GSR 800

Truly beautiful models! The CIE dark green looks fabulous. If I was to give a tiny bit of critique it'd be that the smokebox dart protruding from the handwheel should be blackened, and the handle should be brass/same colour as the wheel. AFAIK the handle was painted black at Cultra for some reason, they were never black (aside from with dirt perhaps!) during their careers. See above regarding the dart being black.

Some painting, lining and decals today for the Bredin Parcels/Luggage Van and the Corridor. The window frames are a pain in the arse to paint! I'm thinking of painting the other side of these in the later light green to have "more" coaches for little effort!

Many thanks David, have to agree regarding a mixed rake. Certainly plenty of variety on the Midland during the period. Clements notes a train of 10 bogies with some 5(!) vans behind, and many photos in the IRRS show similar.

"...And we've a tender full of round coal the like of I havent seen in ages and the train isnt too heavy.." "...Peter curls up on his box and has a sleep and for once I can fire in real comfort. She's burning next to nothing, the injectors are good, it's on the old tender with the flat tank so you throw down instead of lifting, the night is fine - in fact it's the sort of thing that never happens these days." Excerpt from the IRRS Journal no.203, Clements on the Midland.

I'll have to dig up that IRRS journal now. Needless to say I won't be modelling Clements on the footplate in his jocks!

And so it was, in 1956 Bob Clements delighted himself in the arrival of no.800 Maedbh hauling the Up Mail on trial on the Midland, having been evicted from her working on the Cork line by the new diesels. Having made her connection with both the Up and Down Galway Mail, G2 no. 664, prepares to depart with her train, with one of the new tin van TPOs, to Sligo. Duly ordered!

Details added to the TPO, corridors, axle boxes and springs, roof lights, battery boxes, buffers. Then it was off for a bit of a cleaning to remove any residue! Placed next to a 3d printed (IFM?) TPO. Few more details to add yet, but I think I'll paint her in silver when I get around to it.

Getting there with the TPO. Went with a rigid chassis, have the roof in place with two straps of brass soldered to it acting as springs. Next up will be battery boxes, then buffers, springs, axle boxes, the works!

Many thanks John, very useful indeed!

Many thanks for this JB, greatly appreciated. Regarding the down Sligo Day Mail, is there a Galway/Westport-bound PAS service leaving Mullingar around the same time? I wonder if the Sligo Mail was ever left overnight at Mullingar, awaiting a Galway bound train before heading for Sligo as the Day Mail?

Very much unfortunately for me modelling Mullingar, I was not around for any of the interesting junction operations!

Interesting, I wonder if this went back into the steam era. Many thanks, JB. I also presume that, given the Jail Siding was almost always full of coaches in every photo I've seen of it (admittedly, later on it was RPSI stock), that trains that were split at Mullingar would've been strengthened with extra coaches.

Many thanks Mol

Work done tonight, sides soldered on, doorways soldered in also. And now a question. I was reading through one of the Irish railway rover books, which had a photo of a Night Up Galway mail train at Mullingar. The book mentioned that it was waiting for the Up Sligo mail, which in turn would then wait for the Down Mail before returning to Sligo. Am I right then in thinking that the Sligo Mail was pretty much a Shuttle from Mullingar to Sligo, first going up to Mullingar, meeting the Up Galway there and having its Mail transferred to that train, then waiting for the Down Galway Mail, having mail transferred to it, then heading back to Sligo. OR was it the case that the trains were simply split and joined as per other trains at Mullingar? There's a photo of a Cattle Engine shunting a TPO tin van at Mullingar somewhere..

Not unlike the old wisdom not to model anything that won't be seen!