Junctionmad

wow just wow, beautiful urban modelling

It would be a great idea to have such a reference. Would you include photos

Wow. That's very high quality scratch building , the finish to the plastic is excellent

A lot was double headed because there were big trains fully loaded. 9-10 carriages etc

It's going to be fun. Imagine trying this at an exhibition !!!!!!!!

I know some very scenic lines remain in Scotland. But have we much in Ireland remaining.

It was an " inspiring " freight livery. I well remember seeing the bogie liner flats at bell ferries in Waterford and simply thinking it's just " rust " whereas in fact it was a cie " cunning plan " The fully fitted being true piped is need to me. I always thought that " fitted " meant vacuum clyinder as distinct to " through piped". Is this an Irish-Ism thing or is that uk practice as well

Jeepers , Noel, from a man that said to me last year that you couldn't be bothered with " kits" you're going to be a busy bee with all the ones lined up in front of you.

Actually I agree with Glenderg here , well up to a point ( or semaphore ) you certainly can't run a model layout to a prototypical timetable. Nor have you prototypical berth track distances or clearance distances around signals. So by its very nature it's s compromise. I don't think the OP was specifically targeting exhibition layouts , in my view ( note ) it's somewhat incongruous to focus say on purity of rolling stock and then run it incorrectly or to ignore signalling etc. I mean it's railway modelling not train modelling. But I accept that many people have no interest in how the prototype operated and that's fine. But I think , like the OP if you go to the effort of modelling an " era " it surely behoves modellers to equally try and operate it in a prototypical fashion. ( whatever that means. ) I do wonder however if the " hobby" always had many participants who didn't care about prototypical operation even when the prototype was there to see. The difference of course, today , is that one can't just duck down to the nearest station to cram up on such operations. This is all fresh in my mind as I have an appointment to continue taking down some of the oral histories of the people that worked freight in Claremorris after Christmas. I do think that our various clubs should be in the vanguard of this type of operation/layout simply because they have potentially access to the requisite bodies , but again that's got nothing to do with exhibitions. Dave

well Big jim on RMweb describes changing ends as walking through pools of oil !

Thats explains a lot of comments, I wonder how our 201s would pan out if the fleet was in constant use interesting , given the Class 66 success in the UK , its doubly strange that it did succeed, there now seems to be a lot of doubts that they will age well.

Thats a good point , Im searching for a good general supplier of plastic gear sets, ones that are a step up from the tamiya model variey , anyone know of any

Thanks, my memories when I was photographing signals in the late 70s , was of mostly brown vehicles lain up in sidings everywhere. I never had a great interest in historical rolling stock per sae , its only now , revisiting parts of the network with the advantage of near limitless digital photography, that I nearly cry at all the missed photo opportunities I passed up

just reading the fora, the general view is the class 59s are liked by the drivers but they seem to not like the class 66, which is a body derivative funny too how the control desks are very different in these two classes as well, the 66 almost is a step backwards maybe it was built to a cheaper spec or something

HI Blaine , my various exhibition comments were in the context of the OPs comment , nor was I addressing the issue of any specific layout operation. They were not a comment on model railway exhibitions in general , or why they exist or to whom they are pitched etc, nor where they addressing the commercial aspects of exhibitions. They were made in the context of the idea that a model railway can be a form of historical document , so to speak Anyone who attends Scalefours national show, will know the current difficulty it has in sustaining itself financially , but as a demonstration/exhibition of finescale ultimate railway modelling its probably peerless. As I said , I was commenting on the Op and his concerns and how exhibitions can , in my view , sometimes work against that ( which was only one of the smaller topics in the whole post ), for example I dont think the Lego model helps in our ability to replicate the prototype , its brings in the punters sure , but thats different

By the way, and this is slightly off the topic, if someone else is doing CNC milling for model railway topics, I'd like to correspond or even start a specific topic here ( or on RMWEB). Im not a mechanical engineer by trade, so Im learning as Im going.

lovely models Flange I always get confused between the brown and grey liveries, did both exist together at the same time etc ? dave

I know this , again my posts are reflections of my views. Look at adavoyle junction, now thats an " exhibition layout" and was designed to be so . ( and its roundy roundy) I fully understand that exhibitions have to appeal to the public , but that doesnt mean I have to like it ( "see trains running - prototypically or not")

fine, if you wish that I extend an apology to any member here, that feels in some way that I personally offended them , then I do so willingly. That was not my intention. I had no specific member of this forum or their layout in mind when I wrote the post and in fact most of my conclusions are derived from some UK shows

well then I apologise for the use of the term "fob". What I meant was that I personally do not like layouts that are built solely for exhibitions in that they present a perspective of the hobby to the average joe public. to me a good layout is immensely interesting even with nothing moving, one can study the method of construction of track, scenery , buildings etc., examine the signalling etc and talk to the builders to boot. again, I placed my exhibition layout comments in the thread in the context of the OPs comments, in that such layouts do nothing to capture the prototypical operation of the real thing and thats was what I was trying to say ( however appalling spelt with bad grammar )

I disagree with your conclusion , and you are taking my exhibition layout comment out of context of the whole post as I sought to reply to the OPs original topic ( and not how it became ) as for my spelling and grammar I can only apologise. I did not in any of my posts attack any particular poster here, yet it seems fair game that they attack me ( and not actually discuss the subject matter). I have no issue with people replying to my post and putting a counter argument, yet all that happens is people sling mud at the poster and play the man not the ball none of this helps the original posters comments on the decline in prototype operations knowledge

yes its an issue, at some of the major UK shows , I notice many layouts have a point man, who isn't operating the layout and can answer questions, thats a great idea. But its very difficult to run a multi man layout and also talk to people at the same time. my single experience of it left me with very clear issues hence the rise of a certain style of " exhibition " layout, rather then a layout being exhibited ( if you see what I mean )

The OP was not talking about exhibitions, and my comments were placed in that context of his posts. ( i.e. the decline in prototype operating knowledge) nor in any sentence did I criticise any model railway club, merely what I like and dont like, or should I simply not say what I like and dont like

Sorry, am I not allowed merely to express my opinion, I have a particular perspective in signalling, but I was placing that in a context of the original OPs comments that we are rapidly losing the memory of how these prototypes railways operated. If more people looked at signalling then there clearly would be more retained knowledge Thats all I said, I never commented on any specifc layout built by any specific person. what they do is their business what I did give was my opinion if that came across as harsh then I apologise, I did not see it so, nor was it intended as so.

I find your perspective strange , I was merely commenting on my personal opinion of layouts I perceive were designed for the sole purpose of exhibitions as for IrishRailwayModels, I fully support such a start-up and what its trying to do , I was merely making a point that we all start with an " idea", I fail to see how I insulted any "three other members here", I never mentioned a bad word about any of the three. sure the proof is in the " eating" , but in all ventures time will tell and we shall see, I personally have no particular timescale and a lot depends on money , time , space and all the other thing going on in my life. But the photographic work, personal accounts , drawings etc, that I have already collected on Claremorris represents a body of work in itself useful to future modellers , as I said I didn't throw rocks at your work, please dont throw them at mine , I merely dont agree with some of your views, and you seem not to like that when people disagree with you