Noel

CIE Black and Tan livery looks absolutely excellent. Good to hear IR livery in this batch too, also an attractive corporate livery. Will these ship to customers from Ireland or UK? Might be a while if the latter due to slow post.

What they said above. Its a 3min job, most of which is soldering speaker wires to the PCB. I use wooden stick to lever it off, sometimes with the help of a very thin flat screwdriver to get between the body sides and the walkway surface. I don't remove the walkway rails, just unclip the ends from both cabs Speaker installation. I prefer to wire the speaker to the loco rather than from the decoder. 141/181s have a speaker cradle that will take a standard 20x40mm speaker rather than a sugarcane speaker.

I miss the old Fry museum layout. It was vast and an assault on the senses it had so much action going on. O gauge has a real presence. But it certainly was not Europes biggest model railway, quite possibly Irelands largest layout back then when it was O gauge. Enjoyed watching the youtube above again that Stephen had posted 8 years ago.

That's amazing art

I was perhaps fortunate to have bought any spares, accessories (eg wheels, couplings, wire, white metal parts) and kits from the UK that I may need in the future already, one more parcel due, but it should arrive well before Jan 1. I've been experimenting using amazon.de and German model shops this past 2 years and so far its been both cost effective and a smooth process. I've saved a fortune off model rail electronics by bypassing the UK channel which aside from brexit issues after Jan 1 seemed a bit of a price rip off anyway aside from Hattons who had good discounts and excellent postage rates to Ireland. Where will it all end Ted? Hopefully we will all be watching 'reeling in the years' in the future reminiscing about CV-19 as a memory, long after it has passed. AddressPal has been excellent these past few years, way more convenient than parcel motel.

I remember when I first saw those in 'the model shop portlaoise' about 6 years ago and was astonished that two model train wagons could cost as much as €70 for a pair, and they didn't even carry passengers nor goods merchandise Yellow stuff, which I passed on at the time, but with hindsight perhaps a mistake.

Fabulous.

Post seems slow at the moment particularly from the UK, prob due CV-19 overload as folks are buying so much household goods online and sorting centres are overwhelmed. I cannot imagine how bad it will be after Jan 1 when the UK is a 3rd country outside the customs union and the single market. Not good for Irish modellers buying from UK. I've switched as much as possible to amazon.de and german model railway retailers. I will miss the likes of Peters Spares, Gaugemaster and Hattons. I posted an item to Spain 10 days ago and it still has not arrived. First world problems

That is what I believe the man from Uncle said a few weeks ago (ie @WRENNEIRE) This version arrived on the layout this week from a local workshop:

That's decided it then, Black'n'Tan it is! Thanks Jonathan OMG - Trying to replicate the work of St Anthony could be a fish plate too far. Its a few years back but I remember nearly falling off a chair when I first saw this loco done by A.

PS: The thing is there are asking prices and there are actual closed sale prices. Some of the sales prices on eBay for baby GMs are only that high because some folk are paying those high prices. Just market dynamics.

Ha So Did I. They could be picked up in stillorgan for about £40 from stall holders the last time I was there.

To respray or not to respray? I have this 071 a number of years in the hideous but short lived black and silver IE livery. I am considering respraying it in the newer freight grey livery like 078 in the lower photo. What do folks think, should I keep it as it is as an oddity or respray it into current freight grey livery which I rather like? There is another option which is to weather this ugly livery which may make the loco look more attractive. I have enough rust colours! 078 in grey livery

. . . and the Bachmann Irish Rail Intercity Mk2a's they ran with are long out of production and rarely turn up on the second hand market except the odd one now and then on ebay for crazy high prices. Try DC kits as they also used to sell the rebuilt Dutch GSVs.

122 got some gentle weathering. The cab door handrails were tricky Just a hint of CIE grime before the IR season and tippex took over. Just enough to look in service but not the scrap line. She's a beaut to shunt and haul. Had 14 coaches behind her today at one stage, and nearly 30 wagons on another train. Off course the real 122 would never be allowed do that, as the loco was under braked having only on brake cylinder per bogie side which limited the weight she was permitted to haul.

A pity the Middleton Youghal line was not returned to full rail for commuters from Youghal to Cork city, and summer tourism. Once its gone its gone, instead of another blasted greenway, and I like cycling greenways on my e-bike. Some greenways make sense, others seem just a seasonal PC fad.

If Tom doesn't have any another option is DC Kits (Charlie).

PM sent

@Robert Shrives ps. Coach roofs showing the difference. Lower one matched MM Mk2d IR/IE/CIE coaches, top one matches prototypical original CIE supertrain livery and many MM locos.

Hi Robert It was a mix I’ve used Vallejo yellow 35:1 Vallejo red. Please see test card below. In the past I’ve also Used Tamiya mix. I usually mix by eye and test the mixes on a spare bit of plastic that’s been primed. The Vallejo red (71:102 is very potent). First time I tried it was 50:50 but it came out virtually red, In the past to match MM Mk2d coaches it was more yellow (120:1 mix), which btw are not a prototypical shade and was never used on any MM locos. Hope this helps

Apologies for slight duplication with original post but this is a more complete chronology of this little project. 122 over nine months ago. Along side donor chassis. Made up see through Grills inspired by seeing the MM pre-production sample at SDMRC show. Test fitted side grills before painting Start painting Transfers. Choose CIE Broken Wheel roundal up front with the IR logo on the side The wire grab rails and walkway rails were a challenge Twisted eyes and a few hours last night saw them done Fiddley. My fingers were numb after this Painted all the rails black and fitted the pre-painted cab door grab rails which will be weathered in due course I do like this odd ball hybrid livery transitioning from the CIE super train era to the IR era before the tippex stripes were added Almost finito, just the wipers left and the old tail lamp Just about finished. The see through vent grills exposed the internal white sound speaker which will be painted black, or replaced with a smaller sugar cube speaker so you can see through the loco. Relatively content with the way 122 turned out. She runs sweetly with the Athearn donor chassis. The MM versions are perhaps only 1-5 weeks away, but I enjoyed making my own kit bashed version of 122 to join B121 on the layout with the incoming MM 121's. She has WheelTappers ESU LokSound 5 sound as well. Good Night.

Cheers Robert. I'll have to paint the white DCC speaker black cause its visible through the side grill panels. Just realised I forget the tail lantern and the windscreen wipers! Yes those hand rails caused quite a delay, as I was apprehensive about getting them square and straight. I avoided them like the plaque until yesterday, but once I got started I figured out a process that worked for me.

122 progressed to fitting walkway handrails and grab rails stage. Very tedious and fiddle work. Getting them parallel and dead straight put my eyes to the test and my fingers were numb afterwards Then had to paint the blasted things. There are more holes in this model for wire than swiss cheese, and more wire than P&T used to have. Really enjoyed working on this project for the past few months. I knew the MM livery variant was imminent but I started this months ago so decoded I'd finish it and run with the rest of the stock Finished bar a few bits I forgot like tail lamp and windscreen wipers 122 is ready for service on the layout What next, perhaps a B101 or a B114? Have 5 121s now, 2 x MM, 3 x Kitbashed and some B&T MMs on order. What a hobby this is. Good night.

Holy Cow those first two photos look REAL. Stunning