Galteemore

I’m getting flashbacks to Seamus Heaney now: Death of a Naturalist BY SEAMUS HEANEY All year the flax-dam festered in the heart Of the townland; green and heavy headed Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods. Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun. Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell. There were dragonflies, spotted butterflies, But best of all was the warm thick slobber Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water In the shade of the banks. Here, every spring I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied Specks to range on window sills at home, On shelves at school, and wait and watch until The fattening dots burst, into nimble Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how The daddy frog was called a bullfrog And how he croaked and how the mammy frog Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was Frogspawn. You could tell the weather by frogs too For they were yellow in the sun and brown In rain. Then one hot day when fields were rank With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges To a coarse croaking that I had not heard Before. The air was thick with a bass chorus. Right down the dam gross bellied frogs were cocked On sods; their loose necks pulsed like sails. Some hopped: The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting. I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.

Interesting to see two types of NCC tank together in that photo - pity the Jeep wasn’t a bit closer !

It should. Having built 3 Alphagraphix loco to 5’3”, though, great care has to be taken in the construction process to ensure clearances, esp on a loco as tiny as Argadeen. If the original builder hasn’t pushed the splasher width to the max, could be a tricky proposition.

It’s also probably built to 32mm gauge for a UK light railway layout, so console yourself with that too! The vendor is also very honest about its poor running. If that’s simply pickups, no problem. If it’s a misaligned chassis or out of sync rods then probably one to avoid…..

The van doesn’t look a million miles off this. If so, Alphagraphix do a kit….

Given that 9 are still in existence on the big island, never say never - it’s still feasible to rerun the conversion! Fairly useful little loco for preservation - and allegedly capable of 60mph. Although I think that the Irish preservation movement has quite enough on its hands already !

I like it too. As you say, something different. Must look nice with those rods doing their stuff.

I think the lack of a smokebox numberplate and shedplate just makes it stand out that bit more than on the GB examples.

118 was indeed not officially withdrawn by CIE until 1966.

More a matter for a Crossley tender..

Very nice. Whitemetal?

http://www.railway-technical.com/signalling/british-signalling--what.pdf

I suspect the GNRI JTs were the longest lived….. As for the best looking tanks….the SLNC wins hands down ….and not bad on longevity at 64 years…..

Rowledge lists a number of 0-6-0s as being in CIE stock until 1965, some of which may have been boilers. Generally speaking, I suspect that there would have been little demand for such things post-steam : the stationary boiler was largely an adjunct to steam operations, facilitating such matters as boiler washouts, tube cleaning etc.

Think it’s indeed Kiltubrid Ernie. That’s the one I tried to model in 3mm scale anyway!

More power to them…

At least it stayed on the ground - not like the runaway Victor a few years ago…..

Pep pipe ? For hosing down footplate and damping coal dust with a hot water/steam wash

Larne Town FC ? My father in law has been at Inver Park almost every game since 1950. Chances are he was at that match!

Locos employed on Dublin suburban traffic all carried jackeens.

They are indeed jacks, well known on the SLNC; a permanent feature of every loco when in traffic. A handy thing to have when the PW was dubious…seen here on ‘Hazelwood’. ….. also not unknown for GNRI locos to carry them in Victorian era. as to the fishplates, they are unusual and clearly for FB rail. Would need to analyse a few photos to check for other use!

It’s a monster ! I think she might have given a better account of herself on the Ballycastle line. Inver bank was just too much for her adhesive powers.

Could always have a try at a simple 5.5 mm wagon…..

Bill Scott’s book makes a very interesting point re the S2 - suggests it was an NG foreshadowing of what the WT would look like…..https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/RAILWAYS/IRISH-RAILWAYS/NORTHERN-COUNTIES-COMMITTEE-NARROW-GAUGE-LINES/i-3sgDTT4/A

Lovely work. Always enjoyed exploring the remains of these lines - nice to see this ‘imagineering’!