Clogherhead - A GNR(I) Seaside Terminus

[Patrick Davey]

Base coat applied: this is always a nice stage, when it all blends together. 

 

Another electrical test will follow later to make sure there’s no paint fouling the turnout blades.  I have also learnt that I am petrified of double slips.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Patrick Davey

[Patrick Davey]

After a successful electrical test, I proceeded with the dry brushing of grey and white to bring out the detail on the sleepers, and to give the neglected bleached effect.  Happy enough with the result, will begin rusting the rails tomorrow or as soon as my rust pen arrives! 

Edited July 12, 2023 by Patrick Davey

[Tullygrainey]

This is all shaping up very nicely Patrick. The sleepers look great. I'm enjoying watching this one take shape.

* On active railway lines, the movement of trains throws up dirt etc which gives the sides of the rails a muddy brown colour

* On lesser used lines, the lack of movement of trains allows the sides of the rails to assume the rusty colour

Well observed. One to remember. Thanks for that.

Alan

[Patrick Davey]

1 minute ago, Tullygrainey said:

This is all shaping up very nicely Patrick. The sleepers look great. I'm enjoying watching this one take shape.

* On active railway lines, the movement of trains throws up dirt etc which gives the sides of the rails a muddy brown colour

* On lesser used lines, the lack of movement of trains allows the sides of the rails to assume the rusty colour

Well observed. One to remember. Thanks for that.

Alan

Thanks Alan - I just need to dream up some insane reason to justify a visit by BCDR No 29 to the County Louth coast!

[Tullygrainey]

I have every confidence in you

[Patrick Davey]

48 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said:

I have every confidence in you

I think No. 29 was primarily a shunter?  As such it may not have been capable of much speed hence the low likelihood of her taking an excursion somewhere but I'll get thinking anyway!

Edit: There could always be an 'engine exchange'.........maybe the GNR was thinking about buying a 0-6-4t shunter and asked the BCDR to trial their one on some GNR branches.......

Edited July 12, 2023 by Patrick Davey

[Galteemore]

29 would have been largely redundant by late 50s. No reason why UTA wouldn’t have sold her on to CIE or GNRB. After all, the GN had long experience of how good BP 0-6-4Ts could be, having given heavy overhauls to those from Ireland’s premier railway…. Of course, they could simply have done a swap - in its rush to dieselise the Co Down section, the UTA swapped 29 for the MAK diesel….. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Galteemore

[Tullygrainey]

Better get the satnav fitted to No 29. 
 

PS: I’m not changing the livery!

[Patrick Davey]

The most important tool in the toolbox is......patience.....

I began wiring the layout yesterday (for DCC, so more feeds than a newborn baby) then suddenly the solder started to huff with me and not work, leaving me with only some of the feeds attached.  It was the very end of the solder roll so I'm wondering does the composition of it change towards the end....probably not..... anyway I was left with an unfinished job (grrrrr) and no solder plus a room echoing to a chorus of colourful words so I did something I never do.... I left it - that was quite radical for me as I usually try to plough on and end up making things worse.

Anyway 24hrs later, a calmer me picked up more solder and right enough, I got the job finished and all is well!  The layout is now fully wired (won't win any tidy wiring awards though) and A3r seemed to enjoy exploring her new playground:

Testing was carried out with a DC controller.

I'm very pleased with the track as it's all quite old and most of the turnouts were taken up from an earlier layout, which is always a risky thing to do, but with the price of 5 large radius Peco turnouts plus a double slip being somewhere close to £150.00 that was definitely a bit of a saving!  I'm still scared of the double slip though.

Long work day tomorrow then hopefully I can get the track rusted on Sunday evening:

Then it's the foliage and chinchilla dust for ballast.  Then..... the exciting world of DCC programming awaits!!

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Patrick Davey

[jhb171achill]

So there's the story. The UTA take it over, but see no future for it, so to start with they do not repaint it into UTA livery. Meanwhile, the GNR, which in reality was taking more and more to do with the BCDR before its absorbtion into the UTA, are aware that this loco is up for grabs. It ends up being borrowed; meantime the GNR becomes part of CIE. They transfer it to the seaside terminus for one season, as its boiler is declared to be in good condition.

And thus, it ends up appearing at Brookh....sorry, Northside Dublin Seaside!

 

(Footnote: it was seen shunting at Brookhall also, in May 1957....)

[Tullygrainey]

Brilliant!!

[Patrick Davey]

Work on the track continues - has anyone ever used one of these:

A nice idea but not a successful experience for me.  The applicator nib started to fray almost immediately after contact with the moulded chairs on the sleepers and after a few lengths of track it became unusable.  The actual paint colour was very realistic though so I ended up extracting this and applying it with a brush!

Have moved on to using the chinchilla dust to represent sand, and for the first time I used a - cheap - static grass applicator to add some vegetation which will hopefully look like it's growing up through the 'sand'.

 

 

 

[Broithe]

2 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

A nice idea but not a successful experience for me.  The applicator nib started to fray almost immediately after contact with the moulded chairs on the sleepers and after a few lengths of track it became unusable.  The actual paint colour was very realistic though so I ended up extracting this and applying it with a brush!

I think it has its uses, but not, as you say, for large-scale coverage.

For things like small jobs and covering the tops of guard rails, etc., after you've cleaned the track which wouldn't be polished by traffic.

[patrick]

14 minutes ago, Broithe said:

I think it has its uses, but not, as you say, for large-scale coverage.

For things like small jobs and covering the tops of guard rails, etc., after you've cleaned the track which wouldn't be polished by traffic.

Not all these weathering markers are created equal. All the track on the South Waterford Line has been painted using them and In my experience the Woodland Scenics ones are far better quality. 

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Have moved on to using the chinchilla dust to represent sand, and for the first time I used a - cheap - static grass applicator to add some vegetation which will hopefully look like it's growing up through the 'sand'.

 

And no chinchillas were harmed in the making of this post, no doubt.............

[Patrick Davey]

So I took my first tentative steps into the exciting world of DCC today, with mixed results....... on the plus side, the lights and particularly the sounds are superb and very enjoyable to experiment with:

 

However the DCC setup identified a potential short circuit at a crossover, so as a precaution I have ordered replacement turnouts.

And.....there was a disaster, a careless one on my part - see separate post for details.

And special thanks to Alan (Tullygrainey) for his assistance today.

 

 

[Patrick Davey]

The permanent way department have been busy overnight, installing a new crossover at Clogherhead, the previous one had a short circuit which was throwing out some dubious sounding high pitched electronic noises.  Anyway there are new strange noises to be heard today as Crossley-chipped A46 tests out the new crossover which seems to be functioning without the aforementioned dubious noises.

Jeepers those Crossley engines must have made quite a racket!

[Patrick Davey]

I have been experimenting with chinchilla dust on this build, hoping it would closely represent sand for a coastal location.  Am thinking it is just looking like ordinary ballast though?
Very happy with the overall appearance though. 

[Sean]

definitely looks sandy to me

 

[Northroader]

To me, TBH, it looks too pale grey. In the past I’ve used some sand my wife gets from a garden centre for her potting, rather than sea sand or builders sand.

(in the picture, it’s mixed with some ballast from finer scales than 7mm.)

Edited July 26, 2023 by Northroader

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Definitely too pale in colour for it's purpose Patrick, otherwise it's a lovely piece of work.

[Noel]

25 minutes ago, Gabhal Luimnigh said:

Definitely too pale in colour for it's purpose Patrick, otherwise it's a lovely piece of work.

Agree lovely work. A light overspray of Rail Match sleeper grime over the laid track and ballast using an airbrush can nicely weather both the track and the ballast material making it all blend.

[Patrick Davey]

OK just worked out what happened here - this batch of chinchilla was actually part of a batch I coloured slightly darker for use as a platform surface!!!  I have just found the rest of it and it's really sandy looking 

[Broithe]

I had a chinchilla called Sandy, he escaped, and I often wondered what happened to him.

Devastated.

[Patrick Davey]

Am really enjoying exploring the digital functions of the re-engined A class - tonight I (by accident) found the cab lights and main headlight (how did the originals not have these fitted!) as well as the station announcements - nicely done but probably not something I will be able to make use of!

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Beautiful locomotive 

[Patrick Davey]

 

A3r casts her headlights over the newly laid track at Clogherhead  
 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Lovely 

[JasonB]

On 28/7/2023 at 9:33 PM, Patrick Davey said:

A3r casts her headlights over the newly laid track at Clogherhead  
 

Not my cup of tea from an era or livery point of view. But there's no denying that is very, very tasty. 

[jhb171achill]

Wow!! That was quick!

 

[irishrailways52]

verry good idea with the corrugated iron on windows. 

[Patrick Davey]

Orchestral manoeuvres or a cacophony of sound…….?

1. A class - Crossley

2. 121 class

3. A class - EMD

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Patrick Davey

[Tullygrainey]

Music to the ears of any diesel fan. And maybe a few steam buffs too? Any plans for a quartet piece Patrick?

[Patrick Davey]

1 hour ago, Tullygrainey said:

Music to the ears of any diesel fan. And maybe a few steam buffs too? Any plans for a quartet piece Patrick?

Funny you should mention it Alan……..

[Patrick Davey]

In the late 1950s, the signal cabin at Clogherhead was closed as a cost-cutting measure, as traffic started to decline.  The point rodding was disconnected and individual levers were provided for each turnout, along with a small two-lever ground frame for the double slip.  Traffic didn’t actually decline all that much and the decision to close the cabin was very much regretted. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Patrick Davey