Noel

Didn't realise a container full of A class and 121 models could weigh as much. Lima crap was much lighter. Red faces all round I'd guess at that depot.

Yea its gas the way our childhood memories shape our nostalgia views of railways past. The first time I had been on a train in NI was about 1998 on the enterprise which broke down in Portadown on the Drumcree weekend festival, having travelled from Londonderry to Great Victoria before changing to the enterprise for the run up to Dublin. That scenic coastal rail journey is etched in my memory. A niece is studying in Coleraine, and another is living in Portstewart. Beautiful scenery up there. Can you believe it I've never actually seen a Hunslet except in you tube videos. What era did it run in?

Its amazing how fast OCR and even handwriting recognition technology replaced the need for manual sorting. EIR codes came 20-30 years too late to be of any relevance from a sorting point of view. OCR is faster anyway. EIR codes good for couriers especially in rural areas.

Not a bad price for a sound equipped loco. NI stock was not part of my nostalgia memory growing up.

Fab photo. Brand new 121 in delivery livery hauling a pristine rake of new laminates in flying snail green livery. I remember going to Galway in a set like that out of Westland row.

Best layout exhibition on the island, but a prudent decision to postpone in light of circumstances prevailing and public health needs.

CIE 5 plank wagons in progress. Dapol Donors cheap as chips. These wagons finished with wheels, couplings and transfers will cost me only €8-9 each. The dapol chassis runs sweet and free. Not sure what loads I'll put in them. They were used to carry all manner of general merchandise by CIE in both flying snail era and the broke wheel 1960s era. No 1960s CIE freight (goods) train existed without some of these along with corrugated open wagons and H-Vans. They had thousands of them in their hey day.

Been a while, confined to barracks so may get some mini-projects done. 6 CIE Vans started. Dapol donors primed. A little fiddling with the chassis needed. But hopefully will have 6 more vans to add to the existing 1960s rakes of pick up goods wagons. Not sure if I will do them CIE grey or CIE brown or a mix (3 of each). These could go nicely with my 3D corrugated open wagons behind black'n'tan 141s.

And kept them nice and quiet inside no doubt (ie no noisy kids running around nor hen destination pax)

Keep safe

Yea there will always be the odd extreme in a market place, amazed there are that many folks bidding on it. So much less expensive to buy a MM super train version from marks and add the white lining as transfers and respray the roof black, or even commission somebody to do it. Fools and their money, etc, but its their own business.

True enough.

Superb job. Really tastefully done. Love the detail of the weathering (eg base of stanchions) and that it is not over cooked. Class job

Yes

Holy Moly I've ten of those Lima heaps. Didn't realise each one was worth more than a Murphy Model 121 or an IRM A class. 45 years ago I thought they were the bees knees and the cats whiskers but €200 is nuts for what are basically door stops or paper weights.

Hi George, not really, I don’t do exhibitions, so more for home use, but may lend it to club colleagues if they’d like to operate it at exhibitions. Anyway I don’t have a beard so not qualified to exhibit

Cheers George. Most of my station track is on gentle bends, very little straight track except in the main terminus. The 20yo bachmann wagons I have used so far haven't been a problem shooting forwards perhaps because the older axles were not as free nor finely balanced as more modern stock. The IRM ballasts and bubbles shunt very well. Naturally the new 42ft container flats do not have this problem due to their weight and modern era stock doesn't get shunted anyway (ie fixed rake formations). Shunting seems very much a 2 axle wagon past time with stock from 1930s to about 1974 after which the railways as we knew them became rather boring (ie uniform fixed rake passenger and goods formations). I'm building a new shunting layout that is lineear 10ft long by 2ft and exclusively for shunting using kadee's

C-Rail already do, it must be one of their best sellers (ie the Bell 20ft). IRMs recent 42ft flat wagons come with 40ft Bell's produced by C-Rail. (unless I've misunderstood something). Single 20ft Bell midships upon 42ft container flat (3D FUD) A pair of weather Bell's - ding dong!

Shunting 1960s style using kadee couplings. Posted before a year or two ago, but here goes again for any newbies to kadee's or shunting. These couplings would make short linear shunting layouts very enjoyable to operate. I've often spent a few hours just operating this corner of the layout. Bachmann BR converted to CIE with Kadee's added Just a little dusting of dirt, CIE broken wheel logos and new couplings and ready to shunt close coupled

Well I found where Dave's tools were left Hopefully they will have an onsite cafe for visitors in the future. Really impressed with the whole setup including the building restoration, landscaping, etc, but the memorabilia and the way the collection is documented and shown off is credit to the organisers, designers and curators.

Just back from a visit to the Casino. Very impressed with the whole setup. It is a wonderful museum honouring and displaying the incredible Fry collection. The museum exhibits are displayed and organised IMHO way better than the former at Malahide castle. The layout too is superb, perhaps less visual activity to entertain then the old castle layout which was a visual and audible assault on the senses. But from a railway modelling point of view absolutely stunning. Perhaps not as much movement to for general public but it was nice to see children run around the layout following the odd train espcially as they disappeared and reappeared. Bray head is stunning and one thing in particular caught my attention and that was the sublimely realistically modelled wave crests near the beach on Malahide section of the layout. Well one baseboard dave.

Thanks David, I won't be flying anywhere anytime soon.

You should see the 3D printed working signals on Little Siddington. Fully signalled including ground signals which are all lit. Will try and post some pics later unless @enniscorthyman has some.

Nuts. Like met alerts

Excellent results. Amazing detail underneath for brass. I rarely look at anything below the sole bar but these look superb