Galteemore

There was an RAF station at Fermoy until 22 - wonder if any of them ever tried flying under the viaduct in their Bristol Fighters !

And of course there were also English railways pretending to be Irish ! Cliddesden station masquerading as ‘Buggleskelly’ in Oh Mr Porter - with Basingstoke standing in for Belfast !

Ireland’s finest railway company....now there’s a debate...

And hearty congrats to the humble scribe .....

First Great Train Robbery used RPSI 184 (lightly modified with cosmetic frames etc) and 186. Fake carriages were constructed on old under frames. These kicked around in a siding at Bray until the early 80s. The movie ‘Michael Collins’ also features RPSI 171 and 461. 184 also featured in the 1960s ‘Darling Lili’ and was in the remains of its beige livery from this when rapidly overhauled for Great Train Robbery work in 1978. It was in very poor health and was effectively a smoke machine pushed by a heavily disguised A class - which apparently worked regular trains in between filming whilst so costumed ! Downpatrick was used for filming Spike Milligan’s ‘Puckoon’. http://railwaymoviedatabase.com/darling-lili/

That is terrific David. Looks like an illustration from one of Geoff Holt’s books. Your honest posts are most encouraging for those of us muddling along in your wake (Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Follower’ somehow echoes in my head). I have a set of GW rollers which I tried out last night, as I will need to make a boiler soon. I have heard that pre-curving the ends helps make the curve continuous. But you’ve achieved the result!

Yes, we owe Richard a huge debt. Thanks to him (and a few like-minded souls like the late Anthony McDonald) some precious resources are available. I have the MGWR NPCS book, plus the SLNC wagons one and the wonderful GA set for the Sir Henry class.

Thanks Ernie. If you can narrow down the issue I’d buy a back copy! Lovely wagon image too- thanks

Yes - ‘bags’ is a common term for vacuum hoses. On a 1905 Beyer Peacock drawing I am currently using, the large metal cylinder for working the brake is referred to as a vacuum sack. Possibly technical terms dating back to the earliest form such equipment took.

Growing up in a home where the SLNC had quasi-cult status, I thought I had seen pretty much every printed piece about it. Until Galteemore Snr drew my attention to a Railway World album of 1990 which includes one of the most interesting accounts of an SLNC journey, by Robin Stieber. A day on the line when all did not go well. You can pick up a copy for buttons online so treat yourselves - it’s a fine little read !

Gauge O Guild Virtual Trade Show is on tomorrow - free entry. Good place to see what’s on offer from both large and small traders. For Irish modellers, our friend Alphagraphix (the 7mm incarnation of Paddy Murphy) is having a stall .......https://www.gaugeoguild.com

Oh they were great ! There was an odd little working in the early 90s (once a week IIRC) which ran direct from Newcastle upon Tyne to Stranraer via Edinburgh and Glasgow Central. I used to get on it early am in Edinburgh - dawn train to home with a cup of tea in hand - hard to beat! It even had a name in the timetable - ‘Capitals United’ or some such

Making one’s own kit of parts is all very well but eventually it all has to be stuck together. Rear parts of ‘Enniskillen‘’s body more or less done...it looks quite basic but adding in beading, coal rails, window frames, window grilles and handrails all takes time, as does getting it square !

Not done anything on layout for ages (it’s mostly ‘finished’ anyway). Can you spot the new postbox? Did add real coal, secured with ModPodge, to bunker of No 42, which is posing in the sun....and ‘Titania’ got some too...the lumps look large but prototype pics show similar....

Thanks Ernie: and of course you’ll be uploading SLNC first seriously - many thanks for what you provide us with ...

Classic Millstone Grit. Reminds me v much of holidays along Leeds and Liverpool canal and Worth Valley Rlwy

Yes please !

Sligo Mail c1980.....wonderful ...

Classic GSR simplicity prevails in this part of Co Sligo

That’s the cheap part of it. The expense comes in hiring the image consultants who tell them what to make !

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/30915006/dromahair-creamery-cleen-county-leitrim https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/30915005/w-h-parke-and-son-cleen-county-leitrim Here you go!

Coming together really well David and curved bits are always a pain. That really looks the part.

Belfast had the SS Divis, used until 1979. One of its triple expansion steam engines is preserved at Straffan.

Some receptacles await loading at Rosses Point.....interestingly the official web page for Manorhamilton’s creamery points out that it moved from Lurganboy to its current site to be close to the railway. Although it’s actually in the middle of the town and nowhere convenient for the station ! Dromahair’s creamery was slap beside the SLNC out at Cleen, but was not apparently a source of traffic. The buildings still stand - and I think the trackbed is just behind if Google maps and my memory are to be trusted. My mother tells me that the milk from her farm was collected and taken here - effectively bartered for flour and meal. Just in across the road is this fantastic classically N Leitrim shop....locals would run up bills in shops like this for months on end in the 50s, accounts to be paid off when cattle were sold. Thanks for starting this thread - helps develop the social history side !

Yes - as were chicks. My mother remembers walking up to Lisgorman to get boxes of chicks off the railbus.