Colin R

Dose anyone have a list of standard CIE bells codes? The reason I want to use them is that I am thinking in having them on my next layout at some point. I have just been reading an article about an old layout by Peter Denny or better know to modellers of a certain age as Buckingham, complete with bells, whistles and a timetable etc. I think it would be a good Idea if I can find out a bit more about them. Colin Rainsbury

Try Simon Thomas of Old Time Workshop at Stevenage. He has a fair range of decals and linings available, he may be able to help out http://www.oldtimeworkshop.co.uk/Pricelists/4mmPriceListTransfers.pdf Regards Colin Rainsbury

That would be typical of model railways

Hi Guys. I am not sure if anyone will be able to help me, but I have had a good look on the web but nothing new is coming up, I am looking for photos or details of any of the 3ft gauge bogie coaches from this line. I have got the Joe Begley and Steve Flanders reference book, which is a help, however some photos appear to show coaches which Worsley Works have not made. The 2 compartment /Saloon 3rd is easy enough to rebuild from one of the kits, however it is the old Brown, Marshall & Co coach drawings which I need to try and find, any information would be welcome. Colin

Hi JHB I am with you on this, as I too find railway history interesting along with the models I see on here, compared to the usual UK based GWR or LNER layouts this is just so much better, some UK modellers take things far to seriously sometimes. This reminds me of a story I told about a fictitious 3ft gauge Irish railway project up in those hills of Donegal, it linked both the Donegal and Swilly railways as well as a few other places not served by any railway at any time, at the end I did say this was pure fiction, but I still had one or two people taken in and one person was convinced that he had actually been on the railway in question and had seen Paddy McGinty's goat to boot. Terry Wogan has a lot to answer for .

Well you learn something new everyday, I didn't know that

Hi Lambeg. I think I know what that payment was for, they con people into taking out an Amazon prime account thinking they will get books etc a bit cheaper, what they don't say is they don't make it easy to cancel the account, as you have found out, I guess your good lady kept it going thinking she was doing every one a favour. Amazon work on the basis of people being lazy or not understanding how to close an account down, I too have had issues with them in the past over an account I had with them, even now I still get text messages and emails saying what great opportunities I am missing out on............. right like I need a hole in my head Amazon. I just use them now to find books or something I want and once I have the details, I just go look on the Web, I have found so many times stuff I want a lot cheaper than on Amazon. Just a note to all if you are stuck with an unwanted Amazon account, you can stop payments to them on your home Amazon page, its a bit fiddly but once you have done it, you don't have to pay them to just look at the c**p they try to sell you, also it is a good idea to let the other half know the details just in case. It is sometimes worth the grief you get from them to know they are not going to get rip off in the future. Colin

Hi all having trouble finding that one book on line? Then try World of Books or https://www.wob.com/en-gb I am not the owner of this site or have anything to do with them, except I am a very happy buyer of books from them, so far I have not had any issues so I can give them 100% support have a look and see what they have they are cheaper than Amazon. Colin Rainsbury

Its times like this that I can see another modelling website being set up, but then you also have faceache as well to contend with, the sad thing is that while it is a pain to have adverts it does stop the mods/owners asking for money to keep the site open. I am not sure which I would want, the thing is of course that Irish model railways is such a small operation compared to some state side web groups such as the NMRA, but then that is what I like it is small and compact and friendly

The old Station building looks interesting any plans of it? Colin

As is the case at most Heritage Railways in the whole of Europe, I would love to see in the long term some replica rolling stock, but yes it all costs money to do.

That is some grand work going on, well done Colin

Can you pay them in to your bank account?

Hi Angus a bit late coming to this thread, but yes I have as yet to visit the part of Ireland I want to model. Being a fan of the 3ft gauge Donegal Railways, I can say that there where at least four extension railways proposed by the board of works to decongest the Donegal area most would have linked to either the County Donegal or the Lough Swilly Railways. As has been discussed elsewhere on here and above, it would be possible to model anywhere and given that you get the feel right most UK visitors at exhibitions can be fooled into thinking it is a real place. Currently I don't have the space I want for a layout, but I have been buying etches kits just in case they are stopped being make such as the the Backwoods Miniatures (I only have a few more to get, but I am just waiting for the owner of a couple of these kits to give me the nod). The next stage is getting all the details of the buildings right, this is the bit which is taking the time to sort out, as all the prototype buildings have been flatten and so far no architectural drawings have come to light, while this may be a problem when you start to look into it, however you may find that many companies have a sort of house style, so it would be possible to use another station from the same company and it would not look to much out of place. Also I forgot to say that another important factor is real history, in the early 1920 to 30's, the Donegal and the Swilly had discussions about a merger, sadly it did not happen, but in my mind it did and a number of proposed extensions also got built, up to the second world war. For what it is worth my big layout will be based on Stranorlar on the Donegal, but it also has an extension with a new direct route to Letterkenny to miss out the boarder crossings at Strabane/Lifford and also at Castlefinn. Another line on the wish list could have been one to Fanad Head and the Lighthouse, from Letterkenny. It could have gone via Rathmelton, Milford, Tawny and Port Salon, before it arrived at Fanad Head and the Port. It would have also skirted around the bottom of the Knockalla Mountains as well, so plenty of scenic work on the layout. I hope I have given you a bit more inspiration rather than perspiration, I do look forward to see some of the results in due course. Regards Colin

Hi Ken, just found this so I will be looking in from time to time to see what you are up to, sadly right now there is a lack of funds in the modelling budget right now, but when things get better I will be after a few of your wagon kits. Colin

Hi all Its been a while since I have been on here (work and life out of balance right now), One think I have been meaning to ask does anyone know who I can contact about finding any old 3ft gauge WCR rolling stock drawings. I have the ones in the published books (the Patrick Taylor Book), but more so the other 6 wheeled brake vans that were used on Passenger trains mainly, I have a feeling that they may not exist, but if anyone has a contact, I would be glad to be put in contact with them, the same also goes for any photos of WCR rolling stock as well. Regards Colin R

Hi Jhb do you still have any of these kits left or have they all gone to a new home? Colin

Thanks Patrick and Galteemore for the heads up, something else to add to the ebay wanted list

Hi Patrick Sorry if you have mentioned this before but on page one you had a green painted signal box. I take it it is still there but you have now repainted it, my question is simply do you scrtach built it or was it from a kit

Hi Guys, I have just had deliver my three kits from John M In New Zealand:- CIE Heating van 3101-3140 CIE Luggage Van 2700-61 CIE Post Office Van 2962-2971 Due to a possible move next year, I am going to put them into storage just in case I lose something from the boxes. but I do have one question did any of these run in the green livery (you can tell I haven't even open the box yet, so the answer may be inside) Colin

Ebay can be a pain in the back**** someone paid £500 for an old Backwoods Donegal class5 kit over the weekend, in total they spend over £1,100 for four kits which according to the new owner of that range (which will be available again early part of next year) for just over half that amount. I just wish they had done some home work on these kits before bidding, as now anyone who saw those prices is going to expect to get that if they put there own old backwoods kits on ebay next year. I think they may well be dissappointed

To be honest I don't know as I don't have one to take apart to look at, but the locos I have recently obtained do have a far better motor in them than the good old Triang XO5 3 pole motor. Motor technology has come on leaps and bounds since I first started modelling railways. Todays modelling is going down the DCC chip route and yet what I think puts a lot of older modeller offs from going to DCC is in fact the issue of having to change in some cases the old motor so it can work with the new DCC controllers. I did have one loco which was converted to DCC but the motor kept running warm, it gave up in the end because it was not designed to accept a high current. The other issue for some is that since DCC is here to stay, there has been no development with the older DC controllers, which to my way of thinking is wrong, I am sure I read somewhere that there is a cut off point which is possible to back date older locos to DCC. From my experiance with 009 modelling, the older Eggarbahn stuff, does not like the 1980's feedback controllers where as the newer models coming out don't like using the older style controllers. If I was starting out again then yes I would go DCC, but since I have more than enough 00n3 locos which will run on DC I am not about to start converting them over at my age, unless I win the euro lottery of course.

Hi Geeb check this link out I do have one so I find it works for me https://modelrailwayengineer.com/best-model-railway-controller/ one thing to remember about model railways is that over time there have been a number of different types of motors fitted to model railway locomotives some coreless and others those much older will have had an iron core motor, please be aware that this can make all the difference to the proformance of your model railway. On another group we are at the moment discussing the merits of a DIY controller from New Zealand, the only problem is that you need to be able to solder to make the kit up. more details a bit later about them. Have a look at the following link as well https://www.railwaymodellers.com/morley-and-gaugemaster-model-railway-controllers-compared-how-a-controller-works/ It should be noted that you get what you pay for when it comes to model railway controllers, as others have said look around on the internet and have a look. Modern locos like the class121 should have a coreless motor so a gaugemaster should be suitable for your needs. Finally for now and I don't know if you can get it where you live, but try buying a copy of model rail magazine, it is a good magazine for all sort of ideas. Oh by the way welcome to the group and enjoy you new hobby many people do. Colin

I think the thing is most railway organisations at some point pick a pig in a poke, the other thing is technology also has to play its part. like the days of the steam engine there is only so far a design can go and as 228Riverowneboy has said the A class would not have coped with todays traffic, also I don't see IE buying any new locos at this moment in time either, what with the eco summit having just taken place, there will now be design teams at all the locomotive manufactures working out what the industry and railway companies will require in the future. I would not be surprised to hear of a IE bill to electrify the remaining parts of the rail system and the construction of at least one may be two new electrical power stations or the installation of bigger wind farms around Ireland to power the railways future needs.

In view of hybrid power plants may be we should dig up Mr Bulleid and get him to design and build a new version of the Turf Burner, but with better green credentials on the chassis of a 201