GSR 800

Wee update. Frames added, dome modified and buffer beam fixed. she looks very foreign with the smoke deflectors anyway, somewhat bizarre what the GSR was doing at the time.

Hi Mike, Firebox had been made from a piece of brass. So got to it a few hours ago Firebox Reformed She'll need to be painted soon! Onto the more general subject of conversions, I think southern locomotives are as close a donor for irish locos. The likes of the S and H classes would be close enough to a 500. The larger southern 4-4-0s are close to the V and VS class. The T9 class could probably be a donor for a multitude of Irish mid and small 4-4-0s Even the Lord Nelson has some features of the 800s that the Jubilees and Scots lack (namely the huuuge looking boiler) but was ruled out for a possible 800 conversion for the several major differences. Obviously some LMS locomotives are good substitutes Even the LNER has some very close locomotives, namely their D16s and D11, though the cab and Firebox would have to be modified The odd one of the big four for possible conversions is the GWR. Utterly useless for the most part, the tapered boiler on GWR locomotives is pretty much entirely absent from any Irish one. Galteemore it seems the GSR was up to some shenanigans with their 4-6-0s, one of the 500s looked quite bizarre for a period of time.

Finished up on the tender today along with some other work. I doubt the tank tops are the same but that might be for another time. Firebox looked a bit too log so it was a cut and shut job. Still a good bit to do but starting to look like a 400 methinks. Bogies wheels need to be painted you can barely see them!

Hi lads, thanks for the replies Popeye, tis indeed a pretty big job, especially compared to something like 309, that I didn't do much work on. Nonetheless I hope the end product will be decent looking David it can be very satisfying (if it actually works!) And of course dead accuracy isn't usually achieved but if it looks pretty close to it, close to same proportions, looks and certain features then I'm happy. Paint often covers a multitude of issues! Pretty much everything par the J15 is either built or kitbashed. Bit more work was done today. My original plan had been, similar to Scots Mac, use a B12 tender for the 400. However this was...tiny The King Arthur came with a large double bogie tender. Its much bigger and not too far off the 400s tender with a bit of modification. I also had an old Stanier tender base. Bogies removed and some ripping apart was done Loose Fitted together Valances will have to be extended back, ladders added etc. Next thing to do was fix the cab front. Apologies for the blurry pic, but hopefully you can see the front was pretty much gutted.

I was about halfway through this project when I saw Eoins excellent thread on repairing an O gauge 400 (hopefully I'lt get somewhat close to what that model looks like) that reminded me I should probably take some bloody photos. Anyway. About three years ago I embarked on an attempt to kitbash a 400 from a hornby sir dinaden, the inspiration having been Scots Macs conversions. My modelling skills were slightly worse back then, hopefully havin improved since then. You'll note a lack of any chassis, it is merely the body of the locomotive. This will be a bit of a theme in this series. The Sir Dinaden did have a chassis but it didn't work very well. Looking back I have several issues with the conversion. The Sir Dinaden model had small driving wheels that would be undersized for a 400 and I especially disliked the Belpaire Firebox. Next attempt was with a King Arthur I was far happier with this conversion( the firebox looks soooo much better than the other one imo) but again ran into the issue of not having a decent chassis for it, so it remained semi complete Recently I came across a chassis I had that I was sure didn't work before but works perfectly now for some bizarre reason. So I decided one 400 was better than one and began hacking. After some consideration I figured the footplate of the first conversion would be better while the boiler and smokebox of the new one would hopefully combine to make a decent thing. So are there any issues? Firstly it's a Bachmann split chassis so an ass to work with, and lacks a bogie. Seconditions problem, it's a bit tall. So trimming the top will be necessary. Will try and get around to that tomorrow. In what I can only describe as a brutal murder the first locomotive body was basically torn apart to leave only the footplate and cab. Loose Fitted on the chassis Next the boiler and smokebox of the other body were removed, modified a bit and also loose fitted You can sort of see what I mean. The smokebox boiler and Firebox seem to be sitting a little high. Also need a new dome and a fair bit of filler so the finish line is more far away than small. Definitely needs to be lowered. Thanks for looking

Speaking of dicks, the father of a family friend was known as Richard Taite, but better known as Dick taite. He was apparently quite an unpleasant man to be around which certainly didn't help matters and allowed the jokes to fester One can only imagine some parents were definitely having a laugh when they named their kids.

So in conclusion it has the same function as one of these. It all makes sense now.

Some more work done today on no.309, which was painted, numbered and then rapidly made to look filthy Other things going on at the works included Macha getting lined. A slow and painful process for myself, tea was needed! body removed As few things need to be done to finish Macha, cabut windows and a bit of paint along the running plate. I seriously wonder how the hell people do this in N gauge. Feck it, rest will be done by tomorrow!

I was wondering if anyone had old pictures of Mullingar station, mainly the athlone side, the yard and locomotive shed. I've looked online and found a few pics on Eiretrains, O'dea collection etc but there seems to be very little at all from the 50s and 60s. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Something arrived from OO works today.. numbered her 162, very impressed with the locomotive overall, many thanks to OO work, they've done a great job. The lineup shows how surprisingly small the locomotive is. Nonetheless she is of a good weight, and quite solid. Time to buy some cattle wagons to put her to work! If I'm feeling brave I'l modify the springs. Looks far too clean too..

Decided to have a go at 553's very tall funnel. The funnel in the kit represented the J26 class in their original form rather than their GSR/CIE form. First thing was cutting the funnel with an angle grinder The middle section was then cut again to shorten the funnel to the appropriate length, glued together and repainted before being fitted once more to 553 Once fitted, 553 received a bit of a touch up and some weathering Think she looks a bit better now Thanks for looking

A wee update... Just back from the states, and began to get to work for the next big project. Some things that need to be done include expanding rolling stock, either shortening or replacing 553's funnel, doing the touch up om the tender springs on the J15 that's in the post tomorrow and thinking about what to do with 402. Anyway, Maedb has her lining, painted by hand I'm wondering if I should put the auld D2 in a more authentic livery or leave her black..

"the Bachmann green can be made up with a tin of Tamiya X-5, a few drops from a blue fountain pen ink cartridge, and a drop of black paint"

Layout looks excellent so far, like the attention to detail, the small things can make the difference. Fantastic to see a growing interest in the 1950s era, often overlooked but extremely interesting

Part 2 Next job was some paint. Provided by the man from the west, name and number plates, along with some decals Reveasing lever built and added, along with the housing She sits outside the shed proudly, the newest addition. Also on shed is a D2, along with j26 no.553 and 402 behind her, and 073 ticking over on the same road. Macha peaks out of the shed. An unidentified tank is fresh from the paint shop, waiting for her decals.

Jubilee for a Queen Here we go again...... While Maedbh sits on her perch comfortably the difference in size between her and Macha (converted fromissions an airfix royal scot) is quite noticeable. So then what to do. What I've always disliked about converting the Royal Scottish is the cab is quite different along with the tender drive of the airfix models. Now while the Scot has a semi enclosed cab, the Jubilee has a fully enclosed one. But the noticeable tapered boiler is a problem. Or so one woold think. Some of the Jubilee class were rebuilt, with a somewhat striking resemblance to the 800s. So for 30 quid on Ebay, came Comet. Trails needed first of course No problems there. Ran in, it was off to the workbench! First things first, removing the boiling fitting ahead of the dome As usual, my thumb bears the brunt of the assault. One boiling fitting gone, another added Next job is the smoke box door. All detail removed, and holes and dents filled. Boring the hole for the smoke box door wheel and Handrails added Starting to look a bit like an 800

That is a lovely little model

Points to what we did in 2012

good lord...heresy!

Aye, I heard you let some lads get away with painting their locomotives the wrong colour!

Ah jaysus JB, you can't be doing that! I remember hallucinating trying to count those feckin rivits!

Aye, that's true

you're a fair man either way

points rodding is a good bit of work..