Four Masters Bridge, Glengarriff & other former Irish models/layouts

jhb171achill · August 23, 2018

I like the realistically rough ground surface. All too often we see perfect layouts with mirror-smooth goods yards and approach roads....!

Irishswissernie · August 24, 2018

10 hours ago, GNRi1959 said:

Did you apply the paint before ballasting and was it handprinted with brush?

A tedious job but with great results.

The ballast is Gaugemaster GM200 ballast underlay which you have to lay under the track as you lay the track down. Its is far less messy than trying to ballast the track with loose ballast/glue etc. You have to cut the strip when laying it under points but its quite easy after a bit of practice. The rails were painted after the ballasted track was laid.

irishthump · August 24, 2018

2 hours ago, Irishswissernie said:

The ballast is Gaugemaster GM200 ballast underlay which you have to lay under the track as you lay the track down. Its is far less messy than trying to ballast the track with loose ballast/glue etc. You have to cut the strip when laying it under points but its quite easy after a bit of practice. The rails were painted after the ballasted track was laid.

Looks fantastic! Very hard to tell it's not regular ballast.

The weathering job on those cement bubbles is great too. What techniques did you use on them?

Irishswissernie · August 24, 2018

I prefer to use it, as a.) Its easy to lay, has a 'built in' 'shoulder' , b.) Using loose ballast plus PVA or similar adhesive; this tends to get in the points etc and affects the electrical contacts, and most importantly c.) doesn't fall off when moving boards or even more importantly falls off on the carpet thereby causing a hiatus in marital harmony!

The weathered bubbles are a marriage between the Dapol Prestwin chassis and my son Alan's designed 3D printed Shapeways Bubble mouldings. He built and weathered them and amongst the weathering material was some toothpaste! One or two developed an interesting green mould on this over the years.

Yesterday I took the plunge and started similar heavy weathering (less toothpaste) on an IRM bubble. I think I hear cries of 'Sacrilege' but that's the way I remember them.

irishthump · August 24, 2018

20 minutes ago, Irishswissernie said:

I prefer to use it, as a.) Its easy to lay, has a 'built in' 'shoulder' , b.) Using loose ballast plus PVA or similar adhesive; this tends to get in the points etc and affects the electrical contacts, and most importantly c.) doesn't fall off when moving boards or even more importantly falls off on the carpet thereby causing a hiatus in marital harmony!

Certainly seems a viable alternative. I'm about to start ballasting my own layout and I'm dreading it!

21 minutes ago, Irishswissernie said:

The weathered bubbles are a marriage between the Dapol Prestwin chassis and my son Alan's designed 3D printed Shapeways Bubble mouldings. He built and weathered them and amongst the weathering material was some toothpaste! One or two developed an interesting green mould on this over the years.

Yesterday I took the plunge and started similar heavy weathering (less toothpaste) on an IRM bubble. I think I hear cries of 'Sacrilege' but that's the way I remember them.

The toothpaste is a clever idea! I've been experimenting with various techniques including mixing talcum powder and pva or varnish to simulate cement dust. I've been doing this with old Hornby tank wagons, I want to have the method right before I touch my lovely new bubbles...

Irishswissernie · August 29, 2018

On my own today for a few hours so a bit of progress.

The time of year is supposed to be Autumn so I can have a variety of greens and browns. The trees are heather which has been lying in the loft for some 6 years and whilst it is quite brittle Haltwhistle and the surrounding countryside's main contribution to nature can easily be re-plenished. It is probably somewhat over-scale.

The box needs an interior.

Irishswissernie · September 12, 2018

A bit more progress. All the ground now has some paintwork done .

Foliage now started but I have discovered that I don't seem to have any 'turf' flocking. I am off to the Welsh Highland Gala tomorrow so hopefully will be able to pick some up then.

Ernie

banntry · September 13, 2018

Looking really good/

JasonB · September 13, 2018

Fantastic work all-round. Has that rough look to it, and that's meant as a compliment. The area looks used and slightly neglected which gives it that more of a realistic appearance. Enjoying watching this progress.

Noel · September 13, 2018

Very very nice. It reeks of atmosphere.

Glenderg · September 13, 2018

Love the finish to the shed fascia, captures the era and location superbly.

Irishswissernie · September 21, 2018

Not Glengarriff! but another old modelling photo which might be of interest I have just come across . 7mm O gauge PP & JT outside shed based on Enniskillen GNRI shed . Most of the stone/brick work on the shed front was made from individual pieces of plastikard. I must have had more time in those days - working full time and with 5 bairns, 2 dogs, rabbit , Guinea pigs, ferrets and rats and the wife to keep amused! (ER not necessarily in that order- nearly shot myself in the foot!)

Ernie

DiveController · September 21, 2018

Jeez! Really nice. Life is busier, that's for sure and not necessarily a good thing, I'm afraid. Lovely modeling. Irish steam is definitely underrepresented. Is the layout still extant?

Irishswissernie · September 21, 2018

The layout or 8ft x 2ft test track cum display was dismantled many years ago as other projects and growing children needed the space. Here is another view; the locos as previously mentioned have all moved on.

Ernie

irishrail201 · October 13, 2018

Lovely narrow gauge scenes!

Your model of 4 and 6 look like T&D Kerr Stuart number 4 or 4T, where did you get this?!

Irishswissernie · October 14, 2018

11 hours ago, irishrail201 said:

Lovely narrow gauge scenes!

Your model of 4 and 6 look like T&D Kerr Stuart number 4 or 4T, where did you get this?!

They were freelance scratch-built, mainly plastikard on Bachmann GWR mogul or Manor chassis, based on the Dingle Kerr Stuart plans. The boiler was some plastic plumbing pipe, smoke box, a button from a charity shop, Cab windows- brass marine modelling port holes.

Chimneys/domes were 7mm Drummond style white metal but I can't remember the manufacturer. Slaters hand rail knobs.

I think I built about 20 narrow gauge locos in this way; I needed perhaps 10 for the layout but I used to take completed models along to various model railway shows and was usually persuaded to sell them. The same thing happened when I took along coaches, wagons etc.

When I built stock I always found that something wasn't quite right in my eyes so I was usually quite happy to part with it and try again!

My main regret is that we didn't take more photographs.

Ernie

Edited October 14, 2018 by Irishswissernie

David Holman · October 14, 2018

Nice work, Ernie. Reminds me of stuff I did in much the same way and nicely illustrates what can be so enjoyable about doing 7mm NG.

Irishswissernie · December 6, 2018

Progress has been slow over the Summer and Autumn but I have started basic scenic work on the remaining station board. The arrival of my Tara rake today was an excuse to take some photos and actually run a train.

JasonB · December 6, 2018

Looks great, like the idea for the shed.

Irishswissernie · January 17, 2019

With my newly acquired skills? I have now uploaded the video of the 7mm narrow gauge Sligo & Donegal Junction Rly from October 2000

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/31832746537/in/dateposted/

Ernie

Irishswissernie · April 22, 2019

I've managed to do a bit more work on Glengarriff with landscaping of the track bed and have also built the bridge to disguise the left hand exit to the fiddle yard.

Ernie

Irishswissernie · August 13, 2019

Not much progress to report on Glengarriff due to the number of negatives etc I have been asked to catalogue plus Madame being on school holidays .

I also keep getting sidetracked. Acquired this negative recently of ex GNRI 154 at the ex DN&GR /GNR quay at Dundalk 7 August 1959 which would make a lovely small port layout/diorama. Link to the whole photo on flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/48501689222/in/dateposted-public/

This is a blow up of the loco plus the interesting simple hopper which I imagine was used to load coal off the ship into wagons

Ernie

Edited August 13, 2019 by Irishswissernie

PorkyP · August 13, 2019

What a great picture, you can just imagine the lads asking if they can come up and 'cab it' !

Mayner · August 13, 2019

Interesting the wooden bodied coal wagons in the background, possibly ex-East Downshire Steam Ship Company, the quay line was served by a connection off the Greenore line that appears to have continued in use into the 1960s

Dundalk Harbour Commissioners bought the East Downshire fleet of coal wagons following the closure of the Belfast and County Down main line, apparently a GNR(I) 4-4-0 ran light over the Newcastle-Dundrum section of the line to recover the wagons.

https://hmrs.org.uk/photographs/east-downshire-steam-ship-dundrum-8t-coal-wagon-no-8-5-apos-3-gauge-built-by-s-j-claye-ca1875.html.

Irishswissernie · December 14, 2019

New traffic at Glengarriff!

jhb171achill · December 14, 2019

The wagons look GNR to me - the East Downshire ones were, I think, somewhat shorter height.

Great photo!

Mayner · December 14, 2019

1 hour ago, jhb171achill said:

The wagons look GNR to me - the East Downshire ones were, I think, somewhat shorter height.

Great photo!

Dundalk Quay Ex GNRI Class QG 154 7Aug59 img547

1st wagon in cut appears to be a 3 plank possibly East Downshire with cupboard doors second a standard GNR open.

Nice scene of a bygone era with kids playing with the traffic.

Galteemore · December 15, 2019

Lovely pic - I think they were asking the crew for a cab ride by the looks of it. Wonderful foreground detail too of how the road blends into the railway via wooden sleepers and ash ballast.

jhb171achill · December 15, 2019

15 hours ago, Mayner said:

1st wagon in cut appears to be a 3 plank possibly East Downshire with cupboard doors second a standard GNR open.

Nice scene of a bygone era with kids playing with the traffic.

That gives a much better view of the wagons. From camera, the first is obviously a standard CIE corrugated open, then what you suggest, almost certainly a Downshire one (wonder when they were scrapped?) and beyond it some sort of standard wooden-bodied open - could be CIE but probably ex-GNR.

David Holman · December 17, 2019

Slightly unusual that the wooden wagon is a three plank? My impression is that Irish opens tended to have an even number of planks, while in Britain, they were mostly odd - 1, 3, 5, 7.

Irishswissernie · February 10, 2020

Fertiliser wagons arrived today. Wagons are superb and run very smoothly. I removed all the loads from 1 wagon but won't be attempting the single pallets again as my eyes and arthritis are not up to it.

Unfortunately I had also cremated a pan of potatoes whilst I was up in the loft for an hour +, this will no doubt be followed by a grilling + roasting tonight when someone gets in from her job. Cookery! BAH!!!

Ernie