jhb171achill Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Always welcome more photos of this layout, and thanks very much for the history lesson. Sounds like the railways of Ireland were messed about by their governments just as much as BR was. All the best, Dave. Ireland had its issues, DLT, yes! In the Republic we had Todd Andrews, who managed to strip west Cork of all its railways among other things. He wasn't quite as bad as Beeching, especially given the population involved - but both Andrews and Beeching paled into insignificance compared to Craig in the north, who removed every single railway line in the six counties, and by extension several border counties in the south, bar Belfast - Derry (even that was proposed for closure at one time), to Dundalk, and two of three suburban lines from Belfast. At his worst, he actually proposed removing ALL railways bar the Belfast - Bangor commuter line! Had he done so, I wouldn't like to see the M1 and M2 today at rush hour...... Always welcome more photos of this layout, and thanks very much for the history lesson. Sounds like the railways of Ireland were messed about by their governments just as much as BR was. All the best, Dave. Ireland had its issues, DLT, yes! In the Republic we had Todd Andrews, who managed to strip west Cork of all its railways among other things. He wasn't quite as bad as Beeching, especially given the population involved - but both Andrews and Beeching paled into insignificance compared to Craig in the north, who removed every single railway line in the six counties, and by extension several border counties in the south, bar Belfast - Derry (even that was proposed for closure at one time), to Dundalk, and two of three suburban lines from Belfast. At his worst, he actually proposed removing ALL railways bar the Belfast - Bangor commuter line! Had he done so, I wouldn't like to see the M1 and M2 today at rush hour...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
61666 Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Royalty takes up residence at Arigna Following Richard Chown's death last year, his vast collection of models and layouts were made available for purchase. For those of you who don't know about Richard, he built Castle Rackrent in his bedsit in the early 1970s. It is 16' long and eventually was developed into a vast system around 200' long. Various stations have been sold off, including one which will be at Cultra this year and, I believe, then take up residence in the former barber's shop in Enniskillen. Given that I have often said in these pages that, apart from Richard, I seemed to be the only person around doing proper [36.75mm] broad gauge in 7mm scale, it was only right to put in a few bids for locos and stock. It was tempting to go for his model of Lissadell, which ran on Arigna Town at Manchester in December 2016 [when I was privileged to meet the great man], but already having two SLNCR 'Small Tanks', I didn't really need a third - even if it did come in early Sligo livery with a polished brass dome. Instead, I cast my lot for one of the original Castle Rackrent locos: Waterford, Limerick & Western 0-6-0, Shannon - and much to my delight my bid secured this historic model locomotive. Shannon is quite an old lady, appearing in Richard's article in the March 1975 Railway Modeller & have included one of Cyril Freezer's photos from this. She is therefore well over 40 years old and, according to the short article, was Richard's first ever scratch built engine. Given her age, she is in pretty good condition and seems to run well. Indeed, she was part of the regular Castle Rackrent running sessions up to June last year. The photos show her in 'as received' condition - more than a bit dusty and with paintwork a bit scuffed, but not bad for her age! It is going to be interesting to examine how the loco was built. First impressions are there seems to be a high quality motor [maybe and RG7?], plus what appears to be a speaker in the tender. Not sure if the loco is DCC though, it may be something like a Pacific Fast Mail analogue unit. If anyone out there knows, please tell me. Am hoping to include Shannon on the Arigna Town operating sequence. She fits on the turntable [just!] and came with three brake vans. All have Alex Jackson couplings, so it will be interesting to see if I can work these with the magnets I have for my Dingham auto couplings. Any info on the brake vans will also be welcome too, please. Will aim to report on my findings over the next few weeks, but what I would also be interested in is what folk think about possibly updating Shannon? I don't intend anything major to the bodywork, just a general clean up and maybe touch up the paintwork here & there, but there is a gaping space between the frames that is begging for working inside valve gear, as per my Sir Henry 0-6-4T. Is that something I should be doing, or should I respect this historic model's heritage and keep it as it is? 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
61666 Posted May 10, 2018 Author Share Posted May 10, 2018 Shannon has now been given a proper clean up. First dusted, then with T-Cut, which has really brought the paintwork back to life. Some of the boiler bands needed re-fixing and the coal in the tender has been replaced with better stuff. Otherwise, it is as it was built. Just a lot fresher now. Working with the loco showed me what a fine model it is, especially at over 40 years old, plus it still runs well too and is certainly something to treasure. 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelG Posted May 11, 2018 Share Posted May 11, 2018 Superb restoration David. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted May 11, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 11, 2019 (edited) David, thanks for the enjoyable chat today, while I was drooling over Fintonagh. Just to wish you well with the rebuild of Arigna, and share a picture of my 32mm J15, with my take on the old GSWR lining out. Edited May 11, 2019 by Northroader 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryHobbyist Posted August 21, 2022 Share Posted August 21, 2022 Dave, I dont know if you still active on RMWeb but I hope this reaches you OK. I have enjoyed seeing Arigna Town at several shows in the SoutEast pre Covid and it is a favorite of mine. I recently discovered I have a Northstar kit in O gauge for the SLNCR older 0-6-4 which belonged to my father and Afraid I had clean forgotten it was there. Would you be interested in this kit? I suggest we use some other means of cummunication such as mobile number or Email to follow up on this discussion. Henry 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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