Noel

Thanks IT. I'll probably put a spare Lenz silver in it when I get time to open it up and add lights. Noel

This gently weathered Dutch GSV arrived this week from Silverfox. I am pleased with it (please no slagging match like the A class thread). PS: By coincidence I also spotted a Dutch GSV for sale on ebay today by IFM (see ebay thread).

Just noticed this on ebay http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Irish-Rail-CIE-Dutch-steam-heating-van-ideal-for-murphy-models-etc-New-/261767106946?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf2891182 Have IFM produced their own Dutch GSV model? It looks slightly different to the Silverfox one.

Wow. And she's flying at a scale speed of mach 0.82 But the first one you posted seems incredible to get elevator, ailerons, rudder, throttle, flaps and retracts is just nano engineering at its best.

Well I guess the power to weight ratio is interesting so she probably flies at quite a high airspeed due to high Vs. Would love to see it in flight though. I presume it could only successfully operate if indoors in still air.

Speak for your bleedin' self! Life thought me the hard way to be patient and learn how to be 'content'. What will be will be, and what won't won't. And I don't even smoke.

Incredible miniaturisation. I have the paper plans for a 1/5th scale P51 (Ziroli plans) to be powered by a Zenoa 62cc petrol engine. Need to finish the B25 first.

Well done for having a go at such a difficult conversion. Looks promising. Look forward to end result. The new cab windows look good.

No hurry, very happy to wait another 4 or 5 years. Have enough for now. Need to spend more time on construction than running anyway!

That is a really excellent resource. Does it need a little updating? (e.g. MM 071 locos, IFM RTR stock, SF RTR stock, SSM, etc)

Hmmm, hopefully MM might produce an A '001' class model before a 121. I'd be happy with either, but 'A' models should fly off the shelves as well as costing less to produce than 121s, due to less intricate parts requiring less manual labour during assembly (e.g. one piece body, no hand rails, integrated cab ends). How we consumers dream with no comprehension of model manufacturing economics!

The 121 seems the ugly duckling of the Irish GM family. It has character but not the prettiest loco that ever ran here. At least its not as bland boring as the 201 candle box.

Interesting livery for a 121

Hi Alan. It is possible but the geometry of Peco streamline 00 points is different to Hormby set-track. You will need very short lengths of flexible track to link the SL90 to hornby set-track. There is nothing worse looking than kinked joints in track work or gaps in sleepers at track joints, but a few CM of flexitrack can easily avoid this and look great. Noel

Hi Kevin I may be facing the same dilemma later this year when I repaint and convert a 3car dmu to 1950s CIE aec green. I had planned on a single Lenz decider wired to the centre and trailer coaches using micro plugs and sockets painted dark brown (ie to vaguely resemble air hoses). Eoin who builds the Dart RTR models is possibley best placed to answer this one from experience. Noel

Sorry those links are not working. Would love to see the one of Heuston Goods yard.

Smaller cruise ships (i.e. like those seen in Waterford pics) can be more interesting to cruise on then the monster 3000-6000 pax boats. The small ships can dock in more interesting and historical city centres allowing direct walk off access avoiding tedious bus excursions. The larger 300+m boats are more often limited to docking in vast ugly commercial deep water ports (e.g. Civitavecchia 90mins from Rome, or Piraeus in Athens). Looking out from a ships balcony at oil tankers is not as 'cutsey' as looking at the walls of an old medieval city with historical and hospitality attractions only a walk from the quay. BTW, I was dragged under protest on my first cruise some years ago, complaining about paying actual money to be imprisoned and herded into an overcrowded floating hi-rise shopping mall apartment block - uggh - but it was not like that once on board. These ships only look as ugly as tower blocks from outside, once on board it was surprisingly relaxed, uncrowded and pleasant.

Not sure about the visual impact such an oversized tower may have had, but it could have grown on folk and become a tourist attraction. Cruise ships is another option for DL, but as somebody who goes on cruise holidays, I'd expect most pax would want direct walk off city centre access rather than off in the suburbs albeit close to a dart or get bused around.

End of an era. Low cost air travel and Dublin port tunnel access direct to the motorway network were probably two major factors. Dundrum town centre has already taken much trade away from DL, this is another bit of bad news for local traders.

Those two would be nice alright as RTR. However not sure if they would sell in large numbers due to market size. Put 10-15 similarish looking bachmann open wagons or brown vans behind a black 141 or A class and it can look a very respectable 1960s Irish goods train. The key is the loco and the brake vans. Only one UK brake van type resembled the layout of the CIE 20/30 ton ones. Price is an issue because it's easy to put Cie decals and weather Bachmann/Hornby RTR wagons for what I'd guess would be half the cost of specialist RTR wagons. Few will pay more than the €12-18 it currently costs to buy quality RTR wagons from those two stables and certainly very few would pay €30+ for specialist wagons. The first photo however is the one RTR open corregated wagon I would love to have a few rakes of, but not at €30+ each. It's easy to make closed vans look very like CIE stock but not so these corregated wagons that dominated Irish rails. During the 60s and early 70s very time you pulled into a station in a passenger train, these wagons were either in the sidings or in the passing loop being overtaken by the passenger train.

The new coach livery seems elegant, functional and understated. It doesn't need to be a bold brand identity because it doesn't have to compete. I would doubt the loco went to the paint shop before the livery design was finished. More likely some sort of last minute delay, change, or a supply delay.

How do the Roco compare to using Kadee's on MMs? (i.e. Cravens and Mk2d) I've noticed some of my MM Mk2d's have quite a variance in the height of the existing NEM coupling.

Yes its a bit like the early days of laser printers, slow, expensive to buy, run and maintain, with so-so quality that was not as good as the old daisy wheel printers for the first few years. 3D for model rail has a way to go before I'd buy a loco produced that way, but it will eventually get there. Costs should plummet and quality increase when mass production is established.

Hi Kevin. Yes the footprint was small but that 20% of GDP proved to be the catalyst that enabled greater industrial, social and economic development. ESB went on to build Poulaphouca and Turlough hill. They were innovators. The spirit of Ireland project was budgeted at 5% of current GDP claiming that one out of the three planned schemes could run 100% of the grid based on projected 2025 demand. Three schemes and ROIs main export would become energy to EU. Sadly because the distances on this island are so small and the new motorway infrastructure is so efficient, intercity and freight rail may not have much of a future. Urban commuter rail seems to be the future, and in that respect Dublin's commuter rail network is very limited compared to other EU capitals. Something like Dart underground linking Heuston to the existing Dart network, and an express link from the airport to city centre seem the two missing pegs. Off course politicians killed the viability of a fast airport link due to the desire to have too many stops between the airport and city centre which is exactly what you don't need on an airport feeder service. Proof being the Heathrow express compared to the slow underground link.

Darwin