Noel

Hi Finbar, thanks, great pics as every. What happened to Kilkenny station - it looks derelict? Did they build a new one and realign track? Noel

Hi Mark Can I recommend four possible options: All diesel classes http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/styled-5/index.html (LokSound DCC chips) All diesel classes http://www.mrsoundguy.co.uk/msgiindev.html (Zimo DCC chips) Limited to 071 or 201 class only http://www.marksmodels.com (i.e. a murphy model retail agent) (LokSound DCC chips) Blow your own DCC chip using an ESU LokProgrammer and sound files from ESU (if you like techie stuff and have the time) I have used options 1,2,3 myself and forum member 'irishthump' has had great success with option 4. Personally I prefer 1 and 2 as they drive much more realistically than the generic Murphy Model sound chip. I particularly like WheelTappers new projects that have the new ESU 'Power Drive' driving mode (i.e. LokSound 'Full Throttle' feature). This allows you to coast, brake, and in particular totally take control of notching, or leave notching in automatic mode. The Zimo from MrSoundguy as also a joy to drive and probably the most prototypical of all if you like really slow scale acceleration, coasting and driver induced braking instead of inertia deceleration. Hope this helps Noel

Is it just me or was Lima not regarded in the past as rather inferior and significantly poorer quality than Bachmann and Hornby models? Don't understand the prices.

Superlatives seem incapable of doing justice to such model engineering! Eoin's skills have simply reached another extraordinary dimension. Respect

€300 for 3 Lima spec coaches? No wonder there are no bids

And a good thing too. I don't think it will change much for typical MACI affiliated club members with insurance, who carry out responsible RC flying (fixed wing or choppers), as most folks only fly from club sites as long as I can remember going back to the 70s. It will rightly bring a much needed degree of regulatory and safety control over lone drone operators. I say drone 'operators' rather than 'flyers' as drones require little flying skill compared to RC aircraft. It doesn't seem that many years ago since we as MACI members were invited to perform RC displays at Baldonnel airshows only 100s of meters away from operational full size aircraft. All fully controlled, briefed and safety rehearsed days beforehand, but looking back it seems a little casual. We had two giant model 'toffee' bombers that used to drop sweats with tiny parachute streamers over the crowd line! RC models have also got much larger and heavier than 20 years ago with 8-12ft wingspan giant scale models not uncommon. One of those out of control is a much greater safety risk to the public than a DJI Phantom drone. The days of parking a car in the country side, climbing over the gate and launching a toy model aircraft from a farmers field is long gone, just as launching a DJI Phantom from a public green space, or urban space, except for licensed and certified professionals.

Good riddance PhotoBucket. Kingsbridge layout and work bench photos are back. As many are already aware Rust bucket disabled 3rd party links which made all the photos disappear. Fortunately I've managed to bulk transfer my entire my photo library while preserving album structures to another host, and redirect the links here so my photos should be visible once again. It may take an hour or a few, but worth it for others not to loose visibility of informative photos on the forum. My thanks to Stephen for his assistance enabling me save my forum posts with images.

That looks fab Eoin

Nice footage in the snow. Interesting to see some freight mixed with passenger stock on the loop. Question, "Alps" and "Alpine" are both terms widely used in NZ to refer to the higher mountains? I had always thought the Alps were a European mountain range (French, Swiss, German, Austrian, Italian, etc).

Thanks for posting Kieran. Very interesting photos inside Inchicore.

Hi Colin. They are not on Murphy Models current nor future plans list, but right now they are available in RTR or Kit form from SilverFox models (see below). I recommend using a quality centre drive AWD/AWP chassis instead of the recommended Hornby/Lima toy chassis. And . . . I strongly hope/suspect a high quality RTR fine scale model of the A class may be available from another vendor within the next few years. Noel http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/ir-ie-001-class-a-class-co-co-metropolitan-vickers/ http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/ir-ie-101-class-b-class-a1a-a1a-brcw/ http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/ir-ie-201-class-c-class-bo-bo-metropolitan-vickers/ SF A class (001) SF B101 class SF C class (original 1950s 201) They are vastly better performing models when mounted on a centre drive chassis (loads of useful and informative threads on forum about chassis options for these).

Yikes that's awful. Doesn't bear thinking about all the things that can go wrong in routine life. Thank God the passengers inside stopped the train with the kill chord before she was dragged off the platform.

An interesting item for a specialist collector who most likely might never wish to build it. How far the hobby has come from white metal, to brass, resin and finally onto high quality injection moulded plastic.

+1 Superb

Thanks for posting those fab pics. For some reason at my end they seemed to take an age to display, but worth waiting for.

Sounds like another very interesting project Gerry. Look forward to watching it develop. Noel

Hi Terry. Yes its a great resource. Especially looking at historical track layouts in stations, etc. Noel

Hi Richie. That's interesting but please forgive a little confusion on my part, you have the legend "Intercity IE Orange" pointing to both samples. Were both shades used on the later 'broken socket' logo IE locos? Or is UV and weathering the culprit. Noel

Somebody is having a laugh. Bids over €200 for a baby GM! http://www.ebay.ie/itm/MURPHY-MODELS-BACHMANN-CIE-IRISH-RAIL-CLASS-181-No-188-CIE-BLACK-NEW/263064341567?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Looks great. The livery was a huge evolutionary improvement on the original super train livery.

Not quite answering your question, but this lovely Athearn SW1500 already came in a sort of Black'n'Tan livery, so for fun it hauled Cravens on the layout for two years as a pretend 121 before . . . . . . it got a new body and was converted to this

PS: That yard in Dromad depicted in the flickr link is eccentric but a treasure trove.

Great pics on that link. Thanks for posting. Pretty much what I remember before boring liners and fitted bogie freight arrived. Would the guard in the brake van not have applied the brake stopping the uncontrolled run back of the rear half of the train?

Yes, Killaloe has so many hidden treasures, from cafes, eateries, history, etc. Twas allegedly once the ancient capital of Ireland. Can you imagine how successful that railway line might be nowadays with a holiday season DMU running from March to October. Like Carrick-on-Shannon, Killaloe seems to have weathered the recession better that some other small midland towns. Half the Munster rugby team live there. Best breakfast on the entire Shannon can be got in Derg House cafe on the western side of the bridge (Amilie's), lovely french couple run it and their full Irish is only €7 but is cooked like no other I've ever tasted, you won't need to eat again same day. Other nice places to moor up is below the bridge by the Cathedral canal, or at the Lakeside Hotel jetties (less noise, less wake).

A major modelling attraction of 1940s to 1970s goods trains was the mixed variety down in ROI of short wheel base two axle wagons, and there were almost no boring uniform 'block trains'. Pick up goods trains make it possible to model small goods facilities at branch stations often with only one or two wagons being dropped off by a passing mixed freight train. The zenith era of Irish goods traffic before the roads came along and boring containerisation.