Brookhall Mill - A GNR(I) Micro Layout

[Patrick Davey]

Very interesting plans David, thank you for sharing.

[Patrick Davey]

Latest updates at the mill - boiler house and chimney added, more scenics, and an anti-aircraft position, which was provided following a token raid by a lone German bomber in 1941........

[LARNE CABIN]

Just gets better and better Patrick. It is so refreshing to see a layout like this develope, mostly all scratch built, such fine detail and so, so realistic! Truely inspirational.

Edited May 17, 2021 by LARNE CABIN

[Patrick Davey]

A few updates from the mill - a single storey building has been added, in the classic GNR(I) red brick style, and work has started on the rest of the mill buildings.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Patrick Davey

[David Holman]

Now that is rather nice.

[Patrick Davey]

50 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Now that is rather nice.

Thanks David  

[the Bandon tank]

Lovely work, what,s  with the four Morris Minor vans?

[popeye]

It's all coming together now, love the Morris vans.

[Patrick Davey]

36 minutes ago, the Bandon tank said:

Lovely work, what,s  with the four Morris Minor vans?

They are ‘mill’ vans! I got them recently from IRM and direct from Oxford and they have the name of the mill on their sides!  Decals commissioned from Endon Valley Custom Decals. 

11 minutes ago, popeye said:

It's all coming together now, love the Morris vans.

Cheers Popeye

Edited June 4, 2021 by Patrick Davey

[Patrick Davey]

Here's the Brookhall Mill van fleet - the model is a current offering from Oxford Diecast, also available from IRM, so a few were duly acquired and the decals were commissioned (at a very reasonable price) from Endon Valley Custom Decals.

[the Bandon tank]

They look fantastic, a great idea.

[Patrick Davey]

1 hour ago, the Bandon tank said:

They look fantastic, a great idea.

Cheers tBt  

 

[Patrick Davey]

Busy work time at the moment so not much happening on the layout, but here's a selection of recent photos.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Patrick Davey

[Patrick Davey]

Still not much to report on BHM other than some high profile arrivals to expand the rolling stock manifest.  I think that's enough for me to eventually operate a wide variety of trains across a timeline of half a century or so (until the next IRM announcement that is!)  I have some wagons & carriages currently in the custody of a very talented friend, who is finishing them off for me, so once they arrive back I will be ceasing the acquisitions.......

So time to indulge in a bit of fantasy.......

Brookhall Mill closed in 1975 and one of the highlights of the final years was the annual 'Diesel Day'. CIE sent a number of locomotives to the mill for each Diesel Day, even going so far as to repaint a few of them in discontinued 'retro' liveries. Although it was always a very popular event with the public, Brookhall Mill's Diesel Day wasn't always fully appreciated by the old GNR men, who remarked that it made the place look more like Inchicore than they would have liked.......

Edited November 4, 2021 by Patrick Davey

[LARNE CABIN]

Super diesel collection, Patrick, and nice wee narrative to explain so many diesels at Brookhall Mill. Even allowing for the sheer perfection of the A's and the 121, I would pick out the Hunslet!

[Rush and Lusk]

Just Lovely 

[Patrick Davey]

Some 'Friday Fantasy'....

Over the years, Brookhall Mill earned something of a reputation as an unofficial ‘hospitality venue’ for Irish railway companies, who would regularly reward their staff with a trip to Brookhall for dinner, and occasionally an overnight stay.  On Friday December 11th 1959, with the imminent closure of the Valencia Harbour branch, CIE brought most of the staff who worked the line on a long weekend trip to Brookhall to acknowledge their years of hard work and dedication to running the branch.  C class C201 brought the branch train to Farranfore just before 9:00am on the Friday, where A class A46 and two carriages were waiting to make the long trip from County Kerry to County Antrim, via Killarney, Mallow and a lunch stop at Dublin Kingsbridge, arriving at Brookhall as the sun was setting on the Friday evening.  By all accounts it was a memorable weekend with good food and great company, and the nightly singing and dancing into the small hours may have temporarily softened the hard realisation that possibly the most beautiful railway line in Ireland would shortly close, forever.

 

[Patrick Davey]

Here are a few colour views from the above video.  Absolutely love that dark green livery - suits the rural setting of Brookhall Mill quite nicely I think!

[Patrick Davey]

Winter at Brookhall Mill - trying out Chris Nevard's idea to use bicarbonate of soda to create 'removable' snow!

Edited November 30, 2021 by Patrick Davey

[Galteemore]

Brrrrr…..hope that railcar has the heating on! Lovely atmospheric shots Patrick. 

[jhb171achill]

6 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Brrrrr…..hope that railcar has the heating on! Lovely atmospheric shots Patrick. 

The heating in those things wasn't the best. From memory, they could be draughty. Today's railcars (especially ICRs) are the opposite - sealed pressure cookers with the heat turned up WAAAAY too high.

[Fiacra]

Wow, what an absolutely stunning layout!!

[David Holman]

That works well.

[GNRi1959]

On 24/4/2021 at 10:16 PM, Patrick Davey said:

Very kind JB!  Thank you   I wonder if a motorised OO scale 'Dick' features in IRMs future plans.......

Patrick, lovely layout and echos of what I have been working on lately. Back in the day when Tony Miles and my old friend David Goodwin were modelling Adavoyle, there was some conversation of motorising a horse by running a drive shaft from within the tram into the horses ‘rear end’.

Edited December 1, 2021 by GNRi1959

[StevieB]

The reference to Tony Miles reminds me that I had the opportunity to see Adavoyle at its the home in Shtopshire many years ago. What a lovely day.

Stephen

[Patrick Davey]

Thanks all - I only saw Adavoyle once, at Cultra a few years back.  Beyond impressive.

[Patrick Davey]

4 hours ago, Fiacra said:

Wow, what an absolutely stunning layout!!

Very kind Fiacra - thank you 

[jhb171achill]

4 hours ago, GNRi1959 said:

Patrick, lovely layout and echos of what I have been working on lately. Back in the day when Tony Miles and my old friend David Goodwin were modelling Adavoyle, there was some conversation of motorising a horse by running a drive shaft from within the tram into the horses ‘rear end’.

I’m sure animal cruelty organisations scuppered that plan!

[Adrian]

Class Patrick! Just reviewed all your posts and great to see the layout develop Could I ask how the soda is removed, is it just hoovering or something else?

[Patrick Davey]

17 hours ago, Adrian said:

Class Patrick! Just reviewed all your posts and great to see the layout develop Could I ask how the soda is removed, is it just hoovering or something else?

Thanks Adrian!  Yes simply hoovered, but some of it was a bit inaccessible after getting into the 'nooks and crannies' so a finer nozzle on the vacuum cleaner would be handy to have!

[DB JOE]

Lovely layout and some wonderful pics too!! 

[Rush and Lusk]

Wonderful atmospheric winter scene Patrick

(PS - I also love the A46, from your earlier posts, and I managed to get one myself from the recent IRM brief "second release").

[Patrick Davey]

Am very slow with the updates, apologies.  After the excitement of the A class arrivals I had promised myself that I would get started on the mill buildings proper, so that's another promise broken.....but with the prospect of live shows returning maybe I'll get the courage to start...

In the meantime here are two smaller (and again non-steam) projects which I have been working on in recent weeks:

1. Two lovely GNR(I) bus models from Sunrise Models in Scotland:

Flip close ups really show what needs fixing - thank goodness for the '2 foot rule'.  Glazing and dograils left to be added, the glazing is proving as intimidating as tackling the mill buildings......

 

 

2. A Silver Fox C class loco, with chassis kindly provided to me by Eamonn Redmond - thanks again Eamonn!

This is my first attempt at a loco kit - not that there is much to be done though other than attach the bogie sides to the bogies and apply the livery - early silver for me and the loco will be finished as class leader No. 201: my tribute to a loco which met an untimely end near Newry in 1973.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Patrick Davey

[David Holman]

There is something very masochistic about applying glazing!

[Patrick Davey]

17 minutes ago, David Holman said:

There is something very masochistic about applying glazing!

It’s a real pane…….. sorry