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Truth be told the attempt to use a downloaded surface for the hard standing was laziness on my part. Ultimately dissatisfaction with the results led me to do what I should have done from the very start and put down Woodland Scenics fine ballast. It was applied over diluted white glue and the whole thing was then sprayed with isopropyl alcohol. Before the whole mess had dried lightly poking random spots with a finger gave the impression of potholes which broke up the uniform appearance of the surface. Hopefully I can now finally achieve closure and move on!

Lovely model, when was the prototype in service?

Here are a couple of Dapol Esso tank wagons which were the first rolling stock I built about 8 years ago to run with the MM baby GM's before the current layout was started. They were unmodified since at the time I had very little information about the prototypes. They were painted using brown auto body primer for the underframe and grey primer for the tanks. Some day I might get around to extend the tanks however due to the affordability of the kits starting from scratch is probably a better option.

Robert Shriver messaged me and suggested that the concrete hard standing was not appropriate for the era modelled which is 1974 and thinking about it I believe he is right. Concrete is expensive, crushed stone or gravel was much more common. Looking through photos revealed some stations including Youghal and Albert Quay had tarmac areas by the tracks so some Scalescenes tarmac was downloaded and simply glued on top of the existing hard standing. Here are a few photos from the short operating session which followed which was simply having the pick up goods shunt the yard while an empty cement train ran from Cork to Waterford.

After much anguish the East end of Glen More is finally coming together I'm reasonably satasfied! The hard standing is thick card and has yet to be glued down.

Being a lone wolf modeller, by circumstance rather than choice I greatly appreciate the feed back I get on this site. It is after all the only place anybody remotely understands what I'm trying to achieve! Thanks to Roberts comments the crane will stay. The scene is finally coming togeather. The catch point is a cut down Roco point.

A few more shots of the East side of Glen More goods yard. I'm questioning the gantry crane, it somehow bothers me that is so close to the main line. The crane itself is by no means an accurate model of the prototype, its dimensions were estimated from photos but it more than captures the feel of the prototype which I remember so well from the North Kerry yard in Tralee.

Looking at the previously posted photos I became more and more dissatisfied with the low relief factory building behind the signal cabin at Glen More. It was intended to be a stand in until something better came along but it seemed to overpower the scene. The building was made from a downloadable image mounted on foam board in order to give it some dept. A little experimentation showed that mounting the picture directly to the backdrop and adding some detail to the foreground would look far better. The displaced building did not go to waste. It joined a few surplus buildings which have been placed at the entrance to Cork fiddle yard just for fun and provide some intrest before transitioning to the scenic part of the layout. The structure looks like it could be a loco shed which is appropriate since the track in front of it which in not connected to the layout serves as a dead line for locos which are not yet chipped.

Fortunatly my health issues are a very minor inconvenience compared to some including members of this forum. Nevertheless I very much appreciate the the support expressed here. Both black and tan and super train 121's and A's are ordered and fortunately paid for since my disposal income has dried up due to being unable to work. Since the arrival of the IRM ferts the era depicted on the layout is now October 1974 but I was hoping to acquire appropriate stock for an early to mid sixties eating session with grey goods stock, some green coaches and black and green diesels.

The layout lay.practically dormant the last few months due to health issues which had me literally off my feet, a complication from an injury to my foot which occurred years ago. Work has resumed this week and ballasting has begun on the rebuilt section of Glen More. Having made some progress I couldn't resist taking a few photos. Here we see a Waterford bound passenger train crossing a pick up goods train which is shunting the yard.

Here is my version of a back to back which was built from styrene and mounted on a modified Dapol Prestwin underframe. Dimensions were guesstimated from the video John posted as it was virtually the only image of the prototype I could find at the time. It is a much more primitive version than the one shown in the photo John posted.

Page 53 of Rails Through the West shows an empty unit train of back to backs heading South on the North side of Tuam in 1974.

Very exciting to see this project progressing. If a RTR version is produced what liveries might they be available in?

Posted yesterday.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrgVLa8cM6Y

I was born I 1959 and my main interest in Irish railways is he period between the mid sixties and late seventies when the loose coupled goods ended.This era is particularly fascinating since much of the Railway infrastructure which had changed little for decades existed side by side with modern developments such as unit trains of containers, cement, oil and ore. Sadly today's Irish railways hold virtually no interest for me and on visits home over the last ten years I have not even bothered to go out of my way to see a train. I recall reading somewhere that a good approach for a satisfying model railway is to model what got you interested in railways in the first place, an idea which I feel has much merit.

I was on that trip from Tralee to Fenit and back, all of 12 years old! My father did know Gleasure's in Tralee but then again between his job and the Tralee Development Association he seemed to know half the county.

A few did separate for me also but making a new one was no problem. I happen to have several lifetimes supply of oo scale brake protector raw material in a drawer at home!

This tool very useful for shaping brake protectors. It's from Kadee for adjusting the height of their coupler trip pins although I have seen similar tools from other suppliers. Several posts here have commented on the unsuitability of the staples in Leslies kits but I have never had an issue with them, and have built 12 Bulleid opens and 5 cattle wagons.

I remember them used along with open wagons in the late sixties and early seventies on timber traffic from Fenit pier to McCowns siding in Tralee. Due to weight restrictions on the causeway a Deutz was used to transfer wagons from the pier to the Fenit station. The ships were unloaded by the rail mounted steam cranes on the pier directly onto the wagons. The trains were handled by a mainline locomotive between Tralee and Fenit. My father worked for the Department of Agriculture visiting farms in North Kerry from the 60's to the 80's and during the summer months he would often drop the family off for a day at the beach at Fenit where I got to see the rail activity first hand. His job also required him to spend time at Mc Cowns who were a large agricultural supplier in Tralee and on many occasions when I accompanied him to work during the school holidays I got to see the shunting and unloading of the timber trains there.

Due to my talent for sticking my fingers together or to kit parts or anything else that happens to be nearby when using superglue I too have used epoxy to good effect on Leslie's kits. Another advantage is having time to correctly align parts before the adhesive sets.

The lighting is done with fluorescent light bulbs in cheap holders about 2 foot apart. The layout is located in an area of our condo the previous owner converted from a storage room to what was described as a media room with a multitude of electrical outlets. The bulb holders were wired in parallel using cheap extension chords which provided the wire and plug when I discovered this method was cheaper than buying wire and a plug separately. There are three such circuits covering the layout, each with it's own on/off switch so the entire layout doesn't have to be illuminated when I'm working on it. This assembly is fixed to the pelmet framing and plugged in to one of the many electrical outlets.

Close enough for me. In any case Leslie's cattle wagons will get all the attention.

Wouldn't it be great if a downloadable copy could be made available from the publisher. I do have a copy acquired a few years ago. It wasn't exactly cheap and I'm fearful it will start coming apart.

The cattle pens were painted using a Woodland Scenics rail tie brown weathering pen and dry brushed with white poster paint. The cattle are rubber figures I found at the checkout of a local Hobby shop. I dont know if their livery is correct for the geographic location or era.