Noel

Well here's my guess from fantasy island: 201 in Black and Tan livery 800 class in cork colours 44000 ICE in Flying snail green livery Bullied open wagon in sapphire blue livery Amiens Street turntable Westland Row newsagents kiosk B113 in enterprise livery Back in the real world, I'm sure whatever future products are coming down the tracks from IRM, they will be superb.

Thanks Fran. Looking forward to it.

Stunning precision Popeye. Awesome model.

Thought it might be right up your street Jonathan Glad you enjoyed. Yes the piano bar music was deliberately meant to be like the old cine film videos. Glad you enjoyed it Tony. I've since weather the locos and more of the stock. Cheers Jason. Yes I have in a moment of weakness I allowed some 20ft containers on the layout - I just really like the livery of the short BELLs on two axle wagons which I remember as a youngster at the end of the B&T era. Now I need to run a double header train with a B&T 141 and an Super Train 141 in consist to capture mid to late 70s.

Thanks, now I remember. I was always mixing the two of them up.

+1 Was he the artist who's famous locomotive scenes adorned the front cover of Hornby and Triang catalogs for decades? If I'm not mixing him up with another steam era artist his trademark was a mouse in the foreground of his steam loco paintings. An incredible talent.

Look like bullhead on the left and flat bottomed on the right! Perhaps they used bull head on the main line and flat bottom on minor sidings?

Hi Tony. Yes, and it is more the norm in practice rather than as an alternative. Noel

And easy access by rail via Blackrock Dart station should you travel south on the Enterprise to Connolly which connects with the dart. PS: The Wexford Model Railway Club exhibition is also worth a visit but it is more of an layout exhibition than a trade show, probably a bit far for DC to travel.

Bizarre - You can easily read the entire review from the advert pics. (BTW, well done IRM lads, a very positive review).

Looking forward to their Irish J15 next year. Order placed. Seem really nice folk.

What is interesting is how much goods traffic CIE carried in the 60s and even in the early 70s with mixed rakes of two axle goods wagons, and how every small station handled goods traffic. The photos of Galway and Killarney goods yards were interesting given they were taken in 1975 when container traffic had started but where still handling pick up goods wagons. I remember mid 70s seeing passing goods trains still stopping at intermediate stations to drop off one or two wagons and pick them up again on the way back to Dublin. Lots of shunting operations, lots of GM notching sounds wafting across the countryside. I nearly feel off my perch when I saw the photo above of two B&T 121s passing each other on the loop in Carrickonshannon.

Pure Gold. The era of railway trains. Thanks Patrick for posting that excellent link.

+1 Authenticity with atmosphere

It boggles the mind how the driver did not see the triangle of three flashing red lights on both sides of the road. The cyclist had the advantage of hearing if a train was coming which would have been unlikely within mere seconds of the barrier coming down. I understand there is a fail safe system that alerts trains if the barriers are damaged or not down properly. Must cause a great time inconvenience to passengers while the scene is cleared for the train to continue on its journey of at all.

Fair enough. I was not criticising any particular kit, but rather the results the medium itself yields in the hands of 'some' average builders. And photos from layouts bear this up. There are a small number of superb master builders on here who aim for and achieve precision results from brass, but that seems to be more the exception than the norm. I know I would fall into the latter category myself with this material.

Looking for a body damaged or body soiled 141/181 for sale at a reasonable price? It as a donor chassis I'm after, don't care what condition the body is in once the chassis is running properly and the bogies are undamaged. Its a long shot but worth a try.

I don't do badges nor brand labels, use various kit purely based on function/quality/value. Agree the price is daft. The "best tech" is not necessarily the most reliable nor easy to use! Function over specs every time. My thoughts too. Not secure enough. Agree 100%

As somebody who uses the Apple eco-system, felt a little underwhelmed by the much heralded launch of the 10th anniversary phone. Pay more get less? Functionally and ergonomically the X model almost seems a step backwards in terms of user ergonomics with no space to hold the phone due to the almost all-screen display which doesn't even go to the edges of the body anyway, and the loss of the tactile feel of the home button, not to mention the less secure facial recognition replacing the finger print. When will designers learn that touch screen alone eliminating all tactile controls doesn't necessarily make a device easier to control. iPhone 8 being waterproof seems a better incremental upgrade despite the continuing lack of 3.5mm jack socket. Ah well time will tell. I suspect had Jobs still been around we'd have been looking at something different yesterday.

Interestingly the ones on eBay have white/cream coloured roofs, whereas the marks models ones are dark grey roofs??? Same model numbers so did bachmann produce two variants? Hmmm price aside, I've yet to see a brass built one that is not warped or twisted in some way.

That's just brilliant

Thanks and well spotted fishplate7. Youtube link below for anybody who missed BBC broadcast.

Some more 20ft Bell containers have arrived on the layout. Hope to build up a reasonable rake of these typical of the early 70s, but keep one wagon separate to tag on to the end of a mixed rake of pickup goods wagons (i.e. like the train pictured in Gort station circa 1970 on Rails Through the West). These are mounted on RTR skeletal container wagons from IFM. Might try a few kits during the winter. Hope to lightly weather these during the winter. Will also follow Richie's advice to put a very light dusting of weathering powder on the ballast wagon loads.

Thanks for the info, Richie. That looks a much better candidate for conversion. Noel