GSR 800

If i put my 800 bias to one side for a minute.. Many of the late victorian and edwardian 4-4-0s generally are some of the most handsome and elegant locomotives ever built, with fantastic lines, and more often than not, stunning liveries to match. MGWR 4-4-0s have a place in my heart, really beautiful designs. A great deal of these locomotives had their looks obliterated by the early superheater carry ons! Onto 800, a rare blend of both elegance and sheer power is evident, one can clearly see.....

The Fed would investigate under suspicion of a ponzi scheme..

A significant number of photos from the move, including of Maedb, have recently been posted on the IRRS flickr page

Neither is extremely difficult, but 800 is definitely more work, lot of laminating to do along with the walschearts valve gear soon to come. Reverse curves on the firebox aren't as difficult as one would assume, just have to be careful everything is square. Slot and tab construction is handy. D17 comes together well, the only real difficulty was fitting the firebox into slots in the cab, pretty sure that was down to imperfect forming of the firebox on my part.

Think I'll price A15 for a few grand and say questions on pricing is disrespectful and slander to my name.. Even the bloody black n tan 141s would blush at over 440 for jaysus sake

Any hints.....other than that one The balance will be worse for wear either way.....

Been working on SSMs 800 and JMs D17 recently Far from perfect, but acceptable in my eyes. Build has been done somewhat arseways, having received the wrong drivers and with the motor supplier being glacial for lack of a better word, body has been done first rather than chassis. Cab roof is loose fitted. Serving as a side comparison is the body of JM designs D17. Will buy wheels, gearbox etc whenever I get around to buying new drivers for 800

Alright I'll give my two cents. I think a fair point is raised, multipacks ultimately lower the flexibility of the consumer as to what they can or cannot purchase, what they have to purchase with. Speaking from experience as a younger modeller, multipacks have put the brakes on purchasing sometimes due to cost. However.. Most of what IRM has produced up to now rolling stock wise has been outside of my preferred era Wagons bought in rakes of three is just common sense in my opinion, ballasts, bubbles etc ran in uniform(ish) trains. If I want to buy wagons, I will generally buy a rake. If Accurascale/IRM release a H van, cattle wagon, palvan etc I'd want to buy them in large numbers, therefore I want value for money, which I will get from multipacks. Also better use of packaging. Coaches are trickier. I'm not really a fan of 'just buy the packs and sell off what you don't need', but ultimately it comes down to a cost benefit analysis for the manufacturer, what can be produced at a profit and a reasonable price. We're a small market, so that trade off is important, and ultimately thats what has to make sense first to deliver the product. I don't think there should be a pile on of 'don't be ungrateful' but I think the question/criticism has been answered pretty thoroughly by IRM. Yes, it's not the ideal for everyone, it's a compromise, but a necessary one to get these goods to market, according to the people who are manufacturing it. Better something (which is high quality too) than nothing? So when are the laminates, the steel sides, Sambo in GSR and CIE guise, Pat the vertical boiler, Dick the mare....

Two things 1. As far as I can see, this isn't in programme for government, generally a tell that something will actually be seriously implemented (generally cuts the stuff they weren't serious about in manifesto) 2. I see feck all of it costed. This is important for pretty obvious reasons, it means someone has actually figured out the cost and where that can be fitted into the budget, another good sign its not just nice words on a sheet. Someone can correct me on either of these if I'm overlooking something, I may well be. 100 trains is a nonsense, but any decent increase in freight traffic is a good thing in my books. What comes to mind is what the US navy used to do before ww1. Congress would always shaft them in the budget, cutting down everything wherever possible, so the US navy drew up the biggest plans they possibly could so that after the mincing through Congress they'd still have something left to work with!

Just came across this https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/castlerea-train-station oil fired loco, with coaches in GSR maroon and CIE dark green.

It is not necessarily the leaders, often they may have every intention to try curtail illegal mining, corruption and the like, but it is exceptionally difficult if pirate miners can offer several times the wage to anyone the government hires to prevent said illegal mining. Of course there are plenty of corrupt officials, but it is effectively an unfair power dynamic between states and non state actors, and with weak, unstable governments, the vultures begin hovering. (In case it was misinterpreted, I generally mean 8 dollars paid by gov, 50 dollars paid by pirate miners. I'm sure theres cases of corrupt gov officials bribing down the line to shut up people but i digress) civil wars and conflicts are disastrous not only for nations themselves but those around them, refugees arriving en masse putting significant stress on limited services and capacilities of developing nations. It is not single nations at fault, nor single groups, it is a historic trend of developed states and non state actors exploiting undeveloped or developing states.Something of note in regards to biofuel is both India and China have put limits on domestic produce for fear of affecting food security, companies being encouraged to look abroad instead. Now lads, all said and done we must mind the line we're threading towards politics

Generally poorer, notably in this case, african nations that have come out of the colonial era had little in the way of education of a proper civil service, democratic tradition and processes etc (likes of the Congo were dropped like a stone by Belgium with no preparation, there were plans for reform, education etc over 20 years along with more gradual handover but came to nought iirc). This, combined with foreign interference and the 'conflict trap', essentially increasing instability from every conflict a nation goes through, increased poverty leading to more conflict, more poverty, more instability and so on has made it exceptionally hard for many of these nations to develop. The Washington consensus made things a great deal worse for many nations, while the 'Asian Tigers' seemed to benefit, their starting circumstances were different. https://books.google.ie/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3PLqetBxiOEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=the+conflict+trap&ots=PTS3AU9d5C&sig=5JMO-psklAkq8Kr9uZJ1lnjWwBY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the conflict trap&f=false As for corruption, having studied the case of the Congo I will give an example. A soldier is paid 8 dollars (the equivalent anyway) by the government to prevent illegal mining. He's paid 50 dollars to turn a blind eye. Comparitive buying power makes corruption very easy. It's also something many poorer nations struggle with when regarding development, ie they want to hire foreign experts (say an irish engineer or tech expert as an example.) It can be very expensive hiring such expertise, as they will expect a Western wage and western standard of living. exploitation is a historic factor, one that continues to this day (if you look at the article i linked it relates to how significant landgrabs in nations such as Ghana and Sierra Leone to grow biofuel crops are at the detriment to the people, but especially the poorest people of those nations) but it is not an inevitability, I use the case of Botswana as my example for developing well following independence, and Rwanda in spite of the horrific genocide there has developed quite well, using drones for medical supplies to overcome infrastructure issues. The question of sustainability is sustainability for who?

Biofuels are no better https://grain.org/article/entries/4653-land-grabbing-for-biofuels-must-stop

The threads name and all..

Some lad with a terrible sense of humour naming it as the turf pellets are no more..Ashtown a stones throw from it too..

Would be quite interesting to know how large the respective markets are (at least considered to be) along with Europe..

I think dummy locos were brought up a long while ago re the 121s, cost compared to a proper model doesn't justify it seems.

Laminates and Park Royals, then we can talk about 6 wheelers I suppose we're getting ahead of ourselves if we start talking about those 6 wheel bogie coaches..

Might be good for confusing some tourists..

With limited space, Mullingar needed some form of fiddle yard on a loop behind it. A large terminus station had been in my mind for a long time but the space required put me off. Two things changed this, the excellent Connolly station in N on this site, along with Minories, a design by Cyril Freezer (and we had Fry) which managed an itneresting terminus design with limited space. While ultimately the design of the station throat is not like minories it is nonetheless and interesting track plan! Regardless the idea of Amiens Central is a simple one, the Phoenix Tunnel being regularly used and more Cork bound trains start there. This will allow for a forray into Great Northern and UTA territory while ensuring the heavier locomotives in the fleet have more of an excuse to run. It seems a Schools class will meet the knife to become a VS so there will be a wait before the Rhapsody in Blue.

Excellent stuff, completely silent and went over that crossover with ease. Can't wait till they hit home turf!

Timetables unless I'm mistaken

Both have their merits, but that pic of the 141s, B145 leading starting a train from Kingsbridge in a Second Glance has kept me tipped to a slight GM bias. Such shows what impressed upon me age 10

Theres only really space in the loco for the motor and the tender body is a solid piece so (unless it was slung under the tender chassis?) somewhat akin to the Woolwich, though those locos have their own long set of issues! Be interesting in seeing the DCC set up and how it was managed..

If i tried that i could well be waiting as long as Leslie did for the 70th! Invest the hundred or so saved and become fabulously wealthy while I wait At the end of the day its a rare type, one that I doubt will ever be produced again for a very long time, and is probably worth far more to someone if they happen to be building a layout of the west cork in the 30s. If you're rolling in a few quid you might as well....