GSR 800

7 minutes ago, meathdane said:

Putting aside my awful paint and weathering attempt, I do have to say the moguls are rather fetching in a mundane kinda way in the grey!

I'd love one with a proper non split, dcc ready chassis and that horrific quasi kinematic drawbar revised

 

Other than that, they're a great model to cut your teeth on and a easy modification to start your irish steam conversions!

Very nice conversion, suitably filthy!

The bachmann models have their place in modelling history, but they are starting to show their age. The body itself holds up quite well (when it doesn't suffer from mazac rot) but the chassis is pretty subpar and not suited for any modification (one can see Noel's difficulties in chipping them). The coupler is an interesting one, it was a failed attempt at something I've seen work 20 years later in N scale. 

8 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

I assume the original doors got burnt out and they just used standard Inchicore doors rather than trying to source or replicate the old ones?

Probably more to standardise with the rest of the fleet, the moguls weren't that old.

Whatever about the handwheels in place of the darts, the MGWR was an early adopter for some of its locos, the GNR seemed to standardise on it in the 20s and 30s and CIE began in earnest from inception. It gives Irish locos a nice 'look' in my opinion.

31 minutes ago, Lambeg man said:

Unfortunately Broithe is sufficiently well informed on railway matters to realize that the vast majority of ex-railway vehicles that made it into agricultural use after withdrawal were in fact GOODS vans, not carriages.

Theres a H van riddled with shot on my uncles farm.

There's also a wooden van by the river with 'FOR PRESERVATION' scrawled on a board on it. It's so dilapidated it'll be for the fishes soon... I should probably take a few pictures before that happens.

Could expand it to suppliers for motors, wheels, hornblocks, gearboxes, castings etc? Can be a bit of a maze for those looking to get into kit and scratchbuilding.

9 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

 

Yes, the running off to watch the Swilly's trains wasn't a very glorious episode, but better that than lose modern battleships.

Don't knock John Jellicoe, his "distant blockade" (Scotland to Norway which you rightly mention) did a lot to help win WW1. Before you bring up Jutland, remember what the New York Times reported a day or two later - 

"The German High Seas Fleet has assaulted its jailer, but is still in Jail!"

We'd better stop this or we'll be banned.

Now, if IRM opted as their next steam offering a 4mm model of HMS Caroline I'd be first in the queue!

Jellicoe gets credit where its due, and that is bottling the HSF, Jutland, comms, etc. He kept the German fleet bottled up, denying the Germans access to the sea which is all that matters. At Jutland he performed some of the best coordination ever seen in battle, managing to cross the German T in a perfect firing arc. The problem with his run off to Swilly is the loss of a battleship or two is one thing, possibly allowing the Germans to win the race to the sea is quite another, he opened the bottle he had corked, he was just lucky the HSF didnt notice. And he lost a battleship because he moved to Swilly.

My biggest critique is his steadfast opposition to convoys, which were the most effective means of countering the uboats. Eyeing the HSF from across the sea seemed to give him tunnel vision, Britain was in pretty dire straits supply wise when the US joined, as Admiral Sims found to his horror..

To keep this somewhat on topic, and on brand for myself, I always thought had Ireland joined the war the 800s would've gotten some proper mileage in and with better coal. the GNRI V class were beat by the end of the war!

Another thing, I've always wondered what the performance of the oil burners during and after the war wars like.

8 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Well, of course, there was the little matter that Winnie  put every barrier he could in the road of sending even a shovelful of coal to the (then) Free State. He was miffed that Dev wouldn't allow the use of the former Treaty Ports (given back just before War was declared). That they would have been useful goes without saying, but The Free State was a lot closer to Luftwaffe Bomber bases than bases in Ulster and so the price of "co-operation" was likely to have been heavy.

The Man with the Cigar DID ignore the tens (hundreds) of thousands of Irish who crossed the Irish Sea and more than did their share of ensuring that the Nazi tyranny was ended.  To say nothing of much looking the other way on numerous occasions.

 

I doubt Berehaven would have been the best spot for a British squadron to be posted due to the deep republicanism in the area. Geographically a squadron of sloops, frigates and destroyers operating from there would have been effective in covering the western approaches.

Lough Swilly and Cobh perhaps, but Jellicoe had left the North Sea wide open in the first few months of WW1 running off to Lough Swilly with the entire Grand Fleet while Scapa underwent anti submarine defence improvements. Would have given the High Seas Fleet a good operating window to drive up the channel and blow the pre dreadnought heavy channel fleet out of the water.

(Coincidentally the man famous for advocating for utilisation of geographic chokepoints such as between Scotland and Norway and the Channel, A.T Mahan, died in a very similar time period...perhaps Jellicoe's gaff pushed him over the edge...)

Grey and ivory

Theres a lot of railing against social media generally, but I steer well clear of facebook. Nothing to do with any particular groups, just the platform as a whole.

Facebook is infamous for poor moderation practices, allowing extremist and conspiracy content to run rampant and selling off data en masse (the Irish regulator has fined them close to a billion over the last 2 years). Although also brought about by the natural 'innovate or decline cycle' of any company, Zuckerberg was pissed enough at Apple allowing users to turn off third party cookies (and killing their profits as a result) that he wants to own the software and hardware for 'internet 3.0' aka the disastrous moneysink known as the metaverse. There's also significant controversy over their 'free basics' internet in developing countries.

1 hour ago, Mayner said:

As seen on TV!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked at the option of commissioning a rtr OO gauge Cattle Engine from China, I would have needed to sell 500 batch built Brass locos at £700 each or 3000 plastic injection locos at £180 each to cover my costs and make a small profit.

OO Works appears to have established that there is a market for 100 Irish steam outline locos at a £315 point which appears very low for a batch built model assembled in the UK (even at home!)

At the time I hadn't £300k lying around to see if I could sell 500 Brass or 3000 Plastic Cattle Engines so took a punt on investing a smaller amount in producing some 3D printed rtr wagons which did not exactly pay off either.

Good to know the measuring stick on plastic injection...just have to find a 300 grand handy now. I would've thought a cattle engine brass kit could be a good way to go.

What I've noticed from my perusal in American O, HO and N scale is the rtr brass imports, mainly from south korea and japan are hot money. Modern American (injection moulded) rtr having all the bells and whistles, literally, with sound, steam etc...even in dc and n scale. Probably adding another 100 or so in the models price as a result.

The brass built locos nonetheless are those sought after, though I must wonder the uh...multiplier effect bachmann has had on that trend, so poor is their reputation in the US that it may have turned many modellers off injection moulded rtr.

I suppose RTR brass here seems a mainly foreign concept.

18 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

It’s on Facebook, railway modelers Ireland group 

Ah, I'm not on facebook.

11 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Aperently this lot of 0 and 00 gauge stuff is for sale 

site?

26 minutes ago, murrayec said:

There was 3 turntables, can be seen above on the branch leading to the two story workshops, which had a lift to get stock up to the second floor!

The turntables at that time were only 10 foot long, locos and tenders had to be rotated separately.

Eoin

 

Eoin, I saw the small turntables, should've been clearer when I meant a regular TT rather than the mini ones!

Could be very interesting to model indeed.

Doesn't even look like theres a proper turntable, I suppose there wasn't a huge need with the majority being tank engines? One may have been installed post OS map, idk either way.

If modelling the 60s and 70s, the canal being jam packed full of rubbish seems to be prototypical

48 minutes ago, Mayner said:

Many older more established modellers had similar concerns about the future of railway modelling when I first started modelling as a teenager about 50 years ago. The majority of the older generation modelled the "Big Four"/BR steam era, Irish railways were basically off the radar apart from a small group of scratchbuilders.

At the increasing popularity in modelling Irish railways was largely driven by a small group of modellers in Ireland and the UK who during the 1970s/80s built models of Irish locos and stock and a number layouts that appeared at exhibitions and in magazines. The greater interest in Irish modelling encouraged  people like Ian Mc Nally (MIR), Terry Mc Dermott (TMD & SSM Kits) and Mike Cole (Q Kits) to produce models of Irish locos and stock (some high quality, others less so).

While  RTR manufacturers and commissioners have a proven capability to produce high quality rtr models of  locos and stock, the availability of relatively low cost models from China is contributing to un-realistic expectations of what can be produced and more seriously a hollowing out of the hobby with the closure of several specialist UK suppliers and kit manufacturers with a potentially serious impact on people who intend to model Irish railways in the steam or transition era.

Its unlikely that it would be financially for IRM or MM to produce a representative selection of locos and stock required to operate a CIE 'transition from steam" era layout set during the 1950s while it may be viable to produce a C Class, AEC Railcar set with 1953 Buffet Car, Open Second, Side Corridor,  Brake Second, a Park Royal, Laminate coach (post 1956) (3 different types), its unlikely that it would be economic to produce vehicles ran singly (demand 1-2 per customer?) such as BR BSGVs, Bulleid 4w vans.

The Steam era opens up its own unique rabbit hole while wooden bodied GSWR/GSR side corridor coaches and Bredin stock were fairly widespread, ex-CBSCR, DSER and MGWR coaching stock were still in widespread use on their sections into the 1950s,  MGWR Post WW1 Corridor coaches (most comfortable 3rd/2nd Class coaches in Ireland) were also used on GSWR mail line and Midland 6w scattered far and wide, but seldom appearing in solid trains of 6w stock.

Locos open up a whole can of worms passenger trains were largely hauled by pre-amalgamation 4-4-0s until replaced by diesel railcars or locomotives from the mid to the late 50s. GSWR-5 Classes large 4-4-0, 3 Classes small 4-4-0, MGWR 3 Classes large 4-4-0, 1 Class small 4-4-0, 1 Class 2-4-0. The GSWR, MGWR and DSER each had their own "Standard" (J 15 size) and large Classes of Goods Locomotive. What about Tank locomotives, what about the Great Northern, the NCC, BCDR and dare we say it SLNCR with its unique sense of uniqueness.

 

I think Irish steam affords itself well to a continuation of kitbuilding and the likes. So many classes of locomotive and rolling stock that an RTR producer couldn't justify producing en masse. The loss of British suppliers is however a significant issue, and would be very difficult to justify replicating for the small Irish market.

Locos most likely to 'stick the landing' for RTR would be IMO (in no particular order)

J15s

800s

J26s

B4s

Q class

S class

V class

Vs class

T class 4-4-2 tank

Jeeps 

NCC Moguls

I'm sure I've overlooked a few.

400s could be thrown in there, the issue being of course the dozens upon dozens of variations through their career. May as well throw in the 500s in the same batch if the 400s get done.

Outside of possibly their 4-4-0s, I wouldn't be too certain about anything MGWR other than the cattle engines.

idk how well the BCDR would do, the Baltics are nice but its a bit niche?

SLNCR could see a few prototypes in a decade or so, they've got the charm anyway..

The GNR lends itself very well to RTR, as does the NCC. GSR is a lot more varied though the mainline (800s, 400s and Moguls) aren't too bad either. Main issues I'd see are the variations for the 400s (maybe limit it to CIE days where you've two 'main types' of 400) and the Moguls already having (albeit a severly dated by now) representation in RTR. 500s, idk.

In terms of tin vans, solution would probably be to include them in certain larger packs of coaches to ensure they get sold. I'd buy a few tin vans anyway, quite sorry I missed out on yours! They are great for making a short train seem longer, something the six wheelers will add to.

Looking to Britain, the famous prototypes get reruns again, and again, and again while locos such as the V4s have yet to have a single RTR model! Only now are many of the older types (pre grouping) being looked at, indicating an increasing interests in even earlier eras. (Though arguably in Britain the bell curve of interest has always begun earlier, with the grouping rather than in Ireland, where it seems firmly starting late 50s-early 60s and peaking 70s-90s)

1950s-1960s is my era and seems to be for many modellers in the younger age group. I started with british steam from hornby. Always liked steam more than diesel, and when I was given the lend of A Second Glance there was no looking back! RPSI tours certainly helped to cement that, having seen 186 and 4 at a young age.

I suppose it helps that the modern era is dominated by the 22000s (though I'll almost certainly buy a set) which is far less interesting compared to the 50s and 60s which has such a rich variety of steam and diesel power along with a massive range of rolling stock to consider.

I'm partial to the early diesels and enjoy the reliable running of the Murphys and the IRM 141s, 121s and A's but steam remains king, and once IRM is producing rtr steam the bank account will look worse than your man sam bankman fried who lost his entire net worth in a weekend when his ponzi scheme collapsed.

Irish locomotive models are a better investment than crypto Sam....

49 minutes ago, skinner75 said:

Sounds interesting - care to elaborate?

Something about moving over to a new server or something?

A significant amount of images were lost in the process which is very unfortunate.

15 minutes ago, Mike 84C said:

I get the impression that BRM is owned by Warners publishing, if I'm wrong please correct me but a post from one of the moderators gave me the feeling that "pay us money and we can stop the popups" feels a lot like mild blackmail. I'm with Mayner on the width of expertise and like IRM help is so freely given.

on another forum I'm on, in order to generate upkeep money members can donate if they wish. No ads as a result.

Keep in mind said forum has around 80k members, though obviously a great deal fewer active users, but nonetheless twice that of RMweb.

I don't find RMweb a terrible hassle on the laptop, dont look at it elsewhere, but I do think it could have been done better. Don't really understand the point of complaining about it here though.

19 hours ago, Noel said:

Admit I'm surprised. I got an email this morning at 07:20am about customs charges due on an parcel from UK (DCC Concepts). Paid fees online about 07:30am. Had been expecting a 7-10 days brexit delay due customs processing release of parcel, but lo and behold parcel arrived here at 9:30am this morning. It looks like An Post must have a facility to hold parcel's in local delivery office pending payment for customs fees due (ie Duty+Vat). I was expecting a 10 day delay. DCC Concepts deducted UK VAT from my purchases so at least I didn't get hit with a Double VAT Whammy. Happy Days, NCE Power Cab ready to hook up to Gort, releasing the main 5amp NCE Pro Cab to go back to the big layout. I like the cab ergonomics of the NCE in hand, really suits shunting operations and sound, and I'm familiar with it. Don't like touch screen HUI as it requires eyes rather than blind tactile feel use of throttle. 

Whenever I've tracked postage, customs duty notices are almost always sent after they've arrived in Ireland so the postage from there should be next day or two.

Postage from the EU is usually quite quick, Britain hit or miss. 

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

Wonder how the lettuce is doing.

13 minutes ago, Killian Keane said:

If NG is on the table, a one of these would kill multiple birds with the one stone

Maybe some T&D?

And one of my favourites..

11 minutes ago, Andy Cundick said:

If its any help i've already built Tailte and have all the  bits to do Macha if i make a start on her now i can pretty well guarantee ,an 800 announcement within the week. Andy.

Might as well show us like 

My own 800 is currently sans chassis, off to the other island for final assembly.

53 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Going through the Green Bible, we have:--

• pretty much all the 2-4-0, 2-4-2 and 4-4-2 tanks - no splashers, with drivers inside side tanks
• J28 and J27- tiny Hunslets
• The 4-8-0T
• The Bandon 4-6-0T 2-4-0T and 4-4-0T
• St Mologa
• K1 2-6-0

 And it is the same problem in the GNRI Blue Bible - four coupled tanks and that is it. Just so many splashers making re-gauging awkward.

The Bandons 4-6-0 tanks would probably be the most realistic from an RTR perspective, quite famous, handsome, unique, built in decent numbers with some running right up toward the end of steam.

2 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

I believe he means the CBSC tank engine 00 works produced. Mine has that issue….they fixed it free of charge but mine still seems to be slowly wearing away 

Ah, I thought he was referring to the SSM bandon tank and I was getting mighty confused!

Shame about the gear, fiddly carry on changing them out too.

For me I've decided I'll wait and see what IRM is producing next year before deciding whether or not to buy the J15.

41 minutes ago, Mike 84C said:

My J15 is so far fine, runs well but my Bandon tank from 00 works stripped the axle gear after about an hours running on our club test track. Roderick supplied a new one free of charge which I fitted. Problem solved! And very good service, should I have had to do rectification? my choice but?????

Other way around?

24 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

 

Don't be getting too excited and creative!

Three locos, each in three liveries, plus a Cultra special edition in a wooden box, and happy days, that's enough!

Maebh only had two liveries unless you include the Cultra addition

1 minute ago, Niles said:

If you're creative, there was a list of names for proposed additional 800s never built... Aoife off the top of my head (my sister's name so it stuck in my memory more than the others). I think @jhb171achill might have info on them.

Deirdre and Grainne, don't remember anything about Aoife