IRM Latest! All Aboard The Enterprise And Matching Hunslets!

[Tractionman]

14 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

but not the maroon/blue.

aha thanks, that explains things, it's the maroon/blue driving trailer that it looks like I have missed out on -- on pre-orders

 

https://www.accurascale.com/products/nir-mk-2b-bdts-812-nir-maroon-blue

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:43 by Tractionman
link

[Louth]

On 25/2/2026 at 12:05 AM, Mayner said:

There certainly seemed to be a greater interest in railway modelling in the north and east (particularly ex-GN,NCC territory) compared to the rest of the country, possibly because for a long time CIE was considered drab and un-interesting in comparison with the GN and NCC with their colourful (modernish) express locos smart rakes of uniform coaches. I once recall a railfan from Kilkenny speaking about finding the local early 50s railscene drab and boring and eventually modelling the GNR instead. 

NIR demonstrated a lot of courage and confidence in the future of the Enterprise (and the railways) with the early 1980s introduction of its 111-113 locomotives and two MK2 Enterprise carriage sets increasing the frequency of the Enterprise from 4 to 6 return workings daily at a time CIE Enterprise was made up mainly of Craven stock. 

Interestingly Model Irish Railways the main Irish kit producer between the 80s early 2000s was established by a group of Ulster based modellers, while during the last 20 or so years modellers in the "greater' Belfast area have been pro-active in encouraging Worsley Works to produced etched parts for  several of the distinctive railcar classes introduced by the UTA

Odd that there is only one good model railway shop in NI, Modellers Corner in Enniskillen. Nothing in Belfast area unless I'm missing something!

[Galteemore]

Nope. Used to be a few around but has always been niche. Mind you things in GB aren’t always much better. I live close to Swindon - home of the GWR - which has nothing. About to move to west London - again, nothing. On the other hand, we once lived in middle of Buckinghamshire and the tiny village within walking distance had a terrific shop! 

[Horsetan]

6 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

..., we once lived in middle of Buckinghamshire and the tiny village within walking distance had a terrific shop! 

Sounds like Aston Clinton, in which case that would have been Transport Treasures. That's also gone now.

No model railway shops worth the name in London, not since The Engine Shed in Leytonstone shut down following the sudden death of its owner many years ago. 

[Galteemore]

Just now, Horsetan said:

Sounds like Aston Clinton, in which case that would have been Transport Treasures. That's also gone now.

No model railway shops worth the name in London, not since The Engine Shed in Leytonstone shut down following the sudden death of its owner many years ago. 

Indeed it was. Yes, London used to have loads. Jane’s Trains Tooting is the closest in now I think. 

[Horsetan]

29 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Indeed it was. Yes, London used to have loads. Jane’s Trains Tooting is the closest in now I think. 

There still is, I think, a model shop in Northfields, along the way from the Tube station. It's at 217 Northfield Avenue.

I visited a few times when I worked in Ealing. Run by a Polish fella - Witek is his name - and very chaotic - models and boxes all over the place. He only has limited opening hours, as he's actually a teacher/college lecturer. 

Edited Wednesday at 14:25 by Horsetan

[Galteemore]

1 hour ago, Horsetan said:

There still is, I think, a model shop in Northfields, along the way from the Tube station. It's at 217 Northfield Avenue.

I visited a few times when I worked in Ealing. Run by a Polish fella - Witek is his name - and very chaotic - models and boxes all over the place. He only has limited opening hours, as he's actually a teacher/college lecturer. 

Sadly he’s dropped off too….would have been handy for where we’ll be 

 

[Horsetan]

5 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Sadly he’s dropped off too….would have been handy for where we’ll be 

 

That's the end of that, so.

It'll probably become another Turkish barbers / vape shop / mini-mart

[ttc0169]

8 hours ago, Louth said:

Odd that there is only one good model railway shop in NI, Modellers Corner in Enniskillen. Nothing in Belfast area unless I'm missing something!

I visited the modellers corner earlier today-Warren has a great selection of railways and was expecting a fresh delivery of model railways  over the next two days-needless to say I will return on Monday   

Edited Wednesday at 20:56 by ttc0169

[Colonel]

The decline of the local model shop is matched by the decline in what they can offer. With everything ever more ready to run, kits and especially scratch building materials are harder and harder to find. Plus since the demise of Maplin, a local electronics outlet is rare too, so basic stuff like layout wire, switches and connectors all have to come from on line orders.

[Ironroad]

Not as many stores as Maplins but Radionics  are a very good alternative. List of UK stores  https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/services/branch-finder

They also have a store in Rialto Dublin

[Broithe]

33 minutes ago, Ironroad said:

Not as many stores as Maplins but Radionics  are a very good alternative. List of UK stores  https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/services/branch-finder

They also have a store in Rialto Dublin

I still keep a full set of RadioSpares catalogues from the old days - virtually a reference work.

People offer them at remarkable prices on eBay these days...

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, Colonel said:

The decline of the local model shop is matched by the decline in what they can offer. With everything ever more ready to run, kits and especially scratch building materials are harder and harder to find. Plus since the demise of Maplin, a local electronics outlet is rare too, so basic stuff like layout wire, switches and connectors all have to come from on line orders.

Having only very recently joined the ranks of brass kit modellers (I’m only on my 3rd), I’m informed by the more experienced in this field that things like soldering wire, soldering irons, flux (both liquid and paste), brass sheet and fibre pens are also only stocked by a tiny handful of suppliers now, and in many cases nothing like the extent or range as held before. 

Thankfully I’m OK myself as I’m being guided by a lifetime brass modeller who can point me in the right direction, but for those who perhaps live in provincial turns or rural areas, mail order (increasingly very expensive) seems the only way.

[Horsetan]

2 hours ago, Ironroad said:

Not as many stores as Maplins but Radionics  are a very good alternative. List of UK stores  https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/services/branch-finder

They also have a store in Rialto Dublin

One in Watford. Grand.

[Georgeconna]

20 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Sadly he’s dropped off too….would have been handy for where we’ll be 

 

Jeepers The old stomping ground, Use to get off the Tube in Northfields but would only get as far as the Spinning wheel for few bevs and then go back up to the station for last tube to Hounslow and never knew there was a model shop a few doors down!! the Pub now a shop Sadly, Still have some great memories. Used to go to West Drayton and the Aviation Hobby shop to get my stuff, that has gone too. Was not into the trains so much then. The Change of Demographics is stark in London.  Before and after shots of the SW.

Edited yesterday at 12:12 by Georgeconna

[Georgeconna]

This is a vid of it open... Brace yourself.

 

and to bore you the Aviation hobby shop 1992 in glorious VHS quality. Bus ride is free.

 

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Georgeconna said:

This is a vid of it open... Brace yourself.

 

Witek was never particularly well-organised. He did have small waves of newish Bachmann stock (such as ex-SDJR 7Fs) coming in which invariably got placed on top of older items.... I always wondered how he was able to unearth anything for customers.

God only knows what happened to it all after he closed down. 

Edited yesterday at 13:46 by Horsetan

[murrayec]

7 hours ago, Ironroad said:

Not as many stores as Maplins but Radionics  are a very good alternative. List of UK stores  https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/services/branch-finder

They also have a store in Rialto Dublin

Radionics is an absolute rip here in Ireland, I source electronic stuff from Europe in places like  https://www.tme.eu/ie/en/ an order from this place arrives here quicker than an online order from Radionics and at half the price, sometimes even less......

Eoin

 

[jhb171achill]

19 minutes ago, murrayec said:

Radionics is an absolute rip here in Ireland, I source electronic stuff from Europe in places like  https://www.tme.eu/ie/en/ an order from this place arrives here quicker than an online order from Radionics and at half the price, sometimes even less......

Eoin

 

Don’t tell the postal and customs, delboys, brexiteers and tax people that, or they’ll dream up a special range of fees for those things! 
 

Item price £5.40

Tax: £11.28

Brexit surcharge: €21.13

Customs charge: €7

Surcharge: €3

Parcels post: €18.56

€ / £ conversion: €5.70

 

Total: €107.88.

 

[Broithe]

49 minutes ago, murrayec said:

Radionics is an absolute rip here in Ireland, I source electronic stuff from Europe in places like  https://www.tme.eu/ie/en/ an order from this place arrives here quicker than an online order from Radionics and at half the price, sometimes even less......

Eoin

 

RS have never been cheap.

I would never use them for myself, if it was me that was paying, but the old catalogues were a great way of working out what you really wanted and what would do the job.

There was also Farnell, but they didn't have quite the range of products that RS had.

I do miss Maplin, not cheap, either, but not so exorbitant, really, if they had what you needed now.

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Broithe said:

RS have never been cheap.

I would never use them for myself, if it was me that was paying, but the old catalogues were a great way of working out what you really wanted and what would do the job.

There was also Farnell, but they didn't have quite the range of products that RS had.....

In my school days, the school had accounts with both RS and Farnell, so this was an ideal way to acquire LEDs, semiconductors, etc. - our CDT Technology and Physics teachers encouraged it so that we could experiment for ourselves. All our individual orders were added onto the fees bill each term, so it was either our parents or the Government (some of us benefitted from the Government Assisted Places Scheme) who paid!

I still have loads of RS equipment - LEDs, CMOS-logic chips, a big tub of red resin gel flux (works well on electrics, brass and nickel-silver, and isn't as corrosive as phosphoric acid-based fluxes) - that I dip into, 36 years after leaving school....

[Broithe]

Our orders were very carefully scrutinised, but this was done by people who would have struggled to change a light bulb by themselves, so it wasn't impossible that the odd item for a 'Home Office' job may have slipped in by accident - or, so I'm told.

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Broithe said:

Our orders were very carefully scrutinised, but this was done by people who would have struggled to change a light bulb by themselves, so it wasn't impossible that the odd item for a 'Home Office' job may have slipped in by accident - or, so I'm told.

RS in particular were the only source of subminiature square LEDs (1.5mm x 1.5mm) in 1983. I loved going through their massive catalogue which was at least as thick as the contemporary mail order shopping catalogues from Littlewoods, Kay's, Great Universal Stores, etc.

[Mayner]

17 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Having only very recently joined the ranks of brass kit modellers (I’m only on my 3rd), I’m informed by the more experienced in this field that things like soldering wire, soldering irons, flux (both liquid and paste), brass sheet and fibre pens are also only stocked by a tiny handful of suppliers now, and in many cases nothing like the extent or range as held before. 

Thankfully I’m OK myself as I’m being guided by a lifetime brass modeller who can point me in the right direction, but for those who perhaps live in provincial turns or rural areas, mail order (increasingly very expensive) seems the only way.

This thread has gone severely off topic. 

The handful of model railway shops that existed in the Republic were never really geared up to supplying kit/scratch building supplies, in a 1960s Evening Press article on his (Dublin) County Donegal Railways system Sam Carse spoke about obtaining tinplate for his scratchbuilt locos and stock from a supplier in Belfast. Back in the 70s Monch Place (Leinster Models) & Southern Model Railways (posh shop Grafton Arcade) carried a small stock of parts otherwise mainly various brands of Continental RTR, British Trix, Triang-Hornby rtr and plastic wagon kits.

For the past 40 odd years sourced kit/scratch building parts from a handful of suppliers almost exclusively mail order, though usually stocked up at exhibitions while visiting the UK.

Dave Cleal (Mainly Trains (West Somerset) was my 'one stop shop" for parts until he ceased business about 12 years ago, I currently use Wizard Models as my main supplier of parts (reasonable stock), DCC Concepts (solder & odd DCC stuff), direct to AGW (Alan Gibson Works) wheels and wire, handrail knobs, buffers & High Level gearboxes and motors.

I usually order several items on a single order keeping the value above €150 both to keep my unit shipping cost down and avoid the recently introduced duty on "low value imports" that now applies in most Countries.

I guess the way to look at is ordering direct from the UK and paying An Post and Customs charges is still likely to be less expensive than placing an order for a non-stock item with an Irish hobby shop (if they are willing to accept such an order and your prepared as a customer to wait.

Back in the day (about 20 years ago) I remember a New Zealand model railway importer/retailer complaining bitterly about modellers importing American and British outline locos and stock from the UK & the States without having to pay duty and Vat. He recently sold his "Hobby City" business (similar scale to Marks) the new owners quickly ran down the model railway side of the business to focus on RC aircraft and die-cast, business still going strong model railways side reduced to Hornby, some Peco  no longer stocking Bachmann never mind parts like wire solder or flux.

Oh I use a 'homebrew" phosphoric flux, mixed from a phosphoric based rust remover diluted with rain water.

[Galteemore]

As a 7mm scratchbuilder, you’re often like one of those old American wilderness farmers who visits town once a year to stock up on nails and rope. I my case it’s an O gauge trade show - basically like an old fashioned market with small traders selling their wares: stuff you’ll struggle to find in shops nowadays. Next one for me is December - thankfully it will only be half an hour away. What happens when these traders stop selling (as some have of late , most recently Laurie Griffin, which is a huge blow), who knows?!

[Horsetan]

25 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

As a 7mm scratchbuilder, you’re often like one of those old American wilderness farmers who visits town once a year to stock up on nails and rope. I my case it’s an O gauge trade show - basically like an old fashioned market with small traders selling their wares: stuff you’ll struggle to find in shops nowadays. ...

It certainly feels like that even for P4. I attend three shows a year: ExpoEM Bracknell, RailEx Stoke Mandeville, and Scaleforum - and that's mostly for kit and parts buying direct from the traders, rather than online ordering and waiting for the post.

[Mayner]

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

As a 7mm scratchbuilder, you’re often like one of those old American wilderness farmers who visits town once a year to stock up on nails and rope. I my case it’s an O gauge trade show - basically like an old fashioned market with small traders selling their wares: stuff you’ll struggle to find in shops nowadays. Next one for me is December - thankfully it will only be half an hour away. What happens when these traders stop selling (as some have of late , most recently Laurie Griffin, which is a huge blow), who knows?!

Here in the Waikato I don't even get to town about twice a year . 

Its twelve years since I attended a 'convention' our equivalent of Gauge O Guild/Scaleforum/NMRA convention rolled into one. Standard of modelling  at conventions and exhibitions tends to be high (locos, stock, structures and scenery) , but few traders stocking scratch/kit building supplies of use to British outline 4 or 7mm modelling. (stock mainly British & American outline and second hand rtr

The majority of Kiwi modellers tend to brew their own or import parts/components from specialist suppliers in the UK or the States just like when I lived in Ireland over twenty odd years ago. 

The absence of trade support led Kiwi modellers to develop their own scale & gauges to model the NZR 3'6" gauge using scratchbuilding techniques and later to develop their own kits and manufacturing capability, these days shifting from conventional to laser cutting, 3D modelling and 3D printing to produce composite 3d printed and etched models.

Neil Ward a local modeller gave a persentation on the potential of 3D modelling at an Auckland convention almost 20 years ago, before going on to produce S and 9mm scale NZR stock and structures, his example inspired me to have a go with Irish outline stock and structures. https://newzealandrailwaymodels.blogspot.com/2016/06/124-50ft-car-first-class-bpx25175-neil.html

I guess where there is a will theres a way!

Going back to the origonal topic inspired by my first visit to Amiens St, I was sorely tempted by a Hunslet & coaches in the original maroon and blue scheme, but decided to pass go as I get more enjoyment out of building/assembling a model than acquiring a rtr model and storing it away.

[jhb171achill]

Was curious about this. 

Like most of us, I’ve an attic full of stuff I’ll never use, and a head full of undeveloped ideas. 

Amongst my interests are South African and Indonesian steam, dating back to visits to those places (chasing operational steam) in the late 1970s. 

Some years ago I considered a small portable shunting / terminus layout using 12mm track, but 4mm scale, which seems to be what many South African modellers use. I became aware during investigation options that some Brazilian modellers use that too, to represent their narrow gauge. 

But I was disappointed to find out that many South African modellers (AND Indonesian ones - yes, they’ve a few, but seemingly all modern image) use 00 / H0 track to represent 3’6” gauge. 

If 00 track looks odd for 5’3”, it looks ten times worse trying to represent 3’6”, especially if (as is often the case) what’s running on it is to H0 scale rather than 00.

I can see why they use it, of course - or feel they’ve little option but to use it. Same as us here with 00 track instead of 21mm. 

So; just out of curiosity, what is the norm “down under” to represent NZ or Aussie narrow gauge?