Noel

Thanks for posting Railer. That's brilliant. 24 timber wagons in that clip. Before yesterday I never knew these wagons existed. Short wagons like those would look great on layout curves and snaking over point work.

Very nice.

Thanks guys, thats really helpful. Those prototype links posted by @Irishswissernie look great candidates for a model. Any ideas of the origin of the prototypes, length, etc? They almost look like converted 20ft or 22ft container flat wagons???

Thanks as confirmed by Fran, but any idea about the photo on page 47 of 'Rails Through the West'? The photo caption reads ". . . heads a train of 23 four-wheeled timber trucks . . ."

Thank BK. Any idea about the timber wagons on page 47 of JB & BC's book? They seem longer that 20ft but a lot shorter than 62ft.

Did many 4 wheel timber wagons run in Ireland? If anybody had links to photos I would be grateful. Below is a link to a googled photo that may have been Irish but I'm not so sure. Any info would be welcome. Page 47 of "Rails Through The West" depicts a train of 4 wheel timber wagons departing Galway behind 084 in 1999. They might make an interesting model due to their shorter length, looking more realistic on typical layout radius curves than 62ft bogie wagons. Photo (C) Marra Man (picasso site) http://picssr.com/tags/timberwagon/page3

Le Sublime. How will you bear to part with this amazing labour of love when it's complete. Is that a retracted scoop under the chassis?

DCC controlled onboard conductor - this is insanely cool but rather nutty

Ah thanks Patrick. That's makes sense. I was getting seriously confused.

I suspect this was for another thread @Georgeconna

Mixed reports. One report from Kieran (Kirley late of the us parish) was that the MM supplied plain washer did not work on two of his coaches but did work on one. I fitted similar sized plastic shims on my set but they had no effect on the horrific wobble. At the SDMRC show last October Paddy demonstrated a fix using 'sprung' washers on a set of RPSI coaches which seemed to work well, but apparently these since turned into plain washers without the sprung wings, and are available FOC to RPSI customers from Marks Models in Hawkins street. @Dhu Varren posted a DIY fix that worked for him involving gluing on pieces of plastic to the underside of the coach floor that restricted bogie movement in one plane. Personally I am a little miffed that coaches this expensive with such a serious running defect require customers to self fix. Like you am an interested in some more to make up a rake but decided not to buy a) because RPSI may produce another set of 3 standard coaches next year and b) the wobble. Because these coaches were a fund raiser for RPSI, I'm less inclined to pursue them for a remedy and PM was only kindly helping them in the back ground. These things happen. They are still lovely looking coaches if not runable without averting ones eyes.

Hi Ernie. Like the look of that. I too like long trains, but just wondering if long model trains with 20 two axle wagons might restrict the trackwork space available for interesting shunting operations. 12-15 wagons may more easily fit when shunted into sidings, yet look realistically long enough and snake across point work when shunting. Just another thought about wagon weights, you may need two locos double headed to manage 20+ wagons depending on the weight. I have arranged my IRM cement wagons into two trains, one uniform with 15 wagons and another mixed traffic with other wagons. Anyway looking forward to watching your layout evolve. As a matter of interest what material is the baseboard? Noel

Fabulous set of photos. Almost feel I was there.

No

Thanks but Paywall

Just heard its rather cold on board - there's no heating. Boiler issue on 3173 apparently. Unfortunately I couldn't make this interesting trip.

Nice photos as ever. Water level on Lough Derg looks about 300mm lower than normal for this time of year. They must have been dumping water in expectation of flooding. Some great shots of mk4 sets.

I've been studying some photos and have decided to try the CIE Black'n'Tan era version. I will be making some small modifications which is half the fun. I'll be blanking out the doors where the automatic collection and drop off gear was removed about 1962, and a few other details. I love that these coaches actually had a letter box slot on each side. Might try and mimic the inside of the windows where they had a horizontal timber baton half way down the inside of the big windows with hooks for small sacks to be attached to. Lights might be another option. Photo below (C) Paul Haywood's flickr

Cheers. Yes agree, a rake of six bogie Fertiliser and/or eight Tara wagons are ideal model train lengths if one has the space.

Eerie - As you posted this I was actually in the middle of watching that very film Classic stuff

It was a most pleasant surprise to learn I had won a raffle prize at the WMRC Easter Layout Exhibition. An Irish Freight Models kit of a CIE Bogie TPO. Thank you WMRC and especially IFM who kindly donated this kit as one of the prizes for the raffle. The purchase of the raffle tickets proved fortuitous as I was just about to order one of these unique kits anyway. Decals, wheels, grab rail wire, buffers and glazing sheet included. Only extras needed are a pair of Bachmann commonwealth bogies which I already had (salvage from 3173 GSV conversion). Nice crisp resin moulding with virtually no flash. Really looking forward to working on this over the coming weeks alongside the few other projects on the bench at various stages of undress Anyway a most pleasant and unexpected bonus from visiting the Wexford town exhibition for the first time. EDIT: Too excited to wait. First coat of primer on.

Love this real world 'men at'work' layout. 6 bogie fertiliser wagons seems the perfect length rake for large model layouts.

A small selection of photos from WMRC Layout Exhibition. An absolutely fabulous venue. Really enjoyed the exhibition, but what struck me more than the superb exhibits and trade stands was the friendliness of exhibitors and organisers who were delighted to engage with visitors and the public. The large cafe seemed a huge success and wonderful place for both visitors and exhibitors to enjoy hospitality, socialise, enjoy a rest break from touring the exhibits and have a chat over a snack or coffee. There were a number of layouts designed for children to operate. Below one of the 'Thomas' layouts being driven by children. Superb on site catering in the Station Cafe right beside the main exhibition hall. Great place for visitors to rest the legs. Fantastic venue reminds of the days decades ago when Dublin shows used to be in RDS halls. Large O gauge layout under construction - I understand WMRC had been working around the clock for the past few weeks to get this ambitious layout ready for the show. The baseboard and electronics integration was impressive. Looking forward to watching this layout evolve. N gauge layout - the detailed scenes and multiple landscape levels made this alive 'Rosslare Strand' layout was stunning Love the way this layout had two visually interesting sections at each end before track returned behind the back scene to fiddle yard, one with a cliff face and beach, the other with steep rocky faced cutting. Military trains caught my eye - Menacing Tiger tanks hiding in the under growth. Next three pics are of the fabulous cement factory layout. There were many more fab layouts which I spent time enjoying rather than taking photos. Superb hospitality and catering in the Station Cafe Great show, well worth the trip down. This was our first visit to this exhibition and to say we enjoyed it is an understatement. Great team effort and more than anything a really friendly and engaging bunch of folk participating. Seriously impressed with the organisation and especially the large venue. Great to see clubs come together with exhibits and show the hobby off so well to the public.

That is most impressive. This wonderful little country has come a long way.

Thank you Jason. That worked a treat and was fairly easy once I realised what was where. For the benefit of anybody else reading this in the future two pics below of the clips and gaps in the windows. I feel a respray into RPSI Blue'n'Cream may be in the offing as the tippex era is not my main cup of tea.