Noel

Just me, but cement bubbles aren't part of my nostalgia memory from back in the CIE black'n'tan days, so probably not as excited as most about a model. Now un-braked loose coupled corrugated open CIE wagons and CIE vans would flick a nostalgia switch. But I think the bubble models will prove popular.

Ah yes you are right I got the ZX81 and the Spectrum mixed up.

If you are on Yosemite there is no urgency to move to El Capitan as the big feature jump was Yosemite, but coming from Mavericks there were some new bits worth getting. The need to keep up to date is not part of the past Apple culture. The ZX81 - that was considered the height of modernity and luxury back then compared to the stuff we started on - colour, and remember the screen flickered every time you pressed a key. But it was the 1st affordable 'micro' computer of that era dominated by Commodore Pet, Apple II, and Tandy TRS80. Then the Act Sirius one with MS-DOS changed everything 12months before IBM launched the PC which was technically inferior at every spec level to the Sirius One. The rest is history, but the likes of Altos, Fortune and CT were fun along the way. The world nearly spun off its axis when the daisy wheel printer was replaced by NLQ matrix and Laser printers (i.e. the word laser from si-fi movies instilling a sense of ultra modernity and star wars, flash gordon, etc). Memories . . .

Light dusting of factory weathering would at least allow individuals to use them straight out of the box, or enhance the weathering further if they wish, but not attractive to put on tracks shiney clean straight out of the box. They just would not look right as JB suggested. One of the attractions of RTR is to use straight out of the box.

I guess they know railway modellers prefer trains to buses on rails Hence the market for Irish RCs is probably too small to make a profit. Anyway the doors are seriously in the wrong place for an Irish 2700. MM have raised the bar so high, mere re paints don't cut it anymore.

Thanks, that makes sense. The 121 hauled trains I travelled on back then were single loco travelling cab end 1st, Black'n'tan, so they must have still been using the turntables at Amiens Street and Galway. On the AEC it was fab as a child to be able to see forward as the train proceeded west, past haycocks into stone wall country, and tiny walled fields alive with people working the land.

Thanks guys. Were Park Royals always usually placed inside the formation, or sometimes towed? Were laminates used the same way? Thanks for the pics Garlfieldsghost, I have vivid memories of looking forward in the direction of travel behind the driver compartment on the western lines in the early 60s. I can't remember if it was 121 pushed, or a railcar formation.

Interesting, were mainline coaches such as laminates, park royals, or even cravens ever used with them?

"8 piece set" - I presume the coaches were dedicated railcar coaches (i.e. with the bi-directional control gear cables, etc), or could they haul other coaching stock in the middle of a formation?

Brilliant Ps. It's nothing to do with image size, just orientation (ie rotation). This commonly occurs when using a smartphone held flat horizontally facing down over the subject. Put subjects on their side before photograping, or easier just use EDIT->ROTATE in the photos app of smartphone after taking the photo to put it right way up. It's kind of like making sure a TV is plugged in before switching it on

Fab collection of 125 sets. The 1st time I saw a 125 was in Bath around 1976. I remember being well impressed and it sounded great.

Ps. Remember after resetting a decider its address will change back to the default of 3. Just in case you try driving it with its previous address number and thought it was dead.

LOL JB, your lucky its not the middle ages, you'd be deported to Australia so your photos could be understood (in jest)

Suggest try the loco with a 12v DC controller (i.e. remove the decoder and put the blanking plate back in). That will tell you if it is a decoder setup issue or a problem with your DCC controller, or a mistake with a CV or controller command (e.g. shunting mode, CV5 too low, CV3/4, etc). I always test new locos on 12v DC without decoders to be sure they mechanically run ok. Testing on 12v DC will tell you if the loco is mechanically ok and running at proper speed. If it is ok on 12v DC then put the decoder back in, reconnect the DCC controller, and reset the decoder by setting CV8=8. That will reset all CV values to default values.

I have an A class with a Hornby class 52 chassis (see video above), but it moves like a rusty door hinge and I'm feed up with its poor running quality. The "2ft rule" may help hiding lack of scale detail on some models, but the "2ft rule" cannot hide poor low speed running, not from any viewing distance. It's awful shunting. Has anybody managed to successfully fit an RTR centre drive chassis into an A class such as Richie's suggestion of an Altas RSD4/5 or other Bachmann, newer Hornby, Athearn, etc, and if so did it run well at crawl speeds?

I can see your points - We used to use intercity a lot despite the extra door2door time because it was an enjoyable and relaxing part of the trip, but now we rarely use it for the reasons above. It can cost less to fly, and a lot less to drive. I used to love rail journeys.

Fair comment. But they did it very well for the previous 30 years until they stopped it.

Yes, these upside down images are doing my head in. JB please rotate the images before uploading - please because they are so good. It's really easy to do on your smartphone or tablet, or on your laptop, it just takes seconds.

The Dublin-Cork city gold used to have a decent food service when I used it a lot in the 80s and 90s, as was the dinning carriage. I was stunned to see how bad it is now if you can even call it food. So now instead I use car/motorway because a) it's faster and b) better food on route. I understand some years ago they outsourced the catering. Still decent food available on British, French and German equivalents of 'city gold', but alas no more on the premier route here.

Oh, for days gone bye when edible food was served on our railway services, and we eat off plates using a knife and fork.

I'd guess the Saturday shoppers stuck on the Dart, and stuck in Greystones were not impressed with 2hr shutdown either. Looking at Facebook it seems they got another steam loco for today's schedule.

Dart Services severely disrupted by Santa Steam Train breakdown blocking line. http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/1128/749926-traffic-delays-dublin/ Whoops.

The model shop sale discount appeared at the checkout yesterday but I think it was one day only. Think the promo code was 'BLACKFRIDAY' Marks still showing discounts on listings eg: http://www.marksmodels.com/?pid=15496

Marks sale is still on too

Fabulous resource