Noel

Loved that. Great vid clip. I love the noise of the baby GMs EMD 567/645 engines compared to the annoying whining of the larger 071 and 201 power units. Under the overpass is reminiscent of Cork like. PS: Nice movements

If I remember correctly Gareth Brennan scratch built an amazing container crane. The ones used in Irish stations were small and compact. Limerick was perhaps one of the larger ones.

Cheers Patrick. Taking a break from the signal box for a while. The water tower is almost complete.

Taking a break from the signal box, now back to Gort's water tower. Made up a water tank for the tower. Primed and ready for painting after I've finished the doorway. Had to sort of guess the dimensions from distant photographs as no drawings available, but it sort of feels the right size. Might paint the water tank black or dark green.

Waiting for glue and paint to set on other items, so made a start to the facade of Gort station ticket office building. The window surrounds will be tricky to fabricate. Guessed the dimensions as I could not find any half decent photos or drawings of this building from this angle (ie perpendicular elevation from track side). The ceilings on the RHS should be about 8ft and 10ft for the centrals section. Another micro project to chug away at.

Window frames done and re-roofed. Lots more still to do, fascias, gutters, brick chimney, steps, ridge tiles, painting, weathering, etc. There is also the option of the white lean-to at the north end of the box.

Found an alternate embossed sheet

Cheers Patrick. Yes they are. After looking at the pic, they struck me a O gauge size. They will be replaced.

Getting there. Facias, ridge tiles, guttering, chimney, steps and window pane detail left to do.

With the need for urgent climate action would Ulster give its right arm to have these railways back? With petrol and diesel engined cars being banned from 2030 rail may take on a new significance in public transport both for passengers, commuters and goods. One wonders what will replace the flirty Nox spewing diesel engines that run our current railways, presume electric is a strong possibility with either 3rd rail or pantograph. I never realised the rail network in NI had been so extensive at one stage in its past. Just watch a video 'End of the line' with some suited transport minister filmed late 1940s extolling cars and roads as the modern replacement for what were then inefficient railways. Suppose its easy with hindsight to have a different view. The need for urgent climate action may just save some lines in ROI that are currently at risk (eg Limerick-Waterford, Limerick-Nenagh-Ballybrophy, etc), and trigger reinvestment and reopening of lines such as foynes, Waterford-Rosslare, western rail corridor back up as far as Claremorris and Sligo. Enough greenways and I say that as a leisure cyclist, a great shame Youghal to middleton is not also reopening for Cork commuters, instead of yet another cycleway. Don't know what date the graphic below represents, but the enniskillen link was absent from it. Obviously post 1922. x

@WRENNEIRE will be send you to the bogie of eternal stench if you throw out a collectors item like the Lima 215 paper weight. I'll have to dispose of these three rubbish heaps SF A class on 'horrible hornby chassis plus Lima CIE 215 from about 1975. Hornby hymek horror show

Hi Paul. SF's next batch is not due until August or September. You could try Chris Dyer who may have stock. They only have one version of the BR Mk1 weed spray van (see the pic below). This version is the correct one to run with the IRM weed tanker wagons. Personally I'd prefer the older laminate coach weed spray van running with 20ft tanker wagons as its closer to my era. The older weed spray coach looks more like a converted bogie parcel van than a passenger van (see pic at bottom of page). Earlier CIE era weed spray train using 20ft rather than 42ft flat wagons for the chemical tankers combined with the 2 PW vans and 2 20ft container wagons. The IRM set could be adapted by removing the tankers from the 42ft and placing them on 20ft container flat wagons

Surly but slowly getting there with the signal box. Lots more still to do. Learning lots along the way.

Hi Leslie. That’s really useful, thank you. If by any chance you also had a photo of the station building facade from the line side that would be a great help, as I can only find photos at an acute angle taken from the north.

Inch by inch the modules slowly coming together. Just the north side of the box to do and the chimney on the back wall. Then roof, doors, etc.

Code 75 when well ballasted can look well and less like narrow gauge than code 100 usually does. Ironically some of the IRM stock with scale width wider bogies highlights how off 16.5mm track can look.

Wonderful

Hi Paul. Hope these photos help. This photo below seems of the older version before they upgraded the production. The lower photo is of later version which seems a significant upgrade with flush glazing and finer body panels. SF weed van - original version This below is a photo of the most recent RTR version I received just before Christmas (photos before and after weathering) SF weed van upgraded RTR version It looks like the most recent version is laser cut.

As these buildings destained for Gort layout, they will not be going on Kingsbridge so I've given them their own thread. Gort signal box under construction As soon as you start to fabricate sections you realise more detail bits that will be needed (eg window cills, brick window arches, etc). Very therapeutic working on it though (ie once you have a very sharp knife) Waiting now for "Glue'n'Glaze" glue to dry on glazing

As crocodile Dundee might say, now that is what I call a proper buffer stop. Found this old Hornby version. Reminiscent of the ones I remember in Heuston then Kingsbridge as a child. Pre H&S Trains were allowed stop at the end of terminal platforms.

In for a penny in for a pound, I'll have to scratch build the Gort signal box. Gort only really has four unique buildings the Goods shed, station house, water tower and signal box. Can't do three and leave one out. Sourced drawings for it which is a help. Below a hornby RTR Box, but Gort is quite a little box distinctive. Its just a start, will do the windows next to get the trickiest bits out of the way. Link to photo in Clare Champion (C) John Galvin and John Kelly http://clarechampion.photoshelter.com/image/I0000RkOBUbm6J4s

Any 0-4-0 most probably might need 'keep-alive' capacitor to run over points without stalling

Very nicely weathered loco too.

Might look well in 'the quiet man' mode behind an OO Works J15 in flying snail green livery

Hi Paul. Looks like WMRC Little Siddington O gauge layout. The track is Peco O gauge. Noel