Irishswissernie

Madame says I should get out more , I'm not sure what she means as I have had several Doctors and Hospital appointments recently. However to keep her quiet (fat chance) my youngest daughter and husband are taking me to Porthmadog for a week in a caravan next weekend so I can travel on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland. That's if I can find a train, I'm not a fan of their current timetable system and much prefer a normal one. My sons have also er forced me to book a trip to the Statfold Barn Railway Gala on 8 June. If I can get some peace I intend to upload quite a few images to Flickr in the next few days. Todays offering is the County Donegal Railways , 3 views of Strabane , sadly two are after closure and illustrate the road on the Letterkenny line trackbed built over the River Foyle Bridge to Lifford as the road bridge wasn't in a fit state to take the replacement road services. Also a view of Castlefin station with 'Blanche' on the Stranorlar Goods. These JG Dewing original slides were all in a bit of a state but I have done my best to clean them up. CDRJC 1958-10-2 Strabane ,Goods from Letterkenny JGD CDRJC 1960-05-20 Road on Letterkenny branch to Lifford JGD600501 CDRJC 1960 Strabane JGD60507 CDRJC 1959-05-08 Castlefinn 'Blanche' JGD590719

Thanks Leslie, I remember (but probably not for long!), that was the case now.

That Triumph Herald in the foreground takes me back to 1960 when my father passed his Driving Test in his mid forties and he started saving to buy a car. He hadn't saved enough to buy his preferred car which was the Herald so we bought him one for Christmas. Unfortunately ours was a slightly smaller version being a Dinky Toy in green and white. He looked at it and put it away in its box which I didn't see again until his death in 1987. Untouched, boxed and in pristine condition the model could well be worth nowadays as much as the real thing was then. My brother got it!

NCC/UTA today. NCC 1937-xx CA Belfast, York Rd.Railcar 4 .Loco on left 28 wdn 1938. This negative had been damaged by JGD in his declining years hence the odd size. NCC 1963-05-xx Belfast York Road, Class W Boiler according to his caption. NCC 1960-05-17 Belfast York Road NCC symbol JGD600402

5 JG Dewing slides today, I have also uploaded another 4 'from the cab views' on Aghadavoyle Bank to Flickr. GNRI 1964-05-29 Near Aghadavoyle summit 207 14.15 Dublin - Belfast JGD640335 CIE 1959-03-15 Dunlavin 171 IRRS Spl to Tullow JGD590105. The Special was also used to retrieve the long rake of cattle wagons on the rear of the train. CIE 1959-05-17 Killiney & Ballybrack JGD590727 CIE 1959-xx-xx Dublin - Belfast nameboard in Erse CIE 1959-xx-xx Dublin - Belfast nameboard in English

Three views taken on DIA Dema film from August 1965 of UG 48 on a trip from Central Junction across the Shaky Bridge to Queens Quay.

I thought it may have been Westport when I first saw it on E Bay as the location wasn't mentioned. However when the slide arrived it was marked as Athlone 65 1 which I have taken to mean 1965 possibly January. Comparison with a number of views I have of Athlone confirmed the location and also the exact 'spot', the junction for Westport is just in front of the box in the distance and not very apparent on the slide.

CIE 1961-06-03 Drumree ex M&GW 132 IRRS Spl JGD610719 CIE 1961-06-03 Drumree ex M&GW JGD610720 Picked up this one off E Bay,CIE 1965-01-xx Athlone C204. Lastly 082 & 207 at Connolly early 2000's

Three well known views from John G Dewing today. These are scanned from the original slides which I have now acquired. The first 2 are Cavan & Leitrim views which have appeared in print before and duplicates were available in the past from Colourail and should have been deleted from their catalogue when the originals were returned to JGD. C&L 1959-03-16 Dereen 6T JGD590526 C&L 1959-03-16 Shannon Bridge, Arigna 3T JGD590535 CBSC 1961-03-17 Dunmanway IRRS SPL JGD610332

Railcar 19 didn't have the rails across the windows either, but luckily awaiting uploading is an exterior slide he took at Lifford on the same day (the date he quotes might be wrong) The clincher being the 2 young ladies waving at him in the same seat with the poster on the window. Its recorded on that slide as Railcar 12. I think this is correct the cab unit fits. CDRJC 1959-05-12 Lifford Railcar 12 JGD590809

Sent me an offer out of the blue too which I have declined as 'Its basically rubbish!'

Probably re-upholstered due to excessive wear from school kids, courting couples etc. When I was a lad the rear long seat on the Atlantean busses etc were always the most popular!

Some interior views today courtesy of JG Dewing. C&L 1959-03-xx Ballinamore Coach No 1 JGD After renovation but before they swept the floor ! CDRJC 1959-08-12 Lifford Railcar 20 JGD590810 Modelling the upholstery in the correct colours looks to be a challenge. CDRJC 1959-05-08 Convoy, Drumboe climbing to summit. JGD590723 This is the first slide that I have acquired that confirms that the dome should be painted red as faint traces of it appear under the black 'weathering'.

I'm thinking this could be a 'top tip' I'm pretty sure that the Sligo & Donegal Junction would have acquired one if it appears. In RPSI days seen all over Ireland. JG Dewing photographed it at Coleraine April 1970.

There are a couple more of Loughrea from 14 March 1961. The last one according to JG Dewing's title is a 'selfie' 29 May 1964 at Mount Pleasant on the ex GNRI Main Line. Weather seems to have been better and warmer then. He travelled throughout Ireland by Bike. Not much luggage on view and no Anorak but there must have been a jar of Brylcream in that saddlebag.!

A number of Loughrea in the latest batch. Dewing lists them as being 14 March 1961 but the first one looks to be earlier with the 6 wheel stock and a different (scruffy looking and illegible number) loco.

The latest batch of JG Dewing slides have now been cleaned, re-mounted and scanned. Here's 3 Donegal images at Lifford specially for airfixfan . CDRJC 1958-10-02 Strabane, Foyle bridge , Letterkennygoods at Lifford JGD580230 CDRJC 1959-05-12 Lifford 'Blanch' JGD5913xx CDRJC 1960-05-20 Lifford Bus Xing fromer Foyle railway bridge JGD60430

Track has now been laid and wired up on Mullaghmore which will now be known as Mullaghmore Town station. A block of timber is dropped into the the slot at the near end of the board to stop any rolling stock running off and down the 130 cm drop to the floor. If I use the detachable extension board which purports to be Mullaghmore Pier station and Dock sidings then this block is taken out and the end of the extension board drops into the slot instead. Mullaghmore Pier station is the terminus for the ferry to a greatly enlarged Inishmurray Island which has drifted up the coast. The Pier station means that I can run through passenger trains in the steam/early diesel era although if I am in the Irishrail period the Sligo shuttle will terminate at the Town station.

20 plus Jim, probably 30 odd GNRI and a handful at Loughrea also Cavan & Leitrim. There are about 100 slides but a fair number are station nameboards.

Some more JG Dewing original slides arrived this week but they need a fair bit of work to make them presentable and re-mounted. A fair number of other photographers awaiting uploading, selection below. SLNCR 1957-06-08 Manorhamilton 'Lough Melvin' LN1118 Nick Nicholson. CIE 1959-03-14 Mullingar J18 593. CIE 1959 ca Limerick shed 109. CDRJC 1958-10-03 Strabane 11 on Stranorlar Goods , GNRI 43 on right JGD 58187, I also have his colour slide of this view awaiting restoration. CDRJC 1959-08-14 Strabane , mixed train arriving from Letterkenny x167

No! I can't either and neither can I ride a bike. I have always been partially sighted and have balance problems. Ironically my eyesight has improved slightly in that I don't need to wear specs indoors . I wear then outside as my wonky right eye looks like I am looking at passers by who invariably then say hello and I havn't a clue whether I know them or not. Not having a car means I havn't had to in the old days ferry offspring around etc and has probably saved me thousands of pounds in the long run although Madame has a car which I have funded in the past. I don't go in it much. A few years ago she acquired a new one and it was over 3 months before I rode in it.

I have one, a Pay-as-you-go from Tesco which is probably about 10 years old , mainly for Bank or Credit Card Security calls and so Madame can send me regular 'Check Up' Texts. Otherwise it doesn't see much use unlike hers which seems to be permanently in use and also the offspring who appear to use theirs for navigation rather than looking where they are going. At least its an improvement from walking round with a bottle of water in their hands in case of instant dehydration. The water bottle has now seemingly been replaced by a massive cup of coffee in the free hand with the phone in the other in use for texting companions approx 3 feet away!

Yesterday I transferred and cut down the display shelves from the Loft and installed them round the desk under the fiddle yard with a small one at the fiddle yard throat. After the drastic reduction in the amount of stock for the IR/IE era I can actually fit the remainder on the fiddle yard and display shelving and hopefully can swop the 2 eras over between the 2.

CIE 1949-05-12 Cahersiveen 182 JGD 490603. This negative has suffered a bit over the last 75 years. CDRJC 1959-08-14 Stranorlar , Goods awaits to cross arriving Railcar from Donegal Town. x171 CIE 1959 ca Ashtown Halt.

4 views of Ballyhaise GNRI on on 14 September 1956. 56 arriving from Clones with the Cavan Goods and JT 91 picking up wagons off the goods and adding them to the Belturbet branch train.