Noel

Hi BosKonay Was reading over some interesting old threads. Do you mind me asking the source of this model? Was it a Silverfox, RTR, Kit, or a self build or modification? Thanks Noel

1. You register an account with them 2. You specify your local pick up location 3. Use their address as your delivery address BUT with your registered ID number on 1st line of address (1 above) 4. When they deliver to your local pickup location you get an SMS and an email with a pin number 5. You goto the pickup point enter your phone number and pin number and hey presto one of the doors opens with your parcel inside http://www.parcelmotel.com

Wonder if the terms of Mr Gaffney's will facilitate the returned funds being used to put the collection back into use at another venue, or if they were specific to that venue and hence lost to the project.

That's a pity. Sorry to hear. I did wonder looking at the media pictures of the proposed new Malahide venue yesterday if it would fit.

Just catching up on some old treads including this one on the Fry collection. Really glad to hear it will reopen next year. It was about 6 years ago I took my Son to see it in Malahide. That was were I first came across Murphy Models 141/181 class in the little shop they had there. Even though my hobby had been dormant for nearly 12 years I had to buy a 181 on the spot and only unboxed it two months ago when it revitalised my interest in the hobby and stirred me to restart work on our old new layout! Tara's palace 'dolls house' collection which was also hosted at Malahide castle found a new home at Powerscourt in Enniskerry. There was a brief possibility the Fry collection might have found a new home there too but it didn't work out. Malahide seems its natural home. I guess they may take the opportunity to adjust and update the layout to suit the space available in the new venue. It is really positive to hear they are planning to reopen next year. It re-activated my interest in this great hobby.

Just my uneducated tuppence. Look nice specs but personally I'd prefer under board motors rather than surface mount. Very expensive though and probably not feasible for large layouts with 50+ points. I like the idea of manual switching rather than rely on DCC. There is something informative about looking down at a bank of levers which give instant feedback as to how a road is set, rather than fiddley DCC display one accessory at a time. I am about to embark on fitting 30+ point motors and feel that cabling to under board motors direct to banks of lever switches is both cost effective and very functional. Just personally speaking, I don't like the idea of DCC for controlling point motors on a 'play' layout. I can appreciate how useful it might be on commercial and exhibition layouts though.

Good to hear. Yes the tactile feel of buttons v wireless walkabout can be a compromise. However what makes the difference for me personally is the smartphone app is far simpler and superior at controlling sound functions than hand held cabs with only 10 buttons labelled 0-9. On the app each function is clearly labeled on the touch screen buttons in english rather than having to remember which function is which sound and also negating the need for a shift button to access functions above 10 which is a common need with sound decoders. The other aspect of the phone cab I like is the visual feedback of the current speed setting which many of the wired cabs do not have. I regret recently buying an additional NCE 06P cab and I have to say IMHO it's a total piece of 1970s junk with its pathetic information display and rotary knob the size of a ferris wheel on steroids. It reminds me of the 'valve' based radiograms my parents used to listen to the radio on (then called a wireless). It's hard to believe NCE are the same company that produce the very usable Pro/Power Cabs and also the Jurassic 06 cab. It's old iPhones from here on as additional cabs. I may stick JMRI on Linux on a dedicated older laptop as a permanent fixture on the layout with instant on/off capability, rather than my former Windows 7 laptop. As a relatively recent Mac convert I have become totally intolerant of any Windows startup delays.

Fabulous. Great job RPSI. What First Class rail travel used to be like many many years ago! Much better than the soggie microwaved baps from a trolley with junk instant coffee in a paper cup on the Cork inter city nowadays.

Thanks Dhu Varren for both replies. I will check the wheels and the BEMF settings. On the TCS T1 decoder there is a setting CV182 to adjust the BEMF to suit 3 pole motors which I will also try. I swapped the TCS with a Digitrax for a test run as they use the same 9 pin harness but not much difference, so I am going to focus on the wheel pickups. There is no doubt the Bachmann 0-6-0s are in a different league to the Hornby 0-6-0s as regard mechanical build quality and decent electrical pickup on all 6 wheels. I'm just fond of my 25yo old GWR pannier tank, but won't even attempt to DCC my 37yo 0-6-0. If I get the wheel pickup working better I may change the X04 to a 5 pole motor I salvaged. The Bachmanns are split chassis so I need to get a few tools so I can tab screws into either chassis metal halves for soldering the red/black decoder pickup wires, and then insulate the enclosed motor from the chassis. PS: Re the terminus track layout, preliminary tests with MM 071 and MM 141 have proved successfully running over the point work and double slips at crawl speed. Again a problem may be outsides metal wheels on some rolling stock as you suggest. Some of my ancient Lima BR Blue/Grey have very deep flanges and may need rewheeling with plastic or shallower flanged metal wheels.

I thought it was €49.99. That's what most dealers are listing at. Most sterling sites had them listed at £44.99 (i.e. GBP), but sterling and the Euro have drifted significantly apart in the past four months. Glad I collected my GWR, LMS, BR and LNER coaching stock 20 years ago before todays high prices.

Its funny what you learn all the time. Nearly gave up on an old X04 Hornby 0-6-0 Panier Tank DCC conversion. Had a TMS T1 decoder installed, but very shaky running, in fact worse than I remember on DC. Put it back on DC but it was running quite well for it's vintage. So did a full decoder reset and now its running as well on DCC as it had on DC. Bizarre. The only settings I remember changing 1st time around after I fitted it were standard CVs 2,5,6,3,4. I guess the BEMF somehow modifies its algorithm based on these CVs and it didn't suit the old X04 motor. Might try another decoder in her to see if that make a difference even though she is well enough ok now for an old chassis. Any words of wisdom or suggestions for those who have already been in these 'pot holes'?

In fairness while the dapol are nice coaches, I don't think they are exact scale replicas of any particular prototype that ran in Ireland, rather approximations, whereas MM Cravens are exact replicas and have features like sprung buffers, so all in all the price of the Dapol coaches seems about right. Btw, I haven't had to pay more that €40 for any MM coaches so far this year from a variety of vendors. Now if I could find a source of nice RTR CIE laminates/Bredins at sensible prices!

HI DC Thanks. Yes the double slips and cross overs may pose a problem unless adjusted for DCC, but I will do some test runs over it next weekend with various rolling stock. It was wired for DC block sections 19 years ago so I may just have to leave all sections switched on for a DCC test. I was about to start scenery filling this weekend (i.e. foam + plaster) but have put that on hold until any wiring adjustments needed for DCC have been completed (i.e. 1st fix electrical). Noel Pic as requested. Track work approaching terminus platforms.

Thanks RS. I was thinking of buying one 201 class in one of the later liveries just to have one for posterity. My interest in Irish railway stock stopped with the 'orrible fischer price livery of the MkII super trains. We all have our own favourite period probably due to the era we personally travelled most on Irish trains. For me it is the 1960s and 1970s era especially in black livery pulling black and tan laminates, park royals, and non-breaked loose coupled goods wagons, I tolerate the modernistic cravens, but not interested in day glow orange roofed mkIIs and IIIs. It's funny because in real life the eye line viewing mk2/3 was such the the orange roofs didn't seem so stark, but with models overhead view one is looking down at them and all you see is orange plastic!!! Suppose roof weathering would help, but they are also very long.

Thanks DC. I'm only at the beginning of a long road to DCC part of my loco collection. Mixed success so far, but that is mainly because the older locos simply don't have enough reliable wheel pickups and when on 12v DC I used to have guagemaster electronic track cleaners wired through the system which had an amazing effect on some of my 'poor runners' due to limited wheel pickups at low speeds crossing points. Effectively I have decided to retire my old Hornby 0-6-0s fleet (mainly GWR panniers) to static display because two axil wheel pickups (i.e. due flat wheeled middle axil) just don't cut it. Whereas the Bachman 060s of the same vintage are far superior with their all wheel sprung pickups and run over points at low speeds quite well. I have added extra wheel pickups to three Hornby 2-6-4 LMS Fowlers on the rear trailing bogies which has made a huge difference to them. The pair of Lima class 33s in CIE livery don't run great at low speed over points, nor does my 1970s class 37 and class 25. These have old style ringfield motors with pickups on only two wheels on opposite sides of each bogie with traction tyres on one side of the power bogie, so would need significant work to re-wheel and add all wheel pickups to get smooth running. It looks like all the Bachmann steam locos will run well when converted to DCC, but the work especially with the split chassis models will take time. My 20yo Hornby tender drive steam locos should be OK. Enjoying working at a workbench again, but boy my eyes are not the same as when I last did anything like this. I'm going to have to get a pair of 'modelling' glasses (i.e. as well as reading and driving glasses) If buying locos in the future I will limit the choice to all wheel sprung pickups and drive on a minimum of three axils for steam and all wheel both bogies for diesels (i.e. like MMs and newer Bachmanns I've seen).

Hi Folks From a running point of view what are the main differences between the original Lima 201s and the later Murphy Model (Bachmann) 201s? Does the Lima have as many wheel power pickups and driving axils as the MM locos? Thanks Noel

Thanks for making the effort to take the photos and post. The green livery coaches look very nice. Pity the black and tans are suburban with all those compartment doors instead of mainline with corridor connectors between the coaches. Nice photos btw. How do the coaches run? Plastic or metal wheels? PS: Like that loco shed.

Thanks irishthump. The main culprits are metal wheels on Bachmann loose coupled mineral wagons (steel coal wagons), and some old lima BR Mk1s in Blue/Grey 70s livery (possible donors for IR EGVs). By thread do you mean the thickness of the flange, or the depth of the flange or other? Thanks. Noel

It certainly is. Especially if starting with a blank sheet, you get the chance to wire for DCC 1st time, and most locos nowadays are either DCC ready with sockets and space for decoders, or come with decoders. Converting old loco stock can be challenging, especially 0-6-0 tank engines, split chassis bachmann steam locos, and older locos with limited wheel pickups. All solvable, but needs work. Sound seems ridiculously expensive at the moment. Is this because its in its infancy? A sound decoder doesn't cost much more in core components to mass produce than non sound. Memory is cheap nowadays. I guess in time with competition sound costs will drop and probably become more the norm. For me the two 'killer' advantages of DCC are walk about or wireless cabs and sound. There is no doubt that modern diesel loco models with pick ups and drive on all wheels make the best DCC runners for slow speed that plays so well with sound. Murphy models are superb low speed runners over insulfrog points, negating the need for electro frogs and the additional wiring they require. I've got DCC running but there is more work to do on the wiring before I can really get going on scenery, and a long road ahead to convert my old steam loco fleet.

Exceptional. Bless your eyesight, that is superb. I'm new on the forum and still catching up on some amazing content like this. What another great find and read. I love how you have captured the atmosphere and essence of that part of the city. Many a train did I get to Galway from Connelly (Amiens Street) as a youngster.

Ditto It's faster, costs less, and all UK websites will ship to the NI address overnight in most cases. No more 'seller does not ship to Ireland' problems. I use it all the time. Parcels are usually delivered to our local Parcel Motel pick up point by 23:00hrs the night after it was shipped from UK websites (i.e. overnight to NI and evening to down here).

Is that a bit pricey for a used loco?

Absolutely superb craftsmanship. How did you re-guage the 071 axils and bogies?

Aha, there is a little bit more to DCC track wiring conversion then I had thought. Crossings and double slips!!! Now do I use isolating switches, or electronics (ie reversers)? I've been testing DCC on the layout for a few weeks now with DCC drops to the middle and upper levels working ok. Haven't gone near the terminus yet which is still DC. However I noticed the crossing linking the dual track incline linking the upper and middle level is causing intermittent shorts as metal coach wheels run over the plastic frog briefly bridging the circuit. Temporary solution has been to isolate the incline using the existing old block section wiring switch, but a more permenant solution may be needed. Any suggestions from experience? Glad I have left permenant track ballasting until the layout is totally finished and went with foam underlay initially. Makes pulling track up for wiring changes easier.

Hope somebody gets a photo of it crossing the Barrow bridge. I have fond memories of that line and the bridge from a time long since past when I was a young child living in Waterford. Looking across the river from the garden at trains heading for Rosslare and that distant reverberating hum you could hear for ages before rail sound and long before the loco came into view. Waterford was a real 'mecano' industrial port way back then with the big cranes on the quays, silos, bell container port and live cattle docks. Had a very fine model railway shop too in the 60s on the quays.