Noel

Cheers @flange lubricator Oh one of my all time favourite photos in the universe. An EMD 121 in Black'n'Tan livery and a beet wagon, with CIE B&T laminate coaches in the background. Sublime. This was the photo I used as a guide when decorating B121 model below. B123 looks magnificent. Not long now for the Murphy Models 121 locos to start arriving.

That looks like an MM 201 rather than a Lima/MM variant.

Finished for now. I missed a few spots on the chassis which will have to be revisited. A most enjoyable resin kit build once I figured out the brake gear. Wasn't sure which colour finish to go for, the all grey chassis, or the chassis that had once been bauxite red. Have to paint the buffers properly. Now joining its recent companion a kit bashed Dapol donor The bulleid corrugated open wagon was the most widely used wagon on Ireland railways for many decades and by far the greatest number of rolling stock on the railways here in Ireland. It was originally used as a general purpose open goods wagon carrying all manner of agricultural and construction merchandise as well and general purpose merchandise. Along with the GSR/CIE vans these at one time made up almost the entire stock of goods/freight wagons. In their latter days they were almost exclusively used to transport beet. Thank you Leslie, I finally got around to building this kit. Almost two years after I first bought it.

It would be great to see basic driving instructions or a youtube on the basics of driving an EMD loco, basic controls etc, instrumentation, brake management, etc

Some more progress this evening. Finally finished the fiddly brake gubbins stuff under the sole bar and buffers added. I decided to build the kit as intended by its designer rather than make any additions such as heavy buffers coupling hooks, etc. It is surprising how it all comes together in the end. Brake gear stuff. NEM coupling pockets don't protrude past the buffer beam. All the gobbledy gook gubbins underneath First coat of primer on. Some nice details on this wagon kit like the CIE plate and the consignment paperwork clip plate. Wheels got some frame dirt added to hide the shine. The gubbins underneath looks at home after bring primed. There is quite a lot of work on this iconic wagon kit, mainly below the sole bar. Station platforms tend to hide that from my memory. Now ready for tidy up and painting. A most enjoyable little kit. Next time I'll take Popeye's advise and avoid the staples. Happy days.

No wonder I don't get on with brass. Spent a few hours fiddling with tiny bits of wire and cutting staples for the brake gear and the door catchers (ie brake gear protection bars for when doors swing down open). Tiny fiddly parts my fingers are bigger than when I was 10yo and my eyes are not those of a 10yo anymore either. Frustrating yet enjoyable at the same time. Not entirely happy but its the best I can manage with these clumsy fingers Then had to shape four sets of door swing limiters (ie door stops to protect brake gear from damage on prototype). This bit took forever because the pairs of stables kept separating. Mind you my kadee pliers came in handy here to shape the curved bit. At long last done. Waiting for super glue to cure than will finish it off with the buffers and painting tomorrow. I don't ever want to see a stable again. In future I'll might try and cut strips of aluminium to form these.

You make it look easy, but it's not, I salute you the superb quality you can produce in brass.

Agree, No 18's seem to fit nicely with the NEM pocket not protruding under the buffer beam. I dislike Kadee no 5s for that very reason, the gear box sticks out too far under any wagons buffer beam. Other draft gear box kadees can be completely hidden under a wagon floor. Drilling buffer stocks ready to take buffer heads. This is quite fiddly and needs a 0.8mm drill bit done by hand. Was tempted to fit IRM sprung buffer accessories but saving them for next batch of double beet wagons.

Glory days of 1960s CIE, when trains were trains, with engines and carriages, and goods were packed into vans in boxes and parcels, never a pallet nor a container seen. Bogies were exclusively for carriages and locos. Shunting and banging, rail clank and GM notching, open coach windows, all were an assault on the senses of a young child. Clickety clack, Clickety clack, Clickety clack, Now the railways have been overrun by boring soulless trams.

Hi Popeye. I just superglued the NEM pockets to the mount on the underside of the chassis because the protruding retaining screw fouled the wheel axle causing 'stiffness' and resistance. But it seems to have worked out ok. Hopefully I have the NEM pockets oriented dead centre and perpendicular to buffer beam so the kadee's will couple and uncouple ok over magnets. Coupling screw was just rubbing wheel axle so used glue instead to retain the Dapol NEM pocket. Solves the dapol droop as well. Chassis is running freely now without any friction.

Great find Dave. You must have an aladdins cave hidden under the stairs. A treasure trove

Given those locos are worth about €50, that puts a price of €150 on each of the three coaches.

Lim Great shot of green A with a single wagon. Limerick Junction was one of the strangest setup stations in the country. Half it seemed to be missing until recently when they finally saw sense and put a platform the other side of the main line. The weird former scissors crossing arrangement with the incredibly long platform seemed operationally weird. Waterford trains had to do some strange manoeuvres to get into its platform behind the station. The new arrangements should allow trains to arrive from dublin and cork simultaneously and allow connections to limerick without the traditional wait out in the cold.

Yes probably, but a price as high as €200 could well reduce the overall volume of sales over the next 18 months or so, especially competing for modellers budgets against other new much anticipated products later this year, and the CV19 effect. Hattons currently have them listed for equivalent of €170.