Irishswissernie

The Donegal today 20 April 1948 Drumboe at Castlefinn & No 2 arriving at Strabane from Derry.

I am somewhat 'overstocked' on new Cavan & Leitrim images and there are more in the pipeline so have uploaded another 6 to flickr today. Here's two of them at Drumshanbo 10 June 1957 , 5T & 4T crossing and a close up of an C&L Brake van with metal sheathing.

In this photo the casting stands out a bit better. I think the castings were possibly used on other items of infrastructure etc. When My JM Design Brake Van arrived John had included a set of etched Relay boxes with the snail on as I think mine was the first van order A38 Ardee 18 May 1963

The lined green one must be a bit later then, unfortunately the negative didn't have any details.

A couple from 27 Sept 1978 today. Athlone ex M&GW station with a number of locos on shed in the distance & 047 on an up oil train at Limerick Junction (not so good quality wise)

June 1960 on the West Clare at Kilkee. Even at this late date there was still a fair bit of freight traffic.

NIR ex Belfast & Northern Counties railway, trains at Belfast Skegoneil (description on slides) 27 April 1967. First WT 51, second view railcar on right is 62 , 3rd view WT 53

NCC today with negatives from John G Dewing. Belfast York Road ca1939 withdrawn F Class probably 46 and Ballyclare Bank, W Class no. 95 , 12 May 1948

A return to Limerick in June 1960. J15 and crane working on track. A33 on a direct Dublin service.

Feels like the Winter is here today so I have been in the loft, worked on the scenery and ran a train to test out a point installed for Four Masters Goods Yard. I have also constructed a sort of Oak tree from a plant stalk nicked from Annie's flower bed.

Back to the Cavan & Leitrim today but with a nice view at Belturbet featuring an interesting GNRI Van 8 June 1958 and 12L again, shunting vans, same day.

A small rake in this view! Seaham Harbour 30 april 1952 HC Casserley

Limerick Area today. Limerick Check with 154 shunting outside the Works June 1960 & Killonan station in the Winter of 1960.

Checked the John Dewing records and the dates are correct. Also I have the B&W negative of 202 in May 1959, so we can check to see if he took colour and black & white simultaneously.Passes the time of day whilst I await a phone call from the surgeon! Result - the negative is a second or two later.

Yes , he often used 2 cameras 35mm colour slide and large format B&W. Unfortunately I only have 40 or so of the slides but approx 200 negatives.

Enjoyed the IRRS Digital Event last night with some superb views taken by Les Hyland in the 1950's and 1960's covering all Ireland. It seems appropriate to add a couple of John Dewing equally superb photos from the 1960's today. First Near Hilden 174 on a Portadown local 16 May 1960 and then Finaghy 64 Lough Gill 18 May 1960.

Aargh!! Well I will have to have some. Extremely doubtful that they appeared anywhere in Ireland though as they were essentially a somewhat crude basic form of standardised coal wagon for local transport from pit to staith. No springs, only dumb buffers.

I have approx 60 Cavan & Leitrim, 70 CDRJC and 20 West Clare images to upload at the moment so have added 5 C&L to flickr today. Here are a couple, all Ballinamore 8 June 1957 In the first view the passenger train from Dromod waits while 5T on a coal train from Arigna is allowed through first so that it can run through to the north end of the station. Second view 5T on the turntable

Scenery - wise , I would add the run along the banks of the Slaney from Enniscorthy to Wexford on this route.

Yes, a few railways had what was basically a 0-6-0 with a pony truck added as an afterthought/solution to compensate for a too heavy front end. They just didn't look right ; I can think of others in that category such as the LNER Thompson pacifics where the cylinders were between the bogie and the driving wheels.

2 from 4 September 1954 .850 at Broadstone and 361 at Inchicore shed with the coaling tower behind.

Ever Given

Not much modelling done lately as I have been scanning negs and slides plus Mother in Law can't really be left on her own so I am stuck downstairs with only my computer and a fertile imagination to keep me sane. Many years ago I used to write a modelling column for Narrow Gauge World magazine and I used to work out possible layouts based on the prototype. Recently I have been thinking about possible layouts based on Irish locations but trying to restrict the compression of the prototype as much as possible thereby increasing the realism. If you want to model expresses, heavy goods banking/pilot engines etc and a main line well how about just doing the up end of Cork , Kent from the end of the overall roof to the tunnel. The scenic bit would be approx 4 feet x 2 ft with the tunnel at one end and the roof hiding the goods lines running round the back. The tracks would easily form a circuit. Standard and narrow gauge ? well how about Ennis from the footbridge to the road bridge , scaled down about 6 feet from footbridge & Goods shed natural scenic break to the overbridge and about 3 ft wide at the narrow gauge works etc bit. 3 points on the standard gauge and four on the narrow. I once built a layout of Carlisle in the UK for a friend who lived in a bedsit but wanted a workable diorama to run his locos on. The scenic bit which covered the overall roof (pre 1959 one) to the road bridge measured 5 feet x 2Feet , had four platforms plus the middle roads and was to scale. Ennis. Cork from tunnel to overall roof, goods lines hidden by wall Carlisle, from the road known as Victoria Viaduct to the old roof which ended on the wall to the left.

The Hill of Howth tramway today at Sutton 18 May 1959

Views of the West Clare are always harder to acquire than the Donegal & The Cavan & Leitrim no doubt because of the survival of steam on them, however I have managed to get hold of some more negs and have uploaded these two of locos on trains crossing at Ennistymon in June 1960 Quite a decent load on the goods train.