Noel

Thanks for posting those. Looks really nice inside. Especially the business service coach. I looks like all the coaches have window blinds. Pity Irish Rail no longer have a decent business service on the Cork line. I presume the photo on slide 6 is the DVT.

Glenderg's comparison is very interesting. Just to throw another angle on it. Sometimes accurate colours do not scale down from full size of 4mm scale with predominantly indoor lighting. Pigment reflects light, and the colour of the light is also a factor (e.g. white balance in photography). Some model colour schemes lend themselves to slight adjustment to make them "look right" when scaled down. Also shadows just don't work the same in artificial light. Viewing angle is also a factor, as most models are viewed top down at a 30-45 degree angle, whereas prototypes are predominantly viewed side on hence different light reflection. I guess the correct shade is the shade that looks and feels correct for an owner.

BBC2 7pm 'Walk the line' Antrims lost railways

Agree. It is just a shame the price may severely restrict sales of what seems like a good product. It's just basic business to balance sales with costs to make a reasonable return over time.

Sounds very promising. Presume pre-order folks will get a status update sometime during Q1 2016.

Maybe, but effectively not at such staggeringly insane prices of nearly €80 for a flat pack cardboard "kit" of a signal box. Seems priced more for commercial use than typical hobbyists. €220 for a station building that needs to be painted!!!

Seriously expensive kits

Nous sommes avec vous dans votre chagrin, et prions Dieu vous réconforter. "We stand with you in your grief, and pray God will comfort you."

Shocked and just feel a sense of deep sadness. Such awful plain and suffering for hundreds of innocent families whose lives have been changed utterly.

Is HLV = Heating & Luggage Van? Presume it ran with Dynamo lit stock if no generator.

Pity - the Hornby's are not the greatest runners, not bad, but not good either. Is there a Bachmann chassis that fits as they are mostly all wheel drive, all wheel pickup with flywheels and centre drive chassis?

Thanks. Were the tanks always fitted to these vans? I vaguely remember seeing photos of models some with, some without the tanks.

Great. I'm exempt so <1kg

Old thread but a question to quench my curiosity. What function did the bockety looking boxes under the buffer beams have? Were they some sort of weight or storage tank? These vans had a nice curved side profile.

Not a lead roof is it?

PS: Looks like there had been two different buildings up against that gable at some stage. The shape of the gable scar on your 2nd photo is a different size and shape building to the one in the 3rd fotograf.

Sorry can't help you Dave, but thanks for the super photo of mixed goods traffic from my favourite era when rail freight was near its peak.

Now that is what I call a genuine quality build and a proper model. The precision and resolution of the model is quite simply in a league of its own. Hats of to the builder, and best wishes to the new owner. It looks so pleasing to the eye. Would love to see a video of it running some day.

Excellent - very interesting. Was the recording from inside a coach, outside via window, or line side of a passing train? Three very different sounds.

I suspect the maze of parallel telegraph wires rising up and down and the poles whipping past added to the drowsy hypnotic effect if looking out the window at cows, etc.

Does anybody miss or remember the old "clackety clack" wheel/rail joint sounds travelling on mainline passenger trains before welded rails were introduced back in the late 70s? It had a sort of hypnotic effect making one a bit drowsy after a while on longer train trips. It's a pity DCC sound chips don't have a spare channel for it matching the loco speed to the frequency of 'clacks'

Now your cooking! B&T loose coupled mixed freight - yum. I remember a few pax trains in my child hood that had a few freight wagons tagged on at the back, and trains that used to split halfway, and you had to be sure to be sitting in the correct end of the train for your destination. RS is right, its whatever era one grew up with or saw the most of that lures us back.

Thanks. Sounds more than good enough.

Thanks for posting. That sounds really great. What are the breaks like and the flange squeal? Irishtump has done something similar. Did you use the LokProgrammer to add the EMD567 prime driver to the 071 project available on the ESU website? What speaker did you use? Was it a standard 40x20mm speaker installed in the MM speaker cradle or did you remove the cradle to install a larger speaker casing?

Not too sure about "often to a very high standard". Some of it may have been an admirable accomplishment but often pretty coarse looking. I tend to agree. I'm one of those. It was the superb MM RTR products that attracted me back into the hobby after a long break. There is no right nor wrong, just different opinions, different tastes, and different expectations. All equally valid. If I can explain. I intend to keep buying from sources such as SF and IFM because I personally have found them to be of a reasonable standard and look well "enough" for me behind MM locos. They are without doubt way better than anything I could ever build from a kit. IMHO, it seems unrealistic to compare the cost of coaches from of a production run of 8000 units, with the cost from small volume producers, and certainly unrealistic to expect the same level of detail. If MM were producing Park Royals and Laminates in volume I would expect a notch up in detail, but just a notch. MM are not infallible either, IMHO the colour of the mk2d stock has been way off the prototype. The 2ft rule doesn't help when colour is way off, but it does help if windows are not flush glazed or door handles are absent. In the end of the day its about choice and these small producers of RTR stock make models available that enough folk want to run on their layouts. Enough folk have voted with their feet and 'wallets' It's ironic that this discussion is actually a symptom of the variety and choice of Irish RTR stock now available - but a dream only 20 years ago. How our expectations have risen? Lets blame MM for raising the bar so high. PS: Apologies Warbonnet, posts crossed as I was typing and took a few phone calls.