Noel

Revised List attached with a few corrections and the 201 river names

Careful now! We've already had 'jerking' by a mod, and now 'creep' by somebody who may be insane about junctions. Patrick is right and the beginning of clip below illustrates his point about high powered 071 pulling a rake out of Heuston, but it starts off at walking pace not 25mph like many models. I know locos didn't crawl continuously like my 141 v 071 clip, but at initial start the older locos on medium to heavy trains were very slow pulling off. Too many models are operated going from zero to 25mph rather than prototypical acceleration curve. Watch clips of heavy beat trains pulled by a pair of baby GMs, and it takes ages for them to get to even 20mph.

Think these famous wagons share almost similar chassis to the ballasts and bubbles: Hint IRM

IRRS 1967 This fabulous bit of film footage shows delivery livery 121 hauling mixed rakes of coaches in B&T and Flying snail green, A class crawling with loose coupled goods wagon. What a fab clip and look how petty the stations are maintained and landscaped. I know its been posted here before but it kind of relates to the thread. Pure glorious nostalgia. Looking forward to MM0121 later this winter or spring. Look at the speed the 121 passes over Carrig viaduct. 5m50s into clip Sulzer hauling mixed loose coupled goods train. Goods traffic back then was so varied and interesting. There are plenty more IRRS videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqUhJsrdk4XThg8kGENaufA/videos Some fab sugar beat trains which were longest goods trains in Ireland. Whoever made these films deserves the gratitude of rail fans and modellers. They are pure gold.

Maybe its the V4 software I have, but I never got the handle of that, possibly because they daftly put notching on functions higher than 9 so on most cabs require combinations of buttons or a shift key which I found it a bit clunky to operate. But the new ESU video you demonstrated seems to handle this better because the notching is done through the throttle control rather than FN buttons.

I was looking for a video clip of a GM starting off slowly with a heavy train, found this and realised it was a light train, nearly quit youtube but just spotted something rather scary at 5m12s into the clip!!! 20 years ago.

Will download the app and try it out. I resume you can play the sounds through the app to see how the mix is working. Did you download the 200mb template pack which seems to be their entire sound library?

Thanks, very interesting. Would love to see a video of some of your ESU sound work sometime if you get a chance to post. If I made a mess of a sound mix and blew it onto LokSound V4 chip, I presume with the programer I could just restore the 071 or 201 sound files to get back to the decoder as shipped by MM?

roflmao PS: The Bachmann/MM baby GMs are the best geared and smoothest running chassis I have ever seen compared to other Bachmann, Hornby and Athern.

Thank for that explanation. Wonder why they just didn't do the same with the Intercity 201s that cross the border instead of a third livery.

Forgive the pun but that 'sounds' great. If I was to get a lokprogramer and download the sound files from the ESU site, where would I get the sound tracks for Irish horn, station announcements, platform whistle, etc? Presume brakes and flange screech are on US files?

Does anybody know why at the introduction of the 201 class the locos and coach liveries did not match? This old pic from IT highlights how visually odd the combination looked. Was there originally a plan to repaint all the coaches that got put on hold? So is this bizarre black'n'grey livery because these two locos are backups or spares for the enterprise service, whereas in the past it was ok to use 'green and silver' intercity locos as enterprise backups because the previous intercity logo didn't have an 'Irish Flag' in the logo?

Agree. Just saw the trailer, looks good. Hope they don't overdress the true story with too many 'hollywood' explosions and special effects. Will watch it on Netflix oct 7.

Hi IT, that's a huge improvement that allows more control over sound. I presume one would have to reprogram MM/ESU decoders yourself with a software update from V4 and reload sound files? Noel

It depends on the demographic age profile of today's Irish market, nostalgia memory, etc. Anecdotally one might be forgiving for making the 'generalised' assumption that the dominant age profile in terms of numbers involved in the hobby are 60+, post mortgage, children left home, disposable income, etc. (ie very crudely observed by attendance at shows, swap meets, etc). But as stated that's just a crude and highly generalisec observation. It's also an age profile that is not as 'social media' hungry. A child in the toy segment today probably just remembers Darts, Luas, 2x00, 22ks and 201 hauled mk4s, or containers, or timber, etc. Photos like these are seen by kids as the olden days, when traffic lights were black and white, cars were black, and their great grand parents may have lived in areas without electricity or running water.

Don't know is the quick answer. Sure one could change acel and decel CVs on ESU chip, but that won't simulate 'coasting' nor direct application of brakes (eg F4 on Zimo). Have a google for some video showing real drive. For example if I get an MM 141/Zimo up to scale speed of 70mph and then zero the throttle she will continue 'coasting' around the layout barely loosing any speed for some considerable time unless brakes are engaged on/off using F4. On the ESU when you pull the throttle fully off the CV4 deceleration CV immediately slows the loco at a rate, no active application of a brakes input needed. You get used to both methods of simulating the inertia of a heavy train being brought gradually to a halt. With the ESU I find I progressively reduce throttle with '-1' speed step decrements as the train approaches, with the Zimo I do nothing but start brake input to control the rate of slowing.

The MM 071 sound chip is pretty good and it's on an ESU decoder. MrSoundGuy sells a Zimo decoder with 071 sound which is also pretty good. The main difference is the 'real drive' throttle and braking control on the Zimo which includes coasting. Some folks love it, some hate it and prefer the ESU deceleration method. Personally I like driving locos with the Zimo sound chip as its closer to the real thing. To stop the loco you have to apply breaks using F4, so timing the correct stopping point at a platform is interesting. But I also really like driving my 071 with the ESU. Splitting hairs needed to separate them. I prefer the sound of brakes on the ESU, but prefer the coasting and braking procedure on the Zimo.

Nice shots of 22024 in the falling light

From Met Eireann Hope her stabilisers are working! Try F10 in Biscay! On another occasion remember coming back from the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff in 2011, the Leinster supporters were in good cheer and in party mode, but within 5 seconds of the ferry exiting Fishguard harbour into a westerly F8 the ship went silent.

Stunning work

Has it been modelled? http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2669-The-Gort-Layout-at-The-B-N-S-Kinvara

Thanks Fran

Old Blarney your evocative description makes one almost feel like they were there. Is there still a plan to evaluate the feasibility of reopening the Youghal line?

Its easy to forget how busy these little stations used to be with pick up goods traffic. I remember spending hours watching B&T and early ST locos shunting loose coupled stock in places like Galway yard, Newbridge, Portarlington, Gort (visiting Uncle), Waterford (home), etc. It was mesmerising with very interesting movements including signalling which I never fully understood. The constant change in pitch of the baby GMs as they patiently shunted stock, often a single wagon off a passing mixed goods train, or some times on the western lines coupled to the rear of passenger trains. It was a golden era alright and so much more interesting than push-pull and fixed rake formation. These stations were alive with activity interspersed with hours of nothing happening except for trains passing each other on loops. We can't stop progress, but there is nothing stopping us modelling trains when they were interesting to operate, almost Rubik's Cube like mental agility needed by the CIE staff when shunting stock off trains into sidings in the right order. I can still hear the noises, voices, humming engines, metal to metal clinking and clacking, flanges screeching, and couplings being slung unto hooks. H&S today would never have allowed youngsters my age back then line side. Some of the CIE staff gave me amazing amount time telling yarns and explaining how it all worked, what was controlled from Dublin and what was from the local signal box, and what they could do within the station confines off the main lines, and what procedures they had to adopt to keep trains running when analog signalling systems failed.

Thanks guys. I guess I'll have to make do with no 210 which most retailers seem to have in stock. Actually the number 201 is not the attraction for me it is the name 'River Shannon' where we spend a lot of time. River Erne is our next favourite boating spot.