Broithe

Yes! I can barely contain myself....

There is an N Gauge layout called Ballykeale that turns up on the exhibition circuit now and then - it's at http://www.ngaugeshow.co.uk/ in September. I can't locate any pictures of it, but it seems to be modern stuff.

I understand that there will be an exhibition of old photographs of Hazelhatch at the station this week.

Not your best chat-up line...

You can get Keen stuff direct - http://www.keen-systems.com/Carriage%20Ends.html - from the odd location of Market Drayton, a place that's not really on the way to anywhere - twenty miles from me and I've only been there once in forty years...

Welcome, Jan, Timahoe is my favourite round tower - I often wonder what Erich von Daniken would have made of it...

Some brass screws are lacquered, others may have a lubricating wax film applied, neither of these will help - a rub with glass paper may be of benefit?

To be fair, it is on the loop platform which will rarely see a passenger train against it these days. I did consider going back and painting another 'e' on it, so that it didn't matter which way it went back next time. There is CCTV there, but this is behind the tower of the new bridge - probably out of view...

Ah, the secret is out - now we know where he gets his modelling powers from...

Some interesting details were spotted. Some of the weathering might draw criticisms of being rather amateurish if actually applied. This was amusing... Not all the chimneys are secured from habitation. The "Armco" barrier in the car-park is impressive. The vacant 'building' remains, er, vacant.

It looked sharp in the Sun today. The water tower hasn't improved, the remains of the water gauge was flapping about in the wind. The goods shed may be joining it on the Endangered List - there seems to be some concern over the roofing. This has caused some of the overflow car-parking to be cordoned off, making things even tighter elsewhere.

If using a cutting disc directly in a drill that is of a larger diameter than the disc, the cut will be at a slight angle to the vertical. This can be avoided by using a narrow-handled flexi-drive, of course. However, if you end up with two cuts at a join that are angled away from each other, then there will be a permanent open gap at the top of the join, giving a 'click' that may not be the end of the world, of course. If you are using the disc in a drill directly, then having the drill over the track that will be used, rather than the piece that is being removed, will result in joins that are closed at the top. One extra benefit of using a cutting disc is that you are much less likely to bend the rail and cutting can also be done in much more constricted spaces than with a saw.

Did a loco not run out of fuel a week or two back? Possibly just rumours.....

I came across this report of 082 trundling off on its own at Portlaoise - and shifting the friction buffer nine metres. https://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/2012r002_runaway_locomotive_at_portlaoise_loop.pdf

'Tis a truly wonderful thing - what scale is it?

https://www.absoluteaspects.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pg/AbsoluteAspects/photos/?ref=page_internal

IRM's marketing heads even further eastwards, into the Dutch market now, with this double-decker. https://veiling.catawiki.nl/kavels/1612305-rivarossi-h0-hr-2052-driedelige-elektrictrische-dubbeldekker-serie-34-irm-van-de-ns

In my day, Little Rissington was still in action at the top of the hill - Central Flying School and home of the Red Arrows back in the Gnat days - great entertainment five days a week.

Currently up for sale, if you have a few bob spare... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-43697763

I think O'Gorman's was in Thurles - a good sprint from the station. Ballybrophy had two - Lambe's and Phillips's - both gone. Donaghmore, a couple of miles south, had three, Campion's, Phelan's and now just Mooney's left. And The Green Roads, a couple of miles north of the station is still there - all to far to be 'handy', though.

I wondered if they might be the tops of the central piers that were removed for safety, but they seem to be joined at the landward side - and the peirs don't look to have been that high, anyway. There does seem to be a sort of drainage slot below and in line with them, though.

Bus to Ballina?

I remember an event here in the 1970s, where a local chap was breathalysed and passed, with quite a low amount registering - when the copper gave him the good news, he was absolutely livid - "As a life-long temperance campaigner, I can assure you that no alcohol has ever passed my lips!" He was not at all happy at the perceived slur on his character and a cursory investigation took place, to see it the device was faulty or there was some other reason. It turned out that the orange juice in his fridge had been there for quite a while and had fermented to a small extent, producing a rather weak Cointreau substitute that he was innocently imbibing...