Noel

Crossed my mind indeed. I bought a spare rake very inexpensively some years ago on ebay with the intention of respraying them into RPSI Blue'n'cream, but never got around to it. The IE/IR tippex versions I have will definitely be resprayed into CIE single white stripe livery. Tippex is way too modern for my CIE era.

Hi Shane. No idea of the economic production cost figures, but I’ve never seen SLA remotely as crisp and sharp for fine surface detail as IMP. I’ve seen small items such as signals, small scenic structures, LLPs, etc, done in SLA that are passable once painted properly, but not yet seen a half decent coach or loco. Perhaps some of the Accurascale folk might be able to give you some feedback. Noel

Revised train formation as its march and heating needed. A single laminate coach with a HLV up front and tailed by a 6 wheeled HLV. The leading HLV being repositioned to Sligo via Claremorris. I just love this CIE golden era that I remember so well. Often branch trains had just a single coach and a heating van. B188 awaits the starter signal at Gort bound for Claremorris via Athenry and Tuam.

Excellent. Those Hornby Dublo wagons were superb for their day and were not bettered until Bachmann's 1990s efforts. The Double wagons evoke great memories. Have a soft spot for the grain wagons, Mobil and Shell tankers and especially the saxa salt wagon. Great memories. I do remember as a boy trying to break records with length of trains, those old Hornby Dublo locos with their fantastic liner ringfield motors were legendary, and super smooth. That's some achievement pulling that many HD wagons as they had plastic wheels and axles that were not frictionless. Same with the coaches which were not the most frictionless. Mixing stock was a challenge with the HD anchor couplings and TLCs on newer stuff and Wrenn.

Recently received these two beauties from Silverfox who cater so well for my personal favourite era. HLV or nicknamed 'Tin' van when silver, Modified Heating and Luggage Van The famous CIE six wheeled HLV (Heating and Luggage Van). The fore and aft axles articulate beautifully. Both vans fitted with correctly sized and positioned NEM pockets so it was just a matter of fitting Kadee No 18s in seconds to change the couplings. Thanks to Silverfox and Irish Freight Models for helping me to build a fleet of passenger rolling stock from the glorious CIE black'n'tan era. Have a few flying snail green laminates on the way. Laminates, vans, TPOs and Park Royals can now be mixed with my CIE variants of the MM cravens. 6 Wheel HLV + Laminate + HLV (modified version). Normally only a single HLV would be in a formation but a spare is being repositioned from Ennis to Sligo via Claremorris. Both of these two vans are in the queue for weathering, but couplings already changed.

Twas fiddley getting a good fix for the cattle pen fencing but found a solution using wire pins. Now for the pen gates.

14:20 Limerick to Westport afternoon working, having arrived from Ennis, next stop Athenry collecting 2 coaches from Galway before heading up to Claremorris. Meanwhile there's activity in the goods yard, but the cattle escaped and are being chased across the fields by shunters and the signal man. The western sun is setting. Laminate plus a single craven without a HLV as its a seasonal summer working. As the evening light subsides a moody looking CIE Laminate awaits the starter signal. Families on board from Limerick excited about holiday trip to Mayo's beeches and achill island. There was a race to get the best seats in the modern Craven coach new to to CIE railways, and board games are being set up on the formica tables, while the sofa seats in the laminate offer comfort even without tables.

Started on the cattle dock pens. Used recycled fencing from my original attic layout built in 1973. When we left that house I pulled as much off the layout as possible and boxed it up, still finding useful bits from those boxes these days. Assembled a little yard crane earlier which will be mounted on the goods dock just outside the goods shed.

Makes sense. Like the Tara's few folks may have ever seen such specialist trains in real life, hence lack of nostalgia memory.

Enjoy the process Sean, this is shaping up really well. Well done.

Hey it captured the image. Great to have it. My first camera was my dads hand off, an agfa, when you had to do all the exposure settings yourself manually, no instamatic nor auto features then! No SLRs back then and phones were just phones but nearly required two arms to hold so heavy were the old bakelite phones that had to be dialled by rotary knob to create the analog pulses for the old clockwork mechanical exchange gear. Those time tables are fascinating. Does 'pas' numbers refer to the no of coaches and 'Gds' to the number of wagons or are they times?

Darwin?

Hi Jonathan, Great to have those photos. FYI, I adjusted the first photo a little and reattached below.

Thanks Kevin@DiveController I kind of prefer this video as it is an earlier era on the same line and has brake vans at the end of mixed rake formation goods wagons. Uniform formations of the same fitted wagons lacking a brake van punctuating the end cause my eyes to blink. I've actually cycled along that line now that it is a greenway, the scenery is stunning as are some of the structures and viaducts. Love the views out to sea from the cliff top east of Dungarvan. Managed to cycled alongside the suir valley railway train for a few km as well. I'd highly recommend the Waterford greenway, its stunning and superbly serviced by cycle hire companies and hospitality along the 45km route. Fabulous scenery. I was almost humming GM notching sounds as we approached major structures. The level crossing in Dungarvan was the longest in the country and must have been an absolute nightmare during summer season for the gate keeper. In the clip below some of the goods trains and passenger trains clipped along at some speed over some of the viaducts and bridges, no H&S speed limits back then even for the loose coupled unbraked wagons.

Hi Jonathan. Posted this morning. Hope it works out ok. Noel .

Classic scene. Great photo. Look how well the hedgerows and vegetation were contained back then and not allowed encroach on the track bed

Well done Sean. That's very resourceful making up Irish stock for N gauge.

I've been fortunate over the years to convert some old hornby/lima/Airfix(Dapol) stock as well as kit bashing and some affordable resin kits from Provincial wagons, MIR and IFM Bachmann RTR vans given the CIE treatment, passed the 'duck test' for me and I run these wagons more than any other piece of rolling stock Hornby Rail road Stonier coach to CIE Laminate 3D beet wagons on dapol chassis 3D body shell kits to CIE loco bodies C-Rail containers on IFM 20ft skeletal body kit Triang Hornby GWR toad to exGSWR plough conversion Hornby mk3 to IR intercity Lima BR mk1 BSK to CIE GSV LIma GUV to CIE bogie brake parcels van MIR cement pallet wagon kits Dapol unpainted wagons to CIE Provincial wagons single beet kit along side Dapol to CIE 5 plank general open wagon Provincial wagons bullied open wagon (beet) kit (essential for any Irish Layout) Provincial Wagons double beet wagon kit (a must for any Irish Layout) Converted Hornby GWR brake van My first ever Irish piece of rolling stock. Hand painted nearly 5 decades ago from a Triang-Hornby LMS maroon coach. If only my hands were as steady today as they were then. I was obsessed with having an Irish looking train, so out came the humbrol paints, a bit of mixing, trial and error, and brush painted this, which still has a prized siding on the layout. Childhood memories and nostalgia.

This is shaping up really well. Oozes the unique character of Mullingar and its buildings. Class

I think the next body shell may be 161SA.

Thanks Popeye. Content yes, and pleasantly surprised that I was able to take on something like this. Had to learn a ton of new stuff. Interative experimentation helped. Pleased that I was able to get the look of the place. This was inspired largely by one photo in @jhb171achill book 'Rails through the West' combined with my own childhood memories. Once I got the Good's shed done I felt compelled to give the ticket office, water tower, platforms and signal box equivalent effort. MWRC were also a catalyst due to their layout competition which forced me to get moving. Its been slow but very very enjoyable learning process. @popeye PS: When I'm finished? No idea, play with it a lot I hope and shunt it for hours on end. Then its back to Kingsbridge for some landscaping.

Are these the parts you are looking for?

Progress continues. Gort is gradually taking shape. Station components assembled on workbench. Some photos of current status Content with the latest iteration of the station name board. Wasn't happy with the first cut so it had to be done again Coming to life. Not life as we know it Jim, life as it was in 1967. The station master has been busy planting for the forthcoming season Gort had busy goods shed, conveying building supplies, agri produce, farm supplies and cattle. Happy the retaining walls worked out ok

Yes they had been repurposed. Might have another surplus in about 4 months time as another C class has just started progress.

Or perhaps an easily removed roof (ie magnets or simple clips) for installation of lighting strips and passengers. And optionally one bogie with power pickups which could be tapped.