DoctorPan

Ah that brings me to the 2nd point. That is a greenway and no-one can decide if a greenway is for commuting cycling or only for leisure. Some greenways including the one mentioned above offically state that they are only for pedresians and leisure cyclists and those commuting should refrain from using. Then out of the other side of the mouth say that they are putting in cycling facilices and cyclists aren't using it. We've basically conditioned cyclists to not use the cycling infrastructure because we half arse it, can't decide if they should use it, actually design it correctly and keep cars off it. End of the day though is bikes have as much right to be on the road as cars and most motorists need to remember that. Plus every bike is one less car in traffic.

Because the cycleways and lanes aren't built following any design standard and oftentimes are more dangerous to use then sticking to the road.

A weekend's work saw the narrow gauge plank transformed from bare wood to something more akin to real life.

Indeed it's my go to for Flying Snails but I fancy some Red Hands for some variety. Thanks Lambeg man, I will have to try that next time. Thanks for the tip!

Continuing the theme of Big 4 wheel vans, my two copies of Leslie's wonderful kits finally enter into the paint shop. Not fully sold on the green, Humbrol Brunswick No.3 doesn't look exactly like UTA green in my eyes. Any shade recommendations from off the shelf?

And vis versa, will the green bags be available as seperate load when the ferts arrive?

Yup, the tool van was a rebuild of the TPO.

New builds together really give the striking impression CIE was going for when both the As and the vans rolled out of the shops but both look more natural in trains of mixed colours.

Got around to adding transfers to the Tin Vans. There's few Irish prototypes that I think look wrong in a clean condition. One of them being the double beet wagons. The other being the silver Tin vans. So out came my oil and rust washes and my smoke, black and rust powders and I went to town on the luggage van, taking care to use cotton buds to wipe the powders down vertically to simulate rain washing dirt down the sides. However I did want to keep one clean to highlight the contrast between the two and how filthy silver things got in the era of steam.

Hope you don't mind losing your bet, offical policy for Electrification has been OHLE since the introduction of the DART project plus 3rd Rail is unacceptable from a safety POV, in the UK, ORR has prohibited any further expansion of 3rd rail electrifiction because of the unacceptable safety risks it poses. Also Irish Rail is not going to return to loco hauled trains with electification, it's the stated public policy of CME Peter Smyth that the Enterpise might retain it's loco in the next form but the rest of IE services are intended to go MU and locos exiled to PW, frieght and railtour duties.

Tonight's work, spraying a base coat of white onto the vans to allow the aluminium paint to shine through properly as opposed to direct application to the grey primer.

And then there was two, awaiting painting.

Currently awaiting driver training and trial running before she can haul a railtour.

Ready for the paint shop,now to get the luggage van ready to join it too!

Cheers Jonathan, the 009 stuff is fun, researching Awdry's writing and notes on the line and filling in the gaps with prototypical practice, something fun and different compared to my 00 gauge exploits.

And joined by the TPO van with roof just placed for a sense of what it will look it. An extremely enjoyable build and I must give credit to the kit designer for a great product.

And promptly get forgotten about and buried under 009. Until tonight that is. Test fitting the roof. Interesting learning curve working with brass but it's nice to be working with a big vehicle again.

BEMU phase of the project has gone to planning permission. DART + Coastal North is about to enter the detailed design stage.

One to head north and one to head west.

Lot more trains on the corridor in 2022 then 1947... I mean works are in progress to bring the wires to Drogheda. Would make sense to have a bimodel loco to take advantage of them.

Grade seperation is the name of the game and its something us rail engineers have been braying about for decades but ulimately ignored. Rail projects get built on 10 year old models and so are over subscribed from day 1. LUAS was screamed as a white elephant and on opening day, the garda and polictians were caught with their pants down as the expected light service pattern was completely and utterly overwhlemed requiring LUAS to go to full operating service patterns. Something the operators had flagged but were overruled as something as a fanasty.

LUAS is a light rail street level system operating as a street level metro system and is hopelessly overcrowded and at capacity as its expecting to do heavy lifting far beyond what could be expected of a LRT. Grade seperate metro allows for a journey time not effected by people or traffic. Hell LUAS can't even get priority at road junctions, something completely unheard of on LRTs and unqiue to Ireland.

Passenger and goods brakes recieve their final touches.

Next job was fitting the funnel and the distintive pipework around the boiler. First coat of primer to check areas, including the new vac bags added to the model. Rudamentary cab controls were added from a Comet Models etch, we see the Regulator, reverser, steam valves for the injectors and the blower on the backhead. A necessary considering the open half cab. Now for my favourite part of any model build, painting! Finished model complete with crew and crests. Just awaiting an order from Light Railway Stores for her name and numberplates and then for a spot of light weathering. And a fleet photo so far, Nos 1 "Duke", No.2 "Jennings" and No.7 "Tim"

That's brought back memories of helping the father spread fert on the family land. The smell of the bags and the white dust. Fond memories