Broithe

NOTICE. First IRM steam loco is further delayed, as modifications are made to provide this feature via DCC control.

I grew up in an RAF itinerant manner. There were pluses and minuses. Moving pretty much every year made having a half-decent layout a bit impractical - and, even if you did make something very portable, you might often go away for a few years, leaving most stuff 'in storage'. This could be quite entertaining, though, when uncovering stuff you had completely forgotten about - on one famous occasion, we opened a crate to find, amongst other things, a Dundee cake that had been accidentally packed in the rush, three years before... However, if you were on a station where there was a 'sir' with any sort of interest in a subject, then all sort of facilities could 'become available', from empty buildings to workshop facilities and transport. The amount of moving about eased off a lot after the early 70s and people were often in a semi-permanent situation after that time, so that may have helped.

The title "Blue Thunder" is now amended to "Shades of Grey"... Special facilities provided for the holder of ticket number 50..?

There are people on here who will want detailed photos of the containers...

Yeah - it's always left to me...

Be fair - at least they're not upside down...

It's typical, isn't it? You get a one-off chance for an unusual shot of the underside and there always people prepared to get in the way. Also, the bloke in the bottom right-hand corner has a lot of faith in it staying where it is...

It's truly remarkable for a line that has seemed to be 'under threat' for the whole of my lifetime. I can also see why IRM have been so slow to announce the mobile track gantries - it would be very difficult to make them compatible for both 16.5 and 21mm - it may have to be two individual models, I think...

Anybody producing these in 00 yet?

Ah, the usual place...

Oooh, everybody round to yours, with a bag of cans?

That Kells picture might actually be perfect.

I may attempt an interception at Ballybrophy.

Reading a book by a Stuka pilot, he mentions that, during the harsher parts of the winter on the Eastern front, it was often felt worthwhile to leave the engines running gently overnight, to ensure that they would be available for service the next morning. An alternative method was to light a (small) fire under the engine - hoping that it would stay small, and that any light from it was not noticed by the opposition chaps. It would be wise, should you ever find yourself in that situation, to avoid wandering about in the dark - the noise would be the least of your worries, should you blunder into a propeller.

Well, it won't be converted to a turf-burner, anyway...

The answer to the question of life, the universe and everything. Project 42.

This picture has appeared on eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234541654256? I remember that post and may have a 'real' photo of it somewhere, it was the heftiest pole I ever saw, with a base diameter of something like 16", maybe more, as it had quite a sideload on it, plus carrying the weight and windage of all those wires.

A longer than intended, and windier than expected, bike ride today turned up some interesting items, though I didn't visit the station itself on this circuit. This mast has appeared at the Skew Bridge, about four miles northeast of the station, just before the R434 bridge. Things like this - isolated technology in the countryside, always remind me of scenes from The Avengers, so I hung around, in the forlorn hope that Mrs Peel might turn up. My disappointment at her failure to appear was ameliorated greatly by the arrival of EM50, trundling gently past. From there, I went past the Quaker's Bridge crossing on the Nenagh line again. I had my lunch there, and that gave me the time to have a good look at things. I noticed that, although the track is now continuous-welded, as far as the eye can see, the rails in the crossing itself have not been renewed. The still have the tell-tale evidence of decades of road traffic passing over them, and tarmac is unscathed. Careful scrutiny revealed that the new rails are joined onto them about 5 metres beyond the gates on each side - very neatly, too. Also, the remains of some mechanical apparatus is also still on site, on both sides of the crossing. Some additions and repairs to fencing and walls has occurred - in the debris left from that activity, my time eating my lunch allowed me to spot a real Lucozade bottle - I think I still have one of the black screw-in stoppers with the red seal somewhere... From there, I headed generally southwards and, cresting a rise, I realised that I could see the majestic cliffs of Lisduff in the distance. Closer to, you can't really see them at all, but there are other things to distract you, like the County Bounds bridge. Presumably, this is a replacement span on the original abutments. The inner faces have been clad in a more sympathetic finish. The barriers seem quite 'new', and the detail may be of interest to some. A set of autoballasters was hanging around and 232 pulled a train though.

Who else has bits? Could we make a whole one?

Normal/abnormal - it can be a distinction worth avoiding. I know a Bulgarian whose English is fairly good, but a few times in the early days, he responded to "How are you?" with a phrase that got him "funny looks". There are many acceptable responses to that question - I'm OK -I'm alright - I'm not so bad - etc. But, there is one which appears, on paper, to mean the same, but it doesn't, really. "Hi, Miroslav, how are you?" "I'm normal." He does it deliberately now, to throw people off - but it is hard to actually explain why it gets you that half-second unblinking look.

Street View shows some considerable remains. https://www.google.com/maps/@53.1200641,-7.3385456,3a,20.9y,191.3h,87.38t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smFyRr14gW_UZIRQTr7YHoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DmFyRr14gW_UZIRQTr7YHoQ%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D129.87952%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

An uncle of mine had an Invacar - if you weren't an invalid when you got one, you soon would be. I had a little go in it once, after I managed to get it to start for him - truly terrifying.