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20210311_102134.mp4 With only a few months before the arrival of the IRM A class it seems an odd time to do some upgrades on a Silver Fox model. 045 has always been a favourite of mine as I was fortunate to have travelled on her on the last Listowel goods train. The staff catchers were fabricated from styrene, the brake pipe from a wound guitar string, a light gauge D string for the guitar players out there and the windscreen wipers from staples. I pleased with the results and just wish I had done this years ago.

Flower beds is my guess. What embossed stone styrene did you use for the buildings Noel?

Yes the Dutch van, the ex BR mark1 steam heating van, the tin van and four wheel steam heating van are all Silver Fox.

Here are the two passenger consists currently running on the South Waterford Line made up of Silver Fox, IFM coaches and van's and a single MM Craven. One reason I chose to model a secondary line was the short passenger consists which dont overpower the layout. Future plans are to acquire a few green liveries coaches and a silver tin van in order to run a mid sixties operating session, blame it in the gray MM 121 which was irresistible! Meanwhile if anyone has a few surplus IFM laminates I would be very interested.

My level crossing beet train memories involve watching the loaded train on cold winter evenings while stopped with my bicycle at the Edward Street crossing in Tralee. As I remember it an empty train of about 40 wagons would arrive in Tralee in the early hours of the morning and run into the North Kerry yard. A morning run would be made to Abbeydorney then a run to Fenit about mid day then another return trip to Abbeydorney in the afternoon. Occasionally wagons of beet pulp would be in the train. I was fortunate enough that the train crews knew me and allowed me to travel with them on the Fenit and the evening run to Abbeydorney on a number of occasions as a teenager. At Fenit the crew would adjourn to the pub by the station there for refreshments! On returning to Tralee the loaded wagons would be assembled into a train in the North Kerry yard for Mallow or Thurles, I'm not sure which at the time. Today the North Kerry yard is a Dunnes Stores and its car park, rails no longer cross Edward Street and train service to Tralee is provided entirley by rail cars. As for teenage train fans, sadly such access is no longer there.

Aww Love it!

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Cork Waterford goods passes through Glen More. 20210214_202949.mp4

Although it's been a few years since I completed the 12 Bulleid opens the weathering didnt get finished until today. I couldn't resist stringing all of them togeather and admiring them on the layout. Next step is to load half of them and stage them on the layout for operation. 20210212_155217.mp4

The first photo shows a finished model, the second has yet to have rust applied.

Thanks Leslie, now that I'm back on my feet, literally, but will not be ready to return to work for a while yet I'm spending some time on the layout. Speaking of the beet wagons I am currently engaged in weathering a bunch of them. The method I use is first to paint them using a medium grey automotive spray primer. Allowing time for the paint to dry the model is then liberally sprayed all over with a mixture of very dilute black poster paint with a few drops of dish washing liquid. A soft brush is used to work the "grime" into the crevices. The model is then allowed to dry placed upside down so the grime mix won't pool in the interior leaving unrealistic water marks. The procedure is repeated if necessary until a pleasing effect is achieved. Excess grime can be removed with a soft brush and water. When dry the axlebox area gets a light brushing of the same black poster paint to represent oil. When dry the entire model recieves an overall drybrushing of white poster paint. The rust is a grease paint received from our neighbour Bruce who runs disaster preparedness exercises and uses it to simulate wounds! He suggested using it when I asked him if he had any rust coloured chalk. A little goes a long way here and of course prototype photos should be consulted every step of the way. I will post some photos later today.

Agreed Noel Silver Fox have raised their game with these models. Of course they don't have the level of detail of recent RTR Irish models but they are well finished and look the part. My approach to the hobby is as a layout builder concerned about the big picture rather than the detail on individual models. A prototypical consist of well finished models which look the part and pass the two foot rule is far more preferable than a unlikely consist of finely detailed models. I'm sure a touch of weathering would work wonders on the models. I spoke with John at Silver Fox recently and he mentioned that the Sulzer mould was being updated and suggested the front end will receive attention. It would be wonderful to have a use for all those surplus SF A class underframes once the IRM model is here. Regarding the foot Noel. Its good news bad news, the bad, following a surgical procedure on my right great toe an infection set in which spread to the bone and after months of dressing changes and IV antibiotics and keeping the foot elevated it was amputated. I broke the foot in question about 10 years ago in three places and there is a lot of metal implanted in there. Had the infection spread I could have lost the whole foot. The good news is I'm recovering and will be able to return to normal and be back on my feet with appropriate footware Considering I am 61 years old and have been a diabetic since I was 26 I consider myself lucky.

New arrivals from Silver Fox this morning, a CIE open third and corridor composite. They will provide much needed variety in the passenger fleet and it will now be possible to run two passenger trains on the layout with no two vehicles alike which was so typical of CIE in the sixties and early seventies.

Empty beet special on the South Waterford Line. 20210206_110706.mp4

Gulf Oil Refinery Branch Line - YouTube Wonderful two part documentary about the construction of a branch to a South Wales oil refinery in the late sixties.

Does anybody know if the Irish palvans were larger than the BR version? With a bit of work the Parkside kit can be converted into a reasonable representation of the CIE version but to my eyes they look under size when seen alongside the provincial wagons H van. In prototype photos the palvans seem larger.

I presume that's Ivory Peter's Bently in the third clip. Glad to see you got the running sorted out. Reliable running is a great initiative to continue working on a layout.

Beet season is in full swing on the South Waterford Line.

The cork Waterford through goods crosses the local shunting at Glen More.

125 on the Cork Waterford goods. 20201228_122826.mp4

Christmas Eve 1974. As the light is fading the last beet special before the holiday passes Kielys Cross on it's way to Cork. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.

I spoke to John on the phone earlier in the year while ordering tin vans and he mentioned that the Sulzer would not be available for a while since the moulds required some work. It would be great if the issues with the front end could be addressed since the rest of the model appears quite good.

World class model. Hard to believe how far Irish models have come in the ten years since construction on the South Waterford Line was started. I was expecting to have to do a lot more scratch building with no way I could reach that standard.

I have not been able to spend time on the layout following foot surgery which unfortunately did not go as planned. Following my new podiatrists orders I am spending my days on the sofa with my foot elevated. A bright spot today was the arrival of a couple of 121's. I couldn't resist posing one on the layout and taking a few photos.

Are staff catchers available as spares? Unfortunately I ordered the wrong one in supertrain livery. I must say I'm disappointed a the 121 was not made available in the correct mid seventies supertrain livery and numbering with staff catchers which they wore for the best part of a decade.