Fry Model Railway

[Dave]

Bit of news on the Fry Model Railway.

Model Rail Baseboards have been commissioned to build the new layout for the Cyril Fry Model Railway Museum. The new layout will be 11mtr long x 4mtr wide in OO gauge.

 

[Glenderg]

Ah super, any word on who designed it?  

[Dave]

10 hours ago, Glenderg said:

Ah super, any word on who designed it?  

Also a massive thanks to Richie for the design work 

[burnthebox]

16 hours ago, Dave said:

Bit of news on the Fry Model Railway.

Model Rail Baseboards have been commissioned to build the new layout for the Cyril Fry Model Railway Museum. The new layout will be 11mtr long x 4mtr wide in OO gauge.

 

Well done Dave, onwards & upwards...

Paul

[RedRich]

Great news. Congratulations to both of you. Having seen the fruits of both of your work it will be smashing, our own Pendon.

Rich,

[Irishrailwayman]

Presumably the older O gauge exhibits will be in glass cases? What rolling stock will be run in OO I wonder?

[jhb171achill]

Depends on their budget! Yes, the Fry stuff will be mostly in glass cases. 

The new layout will be 00 scale, thus the Fry stuff of a larger scale wouldn’t be able to operate on it anyway. Careful wording in marketing materials will therefore be of great importance!

[Noel]

28 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Depends on their budget! Yes, the Fry stuff will be mostly in glass cases. 

The new layout will be 00 scale, thus the Fry stuff of a larger scale wouldn’t be able to operate on it anyway. Careful wording in marketing materials will therefore be of great importance!

Good news to hear about the new layout under construction and who's building it.  Presume its Cyril Fry's own antique loco collection that will be  on static display in cases as it was in Malahide castle.  Does anybody know what will happen to the O gauge rolling stock collection that was run on the layout at the castle? (i.e. not built by Cyril Fry himself, but built by volunteers for the former layout at the castle).

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Good news to hear about the new layout under construction and who's building it.  Presume its Cyril Fry's own antique loco collection that will be  on static display in cases as it was in Malahide castle.  Does anybody know what will happen to the O gauge rolling stock collection that was run on the layout at the castle? (i.e. not built by Cyril Fry himself, but built by volunteers for the former layout at the castle).

Who knows? Sounds like there'll be nowhere for the O-gauge stuff to run, so maybe it will be disposed of?

[Noel]

11 hours ago, Horsetan said:

Who knows? Sounds like there'll be nowhere for the O-gauge stuff to run, so maybe it will be disposed of?

It would be nice to have some of it on static display, especially the diesel locos and some selected rolling stock. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by Noel
Lexdysia again

[jhb171achill]

Static displays will rotate much of his collection. Many of the post-Fry models which ran in Malahide were, apart from being 0 gauge, very crude indeed by any standards. I am not sure what will happen to them but I wouldn’t think they’d be disposed of.

[BosKonay]

I just thing it’s fantastic that this has been entrusted to a party with genuine passion and interest and a more than proven track record. Congratulations Dave, it’s in safe hands!!

[Junctionmad]

pity its not O gauge 

[WRENNEIRE]

3 hours ago, Junctionmad said:

pity its not O gauge 

Exactly

Have to say I am very disappointed that the new version will be OO as opposed to O

Spent many a day in the Castle looking at the original version and to me it should always be an O Gauge layout

I am sure that both Cyril and Tommy Tighe would be turning in their graves at this announcement

[Glenderg]

Yeah, a huge pity, but the reality is that the stock is knackered, and as I understand it, what can be displayed will. The other, more practical issue, is that 7mm takes up an enormous amount of space and what's on offer wouldn't do it justice. 

I think the 0 Gauge Wexford layout at Raheny was about the same size as whats available, should give some idea of what might be on offer. 

Lastly, I don't think there'll be any rolling in graves, it's designed in the same spirit as Cyril Fry's original layout, and it's a homage, not a repro. 

[murrayec]

I have a difference of opinion on this matter, but it would be wrong to take up issue on this thread as it relates to the Gauge OO layout of which I'm sure Dave will provide a superb layout as per his brief from the design team.

I and a few others campaigned for retention of a Gauge O Layout for the new facility but it fell on deaf ears- the councillors are more interested in the kudos of the project than getting an understanding of the scale difference and the significance of the Fry Model Layout display and what it could be into the future.

I suggest further debate on the Gauge O matter be carried out on this thread;-

 

Eoin

[Irishrailwayman]

One feature of the original Fry display was that every railway livery that ran in Ireland was shown. Will this be the case with the new set-up I wonder? This is particularly the case given the lack of a National Transport Museum in ROI.

[jhb171achill]

I’m not filled with confidence on that!

[DART8118]

On ‎12‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 9:12 PM, jhb171achill said:

Depends on their budget! Yes, the Fry stuff will be mostly in glass cases. 

The new layout will be 00 scale, thus the Fry stuff of a larger scale wouldn’t be able to operate on it anyway. Careful wording in marketing materials will therefore be of great importance!

What does 'Careful wording in marketing materials will therefore be of great importance' mean?  Does all of this mean that Mr. Fry's O-gauge model railway will never run again?

[jhb171achill]

That's the problem, DART8118.

His models are 0 gauge. There is only room for a 00 gauge layout!

Having said that, all of the larger scale models you may have seen at Malahide Castle in the past weren't Fry's either. His models are old, and while there is some talk of a demonstration track for occasional outings for a few of them, their primary home will be glass cases.

Hence my comment. It's important for publicity materials to make this clear, rather than mislead the public into thinking that they'll see 300 models made by Cyril Fry all whirling round what Malahide claimed, GROSSLY inaccurately, to be "the biggest layout in the world".

A new consultant has been appointed to lead the railway side of it. Having met him, he appears to be more railway-savvy than his predecessor, whose expertise by her own admission lay elsewhere. I've sent him a "time-line" of important events in Irish railway history. He is discussing the best of Fry's photos with the owner of the collection, who I put him in touch with. The idea is to display them, though having seen the entire collection, I can say that Fry's photographic skills didn't come anywhere near matching his modelling skills. Moreover, he used cheap film, so that many of his images have deteriorated way beyond use, and others are barely restorable.

[Mayner]

46 minutes ago, DART8118 said:

 Does all of this mean that Mr. Fry's O-gauge model railway will never run again?

Mr Fry's model railway was dismantled following his death in the 1970s

 The layout that operated at Malahide Castle  was a 1980s interpretation built CIE apprentices under the supervision by Thomas Tighe rather than experienced modelers

Certain aspects of the modeling especially scenery and rolling stock were more akin to 1930s tinplate models and considered to be  crude compared to the original Fry Models and 1980s modeling standards

I understand that wear and tear on wheels, motors, gears and bearing was a significant issue on the Malahide Castle Layout and locos, stock and probably track in need of replacement after 20+ years constant use before the layout was dismantled.

The original locos and stock  were unsuitable for sustained exhibition running and were  displayed separately to the railway at the castle and also appeared at railway exhibitions. 

Personally I think the best approach would be to display the original Fry models and certain aspects of Mr Tighe's layout in a permanent exhibition and build a new layout in the spirit of Fry's Irish International Railway and Tramway system (which featured Irish and Continental trains and trams running on the one layout) with replicas of the original Fry locos, stock and structures.

 

[jhb171achill]

That's exactly what they're doing, John.

Unfortunately, the design of the building is such that the full potential won't be easy to achieve, but it is what it is, and those involved may just get on with doing the best they can!

I've given them some historical context. Hope they make good use of it!