Irishswissernie

Merry Christmas &^ a Happy New Year everyone! Here is a bumper bundle uploaded to Flickr today. Click on the photos to get the captions! Some old, some new, some maybe GNRI blue!

No I don't think so, different lighting conditions produced variations in the hue. Here are a couple of views at Limerick Junc of 123 and 129 taken within minutes of each other. EDIT I'm intrigued by the white lining on the cab end of 123 with a line of dirt down the middle and a bit ropey on the edges paint wise. Its possible the cab metalwork is a bit distorted I have quite a few views of locos missing the IR or IE logo on the bonnet sides.

Yes 110

I wasn't going to get a black n Tan 121 but thinking that in a couple of years time I will probably wish I had; thought better of it. This is the 'Insurance' shot. All locos arrived safely with only one loose coupling across the deliveries. I'm thinking that if I go the same way with the A Class I might have to rebuild Glengarriff as a Diesel depot. Well no! I prefer the countryside.

Email from Hattons saying 121''s now in stock, a bit late for most of us I guess.

Should have gone to Specsavers Jim if you are referring to the last one

Latest Casserley Lots are now being gradually uploaded to Flickr.

A few more which possibly havn't seen the light of day as the film has a serious fault across the sky which resembles a volcanic ash eruption but doesn't affect the actual scene. I have cut out most of the offending black cloud but the remainder is a useful area to put on a caption.

My interpretation of Casserley Records. Arrived at Enniskillen 17th from C&L via Clones and spent night. 18th EKN to Fintona Jc - Fintona then back to EKN. Railcar B on 1.45 special for group to Sligo and then on it back to EKN in evening for another overnight stay. 19th depart for Omagh, Strabane and Derry. I have the negs from EKN lunchtime after arrival back from Fintona. The records are on GWRA Auctions web site for the Casserley Auction and can be downloaded as a PDF The Trip is in the 7th PDF on first line and the neg numbers covering the Irish Tour are 72616 Page 89 to 73146 Page 105 https://www.gwra.co.uk/h-c-casserley-collection-of-negatives-auction.html This will enable one to work out RC Riley's Trip.

Yes my negs LOT covers EKN to Sligo on the 18th then back to EKN then Omagh & Strabane (GN& Donegal) & the Lough Swilly at Derry on the 19th

This is the SLS Group posed for HCC at Sligo. Given that this is 70 years ago there can't be many of the Group still with us. A bit different from the rail tours I did; only one participant without a tie. Back in the 1980's on the NERA Day Tours organised by the late Chris Wolstenholme he would be the only one wearing a tie!

All the latest Casserley acquisitions have now been scanned and captioned but still need cleaning up. There are 5 of Dromahair on 18 May 1950. Railcar B was working a special for HCC and the SLS Group.

I've spent the last few days scanning the Casserley negatives recently acquired. In a mixed batch of Scottish and midland medium negatives there are also 8 Cavan & Leitrim views from 7 June 1932. Re-painting wasn't a priority as the stock is still in Cavan & Leitrim lined livery. Also No 9 King Edward was still extant in Ballinamore Yard.

THanks, bought one off E Bay although the article seems familiar and I've probably got the book somewhere in the loft. Somewhere I also have an article about the auction sale at Enniskillen of the assets in Northern Ireland. It was in one of the old Railway World Magazines when that magazine was going through a bad patch finance wise (before Ian Allan bought it) and the issues were reduced to a 6" x 9" format. Scanned this one yesterday 26 June 1937

It does Jim , top of page 53. I can't scan it at the moment because the scanner is full of Londonderry & Lough Swilly negs from 1937. There are 16 views of Fintona branch in the GNRI album https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157626756740602

Working my way through the Casserley negs I acquired at the auction last Saturday and came across this one of a conversion to a Turf Van on the narrow gauge

I uploaded this one to this topic back in June asking if anyone could identify the location but without any luck! Well as usual I was checking out something else and the background right details corresponded with it. Pretty sure its Athlone near the loco shed with the junction for the Westport line in the right background Its that peculiar shaped set of cross members on the telegraph pole and also that building which resembles a signal box but is nowhere near the line also seen in this view below from 1961

The Portadown views are part of a few photos taken on 22 & 23 June 1957, he also filmed at Belfast GVS and York Road, Adelaide and on the 23rd at Connolly, Harmonstown and Sutton. I get the impression he may have had the family in tow and managed to grab a few minutes at each spot before being persuaded/cajoled or forced to move on; something I experienced when my brood of 5 were with me!

Its in the EU's interest to get some kind of agreement done. They export far more to the UK than the UK does to them and this imbalance has been getting worse. Figures from HMG The EU, taken as a whole is the UK's largest trading partner. In 2019, UK exports to the EU were £294 billion (43% of all UK exports). UK imports from the EU were £374 billion (52% of all UK imports). The share of UK exports accounted for by the EU has generally fallen over time from 54% in 2002 to 43% in 2019.10 Nov 2020

I acquired several more Lots of Casserley negatives at the second Auction last Saturday. The Irish includes SLNC GNRI CDRJC L&LSR NCC- inc some narrow gauge 1937, 1950 & 1953 and hopefully I should have them in my trembling hands in the next week or so. Meanwhile still plenty to upload to Flickr including the following views from Enniskillen, Newton Cunningham & Letterkenny Already uploaded but nowt to do with Ireland are a couple of videos of the Ffestiniog Victorian Gala in 2019 but I rather like them - a bit different and a reminder of happier times.

Mine arrived today as well. Excellent and very securely packaged. A quick perusal reveals only 3 Casserley views much to my relief as I have just used my Funeral Fund to purchase more Casserley negatives including a fair number of County Donegal and Lough Swilly originals at last Saturdays Auction.

Ah! Thats what has confused me because I also ordered the 2 silver ones on the same order and they have already arrived several weeks ago. No the 2' gauge South Tynedale railway doesn't reach Haltwhistle, its up the valley at Alston end of the old branch and in any case the operating company has gone bust (The actual line is a different organisation) No trains this year and nobody to operate it next year yet!

Hopefully my 3 Irish Rail models will arrive in Haltwhistle soon from IRM, seems to be taking a rather long time. If my 3 IE on order from IRM ones catch them up and Madame is around to see all 6 land here it could be a rather frosty Christmas!

I was wondering what the big cities like Dublin and Belfast did with it with many inner city terraces/tenements not having gardens/compost heaps. Sh1t here ont big island was much in demand by farmers for manure (its use in the Isle of Man) In the centre of civilisation aka Geordieland several of the big pit villages like Ashington (pop approx 40000) had a network of 2ft gauge lines running down the back lanes next to the backyard ash closets. They had a hatch in the back wall and the contents of the netty (toilet) could be shoveled out in the night into wagons mainly hauled by horses but some lines were steam worked and taken away. They could also be used to deliver the miners free coal allowance. Now that would make an interesting model! You can see the tramways on this : https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=55.18443&lon=-1.58571&layers=168&b=1

The discussion on milk traffic elsewhere and the mention of the Isle of Man railway brought back memories of that railways various Night Soil sidings at Crosby and Santon and I wonder how big (tonnage wise!) the traffic was in Ireland. Also did they use specifically allocated wagons and where was the traffic 'dumped' Did the narrow gauge lines carry such traffic? The WC in particular comes to mind.