Clogher Valley Project

[David Holman]

19 hours ago, Angus said:

It must have been fun playing with a train set of that quality Galteemore.

Not Jealous at all, not one bit, not even a little bit....honest.....

A bit bigger than your stuff, Angus, though we did have the delightful 2mmFS 'Freshwater' layout [IOW] next door. Always impressed by how well these tiny models run.

[David Holman]

 Fintonagh makes its last appearance for a while this Saturday at the Letchworth Model Show, which is actually at the Priory School, Bedford Road, Hitchin. 

 Hopefully, it will reappear in two or three years time, but made over with a Donegal/Swilly theme.

[David Holman]

 It was a nice day at the show on Saturday, though the less said about the weather on the drive home the better!

 Fintonagh proved to be its usual reliable self, though I did have to fix a broken wire on Friday. The only issue was three wagons needing new knuckle springs on their Kadee couplers, though I also had to fend off several requests for further shows, but even before its debut in October, Northport Quay is also getting invites and I can' do both...

 Looking back through my journals [I've always kept an informal diary of my modelling activities], Fintonagh has done 23 shows in five years [two of those limited by Covid], covering just under 5000 miles in the process. The longest trip was Cultra last November - a 1000 mile round trip, but Fintonagh has also been south to the likes of Bexhill and Eastleigh, west to Nailsea and north to Birmingham and Burton.

 Once NPQ has settled down, the aim is to build more Swilly and Donegal stock, then give Fintonagh a small make over and tidy up, so hopefully there will be plenty more outings in the future.

[David Holman]

 Having said that the Letchworth show would be Fintonagh's last in its current form, got an invite to go back to the Eastleigh narrow gauge show at the end of April, so have been getting stuff out to make sure all is still working, after an eight month layoff. The Barclay tank and Swilly/Donegal stock have been trundled around, but not the Clogher Valley. And just as well, because a couple of strange things seem to have happened.

 First was the sight of two curious patches on the road behind the station. At first it looked like damp, but happily that was quickly ruled out and soon realised the culprit was my Cogi Classic bus. When I first bought it as a model for one of the Swilly's fleet, I filed 'flats' on all four tyres: this is a simple trick that makes any tired model sit better. The bus has spent several weeks sitting behind Fintonagh station and it turns out those filed tyres have been [somehow] leaking a greasy substance into the road surface.

 Have proved this by placing the bus on a piece of thin card for a couple of days and, hey presto, small grease marks have started to appear, as shown below. Never come across this before though!

 Haven't decided what to do about the road surface yet, but am thinking it might be an idea to seal the flat spots on the tyres before it goes back on the layout. Won't be there at Eastleigh mind, because the bus was built after my Clogher Valley late 1930s timeline.

 Stock mostly proved alright, apart from  two Kadee couplings needing attention, until I got to Railcar No1 that is. Running was decidedly lumpy, indeed it was struggling just to haul itself along and was really noisy in reverse. Tried it on the bench with my old H&M Clipper, with the same result, so decided to remove the body work and have a look at the chassis.

 Loosening the main gear wheel showed the rods were still moving freely, but in doing this noticed the motor [a Mashima 1626] was decidedly hot. Not good. So, decided to to strip down the whole chassis, including un soldering the motor leads and removing the motor from the gearbox. On its own, the motor is vibrating far too much for my liking and quickly gets warm even under a light load.

 Unfortunately, Mashimas haven't been available for some time and alternatives seem very thin on the ground with nothing available from either Roxy or Wizard. Branchlines might be an option, especially as it is one of their gearboxes, but I don't have an up to date catalogue and they must be one of the few traders still without an an on line site. The only option seemed to be High Level, so a new motor gearbox, of similar size has been ordered from them. The Railcar, meanwhile, remains in bits as shown below.

[Andy Cundick]

I'll see you there though oddly i got asked to take one of my EM layouts Dinas Mawddwy,still as that nice Mr Brunel regarded 7' as standard gauge it sort of makes sense,Andy

[David Holman]

Be good to see you. I offered them Northport Quay as an alternative, but not narrow enough!

[Tullygrainey]

I suppose even Mashimas give up the ghost eventually. Good luck with the rebuild David. The High Level motor & gearbox combination should be a good substitute.

[Galteemore]

Well what a pleasure that was yesterday - an afternoon at Narrow Gauge South, seeing @David Holmanand also @Andy Cundickin operation on his very fine Welsh NG (the 4’8.5” kind). Had a pleasant few hours trying not to mangle the operating sequence on Fintonagh. And here’s what may be the last train to leave Fintonagh….note that the auctioneer Mr Phair-Price has already moved in with his ladder to measure up for the sale catalogue…..

Edited April 28 by Galteemore

[David Holman]

Thank you kind sir! Always a pleasure.

[David Holman]

West Donegal Railways

 A recent comment about the fate of other CVR stock following the 'closure' of Fintonagh has set me thinking. Railcar, Unit and Tractor are all going to its new incarnation as a Donegal/Swilly branch from Letterkenny to Ramelton & likewise some of the wagons - but what of the other stuff? Well, the two bogie coaches have been bought by a friend for his layout, but have been mulling over what to do with the Sharp Stewart 0-4-2Ts. Prefer to keep them, but how might they be used?

 Regular readers of my ramblings will know that I am not averse to major changes of railway history, while for Belmullet, I even suggested that a small alteration in sea levels after the last ice age would make the peninsula into an island. Works for me, anyway...

 Baldrick's latest cunning plan came from a browse through Gordon Gravett's book on the Reseau Breton, a metre gauge system in Brittany. Now, this area has much in common with parts of Ireland & the map below shows significant railway development across the area, with new lines being built right up to the First World War.

I've also been re reading Martin Bairstow's series of five books covering Irish Railways & the two started the germ of an idea:

• Ramelton has a population of over 2000 today, while the neighbouring villages of Milford and Rathmullan come in at 1000 and 500 respectively.
• At the end of the 19th century places like this were often fair game for a narrow gauge line - Schull & Skibbereen for example, so why not have a roadside tramway linking the three?
• Adjust the effects of the Potato Famine and subsequent migrations to be less dramatic [nothing compared to changing the outcome of the Ice Age!] and there is every chance of a larger population remaining in the area & hence wanting a railway.

 So, what might this do to Fintonagh? Not a lot, as it happens. The plan below shows how things might alter, with just a new section of back scene and a couple of new buildings - highlighted in green. For the tramway, all I'm thinking is so shorten the front siding to make way for an extended loading dock to become a bay.

 Stock wise, I wouldn't want much & it would be a case of either getting another Branchlines CVR bogie kit, or use the Alphagraphix card kits of the Schull & Skibbereen four wheel coaches as a starting point.

 The new fiddle yard has five roads, with two of these allocated to my new Lough Swilly stock. The third will be for the Donegal Railcars [10 & 8], with the fourth for the Unit & a light goods train. The fifth will therefore hold the Milford & Rathmullan tram, plus Phoenix [acting as station pilot] and a few wagons.

 As is my wont, the main goods yard is deemed to be off scene, via the track exiting at the front of the layout. This will also be the exit for the Tram, while Donegal and Swilly trains will use the rear exit. Should make for a busy scene & I'll certainly need to add a couple of isolating sections to enable two trains to be on scene at once, but at the moment, it is feeling like a neat way to use the two CVR locos and a a bit more of existing stock. An opportunity to invent a history of the Tramway, plus liveries & so on too - more of which anon. Assuming I don't come up with another harebrained scheme in the meantime that is.

 

 

[Tullygrainey]

Brilliant! I love the blending of fact and believable fiction to create a coherent system. Rewritten history or not, it's still more logical than my scattergun approach - "I think I'll build... hmmm... that" (points finger at random photograph of locomotive).

I'll enjoy watching this take shape David. Best of luck with it.

[Colin R]

Hi David, I like this a lot, I have been giving this area some though as well. I would also suggest that the lighthouse at Arryheernabin could also be used as an excuse for a tramway with a population of around 700+ as well as a small fishing port that catches  pollack, cod, ray, gurnard, whiting, ling, thornback ray and many other varieties of flat fish.  

Edited June 16 by Colin R

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Great plan.

[Brack]

Not a bad plan, notwithstanding an obvious error at the lower right, where you've inexplicably forgotten to mention the Donegal baltic tank and swilly 484t...

[David Holman]

Apart from the size of the layout itself [just 2m x 0.5m], the turntable is only big enough for the Barclay  and Kerr Stuart tanks; likewise Railcar 10. Would that I had the space for more!

[David Holman]

Further on line research suggests that the unlikely named Downings would make a better destination for my tramway.

 Beyond Carrigart, its safe harbour once had a significant herring fleet and given that Burtonport still only has a population of under 400 today, makes me think it could have been at least as viable. Fish traffic would have decreased significantly into the 20th century, but the Emergency and likely poor roads (as per the Burtonport line) should have ensured survival until the late 1940s.

 Which is enough for my bit of fiction. The idea of Ramelton being served by three different railways - Swilly, Donegal and tramway - is admittedly more than a bit contrived, but the different liveries would make for a colourful scene. By the 1940s, don't suppose any of the lines would be offering more than two or three trains a day, but make it market or Fair day and a timetable adapted from actual Swilly and Donegal timings at Letterkenny could make for a decent sequence.

[Colin R]

David something else to consider and that would have been if the CDR and the Swilly had of mergered as was outlined in the 1920's th possiblities also become endless, you could also suggest that when the NCC lines closed in the 1930's the management decided to purchase one or two of the S class locos giving you an S or S1 2-4-2T loco or even the S2 2-4-4T Giant.

If you want more inspiration try and look out for a book called 'the old sinner' its about the swilly line and all the proposals that where made.  

[David Holman]

Thanks Colin. Have indeed wondered about that possible amalgamation, not least because of how drab the Swilly coaches looked compared to the Donegal's. Locos another matter, especially the very fine dark green. Suspect the Donegal would have rapidly dieselised things, with railcars taking over much of the passenger work, as per their own system. Equally, it is still  under consideration, though the option of having a range of liveries remains attractive - especially with a yet to be decided one for the tramway.

[Irishswissernie]

If the Tramway was an independent undertaking then it would have been situated solely in Eire and should have become part of the Great Southern. They could then have transferred stock from the Cork & Muskerry, Tralee & Dingle etc to keep services running.

[Colin R]

 It is a pity that you could not find a reason to have at least one Swilly coach in it early liver of brown lower panels with salmon pink upper panels (similar to the old LSWR but with a dull red end panels, must have looked great in the day, there again some of the other donegal liverys where not bad either such as an all over Indian red lined out in Peacock blue, then there was the dark cream upper panels with black lower panels, or how about Plum and cream livery lined out in signal red? then you had the all over black lined out in White and then finally the well known red and cream livery that we all know about today 

[David Holman]

Back dating, to cover more than one period, is always an option, once the 1940s are covered and I do like the Donegal 4-6-0Ts!