John M

20 hours ago, eldomtom2 said:

The normal American way of route signalling uses this method, but as "searchlight" signals and other methods of reducing the size of a signal head were commonly used the space taken up could be reduced, though columns of "traffic light" signals are becoming a standard. Looking at the rulebook for Metra's Rock Island line, a surviving example of a solely route signalled railroad, the way in which the old system of multiple semaphore signals was preserved with colour lights is clear:

Although described as 'Metra Block and Interlocking Signals" the diagrams are a good example of American Speed Signalling practice and not dis-similar to the speed signalling used in New Zealand. 

Like the American Railroads, NZR adapted speed rather than block signalling for powered (CTC) double and single tracked lines to simplify the handling of (our relatively) heavy freight trains with 3 aspect colour light (automatic) signals spaced at regular intervals between signal interlockings.  

DH 19 is one of 4 Delaware and Hudson ex-Santa Fe Alco PA1/4  locomotives 16-19 shipped to Mexico in 1978 https://bridge-line.org/alcopa1pa4 

Some completed wagons!

20T Brake with metal sheeted duckets 23544

Based on a late 60s early 70s photo of the van in Tralee complete with torpedo roof vents.

I am planning to supply this version of the brake van in undecorated CKD form complete with decals and roof vents on a pre-order basis 12-14 week delivery.

"Hybrid" ex-GSWR van 15653 with metal sheeted sides and ends planked doors, I am again planning to release this van in undecorated CKD form with decals (Snail & Wheel) & running nos.

CIE 1946 H Van 17200. with metal sheeted body.  currently available from stock in CKD form with CIE snail and wheel logos and choice of 10 sets of running nos.

The LMA and ex-GSWR planked van are also currently available from stock https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/

John

On 24/03/2023 at 00:14, Compound2632 said:

 

Presumably fairly early on, as my impression of Irish goods rolling stock is that none was built after the 1860s (or at least, any renewals were built to existing designs). Hence the characteristic Henson-inspired covered goods wagons. I wonder if this explains the preference for small - 13' 6" inside length - cattle wagons for the Irish cattle traffic from Liverpool that the Midland discovered.

The two largest Irish companies the Great Southern and Western and Great Northern (Ireland) built large numbers of 14' covered cattle wagons from the1890s onwards.  Open cattle wagons or "Crates" were used by the majority of Irish companies up to the Government mandated introduction of covered cattle wagons, though some opens survived in service until the late 50s.

The third largest the Midland Great Western which carried a higher proportion of livestock traffic compared to the the two larger companies and primarily used 'convertible" wagons for cattle traffic building a relatively small number of covered cattle wagons from the 1890s onwards. Economics were the main driver towards the Midlands use of convertible wagons, the company did not want to tie up a large amount in capital to handle peak traffic from the Big Fairs that would otherwise stand idle for most of the year.

The dynamics changed following the 1925 amalgamation of the GSWR and Midland into the Great Southern Railways with ex-GSWR cattle wagons displacing convertible wagons from cattle traffic although convertibles continued in service until the late 50s.

Midland "convertible's" and open cattle wagons were gradually increased in length from 13'-14' over headstocks as a result of Government intervention during the 1880s and 90s 

Loading beef cattle (bullocks) at Cork Station 1975 during CIEs final year of handling cattle traffic 10:00.

The once extensive Irish cattle traffic was reduced to a small number of long distance services linking stations in the South and West with meat processing plants in the Dublin area. Traffic dropped off during the 1960s as purpose built Cattle Marts replaced the traditional fairs and the shift from low value "on the hoof" to high value processed meat exports following the opening of processing plants in the 'growing areas".

In Ireland Cattle were loaded on long banks rather than through pens, the cattle largely finding their way from the cattle truck to the first cattle wagon with open doors, with minimal intervention from the drovers!

The majority of Irish companies standardised on a 14' cattle wagon until CIE introduced a long 17'6" wagon during the 1950s, at that stage there was little point in modifying existing cattle pens for the new longer wagons.

We have resumed production of 3D printed wagons, a number of variations of GSR/CIE Covered Wagons (H Vans) available to order from our web site. https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/.

While a small quantity of Covered Wagons are available from stock, I am planning to introduce a pre-order system to assist in our production planning and respond to demand.

We have been unable to identify a supplier capable of printing wagon chassis in a resin with similar resilient characteristics to our original supplier, our wagon chassis are now printed in a nylon material using the SLS process for its strength and resilience, our wagon bodies are printed in a detail plastic using the SLA process because of its visual process.

While the SLA process used by our new supplier is capable of re-producing finer detail than our original supplier, the trade off is that the detail resin is rigid and brittle and not really suitable for wagon chassis.

The SLS process used in the chassis results in a slightly coarse finish when viewed in close up.

New Models: planned release July 2023.

We produced test prints of new models including 2 variants of the Brake Van and a variant of the GSWR van while out of production, but there was little point in ordering decals until we resolved our printing problems.

20T Brake planked body with sheeted duckets.

Based on an early 70s photo of 23544 the ducket sides covered in sheet metal.

20T Brake Van, Cabin sheeted in plywood, with pressed metal duckets, planked balconies.

Based on a photo of 23508.

10Ton ex-GSWR/GSR 10T Covered Wagon aluminium body sheeting planked doors.

Based on an early 70s photo of 15653

I am planning to prepare decal sheets for these wagons with additional running numbers, but currently only have one running number for each type!

I would appreciate it if anyone can provide further running numbers of these variants.

On 07/02/2023 at 05:45, MartinRS said:

A cheap throw away toy is certainly not the market segment I was refering to. The product you have linked to runs on a couple of AA batteries, probably on plastic track, so it would be difficult to see how it could form the start of a collection of model railway equipment. I was thinking about something similar to the old Tri-ang RS.24 Pick Up Goods set.
 

Cheap tinplate 'throw away toy' train sets  and the Lego Train I received as Christmas presents as a young child in the 60s were the first steps in my journey towards railway modelling when I selected a Triang-Hornby set and battery controller as a Christmas present when I was 12-13. 

The throw away sets were exactly that tin plate, O gauge, battery powered most likely made in Hong Kong caricatures of American steam and diesel trains, did not last long as I quickly dismantled them. Interestingly a cheap plastic G Gauge train set available in the late 2000s from a major low-cost retailer was a popular starting point for serious G gauge model modellers, in a similar manner to the Triang Big-Big train in the 60s

Interestingly when it comes to model railway our local hobby shops cater primarily for teenagers and new entrants to the hobby with the more basic Hornby models and setrack, with a good stock of train sets for Christmas, older established railway modeller's tend to buy their models on-line from specialist model railway stockists.

A (very) small number of wagons are currently in stock and available on our website https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/

Models available include, CIE 20T Goods Brake, Bulk Grain Ranks Ireland No2, GSR/CIE Std Open wagon, LMA & GSWR/GSR/CIE planked vans.

Despite a number of promising test prints, I have been unable at this stage to identify a manufacturing partner capable of consistently producing SLA (resin) prints of our wagons to a similar standard of quality to our original manufacturing partner.

Currently I am working on the CAD work for a set of etched brass parts for the GSWR 2740 Gal tenders built for use with the 60 Class 4-4-0s which were sometimes coupled to 52 (D17) and 101 (J15) class locos used on long distance work and am open to expressions of interest in the Tender and possibly a set of parts for a 60 Class loco.

It may be worth contacting the IRRS.

The Transport Research Associates (a group of IRRS members) published a "Rosslare Route" track diagram book which included Felthouse Junction during the early 70s, its possibly that the IRRS may have a copy of the Transport Research Associates diagram book in the library or the original track layout/signal diagram in the archive.

A number of F&RH&R & GSWR signal and track diagrams, but not Felthouse Junction are published on the IRRS Flickr site

This thread appears to be more about the options for the marketing and sale of 3D files as opposed to the next big step in 3D printing in particular small volume manufacture.

I trailed the production and sale of 3D printed rtr & CKD wagons using contract printers for 15 months and had to cease accepting orders because of difficulty experienced/high costs incurred by my contractor in printing small scale railway models using the SLA printing process. https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/

My main interest is in models of Irish prototype and the main motivation for trailing 3D printing rtr wagons was the very low level of demand experienced over 10 years manufacturing etched kits of Irish locos and rolling stock and the growing demand for rtr models.

The main challenge was in finding a printing bureau/contract manufacturer that was capable and willing to undertake the low-volume (10-100) manufacture of SLA printed 4mm scale wagons.

I sent out enquiries to approximately 10 locally based (New Zealand) bureau of which 4 were willing to quote 2  of which at a realistic price.

I was fortunate to find a printer who was willing to print the prototype models and recommend a freelance designer, our initial model took approximately 6 months to develop from initial concept to production printing stage. The intention was to produce a 3D printed model to a similar standard to the current generation of plastic injection molded models, though using 'design clever" techniques to minimise assembly costs.  My prototype printer was initially unwilling to carry out production printing due to the high failure rate and support removal/clean up costs experienced in printing 'small scale models", his bread and butter business was rapid prototyping in connection with manufacturing industry and printing props in connection with the film industry.

The prints produced were of a high quality in a resilient resin with similar characteristics to injection molded plastic, allowing fine detail, relative thin wall thickness and sufficient resilience for running/break gear.

I initially tried a Chinese printer who came highly recommended for production printing. Although the test prints (4 complete wagons) were to a high quality our printer ran into serious problems with a high (50%) reject rate (breakages & distortion) on our first production run of 100 wagons. While our Chinese printer made considerable effort printing additional prints FOC to rectify the problem it quickly became clear that we would need to find another printer, both because of print quality and more importantly the resin used by our Chinese printer although to a similar spec. did not have similar resilient qualities to the resin used in our locally manufactured prototypes.

At this stage our locally based printer agreed to print our models in small batches (10-20 month), possibly to boost turnover as one of his larger customers had dropped out possibly as a result of Covid disruption. This allowed the business to continue in operation selling existing/developing new models while considering the option of taking printing in-house/finding an alternative supplier.

Taking printing in-house proved a non-runner, I struggled to source suitable resilient resin/achieve acceptable print quality with a desktop printer, a fullsize "bottom-up" machine similar to that used for my successful production prints was prohibitively expensive for a business producing small volumes of small scale models.

In the end my printer may have dropped out because the hassle of printing small scale models may not have been worth while, especially when demand for prints from manufacturing and the film industry has recovered.

The 3D print industry has changed considerably since I first considered 3D printing in Apl 2021, many of the small local 3D print bureau have dropped out replaced by international platforms such as Treatstock https://www.treatstock.com/.

Currently I am trialing prints from a supplier in South Asia quality so far and price has been reasonable, prints ordered from a local printer through Treatstock although reasonably priced appear to have been printed on a desktop "top down" home printer and are not to an acceptable standard for a commercial model, I have also experienced similar quality problems with prints at quite a higher price from a locally based 'specialist" industrial 3D printing business .

I suppose in the end it should not be forgotten that 3D printing was developed as a rapid prototyping process and majority of the available resins are brittle and largely unsuitable for producing detail that may break off or durable running gear.

I had some interesting feedback at exhibitions down the years from railway employees.

One retired lorry driver was convinced he hauled sugar beet to the station on an N gauge Club layout based on 1950-60s practice, possibly because the station name or building style appeared familiar. The layout was a simple double track with a small junction station and was not based on a specific location or company practice, but our guest was reasonably convinced.

On another occasion I was operating a layout at a railway works Open Day, a couple of off-duty drivers were leaning on the barrier and commented that I must be from a particular part of the country when I performed a rough shunt and derailed some wagons (not sure if it was operator error or the loco did not respond to the controller 🙄), and left amused the drivers had seen it all before.

The majority of visitors to club exhibitions were members of the general public, the larger "tail chasers" tended to be the crowd pullers. The N gauge was reasonably popular with relatively long passenger goods trains, children began counting wagons on goods trains as they emerged from tunnels at each end.  On the end to end we would try and keep something moving in the terminus at all times otherwise viewers would drift away, not exactly prototypical for a country terminal that was normally worked by a single locomotive and train set. 

Bulleid's achievements as CIE CME point to how the Leader concept might have developed if Nationalisation did not take place. 

CC1 or the Turfburner was developed as a prototype for a class of up to 50 modern steam locos to be retained for seasonal sugar beet traffic or during emergencies.

CC1 was a smaller locomotive than the Leader similar in concept to a Double Fairlie with twin boilers fired by a central firebox. The driver and fireman shared a central cab, firing was mechanical with fuel (peat or oil) fed from enclosed bunkers mounted at the front and rear of the loco. The bogies incorporated piston valves with enclosed Walschaerts valve gear in an oil bath with chain drive to the driving wheels.

The prototype performed a number of successful test runs, though the boiler with double ended boiler apparently gave trouble.

Significantly John Click developed a single ended production version of CCI with a cab at the firebox end of the locomotive shortly before the project was abandoned in 1958 almost bringing us back to the original Leader concept. https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-03/Click%2C John G%2C Archive List.pdf

Bulleid's greatest achievement as CIE CME was a large scale coach and wagon building programme which replaced the majority of pre-amalgamation (1925) stock with modern vehicles.

Bulleid's most significant advice was to buy General Motor's diesels from the United States which the Board was unable to fulfill until the easing of exchange restrictions in 1961

11 hours ago, whart57 said:

 

The CIE too acquired a class (the class C Bo-Bo) to replace steam on lines that were heading for closure. They eventually found a use as push-pull motive power on Dublin suburban lines but most of the lines they were bought to run on closed in the 1960s

The 1950 Nationalisation of CIÉ provided a temporary reprieve for branch and secondary lines that would have otherwise closed, the 1958 Transport Act which required CIE to operate on a fully commercial basis allowed CIE to close uneconomic lines with minimal public consultation.

The re-engined C Class proved useful as CIE experienced an increase in rail passenger and freight traffic as the Irish economy improved from the mid-1960s onwards and the conversion of the AEC railcars to push-pull trains. 

On 08/11/2022 at 01:16, Compound2632 said:

 

 surely it would have been more economical to have done a 3F and put a modern boiler on existing the Dean Goods engine; maybe with new frames and cylinders?

Going back to the GSR the rationale for the relatively large scale re-building of pre-amalgamation (1925) 2-4-0, 4-4-0 and 0-6-0 classes with superheated boilers (with original motion & slide valves) from the late 1920s onwards was based on cost savings from reduced coal consumption (15-20%?) of critical importance on a railway that was struggling financially and dependent on imported coal. Some though not all superheated J15 or 101 Class were rebuilt with new stronger frames retaining existing cylinders and motion.

There would have been difficult to justify capital expenditure on building new locomotives for branch and secondary duties while the GSR was applying to a 1939 Transport Tribunal to close over 850 miles of such routes. 

In the end CIE the GSRs successor decided on dieselisation as a course of action during the late 40s as a result of the run-down condition and age of the steam fleet and difficult obtaining coal during the Emergency and coal shortages during the winter of 1947, the recommendations of the Milne Report delayed dieselisation for approximately 5 years.

Looking back over a 40 year career in construction and occupational health and safety a lot of my success came down to luck and being there at the right time.

I got an interview as a Trainee Agent/Engineer with a Dublin House Builder in 76 because the Canteen Lady in the factory where my dad worked had heard about the job and knew that I was looking for work. I was offered the job on the second interview Tony the managing director of the company seemed impressed that I had identified a 4 year block release Technician Diploma course in Construction Technology and agreed to pay my fees. 

I worked for the company for 7 years progressing to a senior management position until the Irish property market crashed as a result of a credit squeeze during the mid -1990s.

I "got the start" with a major London based civil engineering/construction contractor offered a job as a "Ganger" or working civil engineering foreman after responding to an add for a "Site Engineer" in the the Evening Standard on my first day in the UK.  

I stayed 2 years with the company which was very good to work for even paying retention bonuses, the problem there was little prospect of promotion or progression beyond your starting role.

My big ambition while in the UK was to progress to a management position with a major British Construction company within 5 years which I achieved when I joined Bovis Construction in 1988.

I was quickly brought down to earth on my first day upon arrival on site when the Construction Superintendent asked "who the F...k are you?"  I had arrived as "part of the new blood" on a project that was undergoing management change and was quickly taken under the wing of a member of the new management team and rapidly progressed to a senior management role.

I stayed with Bovis for 5 years before being made redundant in the Uk recession of the early 90s though I was better prepared than I was 10 years earlier and successfully weathered the storm.

Although I had my ups and downs in construction, I seldom experienced stress, burnout or problems with my mental health until I joined the public service.

Five year on after resigning from my last job and adjusting to living in retirement, I believe that I am at last putting the crappy experiences of the past behind me and learning to accept my limitations, make the best of what time I have left and spend more time on railway modelling.

Not just the Big Four Ireland's Great Southern Railways (GSR) struggled to design a  replacement for the Great Southern and Western Railway "Standard Goods" 0-6-0  101 Class or J15 introduced by Alexander McDonald during the 1860s.

The first (1929) attempt the 700 Class or J15a 'modern' in appearance with canopy cab, raised running board and large (saturated) belpair boiler. Although similar mechanically with identical motion and running gear were heavy on water and coal did not compare with the older locos in terms of performance. 

The second (1934) attempt the 710 Class or J15b similar in appearance to the J15a (with a longer cab) incorporated a superheated boiler and piston valves and were unpopular with the crews considered sluggish and poor steamers and because of the longer than normal distance for the fireman between the coal space and firehole door.

The GSR resumed large scale superheating of the original 101 or J15 class retaining the original motion (with slide valves) from 1934 onwards ultimately superheating 67 members of the Class by 1953.

While reasonably successful with large express passenger 4-6-0s it almost appears that Inchacore forgot how to build a successful inside cylinder steam loco during the 1920s and 30s, John Kennedy a prominent Irish railway photographer described some of the locos built by the GSR during the 1920s and 30s as 'hot water locomotives"

I have an preference for realistic operation from observing the prototype late 1970s onwards and operating as a guard/shunter/diesel driver on a preserved narrow gauge line.

I found that the biggest challenge was recruiting and retaining operators who were prepared to accept the discipline of operating a layout/rail way in a prototypical manner both in a club and home layout context.

The club layout was end to end at the fine scale end of the spectrum, the main challenge was that the layout team were mainly model builders with little interest in running trains and operating the layout during a 2-3 day exhibition largely relied on recruiting and training (such as it was) members from outside the group to assist.

The home layout context using rtr equipment  was interesting after 1-2 hours protoypical operation, the operators just wanted to run their trains round and round at top speed!. I was tempted to  buy a couple of Scalextric Throttles!  Interestingly running freight trains point to point with multiple yards operators preferred simple shunts dropping off or picking up 1-2 cars to their train to its destination as quickly as possible.

As an operator on a heritage railway arriving trains always come to a stand at the Country end of our main terminal giving our passengers a longish walk to and from the train, our release crossover (sprung points) the station building was beyond our platform end. Terminal track layouts and signalling were designer by a LMR S&E engineer/manager for operation by a 2 person train crew with electro mechanical control of point and signal interlockings from push button panels at the platform ends rather than a signal box.

The demand is there for scale models larger than HO  but for 1:32 (Gauge 1) and 1:20.3 (3' narrow gauge) rather than Gauge O, its expensive and takes up a lot of space. https://www.accucraftestore.com/g1-nw-j-class  

I originally modelled American narrow gauge using LGB and Bachmann (1:22.5 scale) but converted to the more prototypical 1:20.3 after seeing the sheer mass of the American 3' gauge equipment during a visit to Colorado.

Probably works out less expensive than HO or 4mm in the end as I am less tempted (don't have the money) to keep buying the latest releases.

Matariki (ma-ta-ri-ki) considered the beginning of the New Year in this part of the world when the Pleiades become visible in Northern sky during late June after disappearing earlier in May-June.

Not a lot to report on the model railway front:

I currently have a very small number of decorated Brake Vans and Open Wagons in stock together with a small stock of undecorated Open Wagons, GSWR, LMA and early CIE H Vans available for immediate dispatch.

I am currently planning to focus on supplying undecorated wagons to order with a 6-8 week lead-time as it is uneconomic to continue manufacturing decorated rtr wagons without a significant price increase.

https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/

We have largely cleared current backorders and are currently focusing on supplying undecorated wagons.

Two new wagons are now available having ironed out some production glitches with the first set of test prints received in 2021.

GSWR/GSR/CIE 10T Covered Wagon (planked version).

Some of these wagons survived in traffic use until the early 1970s with some later going into departmental use.

The LMA Wagon.

A very small group of wagons 16812 & 17213-17221 (built 1952) with "light metal alloy bodies" before CIE started churning out large numbers of Plywood Bodies Vans on Bullied Triangulated underframes the classic CIE H Van.

Other Wagons:

A very small number of decorated Brake Vans, Opens and Covered Wagons is available from the website.

https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/blogs/news/may-2022-update-h-vans-ᴙ-us

Victors had a joke "Special Offer" for multiple Model Power American N Gauge freight cars that worked out more expensive than the ordinary price when I first visited the Pentonville Rd shop during the late 80s.

Shop staff used to get a kick out asking customers who selected the 'special" whether they read the displayed pricing.

Victors was my introduction to Atlas & Kato N Scale locos and serious American outline modelling during the late 1980s.

On 30/01/2022 at 05:57, Michael Hodgson said:

The tyres on those trailers look life-expired.  There seems to be hardly any tread.

I assume the trailers are stronger and therefore heavier than ordinary trailers in order to cope with the drawbar load. 

3'6" gauge RoadRailers similar to those used in the United States operated in New Zealand during the 1990s. The RoadRailers ran on modified freight bogies and could be marshalled in a train with conventional freight stock. Although originally used for time sensitive intermodal traffic road-rail use ceased after several years, the RoadRailers were used soley as rail wagons in their final years of operation. 

The main draw backs appear to have been the lower payload compared to a conventional semi-trailer (chassis to handle rail buffing loads) and operating and maintenance cost of the road transfer gear, apparently the gear was removed following an incident when the road wheels lowered while a train was in transit.

I attempted to build a Westward T9 in EM Gauge as my first whitemetal kit building attempt about 30 years ago. The kit was for the narrow cabbed version of the class with crankpin splashers and superheated boiler.

My initial attempts at the build were unsuccessful as the running board, splasher and cab castings were designed for OO gauge and there was insufficient clearance for EM gauge (Markits wheel sets). In the end I decided to assemble the loco rather than leave it in the scrap or dispose of it.

I appear to have replaced the whitemetal running board, buffer beams and valences with scratchbuilt nickel silver parts retaining the whitemetal superstructure, I remember assembling the cab side sheets at a slightly off vertical to the spectacle plate to provide sufficient clearance for the drivers, but appears barely noticeable on inspection, or maybe my eyesight is not as good.

The chassis appears to be Perseverence full length which was weak at the front end with cut outs for the bogie wheels.

The tender had an all whitemetal chassis and rather flimsy dummy main frames.

30 years later my main criticism of the loco is the heavy and rather crude smokebox  casting, ( though I may have obliterated the the rivet detail in an attempt to clean up).

Still the finished kit looks reasonable, I should sort out the engine tender power pick up, with a Mashima motor & DJH gearbox and smokebox balanced by a weighted tender she should be a fairly good puller.

On 16/11/2021 at 00:47, Ben B said:

 

I was very interested reading this- thanks for sharing the information.  Over the last few years I've developed a couple of stress-triggered medical conditions myself (I had an unpleasant job which got very much on top of me, and some very unsupportive management who wanted rid of me).  I had a couple of fainting spells from the stress, but when I left that job and started a new one which I enjoyed, those medical issues vanished.  Interestingly, they came back with a vengeance after I'd left the newer job and ended up in my current circumstances...

 

Without going into too much details, I developed insomnia, when I did manage to drop-off I sleepwalked, and one night I tumbled down the stairs and injured my chest.  It triggered a condition called Costochondritis where the cartilage swells and forces my ribs apart.  Stress is known to set it off, and in turn I picked up a stomach problem too (thought to be the result of some of the meds they put me on whilst thinking my chest was a heart condition).  It also has to be said that having a stress-induced chest condition isn't helped when you're having to wait 8 months for a Cardiac MRI on the assumption you've a malfunctioning heart aged 33.  All it means after the barrage of tests is that when my chest is stinging, I can at least try and re-assure myself that it almost certainly isn't a heart attack, as I've had all manner of tests to show my heart is generally fine.

 

The interesting thing is that after years of mis-diagnosis and investigations, a pain-management study got hold of me, and they reckon that whilst I do indeed have a physical condition, the years of stressing about it (and the other stuff) have effectively re-wired my nervous system to mis-interpret pain levels.  My brain therefore thinks pain is worse or non-existent depending on the injury or even my mood at the time.  So when I'm stressed, my chest aches abominably, and increasingly I get horrible pressure headaches with it too.  It interprets a relatively minor pain as a major one, which makes me more worried, which sets up a kind of feedback loop until I'm practically passing out.  But then my nerves have odd moments where I don't register any pain at all; I can use a hot-glue gun for example, and not notice at all me accidentally getting molten glue on my fingers.  The doctor on the study gave me a set of exercises to do where I tense, in sequence, the muscle groups starting with my fingertips, working up and down my body, to try and effectively re-wire the relays and normalise how my brain picks up feelings.  The doctor also said do practical and relaxing things like model-making, which is more of an issue of course, as I have to get over the tremendous mental and physical guilt that whilst I'm gluing model kits together I ought to be getting a better paid job, or at the very least doing more housework and DIY...  I've yet to master the balance.

I worked in relatively high pressure roles for most of my working life and developed a tendency to absorb stress without apparent affect ill effect until I experienced burnout on completion of a task, received assistance or a colleague told me they could not understand how I could keep my head under such pressure.

The problem became more persistent after moving from the private to the public sector about 10 years ago with very high levels of personal workload and problems with IT system reliability a recurring problem. Stress management was based on 'building resilience" and providing 'stress leave" while failing to resolve the underlying problems, a workplace culture developed of people working long hours and taking work home to cope with increasing levels of workload as the office operated under strength and system problems remained un-filled, a close analogy is boiling a frog.

Going back to Ben Bs post, I began to experience joint pain and fatigue shortly before my 60th birthday and continued to develop physical symptoms including chest pain and a trip to an Emergency Room where the doctor suspected that I had Costochondritis. My physical symptoms continued to worsen as the year progressed deterioration in an underlying condition, taking longer to recover from colds but the penny failed to drop.

Pressure increased in the second half of the year more pressure to increase productivity under a new Business Plan and a new younger manager trying to impress his boss. 

I thought I had things under control (for that is what I do), that I was in the right, had faith in the "systems and processes" had the union behind me and above all did not want to walk away until our finances were in a better position  when we closed some business deals.

The situation with my manager continued to worsen, my symptoms become more psychological in nature, I began to realise that I was in a 'no-win" situation over Christmas started to become obsessed with the whole situation and experienced difficulty sleeping but still  continued to believe that I was in control and would not back down until the penny finally dropped four weeks later I experienced a panic attack and had to literally runout of the office to avoid breaking down and crying.

I returned after 3 weeks stress leave and went 'through the motions" for another 6 weeks before the deals were closed and I felt that I could afford to 'walk away"

It was a crazy hectic year my relief from the stress at work was renovating a house one of our business deals.

The most ironical thing about the whole episode was that I left the construction industry 20 years ago at the peak of my career as a project manager to become a health and safety inspector in order to get "a secure pensionable job" and avoid the booms and busts of the construction industry and ended up finding out that it was pretty much do as I say not what I do when it comes to managing stress in the public sector, my employer was apparently not prepared to consider stress unless I produced a specialist diagnosis

In hindsight I should have walked when my instincts told me regardless of the consequences, its taken me four years to recover mentally and physically and we may never recover financially but at least I am beginning to accept my limitations.

I should have turned to specialist help earlier or insisted on a referral when I sought medical attention after the anxiety attack , I ended up changing my GP he showed little interest I told him that the emergency doctor suspected Costochondritis and apart from granting a medical cert was of limited help in responding to my stress.

I guess my best advice is follow you instincts and get out if your gut tells you, change your GP if you believe that they are not providing a good service, get a union involved or an employment advocate involved in case your employer decides to play hard ball. 

I have finally found time to update the JM Design website and Blog https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/blogs/news/october-2021-update.

Unfortunately we experienced serious disruption as a result of a combination of Covid restrictions and supply chain problems shortly after we launched the website.

We have resumed production and are working to fulfil orders as our New Zealand based suppliers re-open and supplies continue to filter through from overseas.