

Yes. An antelope steak. Someone at portadown assured me.

Superb!

Post will be an issue, yes, unless May can pull some serious rabbits out of hats. The rules re borders are crass and unnecessary. If a country wants to leave, they can do what they want with gauges. If they want to stay, they'll continue with the same gauge they have not only now, but a century before the EU existed!

Indeed, Sulzer! I suppose, to be fair, they can't get it right every time...!

Just before that train went out of service, I had the delicious steak in it, and it wasn't on the menu even! Also, they only had one left and they didn't charge me! Try that in the DD or a Mk 4......

I don't, Glenderg - time stopped for me after Cravens. BR Mk 1, 2 & 3 stuff to me is.... I'm afraid...... ....... (sorry, I dozed off there. Where were we?) :-) I have to say, though, in that form in England it looks amazing. None of the NIR liveries, nor even the BR blue and grey, made it look as well. As for the brief insipid light grey and light blue of NIR, probably the drabbest and dullest livery ever!

Eh? The windows are completely different....

Some of their cars look well. Cars and vans in station forecourts - if the right era, and if the wheels aren't super-shiny - can add a lot of realism. But a Toyota Corolla, for example, on a black'n'tan layout ....no.....

Little touches like this do big things to realism!

99% sure mid to dark brown and light cream.

Oh! Now I see...

The goods vans parked behind A20....(brown)

The first year I went on a runabout ticket was 1975 and I think it was just about still in use then - the mainline was certainly. I was into the siding with RPSI's 186 in 1972, so it was definitely in use then. Must look it up. Suffice to say, no supertrain ever went in there! Cravens would have been the most modern thing. At a pinch you might have got a loco in supertrain livery, but this siding belongs to the black'n'tan era - C's and A's probably were the main thing.

Just testing my eyesight - what are the greyish things on the ends of the goods vans? can't make it out......tis me age..... That goods brake van is a beauty.

My only jaunt on it was early 70s. I think it lasted until about 1977.

exactly!!

That's some telephoto! Must show about 20 miles of track compressed into a yard or two.....!

An interesting concept for a layout. Any variety of locomotives under the sun, whether in GSR, CIE steam or CIE diesel days. Myriad types of old six-wheelers and random selections of wooden and occasionally modern carriages; a carriage fan's paradise layout! And, of course, horseboxes galore, something rarely seen on layouts.

I simply could never get my head round wiring electrofrog points. The old way was simple. years ago, for the last layout I had which was in planning stage about 1983, I sent a diagram to Peco and they replied promptly. Maybe they're not the same nowadays.

That's good indeed.... and if they are refurbing 201s, it suggests that the 071s are safe for another good few years. They need both. Mind you, one might read that another way; unfortunately, it would make sense from an operator's point of view to have a single class of loco. Could it be that refurbs of 201s will eventually simply replace the 071s? There's one for another day........... On the subject of passenger fleet life spans, both Britain and mainland Europe have managed to keep electric stuff in traffic for decades longer than anything diseasel. How long will the original DART cars last? Nothing wrong with them except the dreadful seats.

Only ten or fifteen years ago, anyone who suggested a ready to run high quality original model of anything Irish, let alone an engine, would have been rapidly escorted to the Home for the Incurably Retarded, Demented and Hopelessly Delusional......... (Leinster House and Stormont were the relevant institutions, and still are)...

I can see the rationale, yes..... and while it's true that railway administrations have to work with what the accountant likes, not what us enthusiasts like, it does seem strange that other options weren't considered. One might accept the rationale behind eliminating shunting - but there can't be any accountant's argument in favour of setting aside some 20 201s instead of converting at least half of the Mk 3s into push-pull mode. That's what happened widely on the continent. Go to Switzerland or Austria and there are millions of loco hauled trains, and almost all are PP. Anyway.................................. Time I got on with finishing the captions for "Rails Through Connemara". I'm still hoping for a June launch but I'd need to get a move on seriously....over'n'out.

Hats off to those who produce Irish models, but have to deal with factories and work practices a long way from here. It must be frustrating for them when delays occur. The main thing is that a model of this stature, and anything else MM have done, is WELL worth the wait.

As a regular traveller on the Mk 4 sets, I have yet to be impressed by a single detail of them. I'll give them one credit though, and it's not much of one. The onboard temperature, while it can be stuffy, is nothing to the claustrophobic, severely uncomfortable extreme heat of the wretched ICRs, which only very rarely are a comfortable temperature. They are frequently - and I have this on good authority - over 22 degrees. Also the toilets are not ventilated. Try using one after someone has done their No. 2s in it..... I was on an ICR the other night and I know for a fact that it was actually measuring at over 22. That is bad enough, but compared with the adjacent coaches, the one I was in was WAY hotter. Why can't we have trains these days with opening windows? I'd rather do Belfast to Cork in a 2600, either in Roses or Quality Street livery, than one of these stuffy tin tubes. Rant over, for now.....