Garfield

Who’s buying?

Just to add, Steve and I responded to your chat the other night but you seem to have logged off straight away?

I’d be up for a few as well, JB!

Or possibly even electrics! Some British firms also submitted proposals to the GNR, with one design looking suspiciously similar to the ill-fated BR class 17...

Hi Sam, Welcome to the forum! Studio Scale Models produce some really good stuff, but most of their kits are etched brass and the larger locos especially require a bit of skill with soldering, etc. You could always start out with one of their brake van kits and see how you get on. The proprietor, Des, is a regular poster here and I'm sure he will be happy to answer any queries you may have...

He's on his way...

Thing is, the remaining ivory bubbles continue to outsell the orange versions. We expect all to sell out in a reasonable time, but the remaining ivory stock will be depleted well before the orange ones.

That's the barytes after they were modified for use as spoil wagons with the removal of the lifting gear for the body sides. The stenciled test markings on the wagons suggests the photo was taken in the mid '00s...

Not quite true, Noel. Hornby’s copyright is valid for another 25 years. Just an FYI.

Downpatrick? Does Kilkenny count, too? PS: welcome aboard, Gabhal!

Batches were fitted with either spindles or self-contained buffers when first built - depending on which type the works had in stock at the time. Some were retro-fitted with Oleos later, mostly at one end only, possibly due to having the original buffers damaged during a rough shunt.

A quick update on this... It looks like the liners will be finishing up earlier than expected - possibly as soon as next Monday/Tuesday.

Heard on the grapevine this morning that the Ballina-Waterford DFDS liners will cease at the end of June.

Say it with ploughs! Thanks for the order. Happy Birthday, Broithe!

Looks like a well-built loco; the prototypes were elegant machines. Love the jacks stowed either side of the smokebox!

And if the truck is wrong and we adjusted the container to suit, it then wouldn't fit on the wagon...

Hi Jan, Welcome to the forum! I have been to Flanders and to visit the grave of a family member who died in World War I. Today, it's a beautiful region and the people are very welcoming. Your group's layout looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing more! Patrick

As I said above, we will look at CIE versions of everything in due course. I don’t see the point in turning out blank vans as the reasons I gave above apply to oddities like that also, plus there’s the double whammy that it’s (a) an additional outlay and (b) would ultimately reduce the demand for our CIE versions when they’re produced.

I understand your frustration, but if we were to adjust a business plan to suit a typo we'd be covered in hot sauce fairly quickly.

In fairness, we have never said we would not be releasing ploughs, ballasts, etc. with CIÉ markings and I think it’s a little unfair to say there’s an IR/IÉ slant in what we’ve produced to date when most of what we’ve turned out so far (i.e. ivory and orange cement bubbles) carries a big fat CIÉ logo on the side. However, there are several factors we have to consider when we decide what to produce and ultimately the head has to overrule the heart when making these choices. One factor is the suitable RTR motive power customers have to hand: the majority produced is appropriate for the IR/IÉ eras, so while CIÉ may do well in surveys, if customers want to simply buy rolling stock to run with their locos then it should match what they have. That doesn’t mean we won’t produce the products with CIÉ markings, it just means it won’t be the first lot off the production line. (Similarly, while some customers are shouting out for Midland six-wheelers, it doesn’t make sense for us to produce one when there’s no RTR loco out there to haul it - and the reality is that most people aren’t going to build a suitable steam loco kit). If more locos appear in CIÉ colours, that'll help change our thinking... Another factor concerns ‘product fatigue’ and diversification of what we offer. We could have done all variations of the ballast wagons from the outset, but that would’ve required a greater outlay while also putting all our eggs in one basket. It took a year for the ballasts to sell out – anyone sticking to a single product and waiting that length of time to exhaust supply before moving on will find themselves in a tight spot very quickly. The upshot is that we still have the tooling, so we’re free to revisit these items in alternative liveries once the range is diverse enough to prevent people getting bored of seeing the same one or two items over and over. It makes sense for us to maximise use of all our moulds (which, incidentally is another reason why we chose the current weedsprayer and not the older version, in answer to Iarnrod's comment above). That's just some of the reasoning behind it. There's more, too, but you get the idea...

I don’t know about that, Rich... the IRM passion wagon has a unique charm and class of its own!

Afterwards, I'll drive the van into the nearest pool and throw the TV through the hotel room window. May as well start as I mean to go on...

Nice find, Dave. I have a few old Railway Modellers with the same Model Railway Shop stamp on them.

Nice loco, although I think you mean Branchlines rather than Backwoods? To the best of my knowledge, Backwoods never produced a T&D loco kit...

I think George is referring to the pub the lads stop off in for a pint in the TPO video you quoted above?