Colin R

Hi David I had an email from Roger who tells me that if you want any of his 7mm card rolling stock kit you need to add 4 after the first two letters ie CC12 is the SLNCR 6 wheeled saollon Brake/3rd No4 in 7mm for 4mm you put down CC412, this does not work across all his range, but its a start, I have ask him if he would be willing to do all the rolling stock at Downpatrick, I havent got a reply yet, but it would make a few more items of interest for us modellers. Colin Does that include the 21mm gauge axles Andy?

http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/Image-Pages/Image_4mm_DNGR.htm?LMCL=T00_BV

Hi Wrenneire They must be a bit old, I have not come across those before, I do know that Worsley work do a brass etch of the DN&GR LNWR 6wheel coaches, which will leave me to find castings, bearings, wheels etc to finish them off. I think an email to London Road Models is in order, so I can find out what I might need.

Thanks Galteemore that would make a lot of sense, as Neil does go on to say that it was impossible to know for sure, as there was no records of returns until 1947 and only a number had been returned before that, this is modeller licence at its best. Neil does say that he thinks there where a maximum total of nineteen coaches in use at one time, made up with second hand coaches mainly from GNR (i) origin?

Hi Guys I have a bit of information which is bugging the hell out of me. While looking in the book on the above railway by Neil Sprinks, I read a bit about that the Dundalk,Newry and Greennore railway sold them two of there carriages around 1908, fine so far. But I was wondering if anyone had a bit more information as to which two coaches, as etches are available from Worlsey Work in 4mm scale, so I would like to buy the right pair. I have cross referanced this to DSM Barries book on the DN&GR, but he does not give any details of which one they got. Colin R

If they can make a go of it at Maam cross, then in time they might be able to work something out in conjuction with the grewway path, it is happening over here in Bristol, so it is possible. Colin

As much as it is wishful thinking to see a heritage railway, Rich is right, a model would be far better in this case, having seen what has happen to some of the old light railways here in the UK, I am sure they would want it to comply with current elf and safety and the trains would need to be air braked etc, plus you would have at least one maybe two guys just doing all the paperwork and risk assessments, just to get the project open. Colin

I wouldn't give up, you never know what is going to happen, the ideal thing would be to buy somewhere like the Collooney station site and start going east from there, if at a later date it becomes possible to built a link to the main line, all well and good, buying the trackbed, is the most important think any group can do. It is a pity that effort failed, one of my problem's is living over here is not being on site to assist, another good point from my suggestion would be it is not to far for possible volunteers to come from Sligo to help out at weekends. Colin

Hi Leslie I think another read of Mr Sprinks IRRS book is required reading, I am just waiting for the photo book to turn up to complete what I have on the line, unless there is another book on the line I should know about. As for kits I am sure I will require one or two of those nice looking cattle wagons if the project gets built. Colin

Hi David, very much so I think it could still do with a push in the 4mm scale, you never know may be Mr Rice will do a book on modelling Irish railways etc.

It appears that this is a firm favourite railway; well some of my digging is turning up trumps. I have just got back from the Manchester museum of science and industry, some links to the three type of Beyer Peacock 0-6-4T. I am now going to have to wait until some one get back to process my order for copies of these drawings. I know there is a 7mm scale version from Des, but I think the time has come to try to find some one willing to make them as 4mm scale kits, of course that is easier said than done. This might get me to go and buy an up to date computer so I can use a CAD based program myself, while these are not the only locos that ran on the SL&NCR, this is a big start to finding out more information about the railway. Leslie has a RTR model in his range for the line and Alphagraphix have a few items in there card model range, so what ever your model gauge in 4mm scale is, the old SL&NCR could live again. If a new Heritage line could be set up on the line, I think it could do very well. That said some of the station sites have now been built on , but it is not the end of the world.

Its a pity that the guys at either of the Donegal projects don't have the room to store some of this stuff for a future project, I under some of the locos have already been sold to China, not sure how many are left but they would be good to try and buy one or two for a later date project.

So does this mean we have a 2 mmfs, a 3mm layout, a couple of EM/P4 layouts and a 7mm Broad gauge layouts. Well that can't be a bad thing.

I think this is down to how the railway was operated in the first place, in the UK everyone was in a hurry and space and construction costs where/are at a premium. If you then go to Ireland you don't have the same amount of traffic on offer and space was more available to build railways plus by then everyone had learnt how to keep things simple in railway building terms. You don’t need to build a dual track system unless traffic demands it and from what I have seen so far there are only a few places in Ireland that requires this:- Dublin / Cork / Belfast those links are important and are used a lot. It is by far easier to build passing loops along one track and maintain it as that. If you look around the rest of the world you will see this is more of the case, in the UK it was all a big experiment and everyone learn from the mistakes at the time. One of the other major points about the railways of Ireland is, they where used to transport people to America or around the rest of the World and as a result you also had a lack of hard working skilled labour. One other point Ireland never really required the same size of steam locos as we had in the UK the humble 4-4-0 Tender loco type was very popular, only on the main line between Cork/Dublin/Belfast did you get to see 4-6-0's on such services as the mails, some of the Woolwiches may have traveled around a bit more than anything else, but the whole Irish railway system has a charm all of its own, even today.

Just found this link I have been looking for, if anyone wants help in building track take a look at this site:- https://www.clfinescale.co.uk/knowledge-centre I am not the owner but this is the site I reconmend to anyone. Colin

It is Ironic that cast crossing noses are coming back in to fashion with high speed rail projects, nothing new there then.

Rich that is great stuff and a great link thanks. The bit of the W&LWR that I am looking at as a possible model I think the prototype still has flat bottom even though it hasn't had trains run over it for some time.

Yes some very fine layouts, we should not forget that this forum has some wonderful modellers who use OO gauge as the track gauge as well. We can (and do) all learn from each other, carry on the great modelling everyone, I may have been around for years in modelling, but that does not mean I know the best way to do something. regards Colin Rainsbury

Hi guys you might want some midnight reading:- https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5273 One of my problems is I read the book years ago, but never used it so I need to re read it again, one of the problems with this system that very few of us have the time to sit down and read this from cover to cover or we just assume we know what we are doing, it then turns in to a dogs dinner and the air turns blue because what we have tried is not working. So as Mike says in the intro forget what everyone else has told you about the system, sit down and read it for yourself so you can understand it. If you want the book you can find it here:- http://stenlake.co.uk/book_publishing/?q=flexichas&page_id=497 Enjoy Colin Rainsbury

To be honest this is the first I have heard of it (today 8th August 2020), I suggest they need to find someone who knows there stuff about media and setting up websites and facebook etc. I have two facebook pages one to support alll the Donegal Railway projects (132 members) and the other a community group in support of the Somerset and Dorset Railway projects (400 members). Once they have a facebook page I can link these two groups to them and others can then find them. Colin Rainsbury Thankyou John for the link. I hope to use it next year when I can get over. Colin R

Thanks for the details about the local Hotel. Do you have a web site and phone number to go with that? This sounds like a brilliant idea, Ireland is full of possible railway tourist opportunities, it is just you need the people to back it up. Tourism is going to play a big part in most of Western Europe in the coming years and heritage railways can play a vital part in telling the story about Ireland. The guys have made a great start and let’s hope it continues. I am a great believer of having a proper legal frame work from the start of the project. As much as it is all boring stuff trust me, once you have done it, everyone can sing from the same hymn sheet and you won’t get any misunderstandings on how it will all operate and factions forming with in the group. I could go on for ages about how some of the more successful UK groups have gone about doing things and if an example is required then contact the L&BR in North Devon and ask to speak to someone who is willing to help you. https://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/ Good luck and long may it continue. PS as to a 3ft gauge steam loco has anyone considered an IOMR 2-4-0T on loan? Or how about one of the locos that was at Lord Neils Place? As for 5ft 3ins gaugue steam I reconmend you seriously consider building a new loco and carriages from scratch, unless you can find a load of old coach bodies on farms or other out the way places around Ireland. Regards Colin Rainsbury PS just remembers that the IRPS has a number of coaches which it can't use on the mainline anymore may be they could come up with a coulpe of coaches for you in the short term.

Thanks John for that, The kit is looking very good. I have just purchased an engraving taken from the Engineer of a W&LWR 2-4-0 Tender loco designed by J G Robinson GSR Class 276 or Inchicore class G3, while it is a GA I need to find out a bit more about the shape of the frames, it very nice to look at, but it needs to be broken down a bit more, so it can be more useful for anyone who would like to either make a model or design a kit of it. The next ones on the list are the GS&WR Classes 37 and 27 4-4-2T, this is because I like the looks of them. Colin

All I can say is WOW in 7mm it is impressive but 4mm well that takes it to the next level, I don't think i have the patients to do what you do. 5 star stuff Regards Colin R

Very nice looking model Ken, what scale is it it look like 7mm or have I got that wrong? Colin

I think I may have that one if it done by Tim Camer. thank you Will do thanks