DiveController

I was referring to IRM doing a little steam engine and the poke at the Royal Mail was just an aside. Apologies the confusion

I've been shipping then 4 at a time and now I have a larger package but reassured by what you've experienced. Just received a small package from the UK today also. USPS guy knows all the international packages are model trains and often squirrel it away safely behind a pot in view of the video doorbell. Needed s signature and there was a new guy on the route so has to go to the post office to retrieve it. A little OOworks but they don't come cheap when you factor in currency exchange and Royal(ly shafted) Mail rates for a small item. Wish IRM would do something like that. Need to do some testing od the As I received over the weekend. All IR so far and A1.

I usually ship them in 3-4s. Customs don't seem to bother with them too much that way. Stephen @BosKonaysays they're not subject to US customs charges. If correct, that would be great. It would certainly cost me less if they shipped together and were arrive undamaged.

Good luck with the surgery

You do but no need for this to be on thread. I'll PM if that's ok

Actually I now have the opposite problem. Several of my orders have been combined under one tracking number but were specifically ordered separately and a shipping fee paid for each separate order to avoid any customs issues. In my experience this many locomotives in a box also don't do well and have never been packed in the very nice fashion as the single locomotive previously shown on this thread. If this is the case, I am not very happy with that an dI will need to reach out to you guys @BosKonay

Neodymium magnets under the track. Avoid wagons with ferromagnetic wheels and wagon weights that extend near the end of the vehicles that tend to produce inadvertent uncoupling

Thanks Fran!

Seeing as we are effectively at the end of the business week and approaching 'Winter Time', may I ask what order numbers are being dispatched at the moment? I have four sequentially numbered A class pre-orders (trying to be fair with postage costs) in the mid 7000s. One has been dispatched and was received in 2 weeks ago in the USA. The other three orders have not even been dispatched as far as I can tell, not to mention the one I placed before the ITG

European petrol costs no more than in the US, Brent crude etc (and OPEC) govern the price. Refining and transport may vary a little but the difference between US and European prices is purely taxation. This begs the question what have all this billions of euros been spent on? Certainly not on railways in Ireland and certainly not on regional roads to alleviate traffic. Europe has made a lot more progress than the US and unfortunately, as a generalization, I don't see that changing with a partisan congress, divided democratic party, poor general level of education and an amoral fragmented and dysfunctional society. The US uses about four times as much energy capita than most other developed nations and consumes energy like a nation as large as China. The gas and oil lobby will ensure that does not change any time soon, back to corruption and deep pockets .....

Nine left . ,these have been selling at 3-4 locomotives/hour so do the math

That's very impressive! Super job!!

The very real problem here is the unfettered world population explosion consuming all known mineral and natural resources but as nobody wants to go there (except the Chinese), I'm not going to either. I'll let a certain Mr Smith explain

This is just another example of large faceless deep pocketed multinational companies with an in-house legal department exploiting third world nations where environmental and worker protections are far poorer than in (some) developed nations. These governments are (even more) corrupt than in developed nations, life expectancy is lower, occupational safety, medical access and medical treatments virtually non-existent. The multinational actually could do this well but that choice is dictated by economics and the prevailing regulations (none there). Then there is the local gombeen ready to exploit their own countrymen (and women and children) to the same end while some in the first world experience some guilt about 'our' treatment of these nations. Some time spent volunteering in an eastern African country for a few months a couple of decades ago instilled a deeper understanding of all this. This is not a new phenomenon. Every empire, Roman, Spanish, British has done this through the millennia. Civilization has merely renamed things, multinational corporations etc. The funny thing is that these undeveloped nations should be holding the first world nations to ransom for these lithium, cobalt and silver ores (et. al.) Despite all this , I have ordered a hybrid vehicle to replace our aging 150K+ miles fossil engined vehicle as probably the lesser evil. If I don't stop now the fireman will never get that head of steam up to pressure again ......

200 piece Limited edition A Class A3R in BnT dipped band identical (as far as I can tell) to sold out A23R to support the ITG (only 88 pieces left, so get your skates on if of interest to you)

That was a little confusing but rereading that it seems the blog is merely stating that it ran later in the nineties in this livery after the Inchicore 150 where it was reliveried into A3R

Thanks, @hexagon789. I contacted a society member and I am sorted.

Looks like the available cash went on the locomotive and nothing left for the 'models' there

How does this preserved A3r differ from A3R was in traffic with CIE? @BosKonay There were some obvious differences between say MM141 and MM141A(preserved) most notably the LED light clusters (and I don't recall what else)

This is a chance for anyone who missed out on A23R to acquire something in this livery. I wish I had been able to include one in my recent order. It's still €40 each time with DHL for us in the US

@leslie10646The IRRS should really consider having these available for a time or archived and available to members. Life gets in the way even in your time zone as you can see and IRRS members in the USA & Canada effectively can never attend these unless unemployed, retired etc

I'd take your deposit for now Leslie, if you haven't already done so

Here Dunluce Castle from Jonathan Allen, link should work for everyone https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/50801169151/in/photolist-2k5zbz3-2kp8gGK-oWVYqA-2k5tcLp-2j1r8TD-2iHoRmx-2cfkBj5-2bMS4QA/

Its on the IRRS Flickr site (for members, so should work for members) It looks very similar in design to the CIE version, maybe smaller jaws I guess that the NCC was part of MIdland/LMS so would have been early to adopt the practice, any idea when? Wonder if there are any photos of the NCC snatchers anywhere?

I didn't realize how prevalent the prototype dark green livery was and would like acquire Green A46 (new, unused or tested only). I would be willing to exchange another IRM class A for it (let me know your preference) Would prefer exchange by Parcel Motel in Ireland or USPS in US for simplicity for both parties if any takers. PM me if interested. Thanks