Gort Station

[Georgeconna]

Only one song for that Back Scene  Shenanigans

 

 

[WRENNEIRE]

Lockdown has not been kind to you George

[David Holman]

On my Arigna Town layout, I got told off for having Freisian cows, as they weren't seen in the 1950s. Guess by dieselisation they would be alright?

[minister_for_hardship]

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

On my Arigna Town layout, I got told off for having Freisian cows, as they weren't seen in the 1950s. Guess by dieselisation they would be alright?

I would say they would have been a rarity until Ireland had joined the then EEC and farmers got Brussels money to improve their farms and acquire fancy new breeds.

[Mayner]

 

Improved trading relations with the UK culminating in the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement brought prosperity to rural Ireland in the 60s.

My parents were surprised by the wealth of our "country cousins' when invited to weddings in County Galway during the 60s, wads of money was being splashed around like snuff at a wake, the women were dressed in the best Dublin & London fashion and the men driving new cars usually Mercedes, my mother and father felt like the poor city cousins instead!

Most had shifted from mixed farming to dry stock which needed very little looking after, those with smaller farms usually had a part time job often driving for the local builders or agricultural merchant, most families were building a new modern streamlined bungalow to replace the old farmhouse.

You can't go wrong with small black or brown Dexter cattle bred on farms in the West and shipped eastwards by rail for fattening in Meath or Kildare. Pilot loco from Galway working a short special to Athenry to connect with a main line goods from the smaller fairs or several A Class hauled specials with empty stock from Mullingar on the evening before the fair working the specials through to the North Wall for the bigger cattle fairs. 

 

[Galteemore]

What a brilliant movie, John. How much it brings back!! My grandparents had Charolais cattle that I recall - that was N Leitrim in the early 70s.

[Noel]

The fertiliser seems to be working, there be growth  Gap beside line ready for plate layers hut.

[Noel]

Plate layers hut installed

Edited July 12, 2021 by Noel
lexdyia strikes again

[Galteemore]

Nice Noel, are you going to add a bit of ballast etc between the door and the cess to simulate a pathway?

[Georgeconna]

Nice one, the Little end bit from the Airfix Engine Shed repurposed!

 

[Noel]

2 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Nice Noel, are you going to add a bit of ballast etc between the door and the cess to simulate a pathway?

Don't think so, have left a decent pair of wellington boots inside the shed instead . . . and ski poles  

 

[Noel]

Tractor in a field. This old tractor arrived from IRM's online store this morning. Put it straight in one of the fields.

[Noel]

On 12/7/2021 at 7:40 PM, Georgeconna said:

Nice one, the Little end bit from the Airfix Engine Shed repurposed!

 

Well spotted George, replaced by the sheer embarrassment of being exposed   I originally  built that airfix kit back around 1972. Always useful to repurpose models, but Gort deserved its own as all the other buildings were scratch built. This little guy was made from bits of plastic card in my plasticard scape box (ie off cuts from past projects).

Edited July 14, 2021 by Noel

[Noel]

Decorated and weathered line side hut now in situ.

14:50 inbound working from Athenry

[Galteemore]

Lovely sense of time and place Noel. Great work 

[Noel]

First short clip since scenics started

 

[Georgeconna]

Way too short Noel!

top work though.

[Edo]

Getting better and better ...all yer missing is the lovely overhanging misty clingy rain that hangs around for days here in the mid west!

[David Holman]

On 15/7/2021 at 1:02 PM, Noel said:

Decorated and weathered line side hut now in situ.

14:50 inbound working from Athenry

Maybe it is the lighting, but the second photo has a real damp look about it, like just after a heavy shower. VERY atmospheric!

 

[Noel]

Now time to get started on the Limerick/Ennis board end. The temporary Tri-Ang shelter will have to go and be replaced with a scratch built version from photos

Copyright acknowledged to unknown source below. This is what the real shelter looked like. Note the gas lamps on the platform. Will have to mimic the single rail fence between the two stone wall sections. Lots of foliage and trees needed at the Ennis end of this board and some more work on the yard and boundary to the neighbouring merchants yard.

My thanks to Jonathan Beaumont and Barry carse for the inspiration for this layout from the photos in their book.

 

Edited July 17, 2021 by Noel

[Noel]

Gort is finally beginning to look like a model railway.

 

[jhb171achill]

Absolutely stunning!!!!

[Rob]

Brilliant looking- detailed and so realistic!

[murphaph]

I love the backscenes. Where are they from?

Have you considered putting stone walls/hedges directly along the interface between horizontal and vertical to create the illusion of looking over the wall/hedge into the distance?

[LARNE CABIN]

Absolutely brilliant Noel. So realistic and so inspirational for anyone working towards modelling an actual location. Just love your updates.

[Noel]

4 hours ago, murphaph said:

I love the backscenes. Where are they from?

Have you considered putting stone walls/hedges directly along the interface between horizontal and vertical to create the illusion of looking over the wall/hedge into the distance?

Good idea, Yes I had but unfortunately there is a colour change on the back scene  just above wall height and I like the fields disappearing to infinity, rather than closed in. If I lowered the back scene 1" it might work. Backscnese from ID.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Noel

[Noel]

Late evening scene. Gort: Just the yard fencing and gates left and then trees and signals. Summer will slow things down a bit. Some lamp posts and then add back people and livestock. Could not be bothered doing much this past week in the heat. But got the cobalts secured with screws and hot glued all the double sided cable keeps under the base board as in the heat many double sided tapes had failed.

One final building to be scratch built. The southern platform shelter. The Triang is a mere place holder but has to go, its too toy town and at odds with the adjacent buildings.

[Noel]

Last week had to separate the baseboards temporarily so I could rotate them on their sides to check some wiring. Daylight between the Ennis board and the Athenry board.

The brass dowels work well and I was surprised how well the track joins perform and maintain shape despite being just glued by the ballast to the closed cell dense foam track bed.

[Mike 84C]

Our Club layout Bantry, is taken apart for storage after every meet, once a week before covid! and our base board joints have suffered a bit. I soldered copper paxolin strips up to the b/b edge and cut paper sleepers & ballasted to disguise the paxolin and the join. Not invisible but its worked!  I think the moral of the story is do not pull the b/b's unless you have to.

  Your  b/b joins look rather good.

[burnthebox]

Hi  Noel, I know you said one of those photos is of Gort, so would you please tell me which is the real Gort & which is the model, right now I cannot decide as your attention to detail is phenomenal, congratulations again on your skills,

Paul

 

[Noel]

The passage of time. Hard to believe how much time has passed since the first steps were taken.

Baseboards made 2018

Draw out the track plan for transposition now and again later onto closed cell form base

Dry testing the track plan 2 years ago. check for fit and general arrangement

2021 Nearing completion a few weeks ago. Will it ever end Ted?

[the Bandon tank]

I am following this story from the start, it really is a fantastic piece of work.

[Noel]

A break from work so a late evening running session, 20:40 mixed pick up goods arriving from Athenry. The sun is low on the western sky as dusk approaches. Its has been a wet day in Gort.

Loco will run around the train in the main loop and shut two wagons off the back into the goods yard.

Had forgotten to tighten the baseboard joint bolts, there was no earth quake.  Cattle will be in the shed tonight ahead of 5am milking in the milking parlour shed early next morning then dosing in the cattle grid before vet inspection and then off out to pasture again for a few more weeks.

 

[ttc0169]

Lovely work Noel,

A real Co Galway countryside look to the layout,

I will have to do an Athenry-Tuam-Claremorris modular layout

[Noel]

10 hours ago, ttc0169 said:

Lovely work Noel,

A real Co Galway countryside look to the layout,

I will have to do an Athenry-Tuam-Claremorris modular layout

Thanks, yes it would be fun to plug into an Athenry section and send trains to Claremorris.