All Activity

So the big jump in price on both variants over a Class 60 is only because of the pantograph, really. And on top of that, the DC model is technically a DCC Non-Sound model rather than DC, but is configured to permit DC running. That’s pretty innovative. Is this the end of pure DC models from A/S? Will the only options be DCC Non-Sound and DCC Sound, going forward?

Exactly!

Following up, I can't find any pics yet, but I can now recall what I did see. The green one at Downpatrick has a small snail and small number on cabside, and a black chassis frame. This is incorrect, and an unfortunate example of how incorrect liveries in preservation can be copied as if they had been accurate. The photo I saw, some sonsiderable time ago, and possibly in Jim O'Dea's photos, shows one with green frames, and a large number, but no snail, on cabside. It cannot have worn this for long. I think we can eliminate G602 from this, referring to above.

To answer a few of the questions above.... but first, the list suggests six-wheeler 62M was scrapped in 1964. It actually still exists - that's the one at Whitehead. Yes, ex-Midland six-wheelers were far more numerous at the end of the six-wheel era (the last passenger-carrying ones of this type were withdrawn from public service in 1963). They were considered to be better built and more comfortable - both. Both Inchicore and Broadstone used the very best high quality timber, so build quality was not an issue. Many ex-GNR coaches, though, especially made after 1935, were of decidedly inferior timber. That's one of the reasons many older GNR types survived well into UTA times. Yet, if you look at six-wheel passenger brakes, GSWR types there were more numerous - doubtless because passenger comfort wasn't an issue. The Hattons Genesis range were chosen as they closely resemble several "house styles" the GSWR used. In GSR or CIE livery they fit the bill perfectly - and though the MGWR types outnumbered them vastly, there WERE some ex-GSWR six-wheelers in traffic up to the very early 1960s, i.e. pretty much the end of the "6 wheel era". So, at the end, a typical train of six-wheelers, or mostly of six-wheelers, as might have been used on Youghal summer excursions, but pretty much nowhere else, as the last of the type tended to be sent as secondary stock to Cork - would have had mostly MGWR passenger vehicles and an ex-GSWR passenger brake. Two important takeaway points for modellers. 1. There is not one British design of coach with models made of it, either in RTR or kit form, which resembles closely in design ANYTHING that ran here. The Genesis yokes are a generic design, and happen to reasonably resemble some GSWR types (which is why they were chosen) buit for accuracy, there's really nothing British that even closely fits any Irish line, with the exception of a few LMS types that fit as LMSNCC / UTA equivalents. So, for the era we're talking about, the Genesis stuff was well worth having. An LNER, Great Western or Southern Railway coach in an Irish livery just doesn't cut it. 3D print may well solve this difficulty. In particular, and relevant to the above, MGWR design was so unique that not a solitary thing in Brexitland comes any closer to anything Irish than an ICR looks like a Festiniog Fairlie. 2. On the subject of six-wheelers, we'll have noted that only one type was offered by Hattons in black'n'tan. This raises one point of historical interest, and one of operational interest. (a) Only about six full vans survived the complete withdrawal of all remaining operational six-wheelers in 1963. They were largely used to carry mail bags on the Galway line for a few years more. Several were withdrawn in 1964/5, so it's exceptionally unlikely they were repainted black'n'tan, but at least three were. I have seen pictures of these being hauled by 121s, and in a train of varying types of laminates as late as 1967, but not afterwards. A single one was only officially withdrawn in 1970, but a photo of it a year earlier has it looking very woebegone - they were certainbly go ne before the forst Dutch and BR vans entered service. (b) Following on from the above, it is thus incorrect to run a model of a black and tan six-wheel full brake with any green six-wheelers, as the few that got the new livery only did so AFTER the last of the passenger-carrying ones were withdrawn!

A good question. I'm unaware of th existence, either now or in the past, of any single definitive list which would give such details, but coaches taken out of public use but retained in traffic for internal or departmental use, were re-numbered in a completely different series, with an "A" suffix, so there should have been something. I would not be confident that of such a thing has survived, its date accuracy would be 100%, because you could have a coach set aside for withdrawal, and actually derelict before official withdrawal, and maybe earmarked for scrap but at the last minute resurrected "sure, that one will do!" as a PW van or somethinbg, with just the seats ripped out. Numbers were unrecognisable. So, suppose you've two ex-MGWR carriages,numbered 36 and 37 by the Midland, then 36M and 37M by the GSR & CIE, these could well become 239A and 442A as depertmental vehicles. All in all, not an easy one to pin down. We can just go by whatever individual examples we know of.

It is only an artists impression.

Were such records actually kept in the first place? Or was the change of use just done ad-hoc?

That explains the line-up at Connolly yesterday morning! Two 201s and an 071 on shed, a rare sight there these days.

Surely it's heading to Belfast. The lights are wrong; that would be the back of the train on that line. The airport is on the down side of the railway. The main road, which that long passenger bridge crosses, is behind the shelters shown on the down side.

I am afraid I do not know any source for this beyond details as shown in Ernie Shepherd's MGWR history and the IRRS-published GSR carriage lists. These give details of withdrawal dates for carriages, but one thing it doesn't give is where a coach was wiothdrawn from PUBLIC service, say, in 1959, but used as a PW department tool van or staff coach for some years afterwards. Perhaps Seagoebox of this parish might be able to elaborate on the latter?

207 hauled failed 233 from York Road to Dublin on Monday I would've been out but the flu had other ideas!!

@Paul 34Fhas been very helpful to me on GN coaches

Ask JHB?

The base model includes all the technology, stay alive, large speaker and sugar cube speaker and two independently motorised pantographs and full lighting suite and an ESU lokpilot for a snip at just £229.95 Considering the LokPilot is £39.95 and the accurathrash is £12.95 you’re actually getting the model for a price less than it should be (and the same as a much more comparable class 89 without a chip and with only one panto)

That is a mammoth task you have taken on and a brilliant reference for everyone to use . well done Paul

La la la la la (fingers in ears, trying to ignore the wonderful toy train!) If I get a chance this weekend I'll do the regauging and sound fitment on the green A class I bought myself instead of an anteater.

Just a quick update. I am not far off completing my first draft of the combined CIE carriage register spreadsheet which I will upload here in the next few days. The scope I have set myself is to include all steam-heated, vacuum-braked carriages in service with CIE from 1961 until the final withdrawal of the Cravens in 2006. It's been a lot of work to collate and cross-reference data from about 50 different sources including two editions of the CIE carriage register and many entries in journals and books. Some entries are simple, some are complicated where carriages were rebuilt, renumbered and reclassified several times during their life. Already I have ideas of how to improve it, such as adding hyperlinks to connect the entries where vehicles have been rebuilt/renumbered, and links or references to published photos of each carriage. That will take even longer, so I'm planning to publish the simple version in the meantime. An area I am presently weak on is the carriages inherited from the GNR, and to a lesser extent the MGWR and the DSER. The listing would definitely benefit from the knowledge of a GNR carriage expert. I hope this will prove a useful reference. Cheers, Paul

Is there anyone on the forum who lives close to Dromod? Or knows the people at the C&L museum there? We would really like to confirm a couple of dimensions on this container, to ensure that the 3D printed model ends up the right size. At the moment we're not sure the proportions are quite right. I'd be happy to make a donation to the C&L museum in return for 4 basic measurements. Cheers, Paul

Sounds as good as it looks!

Accurascale just dropped the Class 89 DCC Sound video:

Reduced €200.00

And in an unusual 1:18 vs. 1:1 showdown video:

Great to see the Class 92 back, and great to see A/S supporting a worth cause again. Just to clarify, the DC model is £60 GBP more than a DC Class 60, because of the pantograph and associated decoder, and the DCC Sound model is £30 more than a DCC sound Class 60 because of the pantograph? I do understand that the DC model doubles up as DCC Non-Sound as the pantograph requires a decoder to operate either way.

Lovely photos of another railway with character

It's getting there Patrick but it's a slow process