What's New in Irish Railway Modelling

Provincial Wagons

Another new name in Irish model railways is Provincial Wagons. Owned by well known Irish railway enthusiast, Leslie McAllister, the company provides RTR wagons from various parts of Ireland. The wagons are based on RTR Dapol wagons and as such, are only available in 16.5mm OO Gauge. This obviously is not a problem, as this is what most Irish modellers use. So far, Provincial Wagons have produced GNR(I) 16 ton Bagged Cement van numbered 21, GNR(I) Four Plank Open wagon numbered 3164, East Downshire Steamship Co. 10 ton open coal wagon numbered 14 and a GNR(I) Container Truck No.1997 with furniture container No.1. Prices are very reasonable ranging from £8.50 to £13.50 depending on the model. The models themselves are well produced with crisp printing. The liveries have been very carefully researched by Leslie and are as authentic as records allow. Future proposed releases include a GNR(I) Four Plank open wagon No.5558, an ex-LMS(NCC) 12 ton van from the 2600 series and hopefully a SLNCR wagon or two! Congratulations must go to Leslie for this venture for providing some authentic wagons for our locomotives to pull. Click here for the Provincial Wagons web site.

Mr Soundguy

Not a name we have seen here before, but certainly one that should be included now. Mr Soundguy specialises in DCC sound chips programmed with authentic digitised locomotive sounds. Amongst his recent offerings are a selection of DCC sound chips for Irish diesels. Using the ESU LokSound decoder, the real sound of the locomotives has been recorded and digitised. The chip also provides control of the motor in the usual way as well as operating the directional lights. So far, Sound Chips have been produced for the 071/111, Murphy's/Bachmann B141/B181 and 201. These are available from DCC Supplies Ltd. at £91.20 each. Each set comes with full instructions for the chip plus notes on how to get the best out of the chip. In addition to motor and light control, twelve sound functions are available for the B141/B181 for instance. These are F1 - Engine start/stop, F2 - Short horn, F3 - Long horn, F4 - Playable horn (sounds for as long as the button is pressed), F5 - Brake release, F6 - Air dump, F7 - Stowing the coupling, F8 - Releasing the coupling, F9 - Flange squeal, F10 - Notch up, F11 - Notch down, F12 - Shunting mode.  The notch up and down facility is interesting as it is possible to rev the engine regardless of the speed of the loco. Fitting the chip into a B141/B181 is straightforward, once you have got the body off! The B141/B181 uses a 21 pin socket. However, the speaker may be a problem due to the narrow width of the body at this point. The circular 23mm speaker will not fit, so a rectangular speaker must be used. The straight rectangular speaker is understood to fit easily, however, if the bass reflex version is used, some chassis modification may be necessary. All in all, a valuable addition to creating an authentic Irish railway.

    Murphy's Models B141/B181

These models have now arrived and look great. Personally speaking, I think these are the best Bachmann diesel models to date. The British outline offerings are plagued with silly mistakes. This is not to say that these are absolutely perfect, but they are exceptionally good. Various suppliers in the UK and Ireland have them for sale and I would recommend that you purchase a few before stocks run out!

A big thank you must go to Murphy's Models for backing this venture and producing these excellent RTR locomotives. Hopefully the success of these models might encourage production of others in the future? Maybe an A Class?

Silver Fox C Class and Ex-BR Steam Heating Van

Silver Fox have been busy again and have produced two new items of Irish rolling stock, both being released in time for the 2007 Warley Exhibition. The C Class is produced in two versions, the early Crossley engined type and the later General Motors re-engined type.  The difference being centered on the roof area, with the re-engined version having different exhaust ports and two additional cowlings. The model is supplied either as a kit for £43.50 or as a Ready-To-Run model in no less than seven different liveries for £135.00. The kit is designed to run on a modified Hornby Class 25, 29 or 73 chassis. The RTR livery variations are original silver, green, black, black/golden brown/white, golden brown/black and NIR blue. The casting is clean and up to Silver Fox's usual high standards. If you are building the kit, then don't forget Silver Fox's very useful transfer pack!

The Heating Van is one of those unusual Irish vehicles that are so essential to any carriage formation. Silver Fox have filled this gap with by producing a resin cast kit of one of the second batch ex-BR type steam heating vans. Priced at £43.50, the model is also available as an RTR item for £69.50. Two RTR versions are available, original form (3186TL) and later liveried variant (3189TL) with the 'Day-Glo' panels at the corridor ends. No Irish layout should be without one of these vans, so order one today!

   MURPHY/BACHMANN B141 CLASS

Great news for all Irish modellers as Padraig Murphy of Murphy's Models has informed me that the tooling for long awaited B141/B181 Class has been signed off! I have included two pictures (with kind permission on Murphy's Models) of the forthcoming model, but must state that this is a version for the tooling press approval and NOT a pre-production model. However, as you can see, the detail looks excellent and we can all look forward to a tremendous model. Certainly the 'face' of the locomotive seems to have been captured well, especially with the curved panels above the cab windows. Hopefully, I will be able to include a pre-production photograph when available. Full marks must be given to Murphy's Models for their considerable investment in this project and hopefully all Irish Modellers will support them in this venture.

Various liveries and numbers will be offered. All the versions will feature working lights and be DDC Ready. Below is a list of those version envisaged. The price is expected to be in the region of €110.00, although this could change nearer the release date.

   Murphy's Models IÉ Mk2's

As Bachmann release their new BR Mk.2 carriages, Paddy Murphy has wasted no time in commissioning the IÉ version. Finished in Golden Brown/white edge black livery, the carriages carry the IÉ and Intercity logo. These are limited edition models and anyone interested is advised to contact Murphy's Models direct.

Silver Fox Irish Transfers

In addition to the A Class release, Silver Fox has also produced an excellent transfer sheet. The sheet contains various number sets and logos from a variety of eras. Included are numbers for Classes A, B101, B113, C, D, E and G. An indication of what is to follow? Very useful are a set of the white numbers with black drop shadow for A and C Class. An excellent transfer sheet of great use to Irish diesel modellers.

Silver Fox A Class

Silver Fox Models released their one piece resin cast body kit of the Metropolitan-Vickers A Class at the Warley Exhibition in 2005. The casting is very clean, neat job and the kit comes with cast bogie sideframes, bulkheads, additional roof vents and flush glaze. The model is designed to fit on a variety of RTR chassis, but they will all need hefty alteration. These include the Hornby and Lima Class 52, the Lima Class 50 and 55. As modelled, the locomotive represents the re-engined version and has the headlights above the cab and the three exhaust vents. This is a good attempt but somehow the front does not look quite right to me. However, it is a very worthwhile addition to Irish model kits.

New Irish Railway Modelling Book