DoctorPan

Ooh that's one of my Christmas presents this year sorted.

Tis no different to the time 216 was bright green before going blue while on trials and the same is what's happening to 134. She will need to undergo driver training and such so while she undergoes those, she'll be in temporary grey.

Backwood Depot in different eras tonight as some As are on shed. "You expect me to idle? "No 007, I expect you to thrash!"

And 3 emails today letting me know the rest of my As are in the post. Excellent, can't wait for them. Well done to the warehouse team for the turnaround!

One of my orders arrived this morning. 007 and 017 both look lovely and I'm blown away by how studly packaged away each model is in their box. Can't wait to get them onto Backwood Depot and for the rest to arrive!

Thanks for the update Fran. It certainly points to a good and healthy future for the Irish scene and a learning experience for the next loco release!

No, some of my friends saw it too....

More looking at emails waiting for the orders shipped one!

That's installed while they are dealing with it. Takes about 7-8 years to completely remove the plant and its root system. It's classified as "controlled waste" so it's an absolute pain to get rid of, as if not done properly, just spreads it around the place

Yeah, markers to denote areas of Japanese Knotweed. Here's the Irish Rail equivalent taken on a lineside walk during a site visit this summer.

Eagerly awaiting notice of any of my orders to ship. Looking at the lucky few who've gotten their ones already, it certainly looks to have been worth the wait!

Surely poached egg would be the broken wheel era?

They do if mk2s are in dark green!

Sounds like a job for the 42' flats!

Oh nice to finally see pictures of the real thing after hearing discussions about it 2 years ago. Will be a valuable bit of kit over the next few years with the various infrastructure projects soon to be kicking off

I'm hearing reports of a sample A has appeared in Hawkins Street...

One from a recent operating session saw the clock turn back on Backwood to the era of Flying Snails

The latter certainly point certainly reinforces the first point if one reads into IRM's previous clever combination of wagons allowing utilisation of parts to aid other rolling stock, Ballast and Bubbles sharing a common chassis, Taras wagons having the same bogies as the 42fters. Having Mk2 bodyshells, B4s and B5s in the CAD and tooling libraries certainly is boom to certain possible projects down the road, but that's a story for another day!

I wouldn't be surprised with a Jeep and then a Mogul to coincide with the launch of 105.

Yeah, there's two climbs out of Waterford, between Kilmeaden and Killmacthomas and then from McGraths Cross to Durrow. Afterwards its downhill and once you hit the tunnel, you can pretty much freewheel the entire rest of the way into Dungraven if your bikes are freewheeling.

Another +1 for the ebikes. Did the Waterford greenway to Dungarvon under my own power with my partner this summer, which was easyish given the ruling gradient towards Dungarvon but wisely we opted for electric assistance on the following day's return to Waterford which made all the difference.

I would argue that the 90s weren't the greatest era of Irish Railways. Old worn and flithy trains and stock, running on system that was held together by string, rust and prayer. At least these days, you know your train is going to turn up on time, is clean and delievers a comfortable service from A to B. I've spent a long time trying to convice my parents to travel on train and that the trains of today are far improvement from the old Mk3s and Mk2s they remember from the late 90s and early 00s when they last used the train service.

A long running issue that the professional industry is contantly running into, is that the rail industry does not fly on college student radars. I didn't even know my current employeers had a rail team until during the college placement interview I applied to, it was mentioned to me that I was looking to go into the Highways team, would I consider joining the Rail team. Upon hearing that, I quickly piveted into putting the Rail team as my first preference and led to an enjoyable 4 year career with them that is ending shortly as I move onto pastures new. Another issue with the Irish scene is how tribal it is. How common is it to hear that railway x has a person who fell out with the people at railway y and doesn't like railway z is friendly with y and so decides to cut contact with anyone involved with y. The rail industry in Ireland is increditably small, Irish Rail and Arup are really the only two big employeers within the industry, followed by Motts. We've tried increasing awareness of rail but its hard for it to catch with the students, most want to do Highways. The big breakthrough will come when a college or university offers a rail engineering degree.

A venture into a smaller gauge and a new topic. Inspired by the work of two of my friends experiements in narrow gauge gauge gave me an itch that needed a bit of scratching and plans for a small micro layout for the other set of boards that Backwood used started to be lazily sketched out while preparing for a house move. While the boards await track and for a finalised plan, the railway that was to be the subject of the still unnamed layout was an easily decision and chance for a little more fun prototype. Pints to anyone who knows their stories... The first major train was the line's top link train, ran for tourists during the summer, bringing them from the port up into the mountains, dropping them off at beauty spots for picnicing and hiking, earning the nickname of The Picnic. The rake just awaiting couplings and windows. Oh and a loco to haul them!

Having moved houses, Backwood was packed away until recently some free time was found to add some finishing touches to the layout. The exit road gained a signal controlling movements to the world beyond the yard. Hand Point levers were painted up and added to the S&C around the yard, the fuel point and yard was weathered and details add, including this shunter having just finished refueling 071. Touches like the human touch add an extra dimension to layouts, and I love setting up small scenes like a fitter taking a break under the watchful eye of the foreman or this track gang working on the headshunt's buffer stop after the shunt was reballasted, including the TSC on the phone over line blockades.