jhb171achill

Wow!!!! In the earlier scenes, is that a straight-sided non-corridor BNCR coach in the middle? Couldn't really make it out?

Ah! Interesting.... superb job.

Brilliant stuff, Kirley - really well made. Looking forward to seeing them operating. Worsley have an amazing range of stuff.

What is the canvas side made of? And how did you weather it so convincingly?

I think athlone itself, and surrounds, is a swimming pool!

Aaargh!! Very Somerville & Ross -esque....

That's really quite another level of modelling! Well done (as always!)

TOP notch, and amazingly realistic weathering!

Maybe Rod Stewart (he's another one) might have Irish roots!

What's a "chukka", old chap?

Often happens, Noel! And IE had NIR-owned and liveried 112 for several years....

Yes, Belturbet - also Dromod.

Thanks, Broithe! Lord Whatis-Name and Lady Muck-Trollop would approve greatly!

Excellent!!!! Ancient UTA; initial MED - would they be 6 & 7?

Readers who suffer less than I do from "Too Many Birthdays Syndrome", to wit, young'uns; might have noticed here and there nowadays, and more so in old photographs, sidings which end up against a bank or what looks like an end-on platform. Some of these have ramps up to them from the "land" side. These are where road vehicles could be loaded onto railway vehicles - flat wagons or, for elegant horse drawn carriages not to be exposed to nasty old coal smoke from locomotives, covered vans. These were known as "carriage trucks" or "carriage vans" - nothing to do with railway carriages, more so road carriages. After infernal combustion cars were invented, if a road vehicle was to go by rail it would tend to be loaded (in the same way) onto a flat wagon. I attach - possibly even the right way up - drawings of a GSWR design, though all railway companies had them. How else were the gentry to carry their varnished horse drawn carriages from Dublin to wild, exotic remote places like Cappoquin, Raphoe, Ballindine or Magherafelt? The loco would shunt one of these vans into the carriage dock, while the footman or carriage driver of Lord Whatis-Name (has to be double-barrelled) loaded the carriage, which was then attached to the back of the passenger train in which the good Lord and his Ladie(s) were travelling. A horse box, of course, might be also attached (of which the GSWR alone had over 100 of at least four different types). Naturally, the mere peasantry, the Great Unwashed, hoi-polloi, commoners, IRM readers and Ordinary People were welcome to watch. From a suitable distance, of course; we mustn't upset Lord Whatsis-Name, lest he increase our rent again. Well, the original picture was the right way up.....

I'm sure there would have been crossings at least of the narrow gauge track and broad gauge sidings within the Guinness complex in Dublin. In India, there were places with metre gauge, 2ft 6 and 5ft 6 all in the one station....and in mainland Europe, especially Germany / Austria / Switzerland, the standard gauge often meets, and has mixed gauge tracks with, 700mm, 750mm, and metre gauges...

Larne Harbour, Ballymena and Ballymoney stations had it too at one time. I don't know offhand of any other examples....

It's at times like this I wish Bob Clements, Harry Montgomery and my grandfather were still about to ask questions to! A main line layout featuring all the big Cork line stuff would be amazing. If there were 48 hours per day, nine days a week, and sleep was unnecessary, that would be my big project! Such a set-up would feature Woolwiches, 400s, 500s and 800s, along with all manner of 0.6.0 and 4.4.0 types. The selection of carriages and wagons would be infinite - everything from 1870s ancient gas lit six-wheelers to modern "Bredins" and Pullman cars.

I think Hornby has a future. I would guess that its woes in the recent past had more to do with fine tuning how they ran the company, than lack of potential market.

Nice picture though. With the 1905 saloon in the background, it looks like St John's junction would have, maybe in the late 1960s had they got a diesel then. The saloon is en route to Ramsey, the diesel is en route to Peel and No 12 is in the middle road. Maybe it's pushing a double ended steam train to Douglas!

Dinning car? ;-)

Some people are too thick, greedy or both, to get it into their heads that the "worth" of something is what someone else is prepared to pay, not what they think it's worth, wish it was worth, or what they originally paid for it!

Yes, club members do read this..... folks, it would indeed be helpful if directions were on your website....

€€€€€ hence my comment about Backwoods Miniatures stuff. The Ballymena & Larne had several locos of almost identical design to the IOM. The Oxford die cast is a toy, and unpowered. While it looks well as such, it will very probably look very crude and toylike beside "proper" models, certainly those of Swiss, Austrian or German origin. It's made as a display item and may not be suitable for conversion to powered, and is not necessarily built to a recognised model scale. You can get proper kits of IOM engines. This would be money better spent.

Fifty shades of cement bubbles....