Colin R

Hi all Looking through my Irish railway book collection I notice I don't have 'that book' every CIE steam loco fan has on his bookshelf, IE the one with all the facts and figures and line drawings of the different steam locos from the different companies. I guess it does not exist, but I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction of any other suitable books which may cover some of this same information. Colin

I agree with JHB, what gets me the most is that on eBay you can look for certain items (in my case Triang hornby Clerestories) and for a while the price is reasonable for a second hand model, then all of a sudden you get a spike in prices and instead of them selling for up to £10.00 or Euro 11.64 up they go to silly money of say £50.00 (58 to 60 Euros)each. Don't get me wrong I am happy to pay the price if it is reasonable, but a S/H coach which has seen better days going for that amount is just ridicules and why pay that much for a coach I plan to chop up?

Hi John. Do you think a 3d Print body would work? Colin

Cheers Kirley I will ask Alan to see what he has. Colin

Hi Kirley All I can do is to keep the pressure up, if this fails then if and when I get my new computer, I will have ago at doing the art work myself if it has not appear by then. Colin

Hi Guys Who would be the best person or place to find out more about this class of locos and who may also have a works drawings of them? Thanks in advance. Colin Rainsbury

Hi DC Yes I believe it was talked about, but from what I know it didn't happen for one reason or another, lets hope this takes place this time, as I have a list of Irish locos I would love to see in 4mm/OO kit form. Colin.

Hi guys. Can I first of all ask the moderators to move this to the right section of this forum if I have this wrong. I would also like to say that I am not selling these, but I am gathering information for a possible kit and expression of interest. I have just had an email back from Allen of Worsley works and he reckons it should not be a problem to produce a kit in 4mm for either 16.5 or 21mm gauge of the WT locos.He is away for the next couple of week on holiday, but he will look at this when he gets back. He would also be interested to find out how many of theses kits might be required in a first batch. If you might be interested may be you could confirm in a reply. For those of you that have never obtained a kit from Worsley's before, let me say that they are basic and do not normally include such bits like wheels, motors, gearboxes, etc with them, this will be up to you to source. Branchlines sell motors, gearboxes, etc at branchlines.blogspot.com wheels can be obtains from http://www.alangibsonworkshop.co.uk/ or http://www.markits.com/ I am not sure who makes white metal castings suitable for the kit since it is something I have never had to look for before. At the moment not sure just how many bits will need casting's but it might be an idea to start to look at and find out who produces the various white metal fittings that would be suitable for this loco. In the past I have asked Allen to produce a few etches for me and they have worked, he has always said to me, that if I can find a working drawing of a loco or item of rolling stock that I would like in a brass etch he is willing try to make it happen. OK this approach may not be to everyone's tastes, but I do hope that some of you will try and if you like it may be we could produce other popular Irish Locos and rolling stock that would be impossible any other way forward, like I have said this is not a full all singing and dancing kit, you do have to find some bits yourself, but I think it is a way to start to get a few more Irish locos available at a reasonable price. Colin Rainsbury

Hi Tony I don't recall where I saw this, but many years ago I helped build a Southern railway(UK)layout and one of the thing we built was a station canopy, we looked around at a number of SR stations but we found that most of them where different, but what did stick in the mind was that if you took any two points which were the same the distance between them was always the same along the whole length of the canopy, at one station they where repairing and repainting the canopy, I found that they used 6 inch x 1 inch pine to make the edge in your photo, just how tall that comes out on your model I thing will be a guess unless you have a second reference point. I am sure some one makes that pattern in OO/4mm Brass, if not why not try these people http://intentio.co.uk/valances/ Or you could try these people as well http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Welcome-to-Scale-Link-Ltd.html either might be able to help, if you have a drawing. Colin

Hi jhb I have a couple of catalogues from a company called branchlines which might help you. The only problem is how do I send them to the group? Colin

I am sure that someone ages ago was going to do a kit,but it never appeared. that said I do know someone who might be willing to produce the kit, if we can give him a set of drawings and any extra details he may require, the only problem we might have is if we need to get any castings done as he does not always like to do that part of the kit. It may be that we would need to find someone who could cast them in resin or that a suitable casting is already produced by someone else for another kit. I know something like this is not going to be simple to get done (it never is) but lets see where this takes us for know. Does anyone think that if a batch of say 100 in 4mm scale for either 16.5/18/21mm gauge where produced that they would all find a home? Colin

Hi Noel That was the case of the Festiniog Railway a few years ago and I think some of them still run on oil, however the big problem is that in order to use oil to burn, it heats up the firebox too quickly and cause cracks in the corners and other such mechanical problems, this is what I have been told by those who play with these things on a regular basis. There are of course solutions to any problem and the web is full of them, if you have the time to find them and you are in the mood, why not try the 5AT website http://www.5at.co.uk/ You may have gather by now I am a bit of a magpie when it come to finding info on the web, I don't believe in redesign the wheel when one already exists.

Thanks Hurricane for the heads up that is most useful. I read somewhere that when they moved the Queen to Cultra it would not fit under some of the bridges due to the GNRI smaller loading gauge, so I am hoping that if I use the current version I will beable to run just about anything I want, thanks once again.

I totally agree with you, a new build loco has to be of use and as much as we would like to have everything that has ever operated, a heritage railway places a different kind of restrain on what locos you need. Should it come to pass and that Downpatrick was able to rebuild back to Ardglass and or just to the outside of Newcastle, then the sort of locos you need will be much different to those you have now. I do not know the trackbed on the BCDR and what operational problems may exist, so I am hesitant to suggest a type of loco that might be nice to have but totally unsuitable for the heritage operation. If a new loco was required then why not look at one of the old BCDR 4-4-2T designs? as it must have been suitable for the operations back then so it should be OK now. Of course we still have the old SL&NCR 0-6-4T which as far as I am aware has never worked since it was taken into preservation, could this be a suitable candidate to be restored for future BCDR operations?

Out of all the locos in 4mm scale I am most surprised that no one has made a kit of this one. Colin

Hi all Sorry if this has been asked before, but where would I find the loading gauge for the different part's of the Irish broad gauge railway system, I have the various narrow gauge ones, but not the broad gauge version. Something else which bothers me is how many of the Irish Railway coaches had straight sides? I can see that some had a tumblehome but others where straight. I might as well get this one out of the way as well, I know the different parts of the CIE had their own track arrangements, but I was wondering if anyone can tell me which companies used 2, 3 or 4 hole fixings for rail chairs and different rail lengths and weights. Regards Colin

I would agree with you but if money was no object why not build a new one in 12 inches to the foot scale, sure would be quicker to get running and to extend the BCDR to a rebuilt station at Ardglass, we can but dream.

Should we not forget that if the Derry Road had survived until today may be and just may be the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway would have done as well?

Hi can I just add that if you can and have the space try to design your layout to use the largest radius point work. In OO a 3ft radius curve is equal to a 3 chain curve or 66 (real) feet and in modelling terms that would still be to small, I am not sure what the minimum radius is on the main Irish railways, but a real 6ft or 2 meter curve in OO is much more desirable in modelling terms if you have the space. This in not mine and I have nothing to do with it but found this on the web:- https://www.thespruce.com/model-train-track-minimum-curve-issues-2382061

Hi all. Just signing in to let you know you have a new (for now) lurker on the site. I have plenty of questions for you guys, so I hope you can point me in the right direction to find the answers I am looking for. So a little bit about me (sorry if this goes on a bit to long), well I am in my late fifties (but I don't feel it), I am semi retired, I have been interest in narrow gauge railways most of my life, with the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in North Devon being my prime railway. It is a toss up sometimes between that and the Donegal as I just so happen to love big narrow gauge steam engines and both supply those in bucket loads. I got in to the Irish narrow gauge scene via the late David Lloyd who had built the layout the Augher Valley back in the early 1960's and later went on to build the layout Coolcalaghta (which sadly has disappeared off the face of the modelling world). It was all his fault that I got introduced to both the Swilly and the Donegal railways. Since then I have been building up a collection of OOn3 kits for the one day I will get around to it model railway layout which will include bits from all over Ireland just like the Cavan and Leitrim became in the end. It was while I was doing some of my unfinished research that I took a look over the fence and came across the World of the Irish broad gauge, wow now this is what I like, having looked around there is so much modelling potential that I don't think you could fit it all in on just one layout. Currently I am thinking of something like Strabane in the 1930 - 60's period when steam was king as this would allow for both narrow gauge and broad gauge trains to run. However I don't need to tell you folks that finding Irish broad gauge steam locos and rolling stock kits in 4mm/21mm gauge is not the easiest thing in the World. It is the main reason why I think the Irish BG has been so hard to come by, but that is slowly changing, there are still not enough layouts with an Irish feel on the exhibition circuit or appearing in the modelling press, but I am hoping that is also changing. I have also been thinking about building just a broad gauge layout based on Ballyglunin. Why that station? Well over here in the UK we are having a period when the John Wayne film the Quiet Man is on one of the tv channels at least once a week and the write up tells us that the above station is where all the action took place. The only problem I have at the moment is trying to identify the class of steam loco used in the film so any help would be appreciated. Well that is where I am at the moment, but it could all change tomorrow as coming across the Irish broad gauge system it is like a child walking into the sweet shop and not knowing what to buy. If space was no problem, one station I would love to model and that would be Downpatrick as it was before it was bulldozed. I am having great difficulties finding photos of the station from the road side and anywhere in the yard area or any of the other railway buildings as well, the best I can do is to base the model on just the track plan in Desmond Coakhams book on the BCDR. Regards Colin