GNRi1959

Leslie, I don't doubt it - these were men I knew, I am sure there were others. (Edit) Yes, another signalman was Alec Clarke. An ex-UTA employee told me he used to lie in bed at night and watch a train of as many as 60 goods wagons leaving Newtownstewart en-route to Omagh, and beyond.

Leslie, the Signal Man in the South Cabin (nearest the passenger platform) was Jackie Thompson and in the North Cabin, Packie Donaghy. Post Office vans often reversed to the left of the picture where they had access to the platform, I will post a picture of this when I get home.

Hi Paul, Thanks for thinking of me and my interest in Omagh. The Engine Shed featured in the book was reduced to a shell during storms in the mid 50s when the roof was totally blown off. It was never replaced and the shell was all that ever remained. The beautiful stone building that was the main building stood until 1973 when it was finally demolished by Omagh District Council. Here it is in 1964 and all that remains today is the stone wall on the right hand side.

If I'm using Gaugemaster point motors, do I need one CDU for all points or one each?

Mike84C, I just got on with it and stuck down 3mm cork from a 10metre roll I bought at reasonable cost. Its down now and to be honest does nothing for sound in a shunting layout but just adds a little bit of depth of sleeper height and improves appearance. I am now ready to drill for point motors, fit droppers and fix track with pins to run serious tests. I also need to get the baseboard joints sorted with copper clad strips.

Paul, I have used brass pattern makers dowels to align the boards and good quality sprung toggle catches. I presume a dropped cable would be needed either side to maintain power feed?

Whats the best method of dealing with track work at baseboard joints?

Heres what it looks like now, track is sitting loose on glued cork. I will start laying the track tomorrow. I have to drill holes to fit point motors underneath and bore for the droppers. Out of shot, to the bottom will be the turntable and line to fiddle yard.

Finally decided to use 3mm cork underlay which I stuck down this morning. I painted the uncorked remainder of the baseboard tops with a quick drying acrylic grey primer. Looks good, some serious track laying should start this evening!

I guess the answer you are looking for is 'don't upload them if you're trying to avoid downloads'! Seriously, if I thought that years of buying, collecting and expense was just a 'click' away I wouldn't do it.

I've often thought of creating an on line 'museum' or 'gallery' of photographs from the steam era in Omagh and also Fintona. It would be nice to let people the material rather than have it archived in photo albums and archived on a hard disk. Can anyone suggest an on-line platform where I can do this with some sort of security to prevent mass downloading.

It will certainly make it easier to lay track, bore holes under tie bar for point motors and fit dropper wires. I may not need to use the extension rods provided on Gaugemaster point motors to throw the points. I think i'll just leave the bare ply as there will be a better bond for PVA and scenics.

Noel, the sounds coming from locos on the bare ply are quite realistic at the moment without the cork. Might just lay it direct without cork.

BosKonay, the ply is new, clean and level. Locos won't reach any speeds worth talking about however the cork does add a little cushion to the firm 9mm ply surface.

I'm about to lay 3mm cork under my track bed. On looking at pictures of the Goods Yard and sidings at Omagh, there is little ballast and the 'shoulder' of ballast around the yard and sidings have disappeared. If that is the case, would it be acceptable to lay cork across the entire baseboard area and save me the trouble of cutting cork either side of the sleeper line. The ballasting would form some shoulder - would it be enough? See photo below......

What do modellers do when coupling/uncoupling wagons in a shunting yard? Is it done manually or do they replace those awful Dapol couplings with something that actually works?

Yes John, I almost scrapped the entire project! That loco needs a drop of oil, just noticed the tender drive is pushing the loco in parts.

Thanks. The entire set up is connected by fishplate only and not fixed to baseboards. When I have tested the sidings and movement of trains I will lay my cork and then start fixing track in earnest. I've upload to youTube

Good wagons moving again at Omagh. Track not pinned down and loose wired. IMG_0771.MOV

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I see obvious problems at the moment where in the middle photograph the sidings need lengthening. I can remedy this by moving some of the point work ‘right to left’.

Thanks Paul. That drop is for the lorries that backed up against a retaining wall below the track level. The grain was unloaded from the siding above.

After many months of doubt and determination, Code 75 track and pointwork was temporarily placed on my baseboards and Omagh Goods Yard took its first breath. This time I used a well thought out plan that was simple and operational, with lots of advice and guidance from many. Five sections, including a fiddle yard were all built from new with no expense spared. Brass pattern makers dowels were used on all sections for good alignment and quality sprung suitcases catches that hold all sections together. Leaving the possibility of exhibition possible, though not essential. None of the track you see is fixed so I am still open to suggestions. The layout is goods only - focusing mainly on the Yard at Omagh and more interesting the movement of loose grain from wagons to the waiting grain lorries of Scotts Excelsior in town. A dropped section will allow for unloading loose grain from chutes on grain wagons to waiting lorries below and in latter years when wagons of bagged grain were unloaded onto Scotts flat bed lorries by hand. This has been verified by both employees of Scotts Mill and ex-GNRi shunters, still alive in Omagh today. A scratchbuild turntable, will turn locomotives at one end of the layout and a small fiddle yard will allow for storage and operation when exhibiting. When the track work is finalised a 3mm cork bed will be glued in place. The replica cast-iron signs were made by a friend, who does this type of thing as a hobby. Don't they look really well!

Thanks Leslie, always keen to get anything relating to Omagh. I'm scratch building the turntable from some of the strangest of items - all will be revealed in time.

Will be scratch building a GNRi turntable well and turntable based on Omagh, as seen below. Anyone got any ideas on the length of the bridge or diameter of the well on these structures?