CFD

Thanks Jason....will add one to my (ever growing) list of missed items to watch out for...

Fantastic livery on the loco's, thanks for posting....I have never seen this livery for sale, but then I have come to Irish rail modelling just recently. I assume these all sold out when the 071 was released and are no longer available? I see plenty of 071's still in Marks Models and online in various places...but just in the various orange livery..

Looks great Paddy..! Can I ask where you get the heavy card for the back scenes from? Working on my scenery at the moment as well and have in mind to look at mounting back scenes photos on card

Are blind auctions allowed on the forum? When is the deadline for highest offer or open indefinitely until the price wanted is achieved?

Another unload of 141 and 181's from the same seller. While I would be interested in the Black and Tan offered, at that price when DCC sound is factored in, the Global Shipping Programme instead of regular shipping and sterling conversion it's up on €350 for the loco sitting on the layout... As it's a" nice to have" and not a "must have" I am happy to pass and let others pay the price for them. Given the sellers location is Belfast, the Global Shipping Programme seems a bit odd given the buyer pays for the item to be shipped from Ireland over to the warehouse in England and then back to Ireland, but I suppose in these days of scams and people of less integrity trying to pull fast ones (I paid but I never got it mister) I suppose use of GSP is to be understood even it if does triple the price for the buyer.

Not of the final layout Paddy, I did start drawing a basic one in SCARM and put that on the board, but then kept changing, testing and adding track until I arrived at the design here. The picture below is taken from the opposite corner view and shows how the track has an outside run down behind the incline into the corner and curves around coming back out under the elevated run - this is where it exits the tunnel now.

Very nice options there certainly, although they still require a lot of "big hand from the sky" work to extract each wagon/carriage individually and place on the layout and in reverse when placing back in storage. I like the cassette connected to a spur option as in a single lift 15 cement bubbles can be rolled onto the layout and 10 Taras rolled off into the empty cassette.....and connected to a double headed pair of 181's with a 141 behind, and rolled past the rake of 20 ballast wagons resting alongside a pair of ploughs bookending 8 more ballast wagons just in front of a couple of A-Class locos, across from a line of B+I containers next to 15 Guinness wagons, that have been moved to make room for the weed spray train pulled by a BT 121 next to two 071's across from 12 fertiliser wagons following up 12 spoil wagons.....erm....not to mention the rest of the upcoming releases. So it's really something that needs addressing urgently to maintain world order.....!!

Yes, that's a good suggestion - looking at some of the examples online it seems a good option....thanks David.

Question - for those with large numbers of rolling stock and/or smaller layouts, and who actively run different trains/rakes how do you store wagons etc when not in use? Do you just run the stock on the layout and then switch wagons etc by hand when you want to run different rakes? Does anyone have a large fiddle yard to the side/end where everything is stored and run from that onto the layout? Looking at the upcoming releases from IRM, it wont be long before available space in the two yards I have will be full of wagons so just wondering what people do when they have more stock than space. It seems a bit cumbersome to have to open up boxes, storage containers etc to take wagons out, place on the track, run for a while then reverse the process to remove and repeat this all the time. i have seen examples of storage drawers underneath layouts, or a large storage yard under the layout with a helix connection to bring up/down rakes etc. and as I am in the "active construction phase" I think its probably an idea for me to give this some thought now. Thanks.

Hi Patrick.....yes, Ciaran here...the letters are just my initials...not a code. I guess part of the reluctance for people to put personal details etc. on forums and in their profiles is forums are a constant target for information mining/hacking for personal details of the users/members. As regards the layout, when I first decided to put one together I wanted to run trains in some sort of continuous way while also looking at developing some operational capacity with sidings and yards - from a position of knowing absolutely nothing on the subject. So this is what I arrived at after a lot of reading and compromising. What I still struggle with is the lack of realism in many aspects - which I know is something that can be achieved to a greater degree with something like an end to end layout as opposed to what I have here, but in wanting to run trains continuously I realised its not possible in an area that size to have a prototypical layout. I also only had a collection of older Hornby and Bachmann items from the steam era, nothing diesel, but since discovering this forum, Murphy Models that's all changing now.....so I have a layout that started with a look for the steam era, now has a mix with later diesel. So still undecided what to do there and how to square that circle. At the moment its going to stay a mix. I did want an incline in it for interest so that was also something that dominated the design as well - for better or worse. I have decided to press ahead and continue with the design as it is and have done some scenery work in the past few weeks (this is a third hobby for me so it has to share time!). Some pics attached. I want to create a scene where I have trains running in behind scenery to try and get away from the look of a loop around the very edge of the baseboard, so I will probably end up with some additional work to the design to achieve this later on. There are also plans to extend in a modular form (whats there currently is in three sections screwed together). So will see how it goes - I have some water/river scenery work to do along with more hills/trees and...ah...a lot of ballasting. When I complete the scenery along the incline that's shown in the pictures below I will actually switch tasks and complete the point motor switching works as I have a lot of servos to install on the underside of the layout.

Good question there Dave... Primarily a runner, but everything I have (where possible) will have the original box/instructions etc. In the rare case where any item purchased doesn't come with the correct box/instructions etc. I will put that on the list to look out for - as in the case of the 181 I got from you recently in Bray. I was after a weathered one for the layout so compromised on getting the one without the instructions and correct box, but will keep an eye out for these. I can compromise on the details if the model is not so common - for example I am after a 141 in Black and Tan so will take anything that's going initially for a fair budget, and then trade up if something better comes along with the goal of having all aspects correct eventually. All boxes, materials, certificates that I have are carefully stored. When I started a few yeas ago (I am still very much a novice in this game) I was building on a collection I was given, so it was all Hornby/Bachmann stuff going back to the 60's up to the early 00's - but now have pretty much graduated to the Irish only theme going forward. The quality from the IRM guys and Murphy Models really is excellent. Will I purchase everything coming from MM and IRM..? Not sure. I have a bit of catching up to do and have missed earlier releases. I suspect I will gradually convince myself to get most of it though...!!

Interested in one of these 181/188's in Black Dave, but aware of my place in the line don't want to come in ahead of the enquiries already. Ooops....slightly late....!! I keep my head down for a bit....!

Thanks Noel. Its non-sound. I had one for a 071 and having just picked up a 181 at the Bray Fair recently wanted to give it a run on the DCC layout having given it a run on the DC one for a while. I have popped it in and its working fine - I did notice the lights control you mentioned.

Can anyone tell me if a Murphy Models DCC chip (non sound) for a 071 can be used in a 181? Thanks.

Looking good Jonathan! I will watch this one develop as I work on my own...

Thanks btb....the plan is to focus on the enjoyment for sure. I was fortunate to have the room to start with a good size layout. The plan was changed a number of times before the current one. I haven't started the ballasting yet as I am still undecided about a few places....thinking of removing a set of curved points on the run down the back where the raised curved is track and making two lines instead of merging into one...I am getting the odd derailament at slow speed, so trying to eliminate that. So a few aspects like that to fine tune yet.

Sounds good Wrenneire....I think I got IR£23 for my confirmation so will bring that..!!

Hello all....first post here - been on the forum since 2016, but just getting round to saying hello now. Working on a layout over the past number of years - I am not modelling anywhere specific, just a fictional layout. It's been a work in progress for some time, since about 2014. The background behind my interest in model trains and how I got into it began when I was given a sizable layout that nobody wanted - family all grown up and moved away, layout boxed up and left in neighbours attic when the house was sold. So it was a sizable collection of well used Hornby British rail models. Most of the loco's and rolling stock is pretty old, ranging from the 60's to probably the early 00's from what I have seen. I am no expert on this however. So I started putting it together and the bug bit and after a number of temporary layouts I decided to put something more permanent together. Last year the man in the Big Red Coat and white beard brought me a MMO71 and this year I have decided to concentrate on Irish models, so waiting on what is probably the last few of the orange cement bubbles to arrive to go along with the Mk2's recently purchased from Marks Models. The offerings by IRM are fantastic and a big thanks to all the hard work done in producing all the rolling stock. I will certainly look to support the forthcoming offerings. I am only sorry I missed put on the wagons etc. prior to this year, but hopefully may be able to pick up some over time. Few pictures attached, at you can see it's still under construction, but the wiring is done on the track laid, so its operational, have gone with DCC. Slowly starting to work on some scenery and landscaping. I have no background or knowledge in what's prototypical, so likely have put together odd combinations, arrangents etc. but it's great fun and the learning process will continue. Will be at the Bray fair this coming Sunday, 13th, so might see some of you there. I suspect the temptation to add to the Irish rolling stock may be too much!! Would like to add an 141 / 181 to the layout at this stage so will be on the lookout for one of those as well as continue my learning curve.