Noel

Your layout and scenic work is fabulous Patrick. I love the look of it with and without the stone walls. Personally the stones walls looked the biz as they reminded me of the western line outside Galway, but I understand your reasons for removing them. However it has inspired me to plan such walls on our layout when I get around to some rural scenic sections. Your foliage looks superb.

Heuston intercity routes will remain an island as long as they are not directly connected by fast heavy rail to the other lines and routes, especially the Dart. Both commuter and intercity traffic would grow. You can't get on a train north, south or east city and connect to trains to our other cities Cork, Limerick, Galway or Waterford. Its a joke - no wonder its easier to take the motorway and go by car.

A short sighted lack of vision. Business and Leisure travellers will not be too interested in a slow Luas link to Airport that stops off every few mins for "local" needs. The existing AirPort express bus will be much faster and hence the capital spend on Luas only of benefit to local communities but not air travellers, nor Ireland Inc. A great pity the big picture for Ireland Inc has not been grasped.

Will do Leslie. I don't know Michael, but will indeed pray for him, a sense of peace as he prepares for the operation, for his family who must be worrying, and for the medical staff who are caring for him, that each one of them will be diligent, precise and use their talents and skills to the best of their ability, also that Michael is fit for the procedure and free from pre and post op infection, and for success in treating his condition.

Hi Paul. Sorry the Hornby hymek horror show didn't appeal to me at the time, but within a year or so back then in the 70s I was over the moon with the Lima Mk1s in black and tan and the Lima class 33 which was a quality mould with a good paint job that at least very vaguely resembled a CIE A class. The Lima felt like the bees knees then alright. But I accept 'beauty was in the eye of the 70s beholder', etc. Cheers. Noel

Hornby's horrible hymek doesn't get uglier than this piece of plastic junk, not to mention the plastic day-glo orange mk2s PS: Might try hack modify some of the 70s Lima mk1 rake behind into something vaguely resembling mk1 GSVs

Hi Dave. I have two of them. Agree rare, but ugly is not harsh enough. And the CIE Hymek is as bad. Cheers. Noel

Nice pics as ever. If 4005 or 4007 was the 11:00 dub-cork then I was onboard. It lost 11mins on route.

New 141s and 181s are still available from folks such as Chris Dyer and other members of this forum. 121 3D body is available from Shapeways but will need a donor chassis. It looks infinitely superior to the old MIR kit. https://www.shapeways.com/product/S3QTQFYCT/irish-railways-121-class?li=search-results-1&optionId=57420082 PS: The one on the ebay link has super glue stains on one cab end roof.

Yes but if a console style cab suits a layout better than handheld it is the best DCC system there is.

Germany is the best place to buy ESU or Lenz gear as its in euro as there is no currency hike unlike via uk outlets. I have bought decoders from Kieskemper in the past and found them very efficient as well as good prices compared to uk. http://www.kieskemper-shop.de/Esu-DIGITALTECHNIK-ALLGEMEIN-ESU-ECoS-50200-Digitalzentrale-DCC-MOT-SX-M4-inclusive-Trafo/a22652063_u1160_zff56c344-d75b-4b52-aa60-c3b6f5c24d94/ He also sells via ebay as well as from his own site. Very honest guy with excellent service.

The low bridge looks quite poorly marked and the paving on the opposite side is a recipe for accidents. Infrastructure has to be designed with 'darwin' in mind - the lowest common denominator.

I thought Wrenn had ceased production back in 1992. So what in effect has ceased trading? Was it a sort of collectors/spares business? Many of the die-cast Hornby Dublo models I have were rebadged and remanufactured by Wrenn after the demise of HD. Surprisingly good models and detail for the late 50s and early 60s considering metal loco bodies. Superb runners especially at low speeds with the long axis ringfield motors, not to be confused by the ringfield junk later produced by Triang and Hornby.

Its laughable that Dublin Airport is one of the few capital airports in EU that does not have an express direct heavy rail link to the city centre. And not one that stops every 1/2 mile for local votes. Get the travellers direct from the airport to the city centre faster will benefit Ireland Inc more than limiting the benefit to local communities (e.g. Heathrow express v the tube). Like many travellers I never get the tube anymore from Heathrow because it stops everywhere and takes too long to get into London compared to the Heathrow express (i.e. 15mins v 1hr). Dart underground link to Heuston also vital to join the dots, as is the need for a vast park and tide station down line from Heuston at the M50 for cars don't have 50 min rush hour trip in heavy traffic to Heuston. All IMHO of course

OK thanks. All buses on rails look the same to me!

. . . as we passed under a bridge over the river Shannon in Limerick. Class 2700 on route Limerick-Ennis. Got a wave from the driver and a few horn toots. PS: Forgive poor photo was concentrating on helm.

And that's the vital link IMHO - NMRA. Without an NMRA stamp, main stream manufacturers won't take anything new on no matter how good it is functionally. Hence 'most' consumers won't buy non-standard gear. If 'railcom' solves the issue of slow data rate and brings fast two way data to all manufacturers decoders and is an NMRA standard, then tend to agree with JM. BUT at the moment 'railcom' does not appear to be widespread and not all manufactures have gone with it. Data protocols and speeds should be such that sound decoders can be fully programmed and uploaded with sound tracks on track without need for test tracks, or plugging decoders into USB devices. It should be possible to write 512 CVs in less than one second, rather than ridiculous slow 15minutes DCC currently has. IMHO, 'keep-alive' should also be standard on all loco motherboards (i.e. easier for manufacturer to fit a small capacitor into a chassis than the user).

More here today from IT: "Irish Rail faces bankruptcy if it loses tender, Government warns" http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/irish-rail-faces-bankruptcy-if-it-loses-tender-government-warns-1.2305992 Worth discussing the issues, but agree with mods about avoiding a drift into political grumbles. Its not political but rather business and social justice issues when considering the conflict between a private service and a state sponsored service that subsidises non-profitable routes from the surplus generated from high traffic routes. Low cost airlines proved that you can make more profit (public or private operators) if you reduce fares and fill seats. IMHO what rail needs is better point to point integrated ticketing including good bus and commuter rail connectivity. Just not sure if Ireland Inc has the population size to sustain intercity rail transport given the motor way and express bus routes now in place.

Thanks Dave. "RailPro" is an interesting find. For an new introduction the pricing is not as bad as one might fear and it looks a good system (e.g. €90 for a sound decoder), but for it to take off pricing would have to drop. Clearly designed by an engineer with a passion for the hobby. Hopefully he also has business skills to make go of it and get the NMRA on board (forgive the pun). Its a catch 22, if he has a patent he may not wish to open it up to other manufactures unless through licensing. If its not adopted by most of the main manufacturers it will be another inventors idea consigned to history with a small dedicated follower base. Without gaining NMRA support it won't get traction. I don't know much about NMRA politics, but I've heard they are mainly a conservative base. Replacement for DCC? Something like this is definitely needed to replace jurassic DCC and bring control from the 1980s into the 21st century. Ideally a revised DCC2 standard backed by NMRA which has the same variety of 6,8,9 and 21 pin connectors for co-exhistant and phased migration. If I was him I would try and sell the patent to somebody like Lenz or ESU, who have enough business clout to attempt a deal with other manufacturers. Few observations: Fast two way data is attractive Decoder modules look significantly larger than current DCC decoders, but this could change Other review videos show the 'auto discover' feature and auto motor tune which is really nice compared to DCC Like the physical control for throttle combined with touch screen for programming and functions If the control is exclusively via RF then an existing DCC powered layout should also be able to run locos with RailPro decoders driven by RailPro cab, just no power supply. (i.e. for migration) IMHO, a DCC replacement needs a compact 'stay-alive' capability as standard. Until a replacement for DCC has NMRA backing I wouldn't buy it, but I do hope it happens someday. NMRA means open market for interconnectivity between different manufacturers products, hence competitive pricing. Proprietary just won't fly.

They look seriously good. Forgive my ignorance, but how are these usually used to construct a coach? Does one buy/acquire a plastic donor coach body and fit these over or replace the plastic sides, or are they a total scratch build? (e.g. do the chassis, bogies, under frames, roof, coach ends, buffers and corridor connectors, etc come with the kit or donor). Are there any instructions online for similar coach kits by John.

Eh? I chuck out boxes, they are rubbish, will never need them again as will never be selling gear. No space to be storing all that cardboard and styrofoam, but I don't burn the boxes!!!

That is just amazing. Really loved watching those two videos and the scenes were almost like watching an old movie. Stunning. What sound project/decoder was in Merlin and also the baby GM sounded pretty good?

There was significant investment over the past decade in two "competing transport" systems: motorways and rail. Motorways made Ireland a lot smaller place to get around. One can drive to Cork faster than the Train. The rest is logic. The future for rail is commuter, but intercity seems doomed.

Interesting. Not quite the same as introducing competition between different operators. A bit late in the day anyway to help save intercity rail from competition from our own new motorways. http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/state-under-pressure-to-put-rail-services-up-for-tender-1.2301270

DC your PM box is full