GSR 800

does weathering and billboards count?

Silverfox, Provincial, IFM

For Irish Rail, passenger numbers are booming. https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/06/24/cie-passenger-numbers-climbed-to-pre-covid-high-during-2024/ https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/belfast-to-dublin-train-numbers-jump-50-since-introduction-of-hourly-services-LIBSFAPPKBAIHFTKNONSBJYPPU/ Public transport as a whole has increased quite significantly: https://www.transportforireland.ie/news/its-thanks-a-million-from-nta-as-passenger-numbers-surge-to-a-new-high/ Every intercity train I've been on, no matter what the hour, has been near or at capacity, often crammed with people standing. IR has been trying to keep up with demand but the infrastructure bottlenecks are leading to delays. I think someone suggested terminating Sligo services at docklands, honestly may have to happen to relieve Connolly at some point to allow for improvement works. The question of 'will this last' economically is always a wise one to consider, but despite 'work from home' commuting continues to rise and rise. Many in my generation would not want to work from home full time (I certainly would not!) Ultimately even if it all went tits up, the Belfast line will still need significant works as is. My experience is not in infrastructure projects, but Irish Rail does a lot of refurbishment and improvement work in-house, with the assistance or inclusion of contractors. Other projects are left to contractors entirely. Like all things it comes down to finding good people to do the job. I am far more optimistic about continued strong demand for rail transport across the nation than anything else. I am more pessimistic that infrastructure will be built to accommodate. A no-brainer would be double-tracking to Mullingar or even Longford. Delays at Maynooth and Killucan 'waiting in the loop' add an extra 10-15 minutes to every journey at least. Every bridge is built to accommodate it, though many of the rail bridges (over roads) were singled and would have to be replaced. No need for expensive land acquisitions. With Dart+ West this will become even more necessary; you'll be stuck behind a Dart out as far as Maynooth, time will have to be made up thereafter. Perhaps someday the long-suffering Midland will get the love it deserves!

A big problem you have is that the state has lost a lot of the wherewithal to build public infrastructure, having privatised everything during the neoliberal revolution of the 80s. You can see this here in Ireland. We're pretty good at building roads; there are always roads being built. But we haven't built big infrastructure projects like hospitals or railways, and so they often end up being expensive disasters with a great degree of rent seeking going on. Interestingly, Madrid built a metro system very successfully by effectively designing the construction around the election cycle so politicians could 'cash in' on various tranches of the metro being completed (say a section built every 5 years, lined up with election cycles). A pragmatic solution! I'd argue the tide has shifted, at least in Britain (and many other European countries), toward the state having a more significant role in the ownership of public goods. The slow beginnings of this can be seen in the UK with renationalisation (the clunkily named Great British Railways) along with the constant backlash against private water, utility companies etc. Britain suffers the pioneers curse. First to do it, stuck with ancient infrastructure (Same as ourselves!) and thus restricted by it. It comes with advantages of course, they have an enormous expanse of underground tunnels since the 1860s, whereas some 50 years after proposal, all we have to show for our metro is part of the airport designed to accommodate and 500 million euro spent on nothing. Onto the Enterprise. The Belfast main line is one of, if not the busiest line in the country, with its southern terminus being the most busy station in the country. With major improvement works comes major delays, so on and so forth. Ultimately, I think they may have to just bite the bullet and go either quad track or with a separate HSR running in parallel. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but it certainly cannot continue as is. Widening the viaduct up towards Clontarf and onward would be a 19th century slightly suspect railway developers job! The US is a different kettle of fish of course.

Tbh don't really understand the idea of an hourly Enterprise before gettin new sets in. Purely from a promo pov, you're offering the customer a very varied experience on a DD/ICR/CAF. The DDs and locos ain't getting any younger. Doubt we'll see them until 2030 though. Perhaps a better alternative would be make the Enterprise non stop to say, Drogheda or Dundalk, and from there have a connecting ICR or CAF making the more regular stops. The morning Enteprise is used as a de facto commuter up and down the Belfast main line. Nothing can be done about the DART problem until there's extra tracks to avoid them altogether.

Glory to the 29s!

3003+3002 on 14.50 ex Connolly

Maedbh has had her wheels painted. Needs a little bit of weathering! Might make up some brake cylinders for her at some point.

Excellent work Killian, as always! Really is transformative.

14.50 was NIR CAF 3003+3002 206 still on shed.

How many people are buying several Playstations, Xbox, etc? Not really a good comparison. A PlayStation is more like buying a layout, ready to go. The games would be more akin to purchasing locos and rolling stock. From that POV the PlayStation looks like a very good deal indeed!

Hi Ironroad, not to worry, you haven't been forgotten! The MGWR A class has been commissioned and is in the design stage. The A class require smaller Hornby Princess Royal 6'6 driving wheels, which I purchased off Peters Spares and slot easily into place. Initially, I tried B1 driving wheels, which were more accurate, but these caused slipping. This is a thread to gauge interest on the 400s, which would come after the MGWR loco is completed.

206 is spare in Connolly

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Four confirmed then with my two, halfway there.

Using the B1 drivers unfortunately caused the loco to be a poorer puller than she had been. I replaced these with a Princess Royals 6'6 wheelset, which while less accurate, solved the issue. With the Woolwich door complete, the A class is now next up.

After the MGWR A class, I'm considering commissioning a 400 class. This would be the split footplate version, meaning 401 (after 1949) 403, 405, 407 and 409 could be modelled. 402 had a flush footplate and 500 cab, whereas 406 had caprotti valve gear. 401 also had this until fitted with walschearts in 1949. So these two would be the only two the model wouldn't cover in the 1950s. 401 survived until 1961. In terms of chassis, I may look to see if the Hornby Royal Scot would work with these. Alternatives would probably be B17s or King Arthurs. The Scot would be ideal as Killian has the chassis block modelled for it. They can also still be found for under 100 quid. You would receive the loco body and tender, and the smokebox door handle. Killian offers to print the buffers AFAIK. Killian supplied nuts and bolts to fit the shells to chassis. Handrail fittings, handrails, whistle, safety valves, would likely be separate parts though some of these could probably be printed if necessary. My intention for these would be to purchase two, possibly three. To justify making Killian endure the torture of designing something absolutely littered with snaphead rivets again, I'd be looking for a minimal order of 8 before going ahead and commissioning these. With my two that'd be six other required before going ahead with these after the MGWR A class. So if you're interested in a 400, do let us know! "Those of us who saw the last agonies of steam felt deeply with Charlie Maguire, when, his voice breaking with emotion, bewailed the passing of many 'fine engines' Charlie was thinking primarily of the 400 class, and of all engines I personally miss them the most." Drew Donaldson, A Decade of Steam.

Certainly the modern era is horrendously boring and sterile. For a bit of interest, you'd need a dcc sound decoder of some yahoo shouting abuse at security guards before buggering off on a scooter with the gear. My interest is early 1950s CIE. Dieselisation is already making inroads through the AEC railcars, but steam still dominates, with the Enterprise connecting Cork, Dublin, and Belfast hauled by the apogees of CIE and GNRI steam. Within a few years, it would all be gone forever.

It is truly fascinating that many of our generation of modellers have turned toward a much earlier period to model after. In many ways it makes sense, locomotives and rolling stock are smaller, making layout building somewhat more manageable. Many very obscure prototypes with all the elegance of victorian and edwardian design, and in some cases absolutely no elegance whatsoever! I must confess I'm very partial indeed to the GNR Park J class 4-4-0s and JS singles of 1885, some of the most handsome locomotives to have ever run in this country.

I think anything post-1914 is modern! I've considered commissioning 400s or 500s, but I'm sure Killian hopes I will start looking towards something like the old MGWR Grendon engine instead! With the Woolwich smokebox door complete, the MGWR A class is now next in line.

Makes sense, surprised they didn't have it in Drogheda. They've a few in Connolly iirc, almost certainly in Belfast also.

at least the front didn't fall off

Idk what the longterm plan is for North Wall but at least Dublin ports rail link will be reinstated after improvement works. I'm not very optimistic, but considering the likes of the foynes and the purchase of new wagons upcoming there must be something. What I did not consider when I wrote that post is that they could always run freight at night on busier sections to avoid clashing with the commuter services. That'd be a return to form! I recall looking at the WTT for Mullingar back in the early to mid 20th century, the earliest train landed in at about 3am!

PM sent

Very unfortunate news, they were an excellent service. Will be gone in less than a week!