Galteemore

Absolutely not. They always travelled to the shipping ports - the animals were not cross decked. Possibly Derry was a destination but definitely Belfast several times a week. Most cattle traffic through Belfast actually travelled by SLNC. The irony was that SLNC passenger stock never travelled off network (after a significant incident in Greenore) but its cattle trucks travelled very far.

Excellent. Well informed journalist too. Would almost think he knew something about railways….

Thanks Ernie. Hence why my first point in talk was to thank you - we owe you a lot for making your pics so freely available!

Straight off the cover of EM Patterson’s book!

Fabulous. Come out well - amazing how much difference nice plates make to a model.

A not dissimilar, slightly larger Peckett may be had RTR in O gauge….

Irish Railway Record Society offer a set of GN and one SLNC loco drawings. I used them to build a SLNC loco out of brass.

Exactly. Beautiful model. You should be well pleased with that

Is there anything more maddening than trying to get a brass loco to work? Always seems to be a gremlin somewhere. Great work on both projects .

Yes, was just looking at those ….lots of scope to bash one into a near likeness…

Looks like an early fire engine….

Thanks Mol - that’s the images I had in mind but can’t post links to for some reason. The oil depot/salt stores at the harbour is ideal and would make a nice micro, especially with an unconventional baseboard allowing viewing from both sides and one end. The backscene could be very nice, as in those days the town was quite small and characterful. Scope for some nice John Ahern type street scenes. There was also coal traffic, which lasted as a road-served facility until the 1980s, and evidence of the coal handling gear can be seen in Mahon’s pics. The coal traffic was the port’s last activity as a working harbour before the marina came along and ‘improved’ things. Searching for Carrickfergus on the IRRS page, as I also did, shows some fabulous images of the place, including the signalling as it was replaced c1986. The stand out gem for me was the set of photos of WT53 being scrapped in Carrick c1972. I was living there at the time but at the age of 1 had no awareness…. As it was in 1926. Taken from ‘Britain from the air’. The harbour branch proper curves away left hugging the sea wall. No oil depot at this point.

Yes, must have been two of them. The pic is of the one off the harbour line, as GR Mahon took views of the branch in 1963 and your dad’s pic is congruent with his photos. Can only presume the down side siding mentioned in the gazetteer above looked similar to the one on the harbour branch

Round to the left. Photographer is standing near Clipperstown bridge facing Carrick. Dropped a pin in general vicinity. Harbour branch was very clear when I grew up there / all swept away now. Looking at it again, I think that the factory it mentions may have been at the old TA barracks on the other side of the line. I’ve seen a few pics of Clipperstown in the 40s and it’s quite hard to place all the sidings etc that it once had. GR Mahon has some similar shots in the IRRS Flickr - search ‘Carrickfergus’

Looking at my 1st edition of ‘Irish Railways Today’, looks as if it’s a siding that was parallel to the branch, but description fits the photo !

I think it’s Carrickfergus. Catholic chapel and Irish Sea in background. Harbour branch off to left. Very rare view

The famous Sligo Leitrim Beyer Garratt breaks cover ! Looks good

My home turf too - drove through it on Saturday! Look forward to seeing it some day

Fabulous. The railbus was rebodied later that year, dramatically changing how it looked. Lough Gill still has her BP chimney - they all got GNR ones by about 1950. Lough Gill was also the only Large Tank to keep smokebox lubricators. I think she was also the last Large Tank to be scrapped - was stranded at Dundalk awaiting repairs when the SL shut down

Interesting to see a private siding at Drumshanbo which wasn’t coal related.Lairds were a big deal in Drumshanbo - also the manufacturers of Bo Peep jam which the elders among us may recall. I agree with the sages above re chronology. If you go 1975ish you have a lot more scope. Can just imagine an IDA-backed new factory just off the Burma Road, needing tanks of fuel in and H vans of product out….you can get away with locos in ‘Supertrain’ colours as well as the older liveries

That’s lovely Alan. Fabulous work

Very nice build. I’d no idea that the NCC had its own Exmouth Junction style concrete works! Mountmellick in Laois had a similar structure which is still extant. Image courtesy late Fred Dean

Yes that rings a bell with me John - pretty sure he had this in his range about 6 years ago

Oh this sounds so familiar! Suppose it’s a question of working out what will actually facilitate rather than hinder your modelling.

Can’t imagine you voiced those feelings to Drew Donaldson Leslie! As I dimly recall, the cat had a very privileged role in his household. Probably miaowed in Irish too…