Noel

It’s s pity the Youghal line was not restored to service and instead sacrificed to another useless greenway instead of a busy commuter rail extension to Cork city, OR it could have been a preserved heritage railway line out to Youghal for weekend excursion close to a large population centre (ie Cork). The only other candidate I can think of is if they close the Ballybrophy to Nenagh line the RPA could hand it over under license to a heritage railway operator, then the line at least could be accessed by main line rail instead of driving a long way up to NI. Wonderful and all as they are, Downpatrick and Whitegate are just far away and too awkward to access for most rail enthusiasts down south. Personally narrow guage doesn’t float my boat like the UK standard guage preserved railway lines do. I guess in Ireland we just don’t have the tradition or population density to support such. So for now model form does the trick.

Looks like it's sorted https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2025/0512/1512326-us-china-trade/

Where will it all end Ted? Fortunately, my collection days are just about over, I’ve enough stock now to see me through future projects and to EOL.. Not happy at potential costs for our grand children developing an interest in the hobby. They’ll get my stuff anyway, but I’d prefer they start small and learn the joy making stuff themselves.

[quote=glenderg]There was no issue with coupling height, it was all done to NEM standards, and if not, this rake would have ruined itself when the video was taken on the 16th November 2017, some 8 years ago..[/quote] Hi Richie. Respectfully there was an error with the coupling height on the ballast wagons and the cement bubbles (inc ploughs that shared a common chassis). IRM even had a fix page on their web site back then with a solution. It wasn’t about running problems, it was about NEM compliance and incompatibility with Kadee couplings. It wasn’t a problem if one used the supplied gull wing mini tension lock couplings but was incorrect for Kadee’s as the NEM pocket height was incorrect. All other IRM stock since then had had perfect NEM pockets in terms of height from the rail top. I got around the problem by gluing kadee no 18s to the underside of the NEM pockets to get the correct height for kadee coupling height guage and kadee uncoupling magnets. It was a right royal PITA having to do it to two rakes of ballasts and two rakes of cement bubbles. This might have been a hangover of the unfortunate DJ input to IRMs first product which were the ballasts. Murphy Models had a similar fault with their craven coaching stock when the NEM pockets were also at the wrong height and needed fettling to use with popular kadee couplings. First world problem, but given the re-runs it might have been an opportunity to correct the tooling as that chassis is shared by carious IRM wagons (ballasts, cement, plough vans, magnesite’s, gypsum, etc). Photo below illustrated the problem. The manual fix. A pity the couplings could not be use correctly when plugged into the NEM pockets

Sounds a great move, and should prove popular. Is there any new tooling to correct the NEM pocket height error in the original run?

Jeepers Dave. That advert from The Hobby Horse in Rathfarnham shopping centre took me back. Fabulous Shop. Sold Hornby, Peco and Wrenn. Had multiple display layouts in the store and one above shelf height that was always running.

Does you know how does it treat plastics?

Not sure DCC will help clockwork Thomas

Great idea for a layout project And the L shape may suit a room. Been to Fenit many a time, a surreal little place of awesome beauty surrounded by tralee bay and the kerry mounts. Amongst the finest beaches in Europe. Was struck by the vast size of the Leibherr Cranes exported from the quay transported by road from the Killarney Factory. Can you imagine if such was possible by rail instead (no bridges would be possible). The concrete pier at sunset is awesome in silluette as brilliant bronze sun washes through the vertical pier support structure. We’ve cycled along part of the old track bed. Brendan the navigator pointing west past Little Samphire light house island. Warning on a gate nearby along the old track bed. Will watch this space with interest.

071 models about to be rerun and rereleased by MM, according to a little birdie who knows a man.

I've been in hospital for a week so havent been near t'internet and missed this. Wow this is a stellar announcement. No wonder the recent intereest on FB in the Bachmann CIE coaches. Never seen 800 run myself but its a must have as it was the iconic mainlune express loco in Ireland on the Cork-Dublin line. Something to look forward to for next year. 800 was more powerful that the GWR castle class.

Thanks for info guys. I already have an accurascale account. FYI, as it's only Thursday, I noticed non of my IRM orders have moved across so far. Presume they will appear in next week or so. Once we are still same pricing in Euro with no customs/vat on delivery issues, well then happy days. Looking forward to the Park Royals in due course. Continued success. Looking forward in time to buying your O gauge 141 . . . and B113 in 00!

Bump for the FB groups

Yes there are so many options pushing H which for now with grey hydrogen is fossil fuels by the back door until grids have transitioned 100% to non-fossil. JCB have released their combustion H engines for heavy construction, there is still the inefficiency of H which requires storage, distribution using fossil fuels, distribution and pump storage, etc. It just doesn't stack up well2wheel for efficiency compared to BEV for cars which can use the electricity grid for the most efficient energy transfer to wheels. HFC hydrogen fuel cell seems the way to go for rail as locos can safely be high pressure refuelled at depots, same for HGVs where HFCEV has a role (ie depot refuelling). The problem for cars aside from high costs is there are zero H pumps in Ireland, but every home has a 3pin socket. Only time will tell. A mix of solutions probably with BEV being the standard for cars, HFCEV for HGVs, buses, heavy agri, construction, rail, etc. Airbus are in proof on concept stage for H powered jet engines. Low cost air travel is gong to get carbon taxed out of the skies sooner or later, so a solution needed for aviation urgently. Toyota seem on a hiding to nothing pushing H for cars while they continued to sell so called 'self charging hybrids'. :)