Broithe

Is it just a general coincidence, or is there a reason why service entry would occur in the winter? Only 143 seems to have had a warm day to start working on...

Of the few members of this forum that I have met in real life, I would guess that about a third of them would be treated with some suspicion, if they were to be observed buying hairspray...

A sliver of black tape on the 'wearing face', just in case and to reduce the gap a bit..?

Those green RPSI coaches are the smoothest-running rolling stock that I've ever had, if this 'review' tips anybody over the edge into a purchase... I have two sets or I would have had them in a heartbeat.

This is my actual set - from 2000 - still useful. Some of the electronic info is a bit dated now, but not if it's an old item that you're working on, of course.

Ah, the Hierarchy of Misinformation... This is a classic example of that. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Coolacurragh+Wood/@52.815813,-7.6684421,1160m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x485ce08c6d15b76b:0xa99f7ea7f5416d25!8m2!3d52.8160993!4d-7.6656446!16s%2Fg%2F11hpmy21jg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MTAyNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D A woodland nature reserve - shown located in an area of empty grass fields with barely a decent tree anywhere. I pointed this out to Google Maps, showing them the correct location, 10km away to the east, on the edge of the townland of the same name. Not good enough! I pointed out that you can actually read the name on the sign in the parking area on their own Street View pictures. Still not good enough! Eventually, I discovered that the NPWS site has the incorrect latitude/longitude reference on it, and this, of course, supersedes all actual reality imparted by lesser beings. I emailed NPWS, but never got a response. Mind you, I see that they talk about the lake on the site - there isn't any open water there at all - the lake is on a different reserve, about a kilometre east of that one. https://www.npws.ie/nature-reserves/laois/coolacurragh-wood-nature-reserve I don't know why I bother... It's easier than ever now to do things properly and to correct mistakes that do slip through, but a lot of people just aren't bothered. I spent a couple of years trying to persuade Google Maps that a local road was not closed. Eventually they did believe me, but only after they had shown it like that for about four years in total. I took four goes at it, I think. It had actually been impassable for only a couple of hours, whilst a fallen tree was dealt with, but, I presume, having got this from a reliable source, that didn't come back and report it unblocked, they just left it there. Well, I say that they believed me, I think what actually happened was that the local agricultural show generated enough traffic along the 'closed' road to make it clear that it was not closed at all. It's not just 'the internet', I noticed this more slapdash approach on the change from LPs to CDs. A mistake in the production of an LP was very rare, but became far more common on CDs - missing information, incorrect track listings, spelling mistakes, etc., all became quite prevalent. In my past life, I used to have to deal with earthquake resistance of structures. I noticed that there is a diagram that will be used in most books on the subject and it is almost always drawn slightly incorrectly, being endlessly regurgitated to the point that it is 'the true diagram' now.

Some of these issues may be down to eBay using AI systems that aren't actually that intelligent in real terms. I recently mentioned a photo that was for sale purporting to be from Ballybrophy, but clearly not. It was suggested where it was and a few checks on Google Maps confirmed it. Out of the goodness of my heart I decided to inform the seller, in case a buyer was believing that it was Ballybrophy. This proved to be quite difficult, as the system scanning my messages was not happy about me supplying geographical data and refused to allow them to be sent, presumably thinking that we were negotiating a method to prevent eBay from getting their cut... We got there in the end, but it was all a bit odd, to say the least. A 'real person' would not have been making such weird assessments. having established that the information on the sale offer was incorrect, the system wouldn't allow it to be corrected, but the actual buyer was supplied with the true location - eventually.

A holy relic. Right up there with a piece of the true cross.

You just needed to go through the training that the sorters on the mail train had - it was like an Olympic final of a pub pentathlon competion.

If only Lambe's and Phillips's were still there...

Oh, I was going to suggest the museum in Donaghmore Workhouse, a mile and a bit south of Ballybrophy, but I didn't think you would have time - doh! It would have been tight, anyway, I suppose. There is a good bit to see around the station, though, although a lot of the past is gone now, cattle dock, goods sidings, water tower (although the water crane survives), etc...

Risky going there yesterday! Full Moon. The Vampire comes down every night... Get somebody to look at your neck. @murrayec is machining a silver bullet as we speak...

Ballybrophy has had speakers for a few years now, but I've never heard a peep out of them. I do remember hearing a marvellous announcement in Port Laoise a good few years back - "That's the Cork train coming in now". Nobody will ever beat Stafford's famous "The train now standing at Platform Four is the mystery excursion to Barry Island"... Or one I heard myself, about ten years ago - "The train arriving at Platform One is the delayed 16:25 to London Euston. This train may go no further than Watford Junction" - I was the only person who found it amusing.

Getting married on a turntable might be a little too symbolic for some..?

Cheap enough and quite effective - I once saw a layout where the chap had a road disappearing off into the backscene - it went into a 'tunnel' which appeared to go a good way beyond the actual wall that was behind it. A lit tunnel with regular roof lights, fading away into the far distance. It's an illusion often known as an infinity mirror, or some similar term. Created by a front sheet of plain glass, with a mirror behind. The image in the mirror is also reflected off the far side of the glass, back to the mirror and the viewer sees that, behind the 'first direct image', and so on. Like this sort of thing. The mirror is at the first break in the red strip lighting. There is nothing 'real' below that point, just repetitive reflections.