Noel

Hope so. I felt sorry for the poor chap who foolishly drove an artic HGV down the tiny rural lane near where we live today. He had to reverse 1/4m all the way back up to the minor road, and then reverse a further 500m to a point he could turn the thing. If he had used google street view to preview the road he'd have realised he'd never have fitted, had no turning space, and not enough head room to get under the trees. There were four 'rabbits in the headlights' suvs behind him 'dooh what will we do' and I had to convince them to reverse back up to the top road so he could reverse back. Then I had to prevent further commuters heading down the lane again until he got clear. Took 20 minutes to clear up. Back in 2010 in the bad snow, on multiple occasions, tourists blindly followed sat nav to sally gap and wicklow gap, duly getting snowed in until mountain rescue got them out. S-61N Rescue 116 was called out to one 'foolish driver' stuck in the snow.

I don't know any specifics on this, so I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but it does seem a real shame. I thought in recent years Ireland had progressively revised planning regulations to preserve our architectural and industrial heritage.

Thanks chaps for your encouraging comments. Looking forward to getting some work done on the layout over the winter months. Thanks, 1980s? Apologies it was just a dream, I've woken up now and its back to the 60s. Return of the empire - Black'n'tan strike back

The atmosphere is just epic! Love it

I really enjoy looking at this wonderful layout and its superb rolling stock. Thanks for making the video.

As ever some great pics. It was like being there. It's a shame the 767 came with the cockpit stripped. It might have been an additional attraction for campers to visit the cockpit and 'play' pilot. Still the whole concept of 'Quirky Clamping' looks great. Hope it proves a success for him. Its great to see folk thinking outside the box if they have a good business plan.

Short clip of MM 183 on the layout hauling MIR cement bubble wagons built and weathered by George Conna

Looking forward to this being launched. Docked in Foynes many times. It reeks of history.

Hi George. I agree - planes over drones any day. I've been an RC pilot for over 40 years and like you I also have a drone, but it doesn't blow my skirt up. MACI (Model Aeronautics Council of Ireland) , or other RC flight insurance cover is essential. These proposed measures are preposterous. Flying large scale RC planes (eg: 9-12ft wingspan) one would regularly fly higher than 1000ft AGL. But never breech controlled airspace. Down here in Co Wicklow the zone starts at 4000ft above sea level, so little chance of an RC model breeching that. I can appreciate the need to protect civilian air transport inside controlled airspace, and especially airport control zones and approach patterns, but some of these proposals seem bonkers. Noel PS: I flirted with model choppers for a few years, but the noise got to me. A real challenge to fly especially in the era before yaw gyros were invented.

Thanks guys, but credit is really due to George for his building, painting and especially his weathering skills. A few more pics taken with a camera this time for some creative fun. I was surprised how much I liked the orange livery myself. These have really wet my appetite for IRMs wagons next year. Another 12 would make this a nice rake. PS: I know the signals are set wrong

Was totally shocked and saddened to hear Anthony Foley had passed away. A father, husband and rugby legend. Thoughts and prayer for his loved ones. He was a colossus of Irish and Munster rugby.

That an absolutely fabulous layout. Full of charm and atmosphere. That lovely station is alive.

Cement bubbles arrived on the layout today. Thanks to Dave Bracken (Wrenneire) for supplying. These were originally built, painted and skilfully weathered from MIR kits by George at http://www.wonderfulweathering.com Beautiful job, I am delighted to have some of his iconic work. Really looking forward to adding IRM cement bubble wagons to these in due course.

Hope a few folks got to enjoy the program. It's on RTE player if you missed it. Ardnacrusha is one of Ireland's best kept secrets and I'd highly recommend a tour. Going through its 102ft lock like going down a mine shaft in a boat. At 30 meters the second deepest marine lock in Europe. Halfway down the 102ft lock View back up to the guillotine lock gate 60ft above holding back 9km of water moving at 400 tons/second. View from outside of the upper lock chamber Managing the water flow is much like braking a heavy train. If 4 turbines are operating at 100% it can take over 3hrs to gradually shutdown and decelerate the 9km of water in the head race so that it does not tsunami over the dam. They have a vast 'spill' gate in the event of a turbine, valve gate or penstock failure so they can offload water if the head race has not been decelerated enough.

RTE1 8:30 Tonight - Building Ireland - Ardnacrusha This was the largest civil engineering project in the world after WW1. The young free state government invested 20% of GDP in the project that kick started our economic development. In the early decades this renewable energy source ran the ENTIRE national grid. By 1950 it was still generating 70% of the entire nations electricity needs - from water - no imported coal, no peat, no imported oil. Ireland's energy management was 80 years ahead of its time back then!!! McLaughlin was a visionary and the young government had the courage and foresight to back his idea. Finished on time and on budget. 5000 men over four years. The German ships arrived in Limerick docks with Siemens-suckart construction equipment 4 weeks after the Dail passed the vote to proceed - weeks, not years. As part of the construction project they built a substantial railway network to transport the tonnage of rock and soil they moved, breaking world records for tonnage moved at the time. An amazing yet buried piece of our history. The plant still functions, but now limited to 1%-2% of the grid. A group of us had a guide tour of the entire plant a few years ago and the scale of the thing was incredible. It was Siemens reference site that lead to them building huge hydro plants all over the world in the following decades.

Thanks Railer, this is very interesting. Did the brake pads on locos apply physical friction pressure to the wheel surfaces or to separate axle brake discs? Did this configuration change with later models such as the 071 or 201s?

Holy Moly! What an incredible and fabulous collection of locos. Love the layout too.

Wonderful photo record of the lost North Kerry line.

Was just wondering how JM had time to post here while in command of a vessel Sorry for the drift - pun hope he's not adrift. Back on thread and dry land, it is a pity Rosslare station is so far from the quayside. Good state supported infrastructure can attract more traffic.

Simply stunning Eoin.

Captain - are you not maintaining a proper 'lookout'? AIS shows you are underway making way, how have you time to 'social network', or is your officer of the watch minding the bridge right now?

Agree

Precisely. The young rep in the store was evangelising how I'd never miss a notification!!! He was young, he'll learn. I now have my phone on divert 30% of the day every day so I can limit unimportant event driven interventions. It destroys productivity. Thank God most short haul airlines still don't have WIFI. Sitting on a flight is one of the few places left on the planet you don't have to put up with constant stream of smartphone 'ping' noises

Agree. That's what I've done. Anyway most of the smart watches and sports fitness watches I've seen are rather heavy bulky affairs in a world where everything is supposed to be getting smaller.

As a technology fan and cautious early adopter I've kept an eye on this 'gadget', but even series 2 still doesn't float my boat. It looks really amazing, is 'cool' to use, but for me personally, it just doesn't seem to perform any additional practical functions that are not already covered by my iPhone, iPad, MacBook, etc. I drift between lustfully wanting one, and thinking for close to €500 it doesn't really do a whole lot. Leaving it off at night to charge (poor battery life) seems to offset one of its USPs, sleep monitoring. I'm not into 'sports fitness' so that aspect doesn't appeal personally. Tried a series 2 recently, but this is the first Apple product that has left me rather 'disinterested' if not occasionally 'lustfully desiring' one.