Noel

Very impressive indeed.

A little progress. The six nations is getting in the way of work today.

Nice job Jason. Looking great.

Fotograf?

Any nice pics with an Irish Rail/CIE loco hauling them?

I feel sorry for Neil over on RMweb since he produced some stunning 42 ft wagons using Shapeways 3D FUD, but IRMs 2018 product line up has put paid to his efforts. Just bad timing and choosing the wrong prototype. It is still good though to see guys with top class 3D design experience come up with Irish models. Most of the other Irish 00 gauge stuff over on Shapeways is not of the best design quality and being WSF requires quite a bit of work to smooth down the surfaces. The B113 'dalek' sulzer looks a bit of a horror story. 3D is improving all the time though and FUD may yet have a future for producing niche models that don't make it into the future plans of IRM or MM.

Hi Eugen Welcome. There is a new range of high quality RTR freight rolling stock from IRM (Irish Railway Models) and existing RTR passenger coaches from Murphy Models including their fine scale range of GM diesel locos. But at the moment there are still big gaps in whats available RTR including a lot freight wagons that were in common usage on Ireland railways (e.g. CIE Bulleid corrugated open wagons, CIE H-Vans, Irish Cement curtain wagons, 20 ton and 30 ton brake vans, cattle wagons, oil tankers, etc, etc). When you say 'casting' are you thinking of resin, white metal or even 3D models in kit form or RTR? Cheers Noel

Doodling with a few odd bits today. CIE Brake parcels van conversion from LMS, and a pair of ex-GSWR brake vans getting a sort of CIE conversion. These are not designed to be exact, more end up looking similar to their CIE counterparts. Enlarged windows on LMS parcels coach filled in one, cut out windows on ex-GSWR brake vans (Tri-ang hornby GWR toads) and inserted window frames. Cut out veranda door at one end, due to add vertical post due and move chimney. As an experiment with filling I used 'Mr Surfacer 500' liquid filer to fill one of the small windows (i.e. fill around plastic card window panel) on one side of the coach, and traditional model filler on the other side. Just to compare how they apply and sand. Bachmann LMS bogie parcel van after holes drilled for new window sizes. Tri-ang GWR toads getting a pseudo conversion to a pair of ex-GSWR brake vans (well sort of). Drill, file and cut out side windows. Added window frames later. Relaxing afternoon and it passes the time nicely. Plan to add DCC lights to the brake vans.

I never fail to enjoy the wonderful photo scenes on this fabulous layout. Patrick, your scenic work, ground foliage, rock outcrops, walls and hedge rows are second to none, and one of the best examples of how realistic railway scenery in rural Ireland can be achieved. A master class. One could be forgiven for thinking the photos above were from @jhb171achill's book 'Rails Through the West'. You have captured the golden era of Irish railways perfectly.

Ditto me too. The prototypes mean nothing to me, have never even seen them in the flesh, but the model renders look absolutely stunning so I may have to bend the rules so they can run behind B&T locos on Kingsbridge (sacrilege I know to permit a bogie wagon in the B&T era but its my model railway so anything is possible with imagination)

The impressive 2018 conclave has concluded, the four cardinals have voted, just one more year for the holy grail (in jest you understand) With the gorge of fabulous new IRM wagons due in 2018 and the imminent 121 arrival it does indeed make absolute sense to wait just a little longer for the holy grail. After seeing the specs of the plough van including DCC lights one can only imagine what the technical team in IRM have dreamed up for the Metrovics next year. Hyper excited about the next few years

Elegant authenticity comes to mind. Genuinely excellent work. All too often on the forum we sometimes suffer from excessive use of superlatives, but NOT in this case. Two gorgeous buildings. Thanks for putting the article together. Very interesting read.

Darwin alright. Took ages yesterday to get rid of the urban snow tourists. Thick as two planks despite being in 4x4s that in the right hands would never have got stuck in the first place, never mind the stupidity of driving up into the mountains 'for a look'. One lady's car full of kids had her SUV switched into 2WD mode and didn't realise! Have folks no idea what the various traction control or anti-slip switches on their dashboards actually do? If they have to go out in those conditions at least prepare by fitting the towing ring on the front first, and also bring a shovel and rope so they can get out of trouble themselves using some elbow grease instead of looking lost, thick and innocent waiting for a tractor to rescue them.

Great 2018 line up, but I do hope in 2019 we might see Bulleid opens (single beet) and H-Vans, the two most numerous wagons by far to have ever run on Irelands railways and would probably brake all sales records. In time A/C class, curtain cement wagons and double beets would crown and incredible product range. Long term, a laminate coach range would be a dream. Looking forward to following IRMs development over the next few years, it looks very exciting. Well done guys.

42ft bogie chassis of the year 2018. The basis of five of the new projects.

Congratulations guys on your very impressive product line up for 2018. Ferts and Guinness wagons will by my 2018 acquisitions. If there ever was a non-yellow livery variant of the plough then a pair of those too (i.e. brown or bauxite as I don't do modern yellow stuff). Hmmm - yes me too, but A class product line up even without the holy grail It sure is ambitious and yes I too have wondered just how deep the well is, but I'm sure the lads have done their home work and have used customer data from the first two projects as data input for their business plan. Happy days we've never had it so good.

Jeepers, where do these suburban idiots in their 4x4s come from, and why oh why do they drive up into the hills to get stuck and block the locals who actually know how to drive? Eight brainless twits who think 4x4 means invincibility and they don't even know how to handle them. Stuck in easy places that were no problem whatsoever for local 4x4 drivers! Half of them didn't even have tow hitches! Rant over. Nobody is dead but these lot take the biscuit and have no concept of traction nor grip. Low profile tyres on a 4x4 SUV is rather like a broken pencil - pointless.

Giant white seal staring in the window this morning when I drew back the curtains

"Ireland must stop ‘shutting down’ when it snows". says hotelier I agree with him. This nanny state intervention leading to mass unfounded fear needs to change in future. The cities should have been able to and allowed function. Unlike 1982 this time all the main national routes remained continuously open (now motorways N routes back in 82). Foreign tourists we amazed so little snow stopped the cities and public transport. It's not like 2m of snow fell in 48hrs. This is routine in many continental cities, we need to learn from them. Nanny state gone mad combined with excessive H&S. There are risks to living. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ireland-must-stop-shutting-down-when-it-snows-hotelier-says-1.3413223

Supply one loco with a removable brick in the middle. Cuts manufacturing costs.

Hmm! Perhaps a class 22000.

Yes it's was a bit mad. But even up here in the mountains the roads were quite usable yesterday with many treated. Today will be different but being snowed in for 24 or 48 hours is not life threatening nor worthy of the media and govt 'end of the world' hysteria. Hope to get lots done on the layout.

When I find the correct size and similar colour, seeds on PVA to a flat plastic base sprayed with matt varnish to seal.

I stumbled upon these old photos from 1970s by accident of Kingsbridge mk1. My first layout started construction when I was about 12 and finished or as finished as I could get it when I was about 16. Not sure what date these were taken in but I guess mid 70s. What is remarkable is that they were in colour and I think I took them with my well traveled uncles colour Polaroid camera. Layout was built in converted attic space of old farm house. Mainline through station with branch line diverting off into tunnel on inside platform. In background over bridge of raised single track branch line. In those days every once of track was precious and layouts were planned around the bit of track you had Branch station with loop, engine shed, goods shed and small bay platform for GWR autocoach. Bachmann mk1 CIE livery coaches hauled by Bachmann CIE 215 (supposedly A class) on platform 1. Lima CIE vans in siding with Lima CIE (BR) brake van. The station lights used to work. CIE 215 hauling 2 x Lima mk1 and 1 Tri-ang hand repainted coach (still have the lot), on lifting panel of raised branch line. The telephone posts all had fine wires between them. Anybody old enough will remember the mass of telephone cables along all rail lines and the hypnotic effect they had when staring out the window of a laminate coach looking at the lush green country side then alive with live stock, hay cocks and humans at work on a living landscape. Can't remember what the foliage was but the bank was the usual paper mache covered in plaster mix, painted and scatter applied when paint was wet. I had a sort of OCD thing for telephone poles and cables along the railways. The layout was left behind after my father died a few years later we sold the farm, but I managed to save all the rolling stock, most buildings, signals, etc, and people figures. I still have some of these buildings since adapted on my current layout, along with all the figures. You can just about make out the red Tri-ang breakdown crane in the siding behind.The Lima stuff nowadays is gastly but back then I considered it razor edge fantastic - I had Irish trains to run and that was enough for a kid.

Just arrived on Kingsbridge a rake of 10 sugar beet wagons. The cargo is more 7mm scale so will source replacement seed.