Noel

Hope you still have your shovel handy I was just about to start a kit I have, but in light of Saturday's news I will try another C class or a Sulzer instead. PS: Yes the one above in the pic was RTR, hence the unorthodox visual pattern above the front cab windows. Two of these should complement the IRM A classes next year PS: Anybody spot the major glaring mistake? (aside from facial impact from a shovel)

The Great Model Railway Challenge on Ch5 or YouTube. New TV series covering layout building competition between 15 teams. Very entertaining and great publicity for the hobby. Episodes 1-3 now available on YouTube. The rest should be also on YouTube after its aired on Ch5.

Thanks Patrick. Yes, I fully understood from Fran's (@Warbonnet) post IRM would be 'bang on the money' and accurate to evidence of past liveries via photos, etc, and I now understand IRM's A23r will have the lower stepped band. Please forgive, perhaps I should have phrased my query more clearly. It seems there were two variations of height on the high (i.e. non-stepped) orange band applied at different times on all B&T A classes. My query was simply which of the two high band variations have IRM chosen for A15? Cheers Noel

Order placed. Will start building new loco shed.

Thanks Fran. There were two heights used for the higher band B&T livery. Restored A39r on the photo above had the higher high band (forgive the highs), whereas many high band A's had the slightly thinner high band set at the same height as the front cab band of A3r above without stepping down along the sides. You can see the difference in heights using the marker lights on cab front. I assume the IRM A39R will be like the restored loco, but will A15 be quite the same height as the untypical high band on A39r? A3r photo above shows the correct white flash above the cab windows.

The orange band here seems very high, higher than the band would have been on adjacent B&T coaching stock of the 60s and 70s. Pity the white flash on the front of the cab is also completely wrong.

Thanks Kevin. As far as I know all the B&T locos initially had high waist level (i.e. wide like A39R is now) orange bands similar to coaches, but at various stages after rebuild some of them had the narrow lower level 'stepped' orange band like A3R below. I'm just now sure which of the IRM B&T locos have the stepped narrow orange band. Photo from Steve Johnson's web site http://www.stephenjohnsonrailways.co.uk/A Class.htm

Hi Guys Could you please give a little more detail on which variant of the Black'n'Tan livery is on your three B&T locos as it is not apparent from the current web site listings. A15 A23R A39R In particular which ones have the 'stepped' lower and thiner orange band? Also is A46 the lined green loco, the lighter or darker shade of green? Many thanks Noel

Understand. Best of luck with the new plans.

Four years ago when I was just about to order half a dozen A class locos from SF, Fran discretely mentioned to me that "a friend" of his might be doing something special in the line of a quality RTR A class model. IRM had not yet launched in public back then, but this model locomotive and its incredible spec must mark the culmination of a dream for the IRM team. A major milestone and dream come true. Well done guys, walking before you ran so you could learn along the way while maintaining quality and innovate. Not alone have you raised the bar, you are perhaps redefining what the bar means. Congrats on getting here. . . . this not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but it is surely the end of the beginning - and the best is yet to come. Respect for what you have achieved with this young start up business.

Do you mind me asking why Tony?

Words are not adequate. Thank you guys!

Hi Fran. Yes the CMX is functional looking, however it’s just a tool rather than a piece of rolling stick. No waterfalls, the pads are just kept damp by the regulator valve so no cleaning fluid gets on the sleepers or ballast. I drive mine at about a scale speed of 25-30mph twice around each of the loops seems to be enough. You can see how effective it’s being by the amount of dirt accumulated by the coarse pad material under neath. The wagon effectively drags the heavily weighted flat pad block along the rail tops with the wheels only being a guide rather than weight baring. It comes with a good supply of replacement fabric pads but I’m still on the original one as I give it a clean now and then until it eventually wears out from friction. Ps. You would need a consist of co-co centre drive diesels to pull the CMX up a layout incline or helix, alternatively as on our layout we just haul it down the inclines.

Nice pic here of 42ft bogie flats at Mallow carrying a mix of 20ft Bell pairs, and 40ft Bell containers. Some time between 1987 and 1994ish. Fran, presume we could load any existing C-Rail 20ft containers we might already have onto your new 42ft wagons once lug holes drilled?

Yes I too was initially shocked at the cost, but after trying other useless products including a DIY cleaning wagon took the plunge and glad I did. It saves so much labour, puts the track work and ballast bed under less physical stress than elbow grease. I only have to run it around the layout twice a year.

CMX track cleaning wagon. Expensive but it works phenomenally well and worth every cent. I put methylated spirits in ours and just two slow laps of each circuit behind a loco, and the track is spotless. On sidings I hand push it. There is an adjustment valve you can use to control the flow of cleaning solvent onto the pads. It is very heavy and best pushed by a large diesel loco (e.g. MM 071 class). They come with Kadee style couplings so you will have to either plug a kadee no 19 into your loco's NEM pocket, or convert it to a TLC, or just rig up a hook if your tow it. Can't recommend it highly enough. https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/cmx-track-cleaning-tank-car-solid-brass-hooo-scale/ https://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-101071/cmx-clean-machine-ho-oo.htm

In 1970s when containers first started to appear, Bell 20ft containers originally ran on 20ft or 22ft two axle container flat wagons. However once jointed rail was gradually replaced by CWR (continuous welded rail) two axle container flat wagons were used less due to the speed restrictions imposed on them because of the dangerous oscillations they developed on CWR at speed. From then on 42ft bogie container flats could carry either two 20ft Bell containers or a single 40ft Bell container at speed on CWR as per the IRM product announcement above. One of the IRM products above has 2 x 20ft CIE containers carried on a 42ft bogie flat. Dates concur with Stephen's comment above. Me too, I don't recall seeing them, but I knew they were carried on rail and B&I was a well known transport brand in Ireland. Memory can be a strange thing, in my case of suspect memory Bell seemed to be the most common containers followed by Hapag-Lloyd, P&O, and CIE containers.

Acquired a Cobalt-S Lever switch for evaluation. Quite expensive but very impressed with it from a possible prototypical operation point of view. Has anybody used these on their layouts for point or signal control, and any feedback to offer? Apparently they will work with any type of point motor (i.e. solenoid, tortoise, service or Cobalt's own system).

I hear you Dave, but it is a business after all rather than an altruistic operation. The "facts" are the private information of the business which has to manage its own affairs. Customers are focused on deliverables rather than stories how ever unexpected or surprising. I have been a very happy customer of MM, and expressed high praise for many of their past products, but is it not reasonable for "customers" to express disappointment when delivery expectations are not met by an extremely wide margin, especially when little information has been offered? By contrast IRM have been excellent at keeping customers in the loop and managing expectations should any issue occur or change in delivery schedules. I agree it is worthy for customers to praise excellent products and top quality service, but by the same token it seems reasonable for customers to be equally entitled to express disappointment when delivery schedules have not meet expectations. Anyway I'm happy to leave it there, and wish MM well in their future endeavours. I hope the 121 does come to market, proves successful for the business, and is enjoyed by their customers.

Yes but folks have been ‘just sayin’ that for years now. Noise is easy, all that counts is delivering the goods.

I think I posted this clip elsewhere before, but for completeness have added it to this Kadee specific thread.

Quite the opposite personally, it confirms my decision to avoid the challenges of brass but instead commission work from brass maestros who have both the skills, experience and toolset to produce quality results like Eoin's superb work. And yes it is a terrific thread.

Hope so. Otherwise 121 models may end up being produced in familiar 'Green' packaging from another stable. Or a 'two' pack consisting of a 121 and an A class.

Bought quiet a few of his products over the years, always delivered on time. Happy customer. My experiences have been John is good guy to deal with and available by phone or email, so guess he must have been on hols as per Dave’s info. Love his C class kits.

Another year passes but unfortunately no sign of an MM 121 even in pre-production form making an appearance at Raheny. MM web site updated just last month makes no mention of it. I’m beginning to wonder if it might ever happen. Little to complain about perhaps given the superb MM/Bachmann baby GMs and MM 071 transformed the Irish hobby.