connollystn

This has to be the golden age of British railway modelling. When I got back into the game I opted for HO as there was nothing in OO that compared to their continental European counterparts. In reality, you could have called me a bit of a model railway snob but, how the tables have turned. I've a feeling that people will have the same admiration for Accurascale's 37s & 55s that I have for my IRM A classes. Would certainly like to see these in the flesh. Guess I'll have to wait 'til the MRSI exhition at the end of October next.

Think I heard of them in the past. If my memory serves me well they produced the Brighton Belle set in brass many years ago and was half tempted to get it. Think Rails of Sheffield had them for sale at a heavily discounted price but, other than that, didn't come across them since.

@murphaph - Keep the pictures coming, I'm a big fan of German railways (my Fleischmann collection is testament to that). Cheers!

Have to agree with Noel's sentiments. Following on my own experience with the A classes [MVs and EMDs] I've no doubt that British Railway modelers will be blown away by the Accurascale Deltics. I've always been a big fan of the Class 55, had the Lima two tone green version in the 80s, and Accurascale certainly haven't made it easy for themselves modelling such an icon but you can see from the pictures that they seem to have caught the spirit of this locomotive. A lot of guys are going to experience tomorrow what we did when we did last year when we got our hands on the A class.

@murphaph - Thanks for uploading all those pictures. Used to go to Berlin lots and some of those photographs bring back good memories, always enjoyed my time there, go mór mhór, visiting a lot of the model railway shops.

@Sean - Thanks very much for that suggestion.

@GSR 800 - Thanks for posting that picture. The A30 looks really great in that setting and I'm delighted I got my hands on a few of these cuties. I see in the background that you have the black and tan version [A15] which now I regret not buying. Saw it at the last Wexford show and knew straight away knew that I'd made a mistake. That's the worst thing - no amount of pictures are a substitute for seeing the real thing.

This is certainly an interesting development, however, I can't see anything being produced in TT scale for the Irish market as I don't think that the demand is there. TT scale is something that I seriously considered but opted for HO scale in the end, however, the IRM A class is so good that I'm back into OO. I'm not overly fussed about the fact that the track for Irish stock isn't the correct scale width - there's the quality and character that exudes from the A class and, other IRM models, which more than compensates for the fact that it operates on incorrectly scale width track. In TT scale the width of the track for models of Irish prototypes would not be as big an issue as 00 models - which operate on the narrower HO scale width standard gauge track. For some people space might be the deciding factor as to which scale they model, for me, it's detail so I'd be reluctant to scale down. In the end, when it comes to railway modelling, it's about compromise.

Great stuff, however, I feel that IRM wouldn"t be producing these coaches unless they had something else up their sleeve!

All models look far better in reality than they do on websites. While I grew up in the Super Train era I find that livery quite dull as opposed to the brighter oranges of the IR/IE liveries

Did CIE/IR locomotives ever haul NIR stock between Belfast and Dublin?

Was watching 'All the Stations' (Ireland) and was delighted to see, on their visit to the Castlerea, that the locomotive inside the railway museum is the A55.

@Sean - Nice collection of stock on your layout, in particular, I like the Mark 2As. Never saw the Mark 2As in real life as they operated out of Heuston and it's a railway station I've seldom used.

With all of these new wagons and locomotives announcements you are really spoiling the British Railway modeler. The Mark IIs have always been my favourite passenger wagons and you guys are doing an exquisite job. Pity the Irish Railway modeler doesn't have anything comparable. The prices are reasonable for such a detailed coach and bearing in mind that back in the mid noughties [2000s] you'd would have been paying between 55€ and 65€ for Fleischmann coaches so the prices of these Mark IIs represent great value for money.

I used to buy tea and an Aero bar of chocolate until they made the cups considerably smaller, felt like I was being ripped off. I certainly don't miss the catering service.

A bit like what happens to most threads on this forum.

Think it was unusual for an early liveried locomotive to sell out so quickly but number 125 was the pick of the bunch. The black and tan livery best suited the Class 121.* *In my opinion

As highlighted in bold text above.

Really looking forward to it, with a lot of new and exciting new announcements from I.R.M. on the way it should be the best show ever.

My A55 is waiting patiently for I.R.M. to manufacture some passenger stock for it to haul.

Fantastic photograph of the Corrib Viaduct in Galway [town]. The spans seem very long, would be interested to know what the weight restrictions were. Considering how congested Galway is now it could do with a suburban rail service.

Can't wait to see the reviews on YouTube once these babies come onstream. From a pricing point of view it looks like they win hands down without sacrificing details and quality - Bachmann's new Class 47 is over 25% more expensive than the Accurascale Deltics. Interesting times in the British Railway modelling market (think I've just gotten a whole lot jealouser).

Tá díoma orm. Hadn't noticed until I looked at the last image (above) of SDL39 #582 that the pilots at each end are drooping. This is not what you'd expect from a €400+ locomotive, will contact ScaleTrains - they have a video on YouTube as regards to fixing this issue. Surprised that it got past quality control. Would have expected that the retailer could have remedied this problem before sending it on to me.

Some images of one of my A55s. IMG_0041.MOV

Below are images of SXT70032 (ScaleTrains ref.).