Galteemore

No steam era train is complete without a brake van, so I’ll have to build a few for my layout. First one done, built using the 1921 drawings from Manorhamilton works. Plasticard with compensated chassis. Tons of mistakes- hopefully it passes the 2’ rule - but the next one will be better! It’s a drovers van - effectively a one vehicle train comprising guards, goods and passenger accommodation! The homespun lettering is quite authentic - the SLNC didn’t run to elaborate fonts!

Yes, I think Ballymoney had a footbridge. That would have been quite a journey before 1933 - Ballycastle to Larne - most of which would have been on 3’.

Rather unusually for an Irish railway, it was more of a passenger than a freight line, and snappy running was pretty key to the operation. The double track section - which testifies to the traffic density either envisaged or achieved - was AFAIK unique in Irish NG (there were a few sections of parallel single lines eg at Ballinamore). The CBP locos which ended up in Leitrim gave a good account of themselves and lasted to the end in 59, although that long wheelbase barred them from the Drumshanbo line. Elegant locos in their way, although the NCC tanks in full maroon livery take some beating.

Lovely. Last photo esp good

These were ground breaking models back in the day. Modellers used to fret out the solid brake hangers and improved look enormously. Still hold their own in many settings, as you’ve shown.

Also features George Baker, later famous as Inspector Wexford. And Tony Hancock’s sidekick Bill Kerr as Micky Martin. The Carling pastiche is still hilarious https://youtu.be/YyuDUVnePsU

One rather odd factoid is that you stood a better chance of escaping from a Halifax than a Lancaster should flak or a night fighter strike. The Lanc had a huge internal spar which impeded egress. The crews of both were delighted when a large raid included Stirlings. As Broithe says, they flew lower, so tended to attract more flak.

Excellent stuff. Lovely workmanship. And I had no idea that Inchicore had adopted the mechanical stoker firebox screw feed that other much larger railway companies had used

Oh for a zone 1-9 day travel card on that !

As indeed they are referred to in official documents in the War of Independence period - and after, when RAF aircraft painted in tricolours were prepared to drop some ‘good sized eggs’ on the Four Courts to aid Collins. Although the aircraft were armed and ready at RAF Sealand on Merseyside, thankfully this scheme never came off.

If you insist….

Yes, I have used the HMRS service recently and they are very efficient- esp with digital copies.

Lovely story! Boyle was the first ever person to follow Trenchard’s career road map from Cranwell cadet to Chief of the Air Staff. There have been some incredible Irish airmen. One of my favourites is this bloke, who amazingly survived both Dunkirk and Nagasaki.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_MacCarthy

The ‘Emergency’ of course Leslie ! One of my favourite wartime stories involves 2 Irishmen who signed up for Bomber Command and found themselves on the same crew. One was FF the other FG and they fought the bit out over the intercom. Until one night over the Ruhr or similar, with the Flak coming in, the FF man was so carried away by his oratory that he forgot himself and remarked ‘say what you like about DeV, but at least he’s kept us out of the war’…..

Now that was a wireless programme. I still remember driving down the M4 listening to it. His shell by shell description of a cannon burst’s effect on a Lancaster was absolutely spellbinding

Yes please for location - my dad wants to see it too!

V nice Ernie. Middle photo is almost certainly Kilroot. It looks very different nowadays !

Wonderful model. Special place in my family / c 1948 my dad was set on the footplate of a loco here. Although about 4, that assault on the senses of fire and steam and hot oil remained a firm impression. And that was that - a lifetime of obsession passed on to me!

Agreed. Brake vans are one of the most difficult pieces of stock to scratch build, so to have these available is a gift !

That’s incredible work. Such neat plasticard work - no pencil marks or filler in sight!

Very nice work indeed !

I think we’d all like that

This has sent me down a nice byway. UG 48 was sent to York Road in 1967 to assist 27 in pilot duties. On steaming, however, it was too far gone to be of any use. History repeating itself perhaps, Ernie!

Hardly ignorance Tony! One of my lecturers used to say that the more you learn about a subject, the more you realise that you don’t know!

I’m sure it’s all quite innocent. But we should spare a thought for poor Walter Simon…..An extraordinary event occurred at Dingle station on Thursday 13 June 1940, after the line’s closure to passengers. A German spy named Walter Simon arrived at the station and asked when the next train would depart (not realising that only freight services were still operating). Simon had been landed by a German submarine, U-38, during the previous night. He then made his way by bus to Tralee and thence by train to Dublin. Following his enquiry at Dingle station, the Garda Síochána were informed and he was trailed by detectives. He was arrested on arrival in Dublin and interned for the duration of the War (known in neutral Ireland as “The Emergency”).