Irishswissernie

A couple of Mike Shannon views 13Feb65 WT8 at Omagh and S60 at Strabane plus a WT at Omagh in 1964. They are the only WT's on the Derry Road I have photos of so certainly uncommon. S Class 60 seems to be the other regular 4-4-0 Ernie

Needs editing re some of the facts. I'm pretty sure the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee had nowt to do with operating it and the Great Northern Railway didn't close the line. Unfortunately I havn't got time at present to check this out. Went to see an old German friend very ill on his last legs today and he was very excited to see me and then passed away. His last words were Du stehst auf meiner Sauerstoffleitung! I need to find out what this means, might be some money to get some Guinness Keg wagons! Better get back on topic St Johnston 14 Feb 1965

Some 141/121 ends for comparison. Sods Law says I can't find a direct side on shot for comparison but the model looks fine EDITED Sods Law also states that you will find a side on shot just after you have posted! . I will add this one also as it is roughly the same aspect as the model photo and conveys the same impression re the heights.

Super Train above Black per Murphy or Black and Tan per CIE

Yes it went to Dundalk Barrack Street. Several views in my GNRI album https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157626756740602/with/5736727396/ of the special at Ardee, Dromin and Dundalk

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