Gortalainn

That's looking very well Derek, great inspiration for when I can get some time at home to start on my own layout. The road looks fantastic now you've put some sandpaper to it, that fence isn't too far off what you'd see at the new junction from Clon to Reenascreena either!

Looks very well! I'm a big fan of that bridge, it really looks the part. I agree with @irishthump re the black, the only roads I've seem to be pitch black are if they're freshly laid or if they're soaked after a good shower. I find a blue-grey with hints of brown can look very convincing, so a pass of the sandpaper would do it wonders, especially in the middle to replicate darker patches in the tyre tracks.

When they get PISed they're observed to sway more than usual and occasionally end up in places they don't normally go, often bringing paraphernalia such as traffic cones with them on their travels - when you see them in Cork things are very bad Jokes aside, it seems they have an extra screen inside. See the pictures on this page: https://quaestor.ie/passenger-information-systems/

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Cheers Darius, it's because of that 3-rail system that I'm asking. Looking at the manual for the unit I'm looking at, it seems to be compatible with all kinds of track, it's not 100% clear if that's just Marklin branded versions of it though... I'm after reaching out to Gaugemaster now anyway, we'll see what they say. Thanks for the tip. Kevin

Hi folks, During a visit to a German model shop I got a chance to try one of the Märklin DCC controllers. I was quite impressed by it, but when I asked if the Trix version would work with the Hornby track I have at home the lad in the shop didn't know. I was wondering if any of ye might have any experience with using one, and if ye had any success on the Hornby track? On top of that, would I be able to use any decoder in the locos or is there a specific one I'd need to get? Thanks a million! Kevin

Looking good! I'm looking forward to seeing this progress. A few pointers: - The lads are right about the crossing, you don't want to be spitting cars right out onto an active line! @DJ Dangerous has a good idea with the DAS clay/card. - I'd be a bit concerned about the radius of your innermost curves, I think you might have issues trying to get longer stock around them. If you have the space, it might be an idea to move the current inner loop outside of the outer loop using a wider radius track. - It might be worthwhile making those sidings into some sort of a freight yard with a through line. I'm sure you could fit some sort of a Timesaver/Inglenook shunting puzzle-esque setup across the middle if you reworked your points on the mainline, allowing you to keep your shunting operations off it. What are you thinking in terms of scenery?

Glad it worked out for you, it's looking very nice. You wouldn't even know that it was turning the mat black.

Got a few more signs finished. I'm hoping they'll be able to give more context to the location of the layout and how it ties together once they're in place. The freight depot sign is based off the one at the entrance to the depot in Mallow, I've attached a screenshot from Google Maps (2009 imagery) for anyone interested. Let me know if ye want any signs for your own layouts by the way, I'd be more than happy to put some together!

That's true. You're making great progress though, looking forward to seeing everything come together.

Now that looks the part! As @Broithe and @derek said though, not complete yet

That's fair, I can see why. He'd be well to advertise on this forum too, I'm sure he'd have more customers that way.

Still only Photoshop work to show - I'm hoping to have some actual progress to show around the end of the summer. As I'm planning to scratch build my signals, I drew up some arms for the semaphores and faces for the shunt signals. Here's where I took some creative liberties regarding the era I'm modelling, I've always been a fan of the dayglo arms so I went for the more modern system. I put some dwarf signals in there too, but I couldn't find out anywhere if they were used on the Irish network at all... If not, what was used in their place? I used to have a bit of a knack for poster making so I threw one together to see if I still have it, but it looks like I'm a bit out of practice... I added a filter to give it some age (whereas in reality it was more so to hide my mistakes) and plan to have it hung up in a corner of a station to act as a forgotten relic of sorts.

Looks to be coming together very nicely. We'll be expecting to see a loco on that turntable soon!

Not sure if Adverts fits under the Ebay watch so feel free to move this if needs be, but Millipede over there has a good selection of Irish stock (seems to be mostly Silverfox models?) at very reasonable prices. Might be of interest for those looking for more specific stuff. https://www.adverts.ie/member/1578437/ads/page-1/