jhb171achill

In my generation, an "app" is half an apple, which is a fruit, as is a blackberry. If you eat too many Blackberries, you get Bluetooth.

Many thanks,Dave and aclass007.

It's probably better, to be honest!

Anyone suggest any easy, free apps / downloads, which even I* can use? [* now THAT'S a tall order...!!]

The GNR equivalent of the CIE "H" van is very similar to vans built at the same time (1954) by British Railways, and a straight repaint is a good equivalent. Don't forget an "N" after the wagon number though, when in CIE livery. The pallet van has more differences, but easy to alter, as demonstrated well here by others.

So the old bright green livery has given way to more conventional brown, I see...

Incidentally, what type of programme do you use to do that layout plan? What system is - - VERY simple to use - free - devoid of any form of pop up ads!

Now, if the draughts in the cab could be diverted to the carriage interiors, that would be a great improvement!

I would have been there either November 1969 or 1970, I think.

I'm unaware of any in Ireland, bar the instances discussed on another board about 5ft 3 track being interwoven (as dual gauge) with 3ft gauge, as at places like Larne Harbour...

My earliest forays were into the old shop at Monck Place near the old Broadstone station.... How long is that closed now, anyone remember?

Prototypical too; larger engines being barred from going into certain sidings! A Canadian based layout has plenty of interest potential too.

When commenting on being flung about, hurricane, it was indeed stretches of the Cork line I had in mind, though the Galway line has several patches too where you experience, eh.... turbulence! As railcars, despite my above comments, ICRs are the opposite end of the comfort scale to the ghastly 450, MED and MPD cars of UTA / NIR! All of them, particularly the 450 and MED cars, were extremely uncomfortable for any journey over ten minutes. The underfloor engines on an ICR (or more so, an old AEC or BUT car) made their presence felt now and again, the AECs being even noisier than an ICR. But an underfloor noise-insulated engine is better than an above-floor engine. Apart from diehard enthusiasts who like extreme engine noise (and depending on what's up front I'm one), travelling in the actual POWER car of a 70 or 80 class, or a 450, was sheer murder. I have travelled in all manner of trains on four continents and have never found anything with the vibration and noise levels of those. On a 450 the experience was added to by the two-speed engines (stop and start), the bad ventilation (warm and stuffy in summer, cold in winter) and the puny seats. Rant over..... bah humbug!

I wouldn't say I've an "issue" with them per se, in fact I've posted before that I find them comfortable to sit in. Personally I find loco hauled stock better in many ways, but it's not from that perspective I'm coming. I too have travelled extensively in ICRs and continue to do so. Maybe you've a steadier hand than me (!), but at speed they are not at all smooth riding. That's one thing. The other is the extreme heat in them all too often. But that's fixable - apparently they set the heat on so high to please the blue rinse brigade who use them so much in daytime - I was told that from an "official" source! All modern trains, including, of course, Mk 3 coaches (and Mk 4) suffer from this aversion to fresh air that everyone seems to have. Modern buildings likewise; anything or everything three days seems to have to have sealed windows which can't be opened. Hospitals, offices, large shops the same....

Correct, Southern Yard, it didn't - so that line was clear!

An ICR at speed - well, a Mk 4 is at best ok, compared with Cravens, laminates or old wooden coaches, all of which rode WAY better. But an ICR is dreadful - like being a marble flung about in an empty biscuit tin. Writing, or drinking from a cup of tea is very difficult.

That would just about do it and no more, Glenderg. As you say, he needs to watch reaching the back.

In that case, I stand corrected!

I hope it works for you, Joe, but I seem to remember from my own first 00 set when I was 12 (i.e. in the late Neolithic period), that 6ft X 4ft was the generally accepted minimum. Could you even stretch to 3ft 6? Hopefully. I hope I'm wrong, but I think 3ft is getting a bit too tight. It would be interesting to see if others have managed to get an 071 round a curve slightly under 18" radius, as it would have to be.

Just a thought, and it might suit Weshty; if there's going to be a new "production run" of maybe 8 or 10 B101s, might it be worthwhile for all interested to "bulk buy" maybe half a frozen of these things, as they seem to suit so well? Postage savings.

As UP6936 says, a terminus layout is probably best.... Many prototypes. Modern image - Ballina, maybe a Tralee / Killarney approximation (but with timber trains!). Old style steam era - millions of places. Short of space - a prototype of the Waterford & Tramore would be an interesting one. Go for really obscure? Dublin & Blessington's Terenure terminus - tram engines, goods wagons and small Ford railcars..... But there are loads. That's the beauty about model railways. Your imagination is the only limit to what you plan to do. Money, time and space will cover what you actually DO get done, of course!

If planning isn't at an advanced stage, joe123, you might consider (and bearing in mind what aclass007 says above) thinking in terms of planning a layout based on an industrial premises. Such a thing can make for some very interesting types of shunting operations, and quite complex. A dockside setting, just as one of many possibilities, would involve short wheelbase steam or diesel, 0.4.0 and 0.6.0 types, and lots of 4 wheel stock, maybe short length bogie passenger stock as was the case, for example, on the Courtmacsherry branch. Come to think of it, a shuttle layout based on somewhere like the as a terminus might be interesting, C class diesels, are shortish, and with a hit of poetic licence, a G class or two. I always thought a layout based on the shunting procures round the docks in Cork, Belfast or Derry would be interesting.

It's tight enough, Joe. Would you consider N gauge if the site is necessarily narrow? That's what prompted me to go for 009 narrow gauge instead of 00. An N or 009 curve can be as little as 9 or 10 inches radius, though a bit wider is obviously recommended.

Maybe it is single track, then....

Yes, the height difference made goods trains look very un-uniform, especially when corrugated opens, the odd wooden open wagon, and the odd wooden van of GNR or GSR origin was thrown in. Add to that the box shape of a modern 20ft container on a 4w flat wagon, or a couple of bubbles..... And this is before fertiliser bogies appear! Then add in the ingredient of some brown, some grey!