Andy Cundick

As far as i'm aware they usually turned the locos at Killybegs the third turntable would certainly be up to it being a Class 5 set of frames the Letterkenny line ran bunker first to Strabane in latter years as Letterkennys turntable was getting a bit frail.The Londonderry line as ran bunker first after 1937 as the the turntable from there was transferred to Rossnowlagh for the railcars.Andy.

The best for Donegal layouts was the Chippenham show back in the 90s when they went all out for Irish layouts and had about 9 including three Donegal layouts and Adavoyle with Donegal stock .its the only time i've had someone say to me " theres an awful lot of Donegal layouts"ah happy days Andy

I've just disinterred Bruckless from the loft ready for Mansfield,should be an entertaining show with two Donegal layouts what larks! Andy

Frogmore do a GW Dia AA13 Road van as a 4mm etched kit. They are listed with Dart Castings and MJT. To be honest the road vans are a pretty simple scratchbuild basically a box with some Evergreen strips.Andy.

Mike Chinery used to do a motor bogie complete with all the bits to convert the kit into a proper artic and very nice they were to having built 3 of them 19 and 20 plus one of the West Clare cars.The best motor bogie now would be one the Halling units which come various shapes and sizes as well as being to 12mm.The main detail differences between the two cars were the quarterlights on the trailers 19 having alternate ones whereas 20 had everyone as per the kit.The front cab windows both had the dividing strip on the righthand side when delivered however 19 had what you could call a meeting of minds with buffers at Ballyshannon caused by faulty brakes on a Swilly wagon it was towing hence the ban on Swilly wagons operating over the Donegal.It must of been quite a crunch as the buffers are merely the rails curved up vertically and later photos show them as being somewhat lessfollowing repairs she lost the window divider.Andy .

I'll be up for one as well Andy

It is HO Pete used the drawing out of the Railway Modeller which is HO Andy

Congratulations you're the first to notice in 14 years still on the to do list.Andy

My thoughts exactly no Kerry bogie yet but plenty of J15's(can you have too many discuss)Though would be hard pressed to justify any of the Bandon stock etc.The idea is to build the turntable and work from there Andy

Useful stuff there as Newmarket may well be the next 5'3" layout Andy

You're welcome to come and have a play Andy

Valencia is out again at the Swindon show at Steam on the 14/15th of September 14 years after i swore i never exhibit it.Andy.

Simple answer yes its fairly straightforward the trick is to build it as an 062 that way you get round the lack of clearance between the front pony truck and the crosshead.For wheels you can use Romord/Markits as they do 12mmaxles as well Highlevel motor and gearbox and the jobs a good one.Mine can even make it round Arigna which is than the originals did.Andy

Slight point David its actually Trailer 5 .Trailer 3 was the ex Blessington railcar. 5 was built in 1929 to work with the smaller railcars.The kit is in its 1938 rebuilt form when the frame was raised to enable to work with the steam stock in an emergency.The roof rack was removed in 1954.The trick with the roof is to laminate plasticard sheets in alternate black and white then file/sand to shape you can see how uniform the curves are by the lines formed by the different colours.Andy

I used the London Road Crewe Special but used the DX Splashers which are available separately to do my Greenore tank looks a bit lost on Valencia though.Andy

The thing to note is that the two Ballymena Beyers were both different,No 1 had the small tanks similar to IOM 1-3 whereas No 4 had the larger tanks like 10-13.The problem with the Oxford model is motorising it without damaging the paintwork which probably the best thing about it when viewed close up. Andy.

The wagon is an ex Passage wagon transferred on closure of the Passage line.Andy

Bit late to the party its an underbonnet car heater used in the days before antifreeze ,light it up and leave it overnight best not to forget in the morning.I've got one just loke it hanging up in the garage. Andy. though

Castlederg breaks cover this weekend at the Mere (Wiltshire).All i've got to do is exhume it from the back of the loft, Andy

If i remember right its because it had a flat tyre. Andy

Definitely Erne tanks are the immediate giveaway Andy

As a rule goods locos have lever reverse as its much easier on the crew than screw (rather poetic that ) Andy

For what its worth i used a 3ft steel rule (used on its side for transition curves) and a pencil,its worked fine for Valencia Arigna and Courtmacsherry.Once you've got one line down the other has to follow.simples.Andy.

It will also be at Mansfield on the 26th of October in the frozen north (already assembling beads and trinkets) Andy

I'll see you there though oddly i got asked to take one of my EM layouts Dinas Mawddwy,still as that nice Mr Brunel regarded 7' as standard gauge it sort of makes sense,Andy