Noel

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.

Congrats IRM. Looking forward to running these behind a pair of baby GMs. Its what comes after the cement bubble that I'm also very interested in

Thanks Kieran. Your thread covering the build on RMWEB which I've just read is excellent. Noel

Hi Kevin Might be interested in joining in, but a few queries. What price are the SO and BSO versions? Does anybody have a scanned copy of the instructions so I can gauge what work would be involved? Are the overlays stuck over the existing plastic coach sides or instead of? Which donor would be most suitable for the BSSGV in terms of interior seating, etc? Which donor for the SO, BSO - the Dapol coaches seem to be corridor interior layouts instead of open? Do they fit on the RTR and/or KIT Dapol 60ft Stanier coaches below? KIT: http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=177_60_87_220&product_id=1582 RTR: http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=177_60_87_159&product_id=1578 Thanks Noel

OK. I was just curious why anybody would want or need 17 or more baby GMs, even if they had the cash. How would they even fit on typical layouts.

Opps, yes and Agree. I don't remove the handrails anymore when taking the body off because its a real pain getting them perfectly back on I use wooden ice cream sticks with the ends cut flat to pinch the sides by pushing them under the hand rails. The wood seems to be gentle on the body sides.

141/181 To get the body off pinch the sides of the body using ice cream sticks and gentle pull upwards. See the four orange lugs protruding from the central body. These are what need to be pinched to release the body. One cab separates. Empty speaker cradle on the 141/181 - some folk remove this and the lugs to fix larger speaker bodies. I used it as designed. Solder wires to speaker Solder speaker wires to loco PCB at the SP+ and SP- holes Insert the decoder the correct way up (i.e. there is one hole blocked on the decoder and one pin missing on the loco PCB) On the advice of others here I also drill a small hole on the top of the body over the decoder for heat dissipation.

One of the main retailers here in Ireland, told me when the baby GMs went on sale years ago, he had a number of clients who bought one of every single running number available from him, and one client bought four of every running number. Who in the world would want that many locos unless they have a tennis court sized layout, or are trader/collectors hoping to make a few bob profit in the future when the models are out of production? I don't get it. I am lucky to have eight baby GMs, four 071s, a single 201, and hoping to buy three or four 121s next year when they are on sale, but I won't be buying one of every livery or every running number. Hopefully over time 2xB&T 1xIR and possibly 1xGrey, which will nicely complement the existing GM fleet on the layout.

The only High Nellie I've been on uses pedal power - http://www.highnelly.ie Michael Collins mode of transport

Are we in danger of nit picking and raising expectations to unrealistic levels? It's free enterprise market - so once the 121s are on the shelves and folk have had a chance to examine them, they will vote or not with their wallets. Minor details such as paint trim variations should be straight forward for modellers to adjust if they feel the need to. My own personal expectation is the new MM 121 will be top class and easily surpass the 'duck test' that applied to the chocolate fountain results from MIR etc.

What a treasure trove of photos. Superb. Thanks for posting.

P What gauge wheels are shown on the cad drawings posted above?

Great footage of my favourite era

Great read, thanks for posting.

He was referring to the 'A class' in that famous post. Imho, both the SSM and SF look quite good when finished. The difference may be in the kit components.