Noel

But was it not the state policy in the 60s that the railways were subsidised as essential social infrastructure. If they now have to be financially viable and free standing is the market big enough now that the country is paved with empty motorways?

Yes fair comment, but its interesting the volume of new MM products released and sold during the recession over the past 7 years. The baby GMs didn't really hit the high street proper until after Lehman Brothers!!! That's a fair achievement to shift that much product in such harsh economic times. I suspect there is more capacity in the Irish RTR market than we might give it credit for, but as you say on the other hand there was a 'catch up wave' yearning for genuine Irish models that may have been largely satisfied to date.

The essential truth is that only 6m people on the whole island is not going to support the same railway economics as a country with 60m population. Add to that, the tiny geographical size here and short distances which favour motorways over rail, unlike the UK which has many large population centres very far apart. Chalk'n'cheese, what fits there may not fit here.

+1 I'm not impressed with any of the coarse looking 121 kit built models I have seen nor the low speed running qualities of ones I've seen operating. Give me a RTR MM/Bachmann quality injection moulded body and precision centre drive chassis any day. 3D doesn't blow my skirt up yet, its early days, nor the idea of kit bashing a 3D body onto an adapted chassis. Personally I'd rather be without than run badly bodged models. I won't start on the quality of model kit painting which varies from sublime excellence to something that looks like my kids used to bring home from school.

I can understand both strands of opinion. However, a sense of fair play suggests that a customer should first contact a vendor if there is a problem with goods or services that had been purchased, but only go public should they not receive a reasonable or satisfactory outcome. In the case of model rail supplies, one would contact the retail outlet who supplied the goods rather than the wholesaler or manufacturer, who may in turn may take it up with their supply chain. It is quite another matter to complain publically about goods or services that may not have even been purchased by the complainant, and one would have to be very careful not to defame the good name of a business or person on mere internet hearsay. Fair and objective comment is however valid. Talking quietly behind the scenes more often than not, but not always, tends to resolve issues better then publicity on the internet. Yet pointing out any truth in a fair and reasonable manner is valid. On the other hand, one doesn't want to harm the goose who normally lays the golden eggs just because one didn't hatch as well as others. Even if the goose decides enough eggs have been laid over the years, this customer is very grateful for the superb eggs in the past.

If one was a cynic one might wonder if part of the reason the mk3 coaching stock and so many locos were cut up in the last decade was in case they might possibly fall into the hands of future competitors. Ireland geographically is a small island with a small rail network, so I'm not sure if the typical privatisation model would work here due to the economies of scale (e.g. one operator for the track infrastructure and multiple carriers for services)! BTW, how does the UK get away with private rail subsidies in EU land? Our govt is not allowed subsidise Aer Lingus anymore!

Understand. On my first attempt dry assembled, the plasticard I used was a little too thick, but I found some paper thin plasticard which did the trick.

They are superb. Enjoy.

Was the 800 class not designed specifically for the Cork-Dublin route and especially to be able to pull a long passenger express up the tunnel gradient out of Cork without the need for double or triple heading or having to stop after the gradient to uncouple the extra loco needed for the gradient? I though the design spec was tractive effort rather than speed.

Wow that was an awesome idea! What ingenuity.

IFM P&T TPO + SF GSV + IFM Park Royal. MM Craven in foreground It was not inexpensive, but worth it IMHO to have an RTR one finished so well on the layout. I have fond memories of travelling on trains with one of these distinctive vans in the 1960s.

Hi Railer. Just FYI, I have two Silver fox RTR Dutch GSV vans. The first one I got last year was a great runner and was delivered gently weathered. The second one I received a few weeks ago didn't run as well as the wheels occasionally came into contact with the coach floor (i.e. bogie too close to coach). On inspection I discovered the first GSV had an extra plastic shim glued onto the transparent plastic bogie separators, whereas the new arrival didn't. I glued ultra thin plasticard spacer shims on top of the existing transparent bogie spacers on the second GSV and now it runs as well as the first due to the increased gap between the bogies and coach floor. I also have an SF Mk1 GSV and it runs well with MM Cravens and IFM Park Royals. Noel

Well the two RHS are 16.5mm pretending to be 4'8"1/2

Guess: 1,2,3 - don't know 4 - Peco streamline code 75 - 4'8" 1/2 5 - Peco streamline code 100 - 4'8" 1/2 I've used code 100 because I started the layout 22 years ago and had some old stock with big wheel flanges (e.g. Triang + Dublo + early Hornby). If I was starting out again today I'd probably use Peco code 75 due to ease of use, availability and ability to run most rolling stock produced in the last 20 years. I'd retire my old Dublo, Triang and Hornby stock to static display on shelves. Agree there is no general answer to "best", rather the best suited to a users overall requirements, time, budget, general appearance, etc. Code 75 points + crossings: http://www.peco-uk.com/page.asp?id=tempc75

Hi Kevin. No the GSV was a Silverfox and the P&T TPO is Irish Freight Models. These two mixed with one or two MM Cravens and an IFM Park Royal make up an interesting rake behind a black and tan 141 possibly running on the old Galway route. I'm very happy both of these specialist RTR coaches and impressed with the job Tom has done on the TPO. Both run well. Wouldn't mind collecting one of IFM's Bulleid heating vans in the future: http://images.ecwid.com/images/1493122/252875975.jpg

You may be able to save yourself postage on bulky items such as a few boxes of flexitrack from some of the large Irish model outlets.

All settrack is effectively code 100, whereas with streamline one has the choice to be either code 100 or the finer scale code 75. Streamline has a centre-to-centre track distance of 50mm (e.g. stream line code 100 or code 75) Settrack has a centre-to-centre track distance of 67mm (e.g. hornby & peco toy set track) I have found that streamline's 50mm centre to centre gap between track looks much better than the huge 67mm gap between settrack, but some very long mk3 and uk mk4 coaches can snag when passing parallel unless the curves are large radius. My old stock had no problem but on one of my curves I increased the flexitrack spacing to 54mm just on the bend so that mk3 coaches have sufficient clearance.

Peco stream line all the way. As others have said, if you are starting with newish rolling stock then code 75, or 100 if you want to run older hornby. If possible avoid set track as the wider track separation distance is aimed at the toy market.

Very nice indeed. Wow what a coincidence and apologies for cross posting about the IFM P&T TPO just before I saw this. Two TPO's in one day!

A very nice Irish Freight models P&T van arrived yesterday and was coupled up to a B&T 141 rake of cravens and gsv. Nice crisp paint job too. Should look at home on a 1960s and early 70s scene

Pure class and excellence

It sounds a really interesting idea, but I'd guess most folks are used to traditional plywood or mdf for base boards. Personally I like 9mm ply as its easy to work with and takes track pins. MDF while more stable was a nightmare as it would not take track pins and was just too hard. I understand however there are other grades of MDF nowadays that may take hammered in track pins (i.e. not as hard).

Sadly proper intercity rail travel no longer exists in Ireland except for Cork and Belfast routes and the Cork service is a mere shadow of itself 20 years ago. With all the new motorways one wonders how long empty intercity passenger services can survive on the ageing track network.

Yes it sounds bad alright and that's a potential commuter belt, but not at such jurassic speeds. Those railcars are designed for short quick journeys, hence the discomfort of the seats. I spent over 3hrs on a 22k coming back from Kerry last autumn and the seats were truly awful for a long trip. Just for the seats alone I would never do a long trip again on a 22k and that was on CWR!!! Ditto - Only trains allowed on our layout, and trains have loco engines, not sterile ugly plastic buses on rails

What part of greater Germany do you live in?