Noel

Am I the only one who has never been to IKEA? Nor have I any desire to.

Thanks Stephen for info. Interesting variety. Will enjoy running these when they arrive early. The rake of resin ones I already have are not the best runners. What sort of weight are the models?

Thanks. So a factory rust weathering effect.

Excellent. Good news. They look stunning. Do you mind me asking what’s going on with the right hand wagon in the first photo at the top of OT? These should brake all sales records for an model Irish wagon which was the most numerous ever to run on Irish rails. Park royals and 22k in the pipeline. Jeapers it feels like only a few years ago we were limited to a small no resin kits for so much Irish rolling stock (MIR, PW, SF, etc).

Could the large old MGWR station complex in Athlone (ie disused now west of the river) one day be used to house a national transport Museum (ie with good rail access to Dublin and eventually in the future to NI via the planned reopening to Mullingar (aka the strategic all island rail review)? . . . and perhaps even be a maintenance and operating home for operating RPSI stock based in ROI. There was a lot of track and space there not so long ago. Large array of sheds and platforms, etc.

Over my head. Twitter wasn’t a tool I used.

Not my era either but they ran in Ireland and the livery is fabulous looking. Don't think they were pushed for the last 20 years of their life, just hauled so the DVTs were probably just a sort of brake van.

The NIR mk2 DVT needs a decoder if placed on DCC track (ie to get rid of the short and buzzing noise). So fitted a Lenz decoder to the driving trailer yesterday. Easy to get the body off following the instructions. To safely remove the blanking plate and insert the 21pin decoder in I removed the roof level PCB (easy 2 screws). Then popped it on the test track to give the decoder address 916. Body cable easily unplugs from the PCB. Easy Peasy. Magic wand works to turn the main coach interior lights on and off but not the front end of the coach since decoder fitted. I can't figure out which functions switch the other lights on or off other than the usual F0 for the running lights which alternate between white and red based on direction chosen. Very nicely engineered model. It would have been nice if the interior lights worked out of the box on DCC track without opening up the body to fit a decoder. The interior lights in other coaches and my other two sets work fine on DCC track out of the box using just the magic wand. Will have fun with these when I've completed the respray of IR 085 into NIR 112 livery. Happy days.

Yes it's not like those wonderful internet posts back in the 1970s when we all had dial up modems!

There’s two. One electric and one clockwork.

While taking a photo of old Tri-ang class 37 for Derek today, I snapped this cluster of my 121 models. 127 in desperate need of some weathering. GM central in the loco yard where once stood lines of BR steam models, back in their boxes, back in the attic.

Great price for one of the best DCC systems on the market.

Here's the request photo Derek. It was my first diesel model (ie Tri-Ang) train set with the then ultra modern Mk2 BR blue and grey livery coaches with the silent soft plastic tension lock couplings and metal wheel rims on the coaches. Sadly it cannot run over Peco points even older code 100. unless i found a way to change the wheels. I spend more hours playing trains with that loco in my youth.

Catering needs a big upgrade, with hot meals on board once again. Especially for same day return trip folk, working in Cork or Dublin for the day before returning home. If IE don't up their service levels sadly more and more folk may defect to the faster motorways where there is hot decent food available.

Thanks for posting Rob. Looks nice on the surface and welcome. However ‘So they put seat covers on’. No curtains, no table service of hot cooked meals like 40 years ago in the 1980s when the quality of service suited business & working travellers. Sadly the M8 seems to remain a more attractive option than battling rush hour to get to Heuston of a morning to catch an 8am train to Cork for a days work. The big picture good news about this is they appear to be investing to keep the comfy CAF mk4 sets running rather than replace them with noisy ICR trams on the Cork route. It’s good to see an organisation sweat their assets. But please hot meals essential for people traveling for work. Catering upgrade needed on all the main routes A step in the right direction

Wow well spotted clouseau. I'll try and take a photo of it tomorrow. It was a trip-ang Hornby model that came with a train set of 3 mk2c coaches around 1974. The wheels won't run on Peco track so deep are the flanges. I've kept it for sentimental reasons

Three mid 1970s models. This was all that there was in RTR back then, Lime class 33s pretending badly to be CIE A classes and the Hornby Hymek horror not even pretending, just being orange. But we thought they passed the 10ft rule and that they were the bees knees and the cats whiskers back then. This was the only Irish coach I had. Hand painted 52 years ago from eyeball mix of CIE tan. Then came 8 of these Lima BR mk1 pretending to be Laminates or something (Bought from W J Owens in Bray). They are worthless junk but I like them for model nostalgia reasons and sentimental memories.

Now that's a really clever and interesting building concept.

I had a galway EGV resprayed into IE tippex some years ago (Seamus graham) before I learned how to do it myself. I use Vallejo or Tamiya paints suitably thinned for airbrush use. See paint mix chart below. Weathering can help if the tan/orange mix is not 100% matched. PS: I thought Marks models have the new batch of MM mk2d EGV in stock at Greenogue in IR orange roof livery.

Agree 100%. So uncomfortable, not suitable for 2-3hr intercity trips. Sponsored perhaps by Osteopaths and Chiropractors. Not great for ones back after hours. Mk3 were more comfy and quieter, as are mk4 nowadays. Tralee to Heuston direct on a 22k tram is something to be endured. The day they replace the CAF mk4 sets on the cork route is the day we stop taking the train.

Yes looks like Ryanair's floated plans for standing room on future 737 Max aircraft

Yes and the colour is correct with this batch.

Kitbash from an SF resin kit some years ago. She's regularly seen pushing AEC stock around the commuter end of the layout, or hauling a two coach branch train.