Noel

Great stuff for GB modellers

Spotted this layout on Callins kicks the other evening on RTE. It was the Enda sketch. The 071 caught my eye. Is this a club layout or a modellers layout?

Gulp what prices! Feeling fortunate that I stabled a collection between 2014 and 2018 before these sort of excessive market prices spiked. Got fair value when Chris Dyre sold me 141/181s for gbp£95, and Dave Bracken for €110. Thanks guys. It seems only a few years ago I bought a new 071 IR off the shelf new from Marks Models for only €139. Where will it all end Ted?

Nearly €600 for a toy train engine made of plastic? Safer bet might be buying Tesla stock.

Stunning precision build that superbly evokes the appearance and atmosphere of Kent station

Excellence

Hattons seem to be preparing for new Murphy Model releases at some future date, No mention of pricing nor time scales, but it looks like the Mk3 commuter push pulls sets and mk2 re-runs along with some 201 locos are not just a myth proclamation from last year. Only time will tell. Fancy a PP set for the MM 121s to push, a great improvement on the former SF offerings which were great in their day, but not quite MM nor IRM detailing quality.

If you don't have an airbrush you can do just as well using watered down weathering powders, brush on swab off using cotton buds but this only worlds well on smooth plastic surfaces, not so well on pitted 3D surfaces (ie dried toothpaste texture). Adding some decal fix to the water solution enables you to reactivate the dried powders and rework again and again if you are not happy with the results. Have fun. Its a wonderful learning process.

Now get the Youghal line reopened for commuters and seasonal tourist traffic to Cork. Madness to lose it to another daft greenway when the track bed is still intact and still owned by RPA.

Funny indeed, we may jest but the days of GM/EMD diesels and DMU diesels seem numbered. Think somebody posted somewhere that IR were planing to re-engine the 22k trams to meet emissions limits, and 071s may be replaced sooner than original planned due high volume of harmful NoX emissions that generation of diesels spew out. Electrification seems inevitable as our rail network is so small in terms of track distances. Heritage stuff will probably get exemptions as their nett emissions are tiny compared to in service rail services.

Neil's is probably the top sound guy for Irish Diesel locos, and has added excellent prototypical driving characteristics to his projects (eg coasting, long distance braking, train loads, cascading buffer clash as the length of a goods train buffers up when train is decelerating or stopping, cascading coupling snatch (ie for older loose coupled wagon trains), rail clank and range squeals, etc. The MM projects built by ESU are poor vanilla sound projects completely lacking in prototypical driving behaviour. Keith Pearsons Zimo projects also nice to drive but the prime movers are not quire as good, especially the baby GMs which were recorded from actual 141/181s but just lack the deep tones.

Ordered. Perfect behind a J15 or even mixed with some laminates and a black IRM A class.

Fabulous, a scatch built building like this gives the layout a unique identity and visual edge.

Best wishes to all on here. May this season of Christmas celebration be a blessing to you and your loved ones.

Modelbahnshoplippe might be better on postage to EU. My last orders from them were 7.90 postage via UPS.

Looking forward to hauling these flying snail era green laminate era coaches . . . Behind this gorgeous CIE silver A class

Yes its a bit mad Ted. Its like a cheap red top newspaper.

Fair enough. Personally I don't need the hassle climbing through hedges of adverts and videos some of which cannot be dismissed or closed. The site already earned revenue from advertising, so it was not free. If only it was 'slight inconvenience' but unfortunately the balance does not seem right. Will stick to facebook groups and here on IRM and some excellent youtube channels like Chadwick Model Railway and Everard junction.

MacBook with Safari. Video panel took up bottom quadrant of the screen over content, not dismissible, not moveable, not closable. Very annoying. Occasionally an iPad but generally I find a laptop more ergonomic especially for posture compared to using a tablet.

Sadly RMweb has become virtually unusable recently with even more popup adds every single click, some cannot be dismissed or closed and obscure 1/3rd of the content area. I'm not paying £5/month for the privilege of generating content for a private enterprise, just to get rid of the adds and make it as useable as it used to be. Wonder what the human page hits are now compared to two years ago before the advertising blitz. Here on IRM and FaceBook groups are so much easier to use and browse.

Is this another brexit dividend?

Admit I'm surprised. I got an email this morning at 07:20am about customs charges due on an parcel from UK (DCC Concepts). Paid fees online about 07:30am. Had been expecting a 7-10 days brexit delay due customs processing release of parcel, but lo and behold parcel arrived here at 9:30am this morning. It looks like An Post must have a facility to hold parcel's in local delivery office pending payment for customs fees due (ie Duty+Vat). I was expecting a 10 day delay. DCC Concepts deducted UK VAT from my purchases so at least I didn't get hit with a Double VAT Whammy. Happy Days, NCE Power Cab ready to hook up to Gort, releasing the main 5amp NCE Pro Cab to go back to the big layout. I like the cab ergonomics of the NCE in hand, really suits shunting operations and sound, and I'm familiar with it. Don't like touch screen HUI as it requires eyes rather than blind tactile feel use of throttle.

Some behind the scenes earlier todays play time. Rare sight two passenger trains passing on what then was essentially a goods traffic line. Busy yard and cattle dock Another view of Cattle dock View through the goods shed, one wagon in there. Loving this project.

Busy morning between Athenry and Ennis as two trains pass at Gort. Rare for two passenger trains to pass, this line was mainly goods traffic. Plenty of wagons in the yard this morning.

Wish they'd do the lined green livery of RPSI 184 or even the green livery of 186. They also need to be DCC ready and sound ready, lights etc for the price. Love mine but they lack that special extra something that IRM would no doubtably deliver.