Irishswissernie

Wills scenecraft SS57 Varigirder. I think I used 2 packs, they also do a kit for the brick piers, I would have preferred stone but I don't think they do one.

This is another JG Dewing negative taken in 1960 at (I think) Thurles . Van A 15 which appears to be still lettered for the Great Southern & Western! Someone has cleaned round the letters. It doesn't look like a re-lettering .

Weathering on the bubbles was done by my son Alan who also built them a few years before the IRM models appeared. Dapol Prestwin chassis plus 3D printed bodies he designed. Weathering was mainly acrylics but with other materials added including tooth paste which developed an interesting greenish mould over the years. I tend to use oil based, water and acrylics paints applied at the same time as the 3 tend to separate out and create interesting patterns etc. A bit of progress on the embankment and Mart site yesterday.

Easons were a well known company who had a large number of kiosks on railway stations including one at Stranorlar, this looks like the kiosk. They were basically newsagents selling papers and magazines as can be seen from the titles on the invoice and I doubt that they sold railway books as such but probably had a selection of tourist oriented guides etc. Ernie

Four more recently acquired negs. Cork 406 5 March 1949 looking quite smart!

Its on 00 Works web site now https://ooworks.co.uk/ Ernie

Its easier to describe embankment construction in photos.

Work has re-started on Glengarriff !

Well here in Haltwhistle Centre of Britain, netty, bog or toilet rolls are still like gold dust. Our Sainsburys and Co-op have been decimated by Townies from Newcastle driving here and buying everything. The locals are talking of putting up the barricades and self -isolating the whole town! Ernie

One of my offspring gave me this for my birthday some years ago. Now do I flog it, do I use it or do I do the puzzles during the coming 3 months of self isolation first and hope I can solve each puzzle before I need the next sheet?

I received the attached email today from 00 Works. GSR ex CBSC 472 was a 0-6-0st scrapped in 1940 so a bit of an odd prototype to select but very similar to the LSWR 0330 saddle tank also mentioned. This was essentially a Beyer Peacock standard design. The advert wasn't attached Ernie

Britain from Above covers the Republic and other countries as well https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en Ernie

Just found another photo of Tralee plus loco 7 was shedded at Tralee in 1945 so yes you are correct. Many thanks. Ernie

Thanks, the open top cattle wagon is in the second last photo. 4 down, four to go! The negs have scanned a bit better than what I thought .

OK Anyone know the location of the following, all from around 1950. Captions refer to the photo below. Identified Tralee, D19, 7 Identified, Belfast Queens Quay after the demise of the County Down Class 1, 218 Confirmed as Rocksavage , I think the loco is G1 No 423 This seems to be out in the wilds but locos look like OOU J26, 557 This was at Thurles 1945 and it could well be where this photo is. T'm pretty sure this is Limerick coal stage J15, 181 Possibly Limerick J11, 219 Not much to go on this one but the open top Cattle wagon is interesting! loco E1, 279 Identified as Inchicore 42

Here are a couple more. Ballinamore C&L 1956 JGD Thurles A45 + 309 5June 1956 from a print with copyright. One bit of good news or maybe not - they have cancelled the Eurovision song contest! Ernie

A couple of slightly rarer shots added to flickr today Rather grainy negatives taken at Greenore late 1940's GNRI JT 94 and AL 55. The wife, daughter and son-in-law managed to be in contact with the first person in the North East to catch CV-19 over a fortnight ago and as a result I havn't been able to do anything with them under my feet for 14 days although Public Health advised me that I wasn't confined to "quarters" as I hadn't been in direct contact. Consequently the day after it blew up I was cleared to go to the Keighley & Worth Valley Gala for 4 days. The family all tested negative! Now I have 3 months self isolation to look forward to! The good news is I have acquired some 250+ Irish negs etc including a fair number of Cavan & Leitrim & County Donegal. Quality ranges to from grainy similar to the Greenore views through prints acquired with copyright to 80 top quality JG Dewing black & white negs. I have also started doing some work on Glengarriff so the next three months might be quite productive provided the family don't have to self isolate! Ernie

I think I only saw them a couple of times. This one was 11 June 2001 in the distance whilst I was videoing freight at North Wall. Click on the video its only 30 seconds long and is the usual crap quality. I'm still working on how to convert the original tapes through the computer. Ernie 11_June_2001_071_on_Amonia_tanks.mp4

Scans attached, they are 'askew' to make them more readable. Ernie

I've acquired a Provincial Bus Timetable for Summer 1956. Services to Skibbereen or Bantry were 2 per day same as the train, Skibbereen via Bandon and Clonakilty, Bantry via Bandon, Drimoleague and on to Glengarriff (that name rings a bell!). No early arrivals so no commuters etc. Between Bandon & Cork and also Macroom and Cork the service increased to 13 each way on both routes with 3 arrivals before 9am so commuters were catered for. The railways had opted out of providing for this traffic. I.m thinking of starting a "I remember when" topic in Blowing off steam, Just need to a.) do it and b.) Remember something! When I think back to the 1960's when I started out in Banking in 1966 it was completely different. Ernie

I've been looking at Mike Shannon's negs this morning now held by Dave Dunn. They have suffered a bit since the 1960's but are quite interesting. I have uploaded some at Belfast Central Junction including some interesting P/Way maintenance and also a view of the SS Ballygarvey at Bangor Quay. One of Kellys coal boats there's nowt of railway infrastructure in the shot as the B&CDR didn't serve the quay. However its a scene crying out to be modeled but with a siding for coal trucks rather than the lorries. Probably one of Ballygarvey's last trips as she was scrapped in 1965. Ernie

There is a copy of Bradshaws 1910 timetable in Creedon Vol 2. Even then the earliest passenger arrival in Cork was at 10.15 (from Clonakilty). First arrival from Baltimore/Bantry 10.40.

I would think that as I believe CIE also ran the bus services and the railway timetable refers to 11 pages (70 to 80) of connections, that commuters and passenger traffic etc were channelled towards these as these were apparently more economical to run. It would be of interest (to me anyway) just how biased public transport was towards the road. Ernie

I am all for photographers negatives, slides etc being donated or acquired by Railway Societies. However what seems to happen in a great number of cases is that such material is then (I hope) scanned ,identified, catalogued and safeguarded for future generations. All of this has to be done by volunteers, however in many cases it then goes into the vaults and remains unseen and forgotten or is only available at 'base'. It is appropriate that any material put on- line should be available only to members as this makes the Society more attractive to become a member thereby increasing membership, financial standing etc thereby possibly facilitating the production of magazines, publications etc. I started acquiring negs and slides to pursue my own interests in the knowledge that if I didn't get them they would in the vast number of cases go into a private collection and never be seen again. Plus I don't drive, not allowed to drink and I think buying used negs/slides is tax free. The work involved in scanning, identifying, cataloging (if only!) etc is the hard part, but very interesting. I have done perhaps 100,000 plus , my mate at the ARPT reckons he's done 400,000. Putting them on flickr is easy and relatively secure (one needs to put on a copyright overlay ) It also is a means of interacting in the hobby with other enthusiasts and is becoming especially more so as I become what the wife describes as housebound, senile, decrepit, embittered and cantankerous. I don't do prints , too time consuming and post extortionate, however if anyone wants the odd scan and its my 'copyright' for personal use please ask. Requests for including in books a small fee, Society etc articles publications no charge. I shall close with a photo Macmine Junction 9july1960 saloon 352 HC Casserley Ernie OOPS all this by the way is (as usual) Off Topic!

Thanks , Michael Patterson - I couldn't remember his name! plus his email was not his name. I obtained my copy direct from him back in 2015. He sent me some excellent extra Bandon images but I can't put them on the net as I don't have permission. From the various photographers and reminiscences in the book he appears well connected to other Bandon enthusiasts. I especially like the Chris Gammell colour views of the Courtmacsherry line, the slides are buried in the IRRS Archives. Its a pity the IRRS don't make more use of their Photo Gallery on the Internet site. Only 77 images out of thousands in the 'vaults'. Just added this one to Flickr, Coutmacsherry branch at Ballinascarthy, HC Casserley neg Ernie