Noel

That bit detail looks amazing. From reading comments here I am sure it will be in great demand and will sell well. Can't help my memory but I suspect once I get my hands on one 'resistance will be futile' (Dr A J Borg 2316). Ps. I ordered a rake of the ballasts and really looking forward to them

Don't really know why, but the cement bubble as a prototype never 'blew my skirt up' and was not part of my nostalgia memory. Loose coupled vans, cattle wagons and original bulleid open wagons are burned into my childhood memories of ex-MGWR lines in the west.

No won't post hazchem off the UK mainland, so they won't post to Parcel Motel in NI, IOM, nor even the Isle of Wight!!! Been through all of this last year. Its totally daft that they now classify tiny tins of humrol enamel paint as 'hazchem'. H&S looney loopers gone mad.

A cattle dock I made many many moons ago when I was about 15 - no slagging please

Thanks Railer. They must have been on the CD stand and I didn't notice them. That answers my query.

The mk3 thread triggered this. Even though it's not my era, and I only have a single 201 (222), I have fancied the idea of occasionally operating a rake of IE mk4 suedo look-a-like coaches behind the green/grey 201. The livery is instantly recognisable. But I am not keen on the long scale coach lengths so I was considering shortening Hornby Mk4s and respraying. My thought was to cut out one window section, a cut and shut to shorten the model coaches so they would look better going around typical curves on model layouts, and being shorter could fit a rake of 6 or seven coaches in stations. Mad idea or doable? I know to some it might seem sacrilege to have non scale lengths, fewer windows, and the BR mk4s are not the same bodies as IE mk4s, but might they not at least have a passing resemblance to an IE mk4 set if I also bodged a half decent DVT nose out of plastic card or even carved balsa skimmed with glass coating?

Fran what are these SF push pull sets like? http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/ir-ie-mk3-suburban-sets I've never seen any of their mk3 RTR stuff up close but it looks a bit expensive compared to respray costs. Mainline sample http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ie_mk3_mainline_intercity.jpg Noel

I would like to have some decent Mk3's but they are rather long and might not look great with the radius curves on our layout and would probably need to limit rake to 5 coaches due to platform lengths which just doesn't look the same as a standard 8 coach rake. But a 3 coach push pull with MM121 might not look out of place despite the long coaches overhanging track work on bends.

Magnifique Absolutely totally and utterly stunning.

Does it have track diagrams for past and present?

Thanks for posting those super photos. Very interesting.

+1 http://www.modelrailbaseboards.com

Yikes! Uncomfortable reading. It doesn't bare thinking about the consequences of a HST derailing at speed near a river.

Me too. Sure its just a foreign choo-choo that links two EU states - what does the colour really matter. Wish the DT-DVT didn't look like the wrong end of a reliant robin though.

Class workmanship. You are very talented Dave.

Some nice video clips. Like 086 hauling the Tara wagons and the viaduct clip. Please forgive my lack of enthusiasm for buses on rails (ICR/DMUs) that sound more like one of these than a real train.

IOM's primary economy is now financial services, no longer tourism which has evaporated.

A very nice layout. Well done to the team. Scenic work is top class. What are the dimensions of the layout?

A sign of the times. Along with economic tides rising for most over the past 40 years, westerners have more sophisticated tastes and looking for more from their holiday experiences. Gone are the days when children took pleasure from simple activities like a donkey ride along a beach, building sand castles, climbing trees, etc. Things like LCD'itiss has struck all of us not just youngsters. A ride on a tram or narrow gauge railway sadly doesn't cut it anymore compared to a roller coaster ride, a visit to Alton Towers or Disneyland theme parks, etc. The only constant with time is change.

I'd be interested. Sadly its a sign of the times. Projects like this usually need some state or local authority aid, or commercial sponsorship which is common practice in the UK but a more alien practice here. Hope it can survive. I miss the Fenit railway.

IOM is no longer the tourist destination it was, and the numbers of annual visitors has all but collapsed. Low cost airlines have had a negative effect on traditional sea side resorts on these islands, with folk preferring to holiday overseas for less cost with guaranteed good weather. It's a symptom of relative prosperity. But I hope they can find a sustainable way to keep the trams if at all possible. I've spent a lot of time in IOM and very fond memories of the railway there also.

Sadly tied up again that day! Will have to get to the feb one.

Cheers Joe. Just bare in mind you don't have any of the hassle above with the newer 071 and 201 models because they come with a speaker, so just plug in a 21pin sound decoder (i.e. with suitable sound project) and go. No wires, no solder. 5 mins to install.

I'm only guessing, but that might mean a delivery delay for the existing 333 order holders while they wait for the extra packs to be ordered and paid for before production starts. But small re-runs might be possible as the tooling costs would have already been absorbed and therefore the cost per unit lower, or rightly a bit of well earned profit for the business to fund other projects and make a return which is only fair for all the work, investment and risk taking. Hat's off guys for a clever startup strategy.

I'm holding out for IRM's 404 due in 2025 to commemorate the opening of the Cork-Dublin HST404 sets expected to run at 404kph to compete with self drive hydrogen cars on the M8a.