Donegal Town railway station, now the Donegal Railway Heritage Centre and headquarters of the County Donegal Railway Restoration Limited (CDRRL). The exterior of the building is largely unchanged in the 50 years since trains last passed through

Donegal Town station from the railway side. This view was taken from just about where the end of the platform on the Killybegs side of the station would have been.

The remains of the old loco shed, sited behind what is now the St John Bosco Centre, the location for the model railway exhibition

Restored CDRJC brake coach 28 with the inevitable spots of rain on the camera lens! There is a reason why Ireland is so green you know!

The body of Railcar Trailer 5 was used as the ticket office for Donegal Town football club before being put to a more relevant use as a venue for showing a video display about the railway

Trailer 5 again. I was quite surprised at how dark the cream is on this vehicle.

The body of one of the ex-Clogher Valley goods vans which were employed on the County Donegal as "Red Vans" for use with the railcars.

Ex-Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Newtoncunningham signal box

Andy Cundick took me around the back of the Bus Eireann depot which now occupies the site of the old goods yard and showed me this restored CDR goods van (I didn't catch the number, perhaps somebody can provide it please?). I would never have known it was there otherwise!

Also in store behind the bus garage were this trio of ex Bord na Mona Ruston diesel locos

On the Sunday morning there was a brief pause between showers and we rushed off to the west to take in a quick visit to Killybegs. This view covers most of the site of the old station

A view of the old fish pier, from approximately where the carriage sidings were in front of the train shed at Killybegs

The last remaining piece of original 3ft gauge County Donegal Railways track and also the furthest point west on the whole system! The old fish pier in Killlybegs still has a length of track permanantly embedded into the road surface

On to the model railway exhibition! First stop is the Thetford Model Railway Society 16mm scale Buggleskelly, featuring a wealth of Irish railcar subjects

More 16mm scale (2ft gauge!) Donegal stock on the Thetford MRS "Buggleskelly" layout

"Buggleskelly" by the Thetford MRS showing a variety of Irish petrol and diesel powered rolling stock.

And there's more! Some "work in progress" models in 16mm scale spotted at Buggleskelly

The other large scale exhibit was a 15mm scale display using the correct 45mm gauge rails with a display of an absolutely superb range of Irish locomotive and railcar models by John Campbell and rolling stock scratchbuilt by Neil Ramsay, who are both clearly master modellers of considerable skill

John Campbell and Neil Ramsay showed a stunning display of 15mm scale models encompassing a wide and comprehensive variety of Irish narrow gauge subjects

CDRJC class 5 2-6-4T "Meenglas" takes pride of place in this photo which also shows representatives from the Clogher Valley and Lough Swilly systems in 15mm scale - fantastic!

More 15mm scale delights! A West Clare diesel loco with Clogher Valley Number 1, the original Walker articulated diesel railcar of 1932

And this model, also on John Campbell and Neil Ramsay's superb 15mm scale display shows how "Clogher Valley number 1" railcar ended up in the more familiar guise of Donegal Railcar number 10

A Beyer Peacock 2-4-0T with Northern Counties Commission (NCC) stock representing the Antrim narrow gauge lines in John Campbell and Neil Ramsay's splendid 15mm scale display. In general John has built the motive power models whilst Neil has scratchbuilt the rolling stock.

John Campbell and Neil Ramsay brought so many 15mm scale models that an overflow side-table had to be added to the main display. This view shows a variety of stock from the NCC, Cavan & Leitrim and West Clare lines.

The Chester MRC brought their very well known prizewinning 00n3 layout "Dingle" to the show and joined in the spirit of things by running a variety of County Donegal trains alongside the duller, but geographically more correct Tralee and Dingle Hunslets

Dingle station by the Chester MRC in 00n3 showing a variety of T&D and CDRJC stock

Another "Donegal moment" at the Chester MRC's 00n3 Dingle

Dingle station with a more familiar sight of the historic "monthly Dingle cattle fair day only" special working about to depart with a full load of livestock for the 37 mile epic journey though the Kerry wilds to Tralee.

A variety of cattle vans await the loading of livestock at Dingle

Hunslet 2-6-2T number 5T on the turntable at Dingle. Refer to Railway Modeller December 2002 and January & February 2003 issues for a comprehensive description of this superb layout.

Another familiar and entertaining Irish NG layout that attended is Alan Gee's 00n3 Donegal, which was understandably a very popular attraction with the local visitors.

An overview of Alan Gee's very attractive model in 00n3 of Donegal station. See Railway Modeller September and October 2006 for a full description of this layout and its stock.

A topical model on Alan Gee's attractive 00n3 Donegal is Biddy's O'Barnes, a real life refreshment stop at Barnesmore Gap, and the site of where the CDRRL hopes to run a tourist railway through "The Gap" to the summit at Derg Bridge

Railcar 10 on the turntable at Alan Gee's Donegal Town

Older railcars in the form of ex-Dublin & Blessington Drewry car number 3 and railcar 7 of 1931, the first diesel powered railcar in the British Isles

A small flight of fancy at Alan Gee's 00n3 Donegal Town as one of the West Clare Walker diesel locos in County Donegel livery brings a goods train in from Stranorlar. If the CDRJC had remained open after its actual closure on 31 December 1959, and the West Clare had still closed in 1961, as it did, it is just possible and maybe even probable that this scene may have been recreated in real life in the early 1960's!

Alan Gee's new scratchbuilt 00n3 model of Schull & Skibberreen 4-4-0T "Kent" gives a clue at the direction Alan is looking at for his next layout!......

The other visiting Irish NG layout was Andy Cundick's well known 00n3 Letterkenny. I was very glad that I had decided to make this trip across to Donegal as I learned that Andy intends to retire this layout after some years of exhibitions and this was to be its last appearance

A feature of the CDRJC in its later years was the steam hauled special excursions where all available coaching stock was pressed into use. Letterkenny saw school special trips that travelled through onto the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway system. Here is one of these special trains approaching Letterkenny (CDR) terminus with a class 5 2-6-4T loco in charge

The special excursion train arrives at Letterkenny on Andy Cundick's very realistic 00n3 layout

The excursion train has now been shunted to the departure platform and shortly the class 5 2-6-4T will transfer the train to the adjoining L&LSR through station where it will be handed over to a Lough Swilly loco for its onward journey into the "Congested District" (Government funding term) of North West Donegal

Meanwhile at Letterkenny, whilst excursion train shunting is going on, normal services are maintained, and a full cab railcar (at a guess from the trailer I would say it is number 18 - confirmation anyone please?) has arrived from Strabane with one of the original West Donegal 1882 RC&W 6-wheel coaches as its trailer

Andy Cundick's 00n3 version of ex-Clogher Valley railcar 10. Andy has reversed the chassis on this Backwoods kitbuilt model (superdetailed by Andy), so that he can model the engine covers authentically open and "daylight" can be seen through the grille.

More County Donegal vintage stock on Andy Cundick's 00n3 Letterkenny layout. This shot shows old Railcar number 1 arriving from Strabane with Trailer 5 in tow. The trailer is modelled in its less frequently seen original condition.

Just a glimpse at about two thirds of Andy Cundick's well stocked fiddle yard on his 00n3 Letterkenny layout. A truly fabulous array of red and cream trains, with both early and later versions of several items of stock in view.

The Heritage Centre includes two layouts that were either built by or inspired by GR (George) Hanan, an accomplished modeller and artist who lives in Mountcharles, just a few miles along the route to Killybegs from Donegal. This view shows a model of Killybegs station and harbour by Neil Tee that was completed in 5.5mm scale (using 16.5mm gauge track) in 1969. The model was directly inspired by George Hanan's own model of Killybegs that appeared in Railway Modeller in July 1959 and March 1963 - and is also included in my own top 10 list of most inspiring articles that I have seen.

A view from the opposite end of Neil Tee's 5.5mm scale model of Killybegs. This and the previous photo show something of the "greenhouse" that has been erected over the layout. Great for keeping sticky fingers off the priceless historical models, but not so good for viewing or especially photography!

So the only solution in extreme cases like this is to cheat! This is the same photo as the previous one after I have spent a happy half hour or so with Paint Shop Pro, airbrushing out most of the intrusive non-railway background and the "greenhouse frame"

Another "tweaked and edited" photo of Neil Tee's 5.5mm scale Killybegs. The stock on this layout by the way includes models by Neil and originals by George Hanan. In all cases they are scratchbuilt onto commercial 00 chassis of the period.

A scratchbuilt model of class 5A "Lydia" in the original and rarely modelled livery of black with red lining. The loco behind Lydia is a class 5, whose name I did not catch, Ignore the 00 scale repainted Hornby E2 class "Brighton" tank loco with train on the station platform!

A view of the carriage sidings at Killybegs. Compare with my present day photo taken from where the coaches are in this photo, in previous photo number 12. Also compare this photo with one taken from a similar angle of George Hanan's original Killybegs layout in the March 1963 Railway Modeller

A representation of the fish pier at Killybegs harbour on Neil Tee's 5.5mm scale model that is on display (behind a forest of wooden supports for the perspex greenhouse) in the Heritage Centre!

To supplement the two layouts displayed in the Heritage Centre, there are also a number of models by Goerge Hanan (in 5mm scale) and Neil Tee (in 5.5mm scale) in glass fronted cases - again a big challenge for photography!. This and the following two photos are my attempt to cover all the models in the display case.

The previous photo shows both the class 4 Baltic tank loco and diesel railcar number 7, which both featured in George Hanan's Railway Modeller articles, as does the class 5A 2-6-4T loco in this photo. There is something about all of these models that set them totally apart from the normal kitbuilt or kitbased fare!

This photo of the end of the display case features Neil Tee's model of railcar 9, built from a pair of old road buses, and above it, George Hanan's 5.5mm scale models of railtractor Phoenix, railcar 10 and a class 2 4-6-0T loco in the original black livery.

A supplement "layout" that I nearly missed is this little diorama by George Hanan, again in 5mm scale, with scratchbuilt railcar 15 calling at Barnesmore Halt

And if I thought that getting usable photos from Neil Tee's layout behind the wood framed perspex was a difficult challenge, then take a look at this one! This is the visitor view of George Hanan's superb 5mm scale model of Donegal Town station. How on earth was I to get round taking photos of this through all that framework and light reflecting perspex?

The answer was to get in the roving reporter helicopter and go above the screens as in this shot.............

............Or to put the camera into the layout, carefully lean over it and press the shutter, just praying that I did not collapse through the screens into this priceless layout!! The result was well worth the effort I think!

George Hanan's scratchbuilt models of railcar 9 and trailer 13 on the turntable at Donegal. I have only once before seen a model of Trailer 13 (by Paul Windle on the much missed Hull MRS Kerry Bridge 7mm scale layout), so I focused as best as I could through the perspex on this model. One day I intend to make my own version!

Another helicopter view of George Hanan's Donegal Town station, showing as much of the goods yard as I could get into the lens.

A better view, achieved by very carefully lowering the camera behind the perspex screen.

And my biggest triumph! I virtually had to climb into the layout whilst my son was distracting the volunteer on the sales counter all of 4 feet away whilst I took this! Just to make sure everything is in order, I have sent a copy of this photo to Donegal for them to use in their CDRRL publicity if they wish to! You saw it here first!!