patrick

Thank you John and Steve. Now can anybody tell me who makes suitable oo scale 8 foot tall containers?

Can anyone provide information about Bell lines and their containers? When did CIE start running the Bell liner trains and to where? What height were the original containers, were 40 foot containers used from the outset and what equipment did CIE utilize on the trains. (20 or 40 foot flats)? Also when were 8 foot 6 inch containers introduced? Thanks.

Wonderful stuff. Thanks for posting the link.

Great to see another Irish N scale layout here. I look forward to seeing it develop.

Definitely the late sixties to the mid seventies. After the closures of the fifties and sixties there was a sense of optimism about the rail system with new rolling stock and traffic. On the freight side there was the advent of unit trains hauling ore, cement, beer and containers. Along with this the loose coupled goods trains still ran with a wide variety of wagons some which dated well back into the steam era. Most stations had not changed in decades and much steam era infrastructure still remained. As for locomotives, A class, C class, 141's, 181's, 121's, both Sulzer classes, E class and Deutz. If you were in the right place at the right time it was possible to see AEC railcars D class shunters and maybe even the ex GN K class 801. The rolling stock and stations were clean. There was also the introduction of the Mk2 "Supertrain" in 1973 and the new livery making things even more colorful.

Of course I did grow up in Tralee during this time. A short walk across a field from our house led to an elevated area (a grass covered cinder pile) by the headshunt with a view of the goods yard loco shed and turntable, still used at the time for the 121 class. I spent many happy hours on this perch from the late sixties until the modernization of the station in the late seventies watching the comings and goings and shunting. It was during this time I got to know some of the CIE staff and was lucky to have experienced footplate and guards van trips to Castleisland Fenit and Listowel on both the regular goods trains and beet specials.

Also during this period my family took several vacations to Butlins Mosney where the big attraction for me was the Dublin Belfast mainlin where the cement trains the Guiness liner and of course the GN Enteprise in maroon livery were a special treat for me.

So there you have it, no question about what my favourite era is.

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

A simple trick is to give the finished tree a quick spray of yellow aerosol spray paint from above. This gives a very convincing effect of sunlight hitting the tree. You will be surprised how effective it is.

Sensational viaduct. Visually appealing. Can't wait to see it finished. How do you find the woodland scenic trees to work with?

Thanks Phil. I find them easy to work with and good value for what they are. I would recommend them to anyone who wants reasonable looking trees relatively quickly.

No, its not a winter scene. While working on the scenery around the bridge I positioned some woodland scenic tree armatures to help compose and visualize the finished area.

Beautiful work. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I was wondering about the black scheme on the Sulzers also. On the photos I have seen the black appears to be glossier than on the A class or GM's, at least to my eye. I would very much appreciate feedback on this before painting my model.

I added door stops (Must get larger section brass rod its undersize and especially noticeable in photos), some brake detail and weathering.

Thanks for the positive comments. Such feedback is greatly appreciated and encourages progress on the layout. The copper foil I use is rather thin and careful handling of the model is required to avoid bending the sides too much. The first batch I built had two end pieces which wrapped around the sides of the wagon and separate doors, however it was very difficult lining everything up while assembling the model and avoiding unsightly gaps between the sides and doors. For the next batch my friend Louie, a tool and die maker, is milling a piece off steel the size of the interior of the wagon which will be used as a form around which the sides and ends will be soldered together, on the previous models they were glued. Since it is planned to have appropriate rolling stock to run different eras from the mid sixties to the mid seventies the hand painted "B" will not be painted on the sides. If I remember correctly that was first done for the 1976 beet season.

I have been engaged in an ongoing quest to produce Bulleid opens, the ultimate goal to build about 30 of them in order to operate a beet special on my layout. The pictures show the Mark 2 version and the material and home made stamps used to emboss the sides and ends. The overall dimensions were taken from a SSM open wagon. The underframe is from a Dapol meat wagon with the brake gear simplified. The sides are thin copper which I found at a craft store. The copper, which can be cut with a scissors is placed between the stamp and a piece of pine and a hammer is used to form the corrugations on the sides and ends.

Work is underway making improved tooling for the Mark 3 version. Improvements will include a smaller lip on the top edge of the sides and ends which will be soldered together. Door stops will be formed from brass strip.

Now look what you two made me do, I'm going off topic on my own thread to point out the similarities between the old New Haven RR livery and CIE.

The basic scenery at Grange has been completed. Maybe now I will get around to building those SSM signals.

I really enjoy taking photos after building new scenery. Here is a shot from the road bridge at Grange showing a Cork bound goods.

Here is another little bit of progress, this time scenery around the goods area at Grange. The goods store is not yet completed, the roof is temporary. Platform fencing is next.

Nice work Patrick, did you use the Peco platform edging?

Yes it is. When I ordered them I didn't know the brick pattern was paper. Next time I think I will scratch build.

I have finally started building scenery again. This is the station approach road at Grange.

A drunk falls out of a second floor window. His friend rushes outside and asks him what happened. I don't know he replied, I just got here.

I don't know if anyone posted a link to this video previously. Some wonderful footage of Sulzers, grey 121's and black A class.

This is a neat video from 1997 which also features the Yreka Western RR, a shortline which connected with CORP in Northern California. Also plenty of Lower quadrant semaphores which I forgot to mention in the first post.

When I first moved to the US in 1995 I lived in Southern Oregon a block away from the Central Oregon & Pacific RR. The line which had recently been taken over from the Southern Pacific was part of the original SP main route from California to Oregon but due to steep grades and tight curves was bypassed from Black Butte in Northern California to Eugene Oregon. The original route, known as the Siskiyou line remained open principally due to heavy forest products traffic. When I got to know the line CORP were about to reopen the southern portion of the line which had been closed by SP a few years before. This section has some of the steepest grades on any mainline in the US. 3.5% in places, tight curves and tunnels. A truly spectacular piece of railroad. My fondest memory of this line was chasing a southbound freight out of Medford up the hill to Siskiyou tunnel at the summit. CORP's power at this time was second hand GP38's newly painted in red and grey, GP40's, in Burlington Northern green and more with high hoods still in Norfolk Southern black. On this day the fifty plus car train, the heaviest I had seen on the line, loaded with forest products was powered by six locomotives up front and five pushing on the rear. The noise the smoke the smell was an experience I will never forget.

While sorting through some old models recently I came across some GP38,s I built back then with a view to modeling CORP. They are old Athearn GP38-2 models backdated by replacing the truck sideframes with the older Bloomberg style, replacing the frameS with ones from GP40-2 where appropriate and filling in the water sight gauge opening on the right hand side. A lot more work could have been done but they were good enough for me as they were intended as operating models. They were photographed on my Irish layout on a spot which could pass for some areas along the Siskiyou line.