Patricks Layout

[patrick]

045 arrives in Glen More with a short beet special. The two H vans at the head or the train are carrying beet pulp, a byproduct of the sugar refining process which was sold as animal feed to beet farmers. In the background behind the signal cabin is a mock up of what will be Glen More coop/creamery who's products will be shipped in insulated containers which will be loaded on to flat wagons using the gantry crane in the yard.

[Noel]

Iconic layout. Love it. I feel at home in the west of Ireland.

[StevieB]

We're between Cork and Waterford, so more correctly the south of Ireland. Other than that I completely agree.

Stephen

[patrick]

With the delivery of two Park Royals and a laminate brake from Irish Freight Models we can now finally run a passenger train where no two vehicles are alike! 

[Robert Shrives]

That looks lovely and I am sure the passengers will be pleased at the choice IFM do produce lovely models so good purchases! The station curve looks good as well - you have been busy in a gentle sort of way and thanks for the update.  I guess the 121 in B+T will feature in a while.

Robert   

[GNRi1959]

Lovely scene Patrick, the well landscaped scene creates an impression of depth, I love it

[Noel]

Stunning scene from one of my my favourite layouts on here. I’ve fallen off my perch in awe. 

[patrick]

7 hours ago, Robert Shrives said:

That looks lovely and I am sure the passengers will be pleased at the choice IFM do produce lovely models so good purchases! The station curve looks good as well - you have been busy in a gentle sort of way and thanks for the update.  I guess the 121 in B+T will feature in a while.

Robert   

I'm not too sure that the passengers are pleased Robert since many of the Cravens have been replaced with older stock! A couple of MM 121's, one each in B&T and Supertrain livery will hopefully be running before the end of the year. Three IRM A class are  also on order. These are great days for Irish railway modellers.

Edited May 16, 2019 by patrick

[jhb171achill]

I’m happy - I loved travelling in some of the old laminate types, though Park Royals were neither quiet, comfortable or warm in winter!

My recollections of the very few times I travelled in side-corridor Bredins were of warm, comfortable coaches....

[David Holman]

Probably said it before, but a classic case of less is more. It is very easy to over do things, but this captures rural Ireland really well.

[Noel]

3 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I’m happy - I loved travelling in some of the old laminate types, though Park Royals were neither quiet, comfortable or warm in winter!

My recollections of the very few times I travelled in side-corridor Bredins were of warm, comfortable coaches....

Me too. As a child many a time I was popped into one of those coaches on trains to the west, sometimes with an Airfix kit to complete before the end of the trip, relatives waiting to collect me at the station. Fond memories and great comfort but a child could sit on a tree stump and find that comfortable. Older backs need comfy seats, which is why I now dislike the 22k seats. The mk3s were so much better, and the CAF Mk4s not bad.

Anyway love Patricks layout.  A grey 121 would look out of this world on it.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Noel

[patrick]

Current project is a SSM brake van kit which has been sitting in a drawer for the past few years. There is still some work to do on it including a new plasticard roof (to replace the current temporary card one) and transfers but I could not resist putting a coupling on it and giving it a run. Also a pic of the other end of the train.

Edited July 21, 2019 by patrick

[patrick]

A 1976 photo in Michael Bakers "Irish Railways Past and Present" shows a  Bell  liner composed of 20 foot flats hauled by a B&T GM with a 30 ton brake van on the rear, a perfect train for the South Waterford line.

Edited July 21, 2019 by patrick

[patrick]

With all the new rolling stock acquired in the last few years and more on the way storage space for surplus rolling stock was needed. Of the eight fiddle yard tracks one was permanently used for storage which limited the operation of the layout. To remedy this two six foot long shelves were installed over the Waterford fiddle yard' The shelves are made from furniture grade 3/4 inch plywood, an off cut which I acquired from a local cabinet shop. I had them rip it into four narrow strips which were glued and screwed to form an L girder. I had them cut two grooves on two of the pieces set apart to give a 16.5mm inset track. This saved having to buy track and it is easier to rail stock on it. A strip of thick black card was then glued to the edge providing a low fence for fall protection and to give a nice finish. The Cork fiddle yard also got a spruced up. 

[popeye]

Looks great. The shelves are a nice way to display the stock.

The way things are going you will need all the space you can get.

BTW is that bird real?

[patrick]

The raven is a Halloween  decoration which found a permanent home above the layout! 

[David Holman]

Behind the scenes is often just as interesting as the scenic side. One of the many impressive things about this layout is the very high standard of presentation. Would that my workshop was this tidy!!

[StevieB]

You continue to inspire with your postings. It all looks lovely in your little piece of ‘Rails through the South’.

Stephen

[jhb171achill]

That rake of laminates... could we see a closer look? Are they Silverfox?

[patrick]

7 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

That rake of laminates... could we see a closer look? Are they Silverfox?

I just recently added two Park Royals and a laminate brake from Irish Freight Model to the roster. Previous to that the entire passenger stock consisted of six MM Cravens, a Dutch van and a Mk1 steam heating van, both from Silver Fox While all era appropriate they made a poor job of representing a typical CIE secondary line passenger train of the early seventies which seldom had two vehicles alike. I am very pleased with the IFM models. They do have some shortcomings but they look the part.  Assembling and painting coach  kits is not a skill that I enjoy or am good at and would be hard pressed to achieve the finish of the IFM models and the saving in time effort and agitation is well worth their cost, at least to me. At present two rakes are on the layout as shown in the photos. 

Also here are a few additional photos since I had the camera out.

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by patrick

[StevieB]

I know you have run dolomite trains in the past but have you got enough room in your fiddle yards to add an oil and magnesite? Then you would be able to replicate all the trains that would have run on your imaginary piece of ‘Rails through the South’.

Stephen

[flange lubricator]

Great layout as always a couple of black and tan 121's will look very at home when they arrive hopefully later this year .

 

[patrick]

On 7/22/2019 at 12:59 PM, StevieB said:

I know you have run dolomite trains in the past but have you got enough room in your fiddle yards to add an oil and magnesite? Then you would be able to replicate all the trains that would have run on your imaginary piece of ‘Rails through the South’.

Stephen

Operating sessions are generally set during daylight hours so only a portion of the daily trains are run. Some trains have their locomotives moved by hand to the other end of their train at the end of the run so they can run back as a new train during an operating session.  We do not have an oil and mag train yet so it is presumed to run at night!  I'm hoping that IRM will get around to producing a modern CIE 20 foot oil wagon soon making my job modelling that train easier!

Edited July 27, 2019 by patrick

[jhb171achill]

Absolutely superb - thanks. If mine exudes half that realistic atmosphere I'll be happy.... Presumably ferts will feature at some stage!

[patrick]

Here is photo ofof the Wexford to Waterford loose coupled goods train with two bogie ferts on the head end so that is an option as well as running unit trains.

[Mayner]

Its looking well Patrick, have you implemented a car routing system?

I am experimenting with JMRI Operations Pro which works well in large scale as its easy to read the car numbers and running one or two way freight/pick up goods dropping off or picking up one or two cars at wayside stations/yards can keep an operating crew occupied for a long time without the need for two much stock & tends to be more interesting than fixed formation passenger/freight trains.

[StevieB]

On 7/21/2019 at 11:56 PM, patrick said:

A 1976 photo in Michael Bakers "Irish Railways Past and Present" shows a  Bell  liner composed of 20 foot flats hauled by a B&T GM with a 30 ton brake van on the rear, a perfect train for the South Waterford line.

I raised the use of brake vans on liner trains some four years ago, since it makes the running of freight trains all the more interesting. In the mid 1970s, we had the last of the traditional loose coupled freights plus BELL liner trains with a brake van but others, like the dolomite and oil/magnesite trains, running without brake vans.

Stephen

Edited July 24, 2019 by StevieB

[Robert Shrives]

Hi  a bit late to the party but to echo comments on the pics and updates - thanks . The van roof in card does have a used battered look to it, sets it apart from a brand new example.

 

Robert    

[patrick]

There has not been much progress on the layout over the summer months but the wagon works has seen some activity. This GSR goods   van was built on a Dapol meat van underframe. The doors are extras which came with the Parkside 12 ton van kit and the buffers are surplus from Leslie's Bulleid open kits on which I fitted heavier ones similar to many of the prototypes. Decals are still required. Here is a link to the photo which inspired the model. https://flickr.com/photos/holycorner/6934140866/in/photostream/ I have more underframes and doors on hand and may attempt a couple more which hopefully I can improve on, but this time in gray with the flying snail emblem.

Edited October 14, 2019 by patrick

[GNRi1959]

Lovely stuff Patrick. The ballasting and tracwork are so realistic and they are set against a simple but very effective backdrop of rural Ireland, well done

[StevieB]

Patrick 

The link throws up photos of a good many covered vans that are highly model-able in this day and age. Keep up the good work.

Stephen

[Galteemore]

Nice piece of work there. 

[DiveController]

On 10/14/2019 at 7:27 AM, StevieB said:

Patrick 

The link throws up photos of a good many covered vans that are highly model-able in this day and age. Keep up the good work.

Stephen

Yes, fantastic album and reference for anyone modeling earlier stock, actually we could do with some more of them rtr too!

[patrick]

045 on caught  an a beet special on the South Waterford line.

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by patrick

[leslie10646]

Greetings, Patrick. I think that's the longest train of my corrugateds I've seen. Who makes the sugar beet models? I have been shown such sold by "Ten Commandments" here in the UK.

Like the storage system. I have the same problem and will investigate your solution further.

Happy New Year.