Colin R

Thanks John that is one photo I already have. I see the value has gone up over 1000% if there is such a thing, I got a copy from the London branch of the IRRS a few years ago for about £3.50. Colin

It would be interesting to find out, it is worth keeping a look out on eBay for photos and other such stuff. The only problem is that some sellers think they can make a lot of money out of Irish Railways, i was once offered a Donegal to Ballyshannon return ticket for £50.00 uk pounds i had to break the news to the seller that the heritage center in Donegal was selling the same tickets for 1 Euro at the time. Somewhere i have a box full of Donegal tickets which i picked up years ago for a £5.00, I think they are remainders and have not been issued or used, if you have a used ticket, well that is another matter and could be worth a few bob, but the condition and the places named on the ticket will make all the difference. Colin R

Hi John No I haven't as yet, but I have asked the Donegal guys for some help and they have come up with about 60 photos so far. I will have to ask them at some point once I have all those photos I know about in one place. Colin

Hi Ernie They are great, I have to admit that it was one of your photos which got me thinking about Stranorlar as a model, the more photos I find the better my understanding of the station becomes. For instance I did not know that part of the carriage works where just covered tracks made out of old rail and corrugated sheeting and that the C&W building was the old transfer shed in the days of the dual gauge operation. Its the little bits which make this so interesting. Colin Rainsbury

Hi I though I would start this off as a general chat about all the Donegal lines. However I am doing some research into the Donegal Station at Stranorlar, So far I have about 50 odd photos from various sources and I have a few more to come, what I would like to ask is if anyone has any unpublished photos of Stranorlar in the late 1950's and early 1960's just after the railway closed or before the buildings where demolished. I have already realised that a 4mm scale style model is possible (20ft x 8ft), but on looking at different photos, I have come across a number of unique Donegal make do and mend buildings around the Carriage and Wagon Works. While some of the buildings can be build as per a photo much of it will still be guess work. I would like to thank the Donegal Heritage group for a whole lot of help so far, any information I get I plan to donate it all to the CDR Trust at Donegal at some point. I think a visit later this year is now in order. Colin Rainsbury

Sounds a great project and I look forward to seeing some photos. I would like a bit more info on the 2-4-2T chassis as I have four of them to build at some point plus a number of other 3ft gauge 2-4-2T's which never saw the light of day except on a design concept for the Isle of Man Railway. I have a few Ideas on how to go about it, but any shortcuts or new inspiration is always welcome. Is the layout going on the exhibition circuit at some point? if so let me know and I shall put it forward to the organisers of EXPO-NG. PS a bus coach body is available from Alphagraphix in card I have been wondering about using that as a basis for an etched kit. KIt No CC455 I think it is. You can email him on sirberkeley@outlook.com for more details. Good luck with the model. Colin Rainsbury

Thanks David, I will have to put Ian's book on my list, as to Gordon's book I have the Grasslands book, but not either of the tree books yet. The plan at the moment is for the layout to be 10ft plus the fiddle yards at each end, I am thinking in terms of 3ft deep boards and working in 4mm, but due to the radius of 3ft for the curves at each end the total length will be 18 ft, I am thinking in making it a round and round layout with the F/Y behind it for continuous run at exhibitions, to be able to run the famous excursions of 11 coaches won't be possible in that length as they would appear to be too long, I would need to build the layout to a minimum of 30ft for that to happen. Thanks for the advice so far from you both, I have had a look at the Finntown operation and there are some possibilities in this as well. Colin

Hi all As we approach the Christmas period my thoughts have turned back to my proposed Donegal layout. Now as some of you will be aware, a new book by Michael Whitehouse (Narrow gauge album 1950 -1965 in Colour) has just so happen to turn up today, on page 196/7 there is one of the best photos I have seen of the Barnesmore Gap with a train, so far so good. As this one photo has got me salivating to make a model of this bit of the Donegal is there any thing which I should try to include in which is only seen in the Gap on the Donegal? Of course if I had the space a small version of the gap would be built in about 25 to 35ft but as I only have 10ft to play with I would welcome any suggestions. Regards Colin R

Thanks for the reply Eoin I will just have to keep bashing away at the Euro lottery in that case. I guess for now Ireland is not yet ready for such a model center. I would be more concerned for those items which get stored, as I have know items to just disappear without trace unless some sort of independent audit take place once a year. Colin

Dare i say would it be worth thinking in terms of setting up something like the UK Pendon style project between all Irish model/ heritage railway fans, it won't be cheap but if a fund could be started that if any of this collection came up for sale funds would be in place to purchase them, where you would then display and store them well that is another matter to consider. Colin.

I would agree that while it is great to have a TV programmes about model railways, I think it lost the plot and only reinforced the vision of so many people who just don't get model railways, at work they used to say that I should not forget to watch my Thomas the tank engine programme, for me the highlight was always the scratch built challenge, it was a pity that some teams refused to take part in that part of the show. While they covered quiet a bit of ground in some of the basic areas, I don't thing it went deep enough to help anyone who was getting in to model railways for the first time or what is more than likely would be a return to it after having had the family and finding themselves with a lot more me time . I guess the old adage will apply here, that being - you can't please all the people all the time. Yes there have been much better TV programmes about modelling in general and I would think that there is a market for that as well on TV. Colin

Thanks John. I was wondering about that, I have a few of the drawings from that Tim Cramer's series, I am never to sure if I have missed out on any of them, I am pretty sure that no one has a kit of any of them at the moment, but I may well ask Allen at Worsley Works to do something. While I am OK with that side of things, it is finding the suppliers for all the detailing bits which can take some time to achieve. Colin PS if you are planning to do them, then I will hold off asking, since I personally have more than enough kits to build at the moment.

DOH!!!! sorry Ken, I didn't think about crossing the Tees and dotting the I's. Its great that all this information is now getting out, I am sure that given most of the UK Market has been swallowed up by three or four model manufactures, Irish railways must have some appeal to these companies. Colin

Hi Ken do you happen to have the contact detail of who produce the book? As I would love to buy a copy. Colin

Hi Mayner. Your not kidding about them being works of art, both of them would make great kits or models, I don't suppose you fancy spreading your wings a bit and having a go at making a kit from them? They would go very nicely with an upcoming loco kit release, me thinks. Colin PS I wonder where all the original drawings are now?

Well done Eoin that is great, there looks like a great deal of information on there. Colin

Something I forgot to say was that Allen from Worsley Works was only too happy to produce kits if he has access to accurate drawings. Colin

Hi guys thanks for the information, yes once the location is known it is much easier to find this stuff, I have been in contact with the Walker Bros archives sadly they are not available at present but the curator does have my details if anything should turn up, he is hoping to get to the railway record section some time next year, but it is like everything else, ie the lack of money to pay for the people to sort out the collection, i got the impression that there is only one or two people looking after the walker archives. Colin

Hi guys this should have gone to IRM and not the list Colin

Thanks Richard, I do need to contact them again to see what they have narrow gauge (3ft) wise, there is a lot of interest in the larger gauge from a few well established 009 modeller's at the moment, it would be a pity to put them off just because it is so difficult to find any information. Colin

Hi Richard, sadly I am not this year, as I am working that weekend. But I do need to contact them regards rolling stock drawings, I know they where working on some of the GNR(I) stuff a couple of years ago. I am at the moment trying to contact the HMRS regarding the Cork, Blackrock & Passage Railway rolling stock drawings Worsley work do most of the carriages except the 3rd class saloon (2 compartment type) and the 1st class saloon Brake which had a Brake section, one compartment and then the rest taking up a 24ft saloon section. Regards Colin

You are so right I don't fit in to any of them, but it is very good observation from you, I was thinking in terms of showing there is more to modelling just the UK railway scene. I know they have had some narrow gauge models in one show and there has been a half hearted effort to show some mainland European railways, But an Irish based layout with all the folk law that has to be a winner

After the airing of episode 1 I was told by my man at Peco that almost every copy of railway modeller and continental model that was still on the shelves (in the UK) had gone by the following morning the knock on effect is that the next issues of both magazines has been doubled in production. Also it must have been good TV as they have commissioned a second series surly we have enough people on here that would be willing to form a team from the Green island that would like to compete? ( PS I am ruling my self out of this as I am not from Ireland).

Now I am in trouble I like the photo of the dirty silver loco which means this could be a second mortgage for this lot ( I though I could just about allow my self three of these but the number is now creeping up) if I decide to buy those I want. Colin

Thanks Garfield. I wonder who might have some drawings of them in that case, it would be a limited market to say the least, but I fancy having one at some time. Colin