DiveController

True, maybe John Haskins who wanted the steam train operator fined for delaying him will take up the issue of ICR stock with IE.... (hand still to ear, no sound) ..... maybe the Twit-er server is down

I thought it looked like a 4w sorting van conversion. great photos, Richie, very informative. Knew very little about these before this thread Yes, agree with jb, nice layout! Yes, 4w sorting van/TPO 2971 would be correct

Yes, flange, very much so. I knew there was a shot of a 1429- somewhere floating about. Thanks for that. I'd be really interested to see a photo of one of the other composites or 13xx standards if they exist

Excellent, GSV. Just what I wanted to know. Superb information and thank you!

Looks well, Gerry. I suppose some of the steam age stuff persisted for a long time afterwards some may not everything would need to be changed out to be prototypical

Was brown/bauxite the standard in the 1970s or for fitted vans only when the were retrofitted with brakes?

If anyone has any photos to post or refer to, would you please post? I think we've come full circle since post #1:)

Wasn't disagreeing with that, just saying some of us might not model our trains with sufficient variety at times. THese old clips are great for demonstrating what ran together in those times. Love that video. That train also has a 4w heating van with space for 3T of luggage AND two luggage vans!

I'm glad you confirmed that as I could not see the fairly distinctive features of the Park Royals (granted, it's not a great photo). Would most of the composites and standards turned out in that post-1955 era at Inchicore have been turned out in silver. Mostly I have seen these in photos in green That makes perfect sense now given the typo in the book

Indeed, it seems so outlandish that one would probably not run that as a model

John, sorry I missed your post above. Thanks for that.

That's a great shot in Supertrain. Many looked like this in the late 60s prior to re-engining. Incidentally an example of the ETH that was discussed above on the buffer beam. Have to agree and be grateful that someone had to foresight to see them preserved. Again, from Brian Flanigan

NIiiiicccee, John. That interior is fantastic. No change of you doing a resin mould of that interior to go with your coaches, I suppose? Superb job! You should try lighting the coach with an LED strip, would really show off the detail

On the baby GMs the MU connection seemed to be a simple affair with a single cable between locomotives (all by the same manufacturer of course). I saw the MU working you referred to with the Black & yellow B233 in multiple with a 181. It had not occurred to me that such MUs occurred, over 2000hp with the more powerful 201 in charge. There must be at least 4 hoses on the 201s bufferbeams, possibly one for GMs, AECs etc, (hence my confusion regarding their purpose)? When re-engined they would have been almost as strong an an A class had been, and much better equipped for heavy freight then when originally put into traffic

One peculiarity for modellers of the C class is that 206 was the first to receive its GM engine in 1969 and B206 was repainted with the waist level band rather than the low band in all other B201s when re-engined (233 and 234 which had been re-engined earlier with Maybach engines, of course) I'd definitely like to see a photo of that if the member or anyone has one

Looking good. Thanks for posting

Great information John and Jon and very interesting. I also noticed that the C class locomotives at one point were equipped only for a vacuum braked train with little to see on the bufferbeam apart from the occasional Electric Train Heating connection as you described above. At other times (and this seems to be later in in their careers mostly in B'n'T) they seem to have multiple hoses right and left on the bufferbeam consistent with air braking and reservoirs etc. I wonder if the C were equipped with train air brakes when they received their new engines which brought them from only 550hp to about 1100hp. Also present on B233 in Black with yellow ends which had been re-engined with the 1200hp Maybach I haven't seen this on the A class (except of course 029sa which was the only one with airbrakes)

That's amazing, Anthony! Beautiful work stock and layout Incidentally, Rebekah got back to me in her usual prompt fashion and they're researching new motors for anything not delivered yet including the 'U'. I'm happy to wait for this loco. Great video! Really enjoyed that.

Leslie, replied to your email. K

Possibly a Monday morning in Italy? (it probably happened on other days of the week too) All the snails should have the left hand wing uppermost rather than on the bottom. All of these look wrong. The (correct) flying snail would be the same on both sides as the coaches ran in both directions. However, on tenders the upper wing of the snail always pointed forward to the locomotive. All of these snails would only be correct in only one position own this set, and that is in the RIGHT hand side of the tender

Were you planning to use the excess strip or just cut it to the length required for one coach? The only downside I see is the size of the 3xAA batteries which is bulky. Might certainly have an application in lighting buildings or platforms where the box could be concealed though

It would probably be cheaper (and not too hard but a little time commitment required) to lay a closed foam underlay for noise reduction and ballast the track using PVA glue when you have decided on a final layout. Playing around with the design for a while may be helpful to ensure it continues to stimulate your interest and enjoyment first.

I decided to start a new thread rather than continue to discuss the C Class on the very informative thread started by jhb on the A Class Metrovicks here; Liveries, headlights and wipers were discussed here http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/5384-Symphony-in-quot-A-quot-July-1975-Drogheda/page6 I realize that not every one may have a copy of the excellent but now somewhat rare® book by Barry Carse on Irish Metro-Vick Diesels (Colourpoint, 1996) but for those that do or know, can you please comment the following; There is a silver connection on the yellow bufferbeam of C203 in black livery in November 1968 (p36). This is described to be for train heating with certain coaches 1) Waas this peculiar to C203 alone or did other C/201 class locomotives have this connection? 2) Did C class locomotives supply HEP to the train? 3) Electric or steam heating? 4) Which 'certain coaches' did it supply heating to? Thanks, K

Yes, quite correct. It's 1981 in Supertrain and 233 had its GM engine installed the previous year. No porthole rear on the RHS. Just the three:) I doubt that 234 has on a fourth either

Apparently the then new Park Royal coaches were turned out in 'silver' for a time. Michael Baker's book appears to show a pair of "10' 2" wide unpainted suburban Park Royals" on a Dublin suburban working from Dun Laoghaire in 1956 (Railways Past & present Dublin p34)