Noel

I've done a few but it can be a real pain getting the chassis to run freely after reassembly because the alignment is very tight on some of them. Having done a few I've decided no more. It's too much hassle to get the chassis mechanically running smoothly afterwards. The spacers and lugs factory installed do not like to be disturbed and can be awkward to get back in perfect alignment. A converted chassis needs to be running in again for at least one or two hours. Some split chassis are easier to do as one does not need to split them to isolate the motor terminals (i.e. the motor does not pickup from inside the chassis sides). http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3573-Noel-s-DCC-Conversion-Bench/page3

I suspect either way roads were going to happen here and in the UK. On another note, it could have been interesting to know if a small number of the branch routes that were closed due to being grossly unprofitable in the late 50s and 60s might have become economically justifiable in recent decades as our economy developed (i.e. profitable, socially justified, or macro economically justifiable for Ireland Inc). I'm thinking of routes like Foynes, and seasonal tourist routes especially in Cork, Kerry, west, Tramore, Kilrush, etc. Some of these areas are hopping with tourists for the summer. 1 and 2 coach railcars might have been viable on low traffic seasonal branches. We'll never know, those branch lines are gone forever.

On my last layout over 25 years ago the track was glued straight onto ply base board with some mdf sections, with ballast sprinkled onto it using strainers when glue was wet. The ballast looked fabulous but the sound was annoyingly horrendous. The baseboard was like a guitar body amplifying the sound. I know newer MDFs are much better, but I would recommend some form of sound insulation between the track and any form of wooden or composite wooden baseboard. I will post some experiments with ballast combined with the foam underlay in the coming weeks. Open structure baseboards do not conduct noise as badly as large flat baseboard sections, and in USA some modellers use white foam to build up structure laying track on it which helps reduce noise.

Two excellently formulated and presented videos. Clear, concise, informative and well narrated. Dave you could have a sideline career in broadcasting. Best of luck with the channel and looking forward to future releases.

Thought freight only ran at night on main intercity routes after pax services finished.

Hi Joe. I used Peco foam ballast underlay about 20 years ago which originally was intended as a semi-temporary measure. This gave me time to easily make adjustments to the track layout in the early years before gluing down with ballast on cork. So far I have not yet replaced it and it did not perish or deteriorate. Peco have rolls of foam ballast underlay and underlay for points and cross overs. It has proved excellent for sound reduction (i.e. no noise transmitted to ply base boards). I do intend to either replace it someday when I get around to doing scenic work, or perhaps ballast up to the edges of it with a sprinkling over the top of it. On an old layout I had glued and ballasted all the track down but it was a nightmare to adjust destroying any track pulled back up, so I vowed not to repeat until I was confident the track work would be permanent. Few photos of what it looks like pre-scenics. I hope to try some samples of ballast material that runs up to the edge and in-between the foam underlay.

Yes indeed, but the land needed for urban heavy rail is long gone and now too costly to acquire unlike UK, France and Germany who put such rail density down over 100 years ago BEFORE the urban sprawl. They don't even have the 'vision' to make a 100 year investment and build dart underground to Heuston and join the two most important dots!!! And certainly not the money to make Bray to Malahide four track hence no reasonable east coast speed rail link into city for most as ICRs would be blocked behind darts. . . . anyway what's all this side track got to do with model choo-choo trains

Dublin has a very small population for a capital city in the developed world!!! (e.g. less than half that of Manchester or Birmingham), but for a small city it takes up a large geographical area due to the low building density and low buildings (i.e. more like a pancake).

Very true. A big problem though was that we seemed to miss out on the industrial revolution and lacked the industries that expanded other european populations facilitating rapid urbanisation. However it looks like this island will have a population of about 9m in the not too distant future thanks to population growth and migration of labour.

I'm not sure. Our small island with a tiny population, predominantly agricultural back then, few large urban centres, very little heavy industry, unlike our european neighbours who had many large urban populations for 100s of years to connect. Also there is a difference between economies that have achieved relatively recent income wealth, as opposed to those also who have had capital wealth for hundreds of years (e.g. France, Germany, UK, Sweden, etc), and have therefore been able to invest in infrastructure to support their large populations. Ireland may be listed in international economic league tables as a comparatively wealthy country in terms of quality of life and household income, but compared to long developed economies is still a relatively poor country in terms of capital wealth (public and private). Our population has been and remains very small. (now if that is a good or a bad thing is a separate question and has nothing to do with a model rail forum).

Thanks JB. Did the 4 and 6 wheelers once have silver and later green (flying snail) livery?

Thanks for posting that. Really enjoyed it.

Did CIE or any of its pre-depressors have heating or break vans similar to this LMS one?

Neither do I - but it just looks a totally amazing beast. Enjoy You can just imaging a big consist of them hauling a freight train that's nearly a mile long through the rockies.

Nice pics. I especially like this one which contrasts the interesting shape and character of 071 compared to the rather boring shoe box 201. Ironic the old towing the new.

Looks an amazing beast of a loco. Their snout nosed cabs just like their road trucks ooze character.

This happened on the network in 1974. Don't know if this was posted here before, but it is very nostalgic. Loose coupled goods wagons, pickup freight and shunting.

And this one - oh Yummie! A class beauty in her element A superb photo collection

I tend to agree. 201s have proved not to be the most popular GM models anyway, and 201 hauled pax rolling stock seems too long for most layouts.

121 pair nois2nose hauling ballast wagons. MM+IRM bring on winter 2016/2017 http://jandjcottrell.zenfolio.com/p903912662/h3f1ecb0c#h3f1ecb0c

Yes good news, saw it on MM website http://www.murphymodels.com Well done MM. Looking forward to acquiring 3 x 121s for my era (1xIE 2xB&T), and may be tempted into one Grey livery for static display in a case.

Agree. Seems over priced for an underwhelming model. My modelling budget will be saved for the 121s.

Thanks for posting. 22030 looks filthy. Presume that is caused by spray from standing water in the ballast. We get the train down to Killarney a few times a year, walk to hotel, and hire electric bikes to cycle around Killarney national park and Muckross, but some of the cycleways and caddy paths we cycle on are well under water in your golf club pics. Killarney is a fabulous destination for a weekend break by train and cycling around the flat pathways in that stunning scenery and lakelands is magical. Ross castle is a favourite out of season when the tourist hoards are away. Last time we were down the 22k had broken down (again) so we had a rather decrepit 2600 up to mallow. To add insult to injury the usual 201 hauled Mk4 set had been replaced by a 22k so hard fibreglass seats all the way to Dublin.

Wonderful. Pure 100% excellence that is in another class altogether. Totally sublime and that includes the layout.

Is the solution to that what the toy makers used to do - leave centre axil floating or without flanges.