Garfield

Nice to see contributions from some of this forum's members, too.

Your last word for a week.

They were used by a few of the pre-grouping railways in France on some top link service and SNCF continued to use them in this role up until the 1950s, at which time it was decided they were too expensive to operate (I think their engines used a mix of petrol and alcohol rather than diesel). The lone survivor continued in departmental(!) use up until the 1970s or thereabouts. Anyway, sorry for dragging the topic away from Bren's quality workmanship...

A pretty revolutionary bogie for 1930s, too, JB... they were designed to carry the railcars at speeds of around 100mph, and be able to take tight curves without decelerating. There's an interesting page about them here: http://retours.eu/en/23-autorail-bugatti/# Saw the last surviving Bugatti autorail at Cité du Train in Mulhouse during the summer and it's certainly a sight to behold!

It's easy to blame the preservationist who've had to take those measures to slow its deterioration and keep it secure, but the real problem is the lack of support they get.

Hi JB, Having inspected this coach at its current location a couple of years ago, I can tell you that while it requires complete restoration, most of the timber appears to be structurally sound. The only issue is with one corner, which has suffered water damage (apparently there was a leak in the shed roof at Mallow where it was stored previously).

Then you need to encase the body within a corrugated structure: http://www.irishtractiongroup.com/103.html (see bottom right).

If you want to be able to run it alongside your GNR loco, then silver or green are your options...

Meanwhile, back at the discussion about the Sulzer kit...

Lovely work, Bren. When I saw the thread title my immediate thought was that you were working on one of these... Bugatti autorail PLM by kitchener.lord, on Flickr

Cheers, Noel. Just a few minor adjustments needed to the CAD before we sign off on it; the amended version should be arriving in the inbox very soon. After that we move onto tooling and we'll hopefully have a pre-production sample early in the new year.

Hi folks, A quick sales update for you... Half the planned run of 333 sets have been reserved so far and orders are continuing to come in.

That cover is a bit racey, Broithe...

An overhaul of the company's operations and logistical issues with its suppliers are cited as the primary cause... http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/08/hornby-losses-widen-supplier-problems-china-it-upgrade

We're not all as shifty as you!

Wow! Superb modelling right there!

The IOMR locomotive isn't a bad place to start as an almost identical locomotive operated on the Ballymena & Larne line (or was it the Ballycastle? I can't remember exactly...).

Ah here. Your hackneyed oul' "if you don't like what I have to say, don't read it" line is nothing more than a childish attempt to get away with saying whatever you want without being checked on it. That's not how it works in the real world, though, and if that grates with you then it's your problem alone. In the previous post you claimed to have inside knowledge of workings at Malahide Castle and referenced an earlier contribution to back this up. However, all it proved was that you were spoofing, so I called you on it. That's a world away from me getting my knickers in a twist, believe me. But you are right in saying it meant a lot to me to post about it... because I'm not going to let someone assume an authoritative voice when they have absolutely zero grounds for doing so. Again, if you don't like that, it's your problem. As for the last part of your post... a sure sign someone is losing an argument is when they go off-point altogether and attempt a few cheap shots. We're now way off course here. If you have any follow-up, do so by PM and leave the thread free for further discussion about the plans for the Fry Model Railway (which, by the way, you're still free to contribute to as long as you have something worthwhile to add).

Ah, that makes sense... getting stuff muddled in my head! Although it was operated by one of the 80 class sets on hire from late 1980s, after the last push-pull was withdrawn (to much joy of passengers, no doubt).

It's technically possible but it'll likely involve a lot of butchering and there's a probability the stock won't 'look right'.

No worries. For the record, the push-pull Mk3 sets were not modified from standard coaches; they were constructed specifically for that purpose.

I belive 121s did on rare occasions but it was mainly the preserve of the C class; their withdrawal followed not long after the last former AEC push-pull set was taken out of service. A class locos, as well as 141/181s and 071s were never fitted for push-pull working.

121-engined versions? I presume you mean the push-pull units that worked with the C class, as it'd be quite difficult to fit an EMD 567 under the floor! Anyway, the answer is that no AECs in any incarnation ever wore the Supertrain livery. They were Black & Tan right up until the withdrawal of the last push-pull units in the 1980s.

Indeed! Many thanks.

Unequivocal proof there, Josefstadt; Thanks for posting!