Noel

Hi Tony. FYI, both of those coaches are post 1987 livery with two white stripes (IE/RE livery). Murphy did three Craven coaches in 1963-64 era livery: MM1504, MM1515 and MM1149 all of which have the single 6" white stipe. 1963 CIE livery single white stripe. Post 1987 Irish Rail Livery - Two white stripes plus orange stripe at roof level (tippex) As for other coaches to run with Cravens, the obvious ones are Park Royals and Laminates. Options are kits from various sources, or RTR from Irish Freight Models or SilverFox. Personally I like the Park Royals from IFM which are available in resin kit form or RTR, but you would need again to specify CIE livery if going for RTR (i.e. single white stripe). In 1963 you could legitimately mix in one or two of the older 'flying snail green' CIE livery Park Royals or Laminates as not all of these had been repainted Black'n'Tan at that stage, or indeed even a silver livery HLV.

I was sorting through a box of old goodies from my early teenage years and found these broken kit bashed signals I made from balsa and bits salvaged from broken Tri-ang signals, and one old ratio. Rather crude in form and upper quadrant but I might try and put them back together again just for fun and nostalgia. Also found some old Hornby-Dublo signals (not in pic).

Nice 184 in modern IE tippex livery for £220 which is a keen price for a pristine MM 181 with sound, pro-weathered and buffer beam detail added. Personally I really like the subtle weathering on this one, not over done. https://www.hattons.co.uk/399823/Bachmann_Branchline_MM0184_PO_Irish_Class_181_184_in_IE_livery_Commissioned_by_Murphy_Models_of_Dublin_Pre_ow/StockDetail.aspx

If of any use Lima BR mk1 BSK conversion to GSV last year. Due to the way the Bachmann coach dismantles, it should be marginally easier to do than the Lima. The Bachmann will make a much better donor and has better grazing and window frames. http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/6213-kingsbridge-workbench/?do=findComment&comment=104272 The main mistake on mine was I made the water filter recesses far too large Roof vents Before weathering

Fab-U-Lous. Love this layout and all its many story scenes.

Video clip. CIE mail train formation.

Brilliant.

Black'n'Tan heaven. @jhb171achill might like this. The mail train arrives with CIE Brake Parcel Van 2542, TPO 2974, and GSV 3185 to keep the post office team nice and warm. Loose coupled goods train on platform 2 is waiting to be passed by the Limerick/Claremorris passenger working on the up loop. These three coaches came out of the workbench workshops over the past year. Left to right, conversion of Bachmann LMS parcel van, IFM bogie TPO kit, LIMA BR mk1 BSK conversion.

Yes I liked the quote from one of their marketing chaps "Their passengers sleep on the train, while our passengers sleep in castles".

The uncontrolled growth of scrub trees and hedge rows along lines since the end of the steam era (ie fire risk) obscures the view of surrounding countryside along much of today’s lines, be it out the window or from an observation car. It’s not exactly the rockies here, too much boring bog. Sleeping in a rail stateroom on some remote semi-industrial siding at night doesn’t appeal to me. By contrast the Emerald Isle Express where folks dine and sleep in a different 5 star hotel every night seems more appealing.

After the summer pause, finally finished the TPO kit. Enjoyed working on this kit. The only additions I made were a pair Keen Systems LMS sprung gangways, filled in the apparatus panels as I was doing the later CIE variant, stuck bars behind the window glazing, added Kadee couplings to the Bachmann commonwealth bogies, and lighting. Kit before I'm bored now, what's happening next . . .

I also have vague memories of seeing a bogie TPO paired with a mk1 GSV at the head of a mk2 train operating out of Galway which had its own EGV. Think a photo of same was posted on the forum in the past.

Lights added. Its 3:12am and the mail train has stopped for 10 minutes at a cold and wintery Portarlington. This is a battery module, but I think I might change it for DCC pickups on the bogies. The warm yellow LED light flickers gently mimicking the glo from a stove or lantern. I don't know the year that pipe was added at the sole bar. I considered adding it, but decoded against for visual appeal with the older coaches.

Thanks for info. That's the 4th commuter livery change since the introduction of the original Arrow in 1994.

Interesting to see the mixed 29k liveries in the rake.

Hi Patrick. Give it time, those coaches didn't arrive overnight for me. Its taken some years. I was inspired by the impressive work of folk I'd seen on here showing what was possible with different mediums and a variety of techniques. Iteratively trying small steps one at a time. Started with a single MM Craven, then a resin Park Royal from IFM, Dutch + GSV from SF, and then attempted a few home brews, GSV, Bogie parcel van, TPO. B&T is my favourite era because it allows an interesting mix of coaching stock in formations, short and long trains, and of course loose coupled goods wagons, and all the operational shunting fun that goes with that as you well know and have shown so well on your superb layout. I've a massive amount of catching up to do on the layout scenics end of things. Noel

Business life especially in the start up years can be full of challenges, excitement, success, and unpredictable events, etc, but IRM/AS have responded well and kept its customers informed, managing expectations that goes hand in hand with a top class product line. Forgive the pun, but genuinely a class act. I'm certain the Tara's will be well worth the wait. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134770-cemflo-by-accurascale/page-8#entry3283021

That would be something, perhaps MM releasing and selling them onboard the first RPSI 134 rail tour. PS: For a rail tour with 8 or 9 coaches would 134 need to double head with B141 to manage the load?

Is anybody running a 'book' on wither RPSI or MM will be first with 121 class?

Some more progress on the CIE bogie TPO. Glazing, window bars, under frame and converted the Bachmann commonwealth bogies to Kadee couplings. Painted evergreen rods stock onto back of glazing to give some perspective instead of painting the bars onto the glazing. Just the handrails left to do and the internal lighting and tail lamp. More anon . . . waiting for paint to dry on handrails and tail lamp.

Agree. We did our first RPSI rail tour last October and quite enjoyed it, but personally diesel locos were not an attraction. One of the entertaining aspects of the rail tour was watching the 'paparazzi' in action whizzing up and down platforms and foot bridges chasing loco movements. Hopefully if there is a long steam tour next spring or summer we might give that a try.

Would love to do a trip like that but only if it was hauled by a steam loco.

Ok summer break over, back to my toy train workbench. Last bit of work on the TPO kit was done in May so time to finished it off. Started with glazing and adding pseudo bars behind the windows rather than paint them onto the clear plastic glazing as I did with the CIE bogie brake parcel van. Used evergreen half round strips painted grey with the round bit facing out and glued to the back of the glazing to give a depth effect. They are obviously over scale thickness but they create the visual effect I was looking for. Only a few more bits to do . . .

Thanks JB. Oh no pressure then. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable learning experience using new materials and techniques acquired along the journey.

The idea of a Gort station layout has been inspired by the iconic photos of Gort in Jonathan Beaumont and Barry Carse's wonderful book 'Rails Through The West'. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rails-Through-West-Limerick-Illustrated/dp/1780730063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538517346&sr=8-1&keywords=rails+through+the+west Planning for Gort layout has been proceeding with many iterations of the track layout tried and measured for rolling stock fit and shunting operations possible. Era will be 1960 to 1974 which covers Black'n'Tan era but the odd bit of early flying snail green sneaking in. The layout initially will be a shunting layout, with the option of adding 'roundie' loop and 3 lane fiddle yard at the back in the future in case I ever exhibit. With that in mind I have made one small change to the 1960s track plan and that is to place a point and short head shunt at the Athenry end of the station in place of the catch point that was on the original. This would facilitate independent shunting operations from 'roundie' running on the main line by another operator. For now this will be it on two boards, the main station 5ft x 18in and 4ft x 18in (right of red line below) Version 9 of track plan. Photos below reproduced here with permission Gort early 1970s with pick up goods traffic. A hint of the beginning of containerisation is evidenced by the 20ft Bell container mixed in with the 2 axle wagons just south of the water tower. A supertrain livery Sulzer 101 class waits with empty beet train heading back towards Athenry while B130 arrives from Athenry with goods train. Gort This is a beginning . . . Easter is supposed to be the end?