Noel

The Lima chassis is nowhere near as good a runner as the Murphy model one, hence value is probably more for static display purposes. Add to that 201 class GMs just don't seem to be as popular with modellers as the earlier era Irish locos.

"Careful now - down with that sort of thing!" It was you who encouraged me to order more!!! - Pot/Kettle :)

Ordered 3 more sets - enough is obviously not enough - ouch!

IFM CIE Laminate in a mixed rake. Two more poor phone shots from other angles. PS: Forgive, but I enjoy my own imaginary model railway world hence the mix of Irish and UK steam stock predominantly pre 1975.

Running trains this evening. Open freight loads. It never rains here. (posted earlier on other thread) An imaginary 'knock special' scene - Newly arrived IFM Laminate in mixed rake of MM Cravens and IFM Park Royals. Need more figures from the Fr Ted set.

Thanks. Very interesting. If possible please rotate the images right way up before uploading.

Ah, just been told by a reliable source its one of these http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3553-Generator-cars-for-irish-coaching-stock-specifically-HLV/page2?highlight=wheel+heating Six wheeler!!! Anybody producing a model or kit of same?

Does anybody know what the van behind the A class in galway is. The roof has some bits on it suggesting it may have been a heating type van as opposed to just a luggage van or P&T van. Also does anybody know if it was a bogie van, twin axil or three axil setup? It has a very distinctive side profile with the vertical upper section sloping outwards as it falls before the lower tumblehome. The same van seems to appear again in the Westport station pic.

Sure. Will take some more at the weekend when I get some time.

Will do. Only had few mins and phone to hand. Will take proper pics with camera at the weekend.

Christmas arrived slightly early. Delighted with Irish Freight models new CIE laminate coach. It is superb. Looks right at home in a mixed rake of MM Cravens, IFM Park Royal and IFM Laminate. Thanks and well done Tom and Irish Freight Models. Looking forward to getting a few more.

Agree - Loads of loose coupled unbraked goods wagon formations with brake vans, corrugated wagons, vans, Black and Tan, not a double bogie to be seen, few boring containers, nostalgia memories of what freight and passenger trains once were. My favourite era. Operationally very interesting and diverse compared to what followed after 1980. Can't stop progress but can't help liking all the shunting, running around trains, intricate track work, turn tables, and wonderful little goods yards at every station now long lost.

Thanks Guys for your helpful feedback. Think I will do a few trial sections of all of the above.

Thank you. Fabulous slides. Will be really helpful for my next project.

I think most of the foam I have is UV resistant. Some of the older hornby style did disintegrate years ago. Mine has been down for 22 years. I plan to replace it anyway.

I have to login again every time I access the forum using iPhone which uses the mobile template. Not a problem on iPad which uses the full site template and no problem on desktop browsers. It seems to be related to the phone sized template

Interesting. Bostic to glue the foam to the board I presume, as I can't imagine bostic can be thinned or watered down to use to glue ballast between the sleepers (i.e. use PVA for the ballast and bostic to stick foam to board).

Hi Folks. Sorry of this has been covered here before. I've searched the forum but did not find a specific thread on the matter. What track ballasting method do folk prefer? Our current layout was 'temporarily' ballasted with foam underlay 20 years ago and it was always the plan to either re-ballast it later once the track plan was finalised, or alternatively lay ballast right up to the existing edges of the form underlay. Many moons ago on previous layouts I had ballasted using paint and various grades of sand, but the noise was deafening. I've read a lot of posts on other forums and watched a lot of youtube clips espousing the various methods, but just wondering what you guys have found works well. The one thing I want to avoid is transferring loud noise to the baseboard, so I like the idea of some form of sound insulation (e.g. cork, form, etc). At the moment there is virtually no noise transmitted into our baseboard due the foam underlay so the layout is nice and quiet (i.e. better to hear sound chips).

Thats very impressive already and looks like it is going to be very special when it is finished. Keep us posted.

Hi Brian Experienced folks like Glenderg and others are best equipped to answer your question. This Phoenix paint may suit http://www.marksmodels.com/?pid=15977 but lets see what the lads come up with. Noel

Sorry but 1) it was only a suggestion not a gripe, 2) a small professional caterer looks after everything and makes a profit so no volunteers needed nor rubbish on floors, 3) it only needs a single class room, and 4) I wasn't the only one who thought of it and I hadn't mentioned it before. The SDMRC put on a great show and it would have been no more than a welcome add on. I have organised many events and business shows large and small over the years and it's easy as pie to get a caterer to come in and run a small snack bar at their own expense. At some events they even pay for the space because of the profit margins they can make over a few days. I hope no hard feelings, it was just a constructive suggestion.

+1 Impressive work

Food for thought. All these new temptations, IFM laminates, IRM ballasts, AEC 2600 DVT, PW Bulleid's, 121s down the tracks, Shapeways A class on Athearn chassis, Marks Sale, etc. Where will it all end Ted? Enough dreaming . . .

Some good points and my lexdisia was able to understand the touch screen spelling Tuoch srceen cna mkae a rael mese of tpying but fokl kan sitll undretsand waht yuo maen. Btw, the TV and films many Irish modellers have watched over the past 50 years generally depict trains as being UK steam era, combined with hornby toy sets had created a sort of false 'nostalgia' effect in the ROI market, despite folks here never having travelled on same. (Ie TV and movies kept steam alive in folks heads long after it was gone). Some NI folks lucky to have living memory of steam.

But an ICR is surely a dead duck! Ps. Off topic but the launch of "Thomas" on TV in the mid 80s is reputed to have partially saved the hobby by introducing a new generation to toy trains in an era where toy train set sales were falling off a cliff.