New to Irish Modelling, in N Gauge

[paulo]

Hello,

 

I’m new to the forum, and pleased to join you.

 

I’m a little over 30 years old, live near Toulouse in France, and stayed a few months in Ireland almost 10 years ago.

And Irish trains are still in my memories.

 

I have in a little part of my mind a plan to make a small irish layout, someday…  But I want to do it in N-gauge, as my layout and all my (French) model are in this gauge.

 

I know there is almost nothing Irish in this gauge, but I think I could get some Graham Farish Mk II or Mk III repainted in Irish Rail Color. It may be a little harder to have a suitable loc for these coaches, but there are some 3d-printing model that could be found.

 

My first question is, which are the most suitable Graham Farish Mk2 or Mk3 that could be used for these repaints. 

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Paul

[murrayec]

Hi Paul

Check out here;- http://www.electrarailwaygraphics.co.uk/

and keep an eye on here;-

This system will allow a number of loco types to be made in RTR and in kits- still early days but plodding along

I also do Gauge N 2 car DART and a Kato 103 conversion DART

Eoin

[MikeO]

Hi Paul

Welcome to the forum. Nice to see another N gauge modeller.

There is a lot of information available that will help you but it does at first take a while to find it.

In my opinion MkIII coaches would be the most easily repainted and perhaps the easiest loco conversion to pull them would be a Dapol Class 66 with a Shapeways body.

For further reading have a look at this thread

In addition look also at this one which although mainly about the building of Connolly Station it has a lot of information and photos of modern Irish locos and railcars all N gauge

Also my own Thread has photos of my attempts at converting coaches and locos.

I hope you eventually get a layout started

[paulo]

Hi all,

Thank you for your answers. I'll have a look at these threads.

 

[paulo]

Hi

So, i took time to read all the post mentioned. Thank you for them.

Mayner’s layout is really nice. I love the Irish atmosphere in it.

 

So, to sum up, I’d say that the easiest ways to get some Irish stock are:

-          For the loco, it seems that the 141 from ECM will be the best option. So I’ll wait.

-          For the railcars, they look rather good with the electra vinyls. It may be an interesting option especially with the new cl 158 from Graham Farish.

-          And for the coaches, which are my main concern, I’d eliminate Cravens from BR Mk 1, as they are pretty different.

But from that side of the Channel, I’d would say that both BR and IE Mk II and III really looks similar. Except, of course, for the generator van. A simple repaint (or vinyl) would give a rather correct model, wouldn’t it?

And MikeO, why do you think the MkIII would be easier than MkII ?

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Edited March 16, 2018 by paulo

[MikeO]

I found that for my Mk11 stock there was such a variation in window and door placement on the donor models that I had to make appropriate computer generated sides or use Electrographic vinyl sides. There were very few that I could just repaint.

Although I do not have any Mk111 coaches yet, the Irish and British coaches are very similar in terms of roof, window and door placement and chassis detailing.

Have a look at these two photos taken from Wikipedia (photos By Dawgz at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10795846)

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by MikeO

[paulo]

Hi,

 

Thank you for your explanations.

Another question is about the short consists used before railcars, on branch lines , such as Limerick Ennis, Ballina Manulla, etc...

On the documents I have, Cravens coaches can be seen. But did Mk2 were used after on these trains? 

 

regards

[MikeO]

Hi Paulo

Hopefully someone will be able to give you a definitive answer. It is not my area of expertise.

Mk11s were introduced about 1972 and lasted until about 2008. The early ones were used on Supertains. Have a look at this thread it may be of some help.

 

MikeO

[Broithe]

There is an N Gauge layout called Ballykeale that turns up on the exhibition circuit now and then - it's at http://www.ngaugeshow.co.uk/ in September.

I can't locate any pictures of it, but it seems to be modern stuff.