Hunslet 102

Thanks Nelson-I am back home when it is on so all being well I will get along to see your layout and say hello.

Kieran-a couple of close up photo's of AEC 111 railcar as requested,will upload the others as and when I get a chance.

Seamus-a couple of close-up shots of the DH loco.I done her about 10 years ago so she is a bit rough round the edges,but a great little loco that I am proud of.

Thanks John,in the photo below,the regular from the "Crown" managed to get through the ticket barrier having returned from the RVH for his train home to Finaghy after being treated for his latest fall outside the pub!

Nice work with the Park Royal Noel,the passengers really set it off as well,well done

Nelson-what date is the show and where in Carrickfergus is it held.Nice looking layout,well done

You are right Ivor.I knew which original your model was based on but thought their windows were slightly smaller than the others.great photo's of another unique homemade class,thanks for sharing. Nelson-the Sealink livery would be a unique one to model,it was quite striking in its day.

Superb high standard as always Richie,that is one stunner of a coach

Great set of photo's Ivor,thanks for sharing and thanks also John for the detailed information for the colour schemes prior to the NIR maroon/grey era.Your info plus the photo's have confirmed what I thought I had done right on my models,that the blue/cream colour scheme did not carry any logo's.

Excellent as always Kieran,although self inflicted injuries are not recommended!

There were 2 driving trailers with the small windows,the others were more normal size.

My kind of modelling John,I would certainly be interested

Thanks Richie and Noel.Richie-the late 60s,70s and 80s on NIR threw up combinations of anything and everything and with me living beside Adelaide freight yard and the comings and goings of the CIE loco's and various freight that was around in those days,no wonder I spent most of my growing up days hanging around the railway all day,8 weeks of summer holidays well spent!Looking forward to seeing another addition to the layout that will bring back memories from that era. Thanks must also go to Colin (River Roe) who gave me the UTA logo's for the green railcar-they set ther unit off well. Ivor-dont ever remember an MED set in eau de nil,but then I struggle to remember the green diesels also!I will make some inquiries to try and throw some light on it.

Nice scene again Noel,a GM and a couple of coaches,it doesnt get much better,keep up the good work

Superb work Ivor,that is one class 70 class set,well done.

Great information Leslie,thanks for posting

John-you mentioned that slide on a previous post somewhere else on the forum,just cant remember where.Anyway,when you mentioned it and the date,68/69,I done some digging and found that all 3 colour schemes were still around at the start of the NIR era,which surprised me as I had assumed all the green liveried vehicles had been painted into the blue/cream livery.With that knowledge,I happily embarked on doing all 3 liveries all within my NIR framework period,so thanks for your initial input. Would love to see that slide.

Thanks Ivor and John.It seemed to be a favourite pastime of both the UTA and NIR to paint their railcars in various liveries during their lifespan.I actually like the blue/cream livery,but the maroon/grey is still my all time favourite livery.

They did Broithe,it was Crosshill Quarry near Antrim,a flooded quarry where most of the MED and MPD railcars were mothballed and met their watery end

Thanks Kieran,glad you like the railcars.I will try to get a few more photo's taken of them and post them up.All my railcar sets are powered by Lima pancake motors which I have found very reliable and have given me great service for many years.That said,my layout is small,DC controlled and all area's of the track are accessible by hand for track cleaning,which is essential for good pick-up and running of these motors. I will PM you soon with details of how I done the railcars,but bear in mind they are not 100% accurate and certainly not for the rivet counters.Like my layout,my models are more like lookalike tributes rather than accurate replica's

Thanks for the comments guys!Been a while since my last update with not much work being done in the station area due to the building of a couple of railcar sets.The following photo's show the changing face of NIR from when it came into existence in 1968. The first photo is from 45 years ago,in 1969,which shows AEC railcar 111 still in the UTA regional livery of blue/cream,a livery it carried to the end.Beside it is sister AEC railcar 112 in the UTA green livery,which she carried to about 1969,before being painted into the NIR maroon/grey livery. The next photo shows 112 leaving GVSt,with the K15 and AEC railcar 116 in the NIR livery. The next picture is a side view of the rest of 111s train,witha K15 in blue/cream livery and AEC 118 in NIR maroon/grey livery. The final photo is an overall view of Great Victoria Street station in 1969,with CIE 141 loco in the foreground of platform 2 at the head of the CIE Enterprise comprising of cravens and laminate stock.The 2 railcar sets can be seen in platforms 3 and 4,while in platform 1,the recently arrived DH loco,3 of which were bought by NIR in 1969,is at the head of the NIR weedkilling train.

Looking good as usual Kieran,well done

The MPDs are looking good Kieran,great job,well done

Nice work Nelson and well done on getting commissions,your work certainly merits it.

A great tournament all round,won by the best all round team,Scotland and Ireland will have their work cut out in the forthcoming Euro's.I think Mexico were the most unluckiest team,they played the Dutch off the park for 88 minutes only to be outdone by a blatant piece of cheating,something else that should be severely punished.