Noel

+1 Brought me back to the early 60s on 121 hauled trains to Galway - sounds pure magic nostalgia

Some nice pics as ever. Love the video of the BGH creeping through the station. "Fermanagh" looked spotless. Looks like they had a test service team, chefs and some test pax on board as well. Seeing the Mk3's brings back memories of how comfy Mk3s were on long routes compared to the 22k tram buses with their back ache hard seats. Not sure what benefit and interior style refresh will achieve, it won't make the seats any more comfortable, won't reduce the engine noise nor improve ride comfort. Still better I suppose than a 2600 ride from Limerick to Ballybrophy!

Interesting. The ergonomic styling reminds me of the Sinclair Spectrum from the 80s. Aside from the appearance technically it looks a well spec'd system. The industry is crying out for a new wireless or IP based digital control standard to replace current NMRA DCC specs which was great in its day but technically decades behind current electronics technology. DCC protocols are too slow for real time instant decoder programming and jurassically cumbersome for users. This is 2016 after all, the concept of a CV seems as daft as a smartphone user needing to know hex register addresses to put phone numbers in their phone. Things have changed in micro electronics since the 1980s. The USA market seems very conservative and content with such dated and expensive technology. It should be possible to reprogram all the settings including sound files in a decoder in a second anywhere on the track using either a wireless protocol or IP network over the track. Try writing 500 CVs to a DCC decoder and it could take 10 minutes! ESU have made great inroads to the user interface, but behind the colour LCD panel lurks a dated, slow and very expensive NMRA DCC protocol. RailCom if it became a widely supplied standard would be an improvement, but it two is based on 1999 technology. A lot has happened and changed since then - iPods, digital cameras, smart phones, tablets, SSD, VOIP, broadband TV, etc, but not model train control systems which lurk in the dark ages. I use NCE solely because of the ergonomics of the dog bone cabs which personally suit our layout, but I have to say they have never bothered to release software updates to improve the user interface of the cabs. An improvement in their day, but in the ditch compared to smart phone or even smart watch user interface simplicity and quality. Apologies for the drift.

Excellent

Wow, Caboose Hobbies seem like the B&H Photo of model rail retail in USA. Seems a shame they are closing rather than selling the business on if the the reason is retirement. Their dated web site is pretty awful. http://www.caboosehobbies.com

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the interesting info.

Perhaps, but this bit didn't look pristine. As you say it could be the light or reflection. And yes the photos are superb. If the coaches had gone through the wash in Heuston there could have been some dust or streaking as they dried.

Thanks for posting. Slightly surprised how quickly the coaches got dirty and the new paint job seemed dull after only a few weeks exposure to the weather. It thought they would look sparking and shiny like the delivery photos for at least a few months.

Thank you for the time to make and post that video Kirley. Beautiful looking model, but unfortunately its poor running doesn't wet my appetite. I'd be curious to see how the chassis runs slowly at a scale speed of 5mph over peco point work or if it can.

Hi Old Blarney, when I saw the photo of the chassis on Kirley's post and the lack of things like a fly wheel I wondered if this was going to be another case of a fine scale model that looks great but not capable of running well and certainly not scale smoothness. However I decided not to post a query about the chassis as I didn't want to appear negative about a new product. Unfortunately your feedback confirms my suspicions. IMHO higher priced fine scale models need to run as well as they look and especially smooth slow running and scale acceleration and deceleration without any porpoising or jerking. No point in a model looking authentic if it runs like a childs toy. However I'm glad you have managed to improve the running with the weight. 4-4-0 chassis really need to be all wheel pickup rather than one side on chassis and one on tender. Does the front bogie have pick ups or just the two driving wheels?

Model turbines are quite popular in my old RC model club, as is electric power. Not so much petrol now, and glo-fuel is almost a thing of the past.

Thanks for the nice shots. I can't believe they are leaving the livery that plain without any lining, even some understated thin lining. Its crying out for a little more delicate sophistication.

Stunning last photo of the 3 GMs at Amiens Street shed

What a total disaster and mess up. No working layout means no kids, no families, no footfall, no revenue, and probably failure and eventual closure. What a shame the generous 1.5m donation will be wasted and not used as intended by the visionary donor. Surely the current custodians of this historic layout can find another tourism interest or commercial operator anywhere in Ireland to put this layout back on display. Models in glass display cases won't cut it. Shame on the local authority.

Seriously Impressive. Congrats guys. The tension lock swan neck solution seems like the best compromise. Looking forward to planned delivery in 11 weeks. Ps. Any pre-production pics of the load?

Nice video of the wagons. The stiffness in the loco looks more an easy to fix mechanical issue than electronic.

Thanks Finbarr. Sone really fabulous photos in there. It's great to see so many interesting loco hauled trains on UK network. One photo in particular over the viaduct was so colour rich it reminded me of a spectacular layout scene. A relief from boring 22k luas trams. I was standing in Athlone marina last week with a great view of the white railway bridge, heard a train approaching the famous bridge, picked up my camera, but put it down without a click when I realised it was a boring tram. Btw, they have fantastic plans for the cycle Greenaway right through the centre of Athlone off the disused mullingar/Athlone line.

Having initially been impressed and very enthusiastic about DCC sound, I have changed my own view about equipping a 'fleet' of model locos. I've found that running more than one sound equipped loco at the same time doesn't actually sound great, instead rather a confused noise blurred into one indistinctive 'din'. Also simulated 'doppler' effect not currently possible with DCC sound. The distant rumble of a GM loco and horn was very unique as was coasting 'rail' noise. So just personally speaking I won't aspire to fitting DCC sound to more than a few 'party piece' models including one of the existing 141 sound chip in a 121 when they become available. The concurrent sound issue seems a bigger barrier than cost.

Existing Zimo and Locsound 141 sound projects should be close enough for a model

Whatever it is, it should be a class act

The website looks well. Unfortunately the video showing the i3 running didn't impress me, the chassis did not appear to be running free and started and stopped rather abruptly in an unprototypical manner. Could have been the hand on the controller or the apparent lack of double flywheel on the chassis. IMHO models need to be able to appear to operate prototypical accelaration and braking speeds smoothly and capable of ultra low speed running as well as look prototypical. One without the other seems expensive. In this day and age not having online payments on the web site seems an omission. Good luck to them.

** DELETEDED mistake

Bray Airshow traffic likely to be very heavy from 10:30 onwards. It can take over an hour to get into Bray on Airshow day if the weather is good.

Yes absolutely fab to have photos of the three generations of GMs in those liveries side by side and coupled in historical order. Thank you.

Hi Richie, would you like to elaborate? E.g: have you modelled that building complete with weeds and shrubs growing on it and gutters blocked with weeds?