Noel

What’s the hurry. It’s nearly 7 years since Fran first told me about the A class and gave me a brief preview of Richie’s early cad renders. It won’t be long now but worth waiting for. But I can bet you within days there will be clamouring for more Irish models and Irish rolling stock. H-Van and beet wagons triple packs would sell like confetti at a Greek wedding in Ballydahob. Irish Rail Mk7 sets, RPSI 22k sets in vomit green and yellow. Where will it all end Ted? Well let’s just settle down and enjoy the A class locos in the coming two weeks and look back at the journey that culminated in this epic milestone.

Opps OCD vision here spots the off parallel buffer. Presume just pre-production assembly. The close coupling and touching gangways are a stellar innovation. Look forward to these one day in IR/IE livery.

Don't know, I've never had any of those MM NIR livery locos nor any need for them. NIR/UTA/GNR was never really on my radar. Only saw the smaller red flashes on online photos of NIR Hunslet and blue C class locos. IMHO looking at online photos the smaller yellow flash looked visually more attractive but 'eye of beholder' warning and all that sort of thing.

Fortunately I've a few Silverfox C class kits running on MM 141 donor chassis, and they run like swiss watches. There was no way I was going to put a Hornby rail road plastic donor chassis under them. Minimal surgery needed to the MM, just remove the body and cutaway about 4mm of each end of the metal chassis and it fits like a glove, and runs like a pearl. Fortunately I picked up the donors about 5 years ago for about €80each before these beautiful bachman/MM baby GMs went through the roof on eBay in recent years. Its inevitable some time that these will be re-run just as MM 071s in NIR and Grey livery will get re-run in time. What's the rush? Isn't this a life long hobby.

Cahirsiveen?

Holy moly not weighing anchor till I’ve seen this we’ve LTE here at the moment.

that’s only 3hrs from now. Heading over to Costa outside now.

That'a absolutely gorgeous David. Sublime and the track work is stunning. Reeks of atmosphere. Subtle blending of all the elements. Love the back scene too, fits in really well. Hats off.

Well trains are designed to move us from point A to point B, and that they do today. Most passengers just want to meet that mission objective (ie arrival), most of us also seeking almost rail tour entertainment and a tour down nostalgia lane. RPSI a better bet for that albeit the intermediate stations are wastelands with no track, no movements, derelict old goods sheds, platforms and loading bays that no longer have track, just an imprint in the weeds since the sleepers were lifted. I bought a truck load of old sleepers 35 years ago, and still pondering laying them in the garden with short length of rails. Forget 21mm, when 1:1 if even a nano sized layout could form a feature.

100% feeling very fortunate to have ridden behind green A classes and grey 121s in my youth, when rail activity was an assault on the senses of a young buy watching the movement, and activity in every station, the noises, smells, clanking, vibrations, wind blowing through the open windows, the tump of sliding compartment doors. Passing packed goods trains in loops at every intermediate station. Wonderful. Now just Luas+ with 22k toy trains. Fischer price land.

Unfortunately all we seem to get nowadays are the occasional sandwich from a trolly on the Triang Hornby 22k class DMU rattle cans. A far cry from city-gold loco expresses trains to cork in years gone by before catering was outsourced. You'd get better food from one of the stalls at a Leinster match in the RDS. Remember good food on the Enterprise 20 years ago, no ideal what its like nowadays. If the 201/CAF sets are ever replaced on the cork route by 22k plastic yoyo with their disgusting WCs i'll be taking the car to Cork and Kerry in future. 1990s is a good period to model because there was a lot of modern era rolling stock and good variety of coaching stock including Cravens, Park Royals, Mk2 and M3, and the beauty is they were all loco hauled, so good operating potential with loco run arounds, therefore stations needed loops and more points for interest. Goods/Freight stock as busier than todays boring liners only, but IRM have that era so well covered with cement, 42ft, tara's, ferts, etc, all that's really missing for RTR are double beet wagons for 1990s. MM 141/181/121/071/201 have the era well covered in Tippex IR/IE liveries. Personally as you all know its the late 1960s and 1970s that stirs my imagination for nostalgia reasons as I witnessed it first hand before the 1970s modernisation program that replace the divers and interesting operation of 2 axle goods wagons with modern era fitted bogie freight wagons. But nostalgia can hide some truths, the hardship and manual labour involved in shunting and loading/unloading those old wagons was from another bleak century. Fork lift trucks and containerisation put all of that in the past. But on a model railway one never witness the toil involved in the old pick up goods wagon era. Mind you more tonnage of freight was moved between 1922 and 1970 than ever since, especially since the demise of cement traffic in all forms, powder, bags, gypsum, etc. If I had to choose another era other than pre 1972 it would be the early 1990s when those new fangled 201s arrived but would break down every autumn when the leaves fell or there was a hard frost.

Possibly? Back in the 1990s you could still dine properly on the main cork and Belfast trains.

Really looking forward to your Crossley Decoder versions, perfect for the green and silver locos I've ordered. Nostalgia gold coming down the tracks to Kingsbridge soon.

Yes the primary functions I like to use on DCC sound equipped locos are Primer mover engine sound with auto notching + brakes on stopping Directional lights Head lamps Horn Coasting and/or drive hold Train Braking (gradual deceleration at idle) Flange Squeal Guards whistle Shunting mode and/or train loads Cascading train coupling snatch or buffer clash Rail clank Hopefully mapped onto the 1st ten functions for quick one button access on most DCC cabs (ie without need for shift or option buttons). Other stuff like compressors, fans, couplings, valves, station announcements, door slamming, etc seem like ancillary fluff and don't really enhance the driving experience. Ideally keep the frequently used driving and sound functions mapped to the 1st 10 function buttons. Its also difficult to remember more than 10 useful functions. What I've never seen but would be a nice addition to DCC projects would be train braking sounds as an rake of coaches come to a stop and the cascading break screech runs down the length of the train as each coach comes to a halt. The sound of a rake of cravens or laminates coming to a stop was iconic. The mk2 and mk3 coaches were not quite as screechy.

Sad to see weeds growing out of the roof of that iconic building. Maintenance?

Looks a bit like a peat briquette on wheels.

Why? Cause I'd like to know what this decoder project is like to drive prototypically. Looks good on paper but it would be nice to try it in a test bed loco.

Nice surprise when the post man brought this book today. Our own @jhb171achill's latest book. Glued to it. Excellent read with wonderful archive maps and photos. The map on page 30 is particularly interesting considering Galway city today. This lost line was an MGWR gem. Gotto go back to the book. PS: Congrats on another excellent production. Hmmm Clifton station looks an interesting subject . . . no, no, no, stick to the mission and complete Gort, there's still much more to be done. Thanks for another great book. Love MGWR history.

Wow! First Layout - seriously impressive. Don't worry, it may be your first but it looks like it was built by a seasoned master. Learning? Your learning exceptionally fast. Love it. Stream and viaduct really impressive. there is so much in that hard to pick out all the high points. Love the way the scenics blend seamlessly into the back scene. Really Exceptional. "Well done" almost seems patronising but you know what I mean. Hats off. Hope you are really pleased with the way it has turned out. Will enjoy watching this in the future.

Love it. Fantastic looking layout and stock. Looks about 1972 or 1973, nearing the end of wonderful two axle pick up goods wagons and the onset of containerisation as the first colour light signals appeared. Only the hi-vis jackets bring it into the 1990s. That photo of B145 double heading is fabulous. Evocative of the pinnacle era of Irish railways, when trains were trains, men were men, engines pulled carriages and engines pulled wagons, not a bogie in sight, nor a DMU, and goods trains were properly punctuated at the end with a brake van, none of this fully fitted modernity with just a pair of white lamps at the end looking like a snake that had its head bitten off. I assume your friend lets you drive some trains on that fab looking layout.

Just found this old photo of Gort being dry prototyped 3 years ago using elements to check sizing and wagon capacity in loops, etc. and check general arrangement worked. Hard to believe how it started. Thanks to WMRC colleagues for the encouragement and Jonathan and Barry for the photo in their book 'Rails through the West' for the inspiration.

Did the A not run in IE/IR livery right up to the early/mid 90s when they were withdrawn? A small few never got the Tippex strips? so I guess all locos except the two Sulzer variant hauled those late Cravens, mainly 071, baby GM pairs, singles on local services, and occasional 201.

That looks like a real photo of a real Heuston just before it starts raining on a cold dark January day. Its so life like, I'm half expecting to see movement, like the man in the hi-vis gear, climb up into the cab of the scania. I can hear yard noises in my head and rail clank.

Fab-U-lous