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DSERetc

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Everything posted by DSERetc

  1. Would this article be of any use to you? DSERetc
  2. Could it be 186 on the Down line passing under Corbawn Lane, Shankill, Co Dublin, with the new Shankill Station {opened 10 June 1977) in the background before the DART upgrade? The date could possibly be 23/9/1978, there were three return trips Dublin - Bray ( Page 40 Steams Silver Lining, Joe Cassells) regards DSERetc
  3. Re,   Railtec and 7mm CIE Transfers

    During the Guage O meeting in the Irish Model Railway society in Dorset Street in Dublin in November,  I spoke to Tony Mirolo about the possibility of Steve in Railtec producing 7mm  CIE transfers,

    I have just noticed that some are now available on the Railtec website, if you are still interest

    Best wishes

    Eddie

    1. Galteemore

      Galteemore

      Thanks Eddie - much appreciated! David 

  4. I wonder if it would be possible to get a sound chip, not for the locomotives or rolling stock, but for the yard itself to make it a bit more authentic? In Last train to Barrack Street at about 13.35 there is a view of St Joseph's Church and Monastery which is just across the road from Barrack St Yard. In the years before it closed, the predominant sound coming from the yard was the siren from the gantry as it moved up and down the yard loading and unloading containers on and off the train underneath it. However, in the days of steam engines and loose coupled four wheeled wagons, the sounds were quite different. As trains arrived in from different parts of the country they were 'broken up'. The wagons were uncoupled and loose shunted into the different sidings to wait until they were unloaded. The shunter(s) uncoupled and coupled the wagons with a shunting pole and ran beside the moving wagons, using the hand brake on the wagons to control the speed until they bumped into the wagons already in the siding with a clanging of the buffers. The shunters changed the points and told the drivers where to put the wagons. The engine drivers would always give a short whistle before they would move forwards or backwards. In the evenings, until about 2.00 am, wagons from the different sidings were assembled into trains and departed. Then there was about a two-hour break until about 4.00 am when trains began to arrive, and the shunting would begin again. Another sound coming from the yard then, was the language of the shunters, especially on a cold wet winter's night. For many years the monastery across the road was a Novitiate House and young novices, some fresh in from the country, were living on the top floor of the house, overlooking the goods yard and their tender ears were assailed by this language. According to the Monastery folklore, after one very cold wet night, the priest in charge of the novices went across the road to complain to the yard foreman, who responded "I have to agree with you, Father, the bl***y language is f**king awful!"
  5. A retired UK customs man told me the following story. I have not been able to verify it from independent sources. Before the non-stop Enterprise service began between Belfast and Dublin, all customs examinations were done at the border at Goraghwood and Dundalk, often causing delays. When the non-stop Enterprise service started, two customs men travelled on the train and did an examination of the passengers luggage on the way up to Dublin in the morning and another examination on the way down to Belfast in the evening. They had the afternoon free in Dublin. However very soon the Bosses in the Customs realised that this was not a very economic use of manpower. The decision was made to have the bags examined on tables in the station when the train arrived in Belfast. Not wishing to lose the cushy Enterprise duty, the customs men decided that they would work to rule and thoroughly examine every single bag of every single passenger so that there would be such an outcry of protest from the public that they would get back on the train. After one month they gave up their work to rule. Not one word of protest had been sent in. The customs examination remained on tables in the station. DSERetc
  6. There is a 25 ton brake van in Downpatrick, NCC 33(UT-NIR 2033). Did it or its type ever run south of the border? It is similar to an LMS - BR type of brake van with the chassis longer than the bodywork. DSERetc
  7. C Could someone who is knows about steam locomotive valve gear, identify what is on the Bassett-Lowke CIE Woolwich 2-6-0? Is it Stephenson's, Walschaert's, Caprotti, Bulleid's or Franklin's? The same valve gear is on all the Bassett-Lowke 2-6-0s. The other B-L locomotives seem to have Walschaert's gears as on the originals. It seems to me that it is an in-house Bassett-Lowke gear and that it takes away from an otherwise very good model. What do you think? I was about to buy one that was in Mark's Models window about the year 2000. DSERetc
  8. A by the way! The RPSI had a 40th anniversary dinner in the Railway Gallery of the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum on the 4th October 2004. Instead of being numbered, the tables were designated by the initials of different railway companies in Ireland. There were some very important guests invited, a few of whom did not have a very detailed knowledge of Irish railway history. I was sitting beside one of these guests. We were sitting at the Midland Railway. Northern Counties Committee table. During a pause in the general conversation, he leaned over to me and asked me "Who was Mister NCC? DSERetc
  9. derek, What era are you running in? Is it the mid 1970s? Are you running north over the border? Perhaps you are running too fast through the Goraghwood de-railing loop. I think that there was a 10mph restriction on it. DSERetc
  10. Work is progressing, preparing the site of the new railway and bus station or 'Transportation Hub' to be called Weavers Cross, on the site of the former Grosvenor Road Goods Yard. The sheet piling is being used in the construction of a new culvert for the Blackstaff River which runs through the site. The bus depot has been moved towards the West Link motorway and the two canvas buildings are temporary bus maintenance sheds. The Royal Victoria Hospital can be seen in the distance. The U shaped roof is the Great Victoria Street Railway Station. This part of the project is only preparing the site. Eventually, the present station will be demolished and the 'BOYNE BRIDGE' removed, although this is being opposed in some quarters. There is more information on the Weavers Cross Web Site. DSERetc
  11. 80 Class passing the buttress arches and stone arch bridge at Bray Head. DSERetc
  12. North bound (Down) Enterprise entering Dundalk, passing the Enniskillen bay platform in 1970s?. . Locomotive pushing at the 'Dublin ' end of the train. GNRI 1901 Q class 131 with a 1948 U type tender on the plinth DSERetc .
  13. CORRECTIONS: J15 131 adapted from a LIMA 4F AEC Railcar sides from JEREMY CLEMENTS and the fronts and roof from ANDY CROCKART DSREetc
  14. Some new arrivals at Guage O Castletown. Three adaptions of Leinster Models LMS coach body shells. 1. GNRI No. 114 L13 Brake/3rd See page 73 The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) by Norman Johnston. 2. GNRI No. 75 K15 Open Third Page 24 3. GNRI No 30 F16 Side Corridor Composite. Page 57 New coaches with GNR(I) PP No. 25. CIE J15 No. 131 'adapted' from Lima F8 131 with 6 wheel coaches CIE AEC Railcars Sides from Jeromy Clements, Front and Roof from Andy Crockhart. AEC railcars with Buffet Car DSERetc
  15. Sheep in 1937 Sometimes things don't change Sheep at Ballinderry and Belfast to Coleraine Train summer 1994 DSERetc
  16. Anti-theft security microchip modules. 'Home of 'O' gauge included 1 security module and one record card, with every locomotive kit and RTR locomotive they sold. In their 02/03 catalogue they cost, 1 for £9.95, 5 for £45.00, 10 for 85.00. Since HOG has closed, I have searched the internet but failed to find any for sale. With all the new Irish locomotives around, especially at exhibitions and being aware of the number of break-ins, we should try to protect our models. The security microchip module is a glass capsule, 12.5mmx2.5mm, with a tiny antenna and a microchip with an unique hexadecimal serial number, which can be read by a scanner which all police have nowadays. If the stolen property is found, it can be returned to the owner. The module can be glued in a hidden place in the locomotive and painted over. Does anyone know if these modules are available? They may be smaller now-a-days. Some insurance companies give a discount when items are microchipped. DSERetc
  17. Posted November 25 2018 A little teaser for the next loco on the bench Hello Ken, I have just come across your posts and I have another possible answer to your teaser. Sometime in the early 1950s, I was travelling from Dublin to Bray. Somewhere along the way I looked out the window of the carriage to see what engine was pulling us. I saw the side tanks, cab and bunker and it seemed to be one of the 0-6-2T 670 class tank engines. When we reached Bray, imagine my surprise and joy when I saw a tank engine with outside cylinders. It was 850 the 2-6-2T tank engine. It was the only engine with outside cylinders I ever saw in Bray. It was built in 1928 and was said to have parts of the unbuilt Woolwich 2-6-0. The side tanks, cab and bunker, even the hand rails, seem to be almost identical to those on the 670s. So if you have these stored on your computer, and if you can get a Woolwich frame and motion, a pony truck and a boiler, you could have another model of an engine running on the DSER. Great Work. DSERetc
  18. DSERetc

    DSERetc

  19. Bray in the 1950s Bray Railway Station today is an efficient Dart Terminal station. It has about 110 Dart arrivals and departures on an ordinary weekday, using the down platform for arrivals from Dublin and the Up platform for departures to Dublin. About a quarter of the Dart services go on to Greystones. There is a regular arrival and departure timetable frequency of between 3 and 12 arrivals and departures per hour. There are also intercity trains to Rosslare and commuter trains to Arklow and Gorey. This is very different to what I remember in the late 1940s and 1950s From 1854 until 1927, Bray had only one platform, with a scissor crossover halfway along it, to serve trains to and from Harcourt Street and Amiens Street or Westland Row and to and from Greystones and Wexford or Rosslare. It was a junction station. It seemed to me that many of the practices of that time continued, even after the second platform was built. I am writing as an observer. I do not have a working timetable for that time. It seemed that if there was no train due from Greystones, then trains from Dublin were brought into the up Platform ‘The Near Side’. Sean Kennedy’s picture in Great Southern Railways by Donal Murray of a train from Dublin just arrived at the up platform. If a train was due from Greystones or already at the up platform waiting to depart, then the trains from Dublin were brought into the Down platform (the Far Side) and passengers had to cross the footbridge to get out of the station. There was an exit on the Down platform about halfway between the Signal Cabin and the Glass canopy and another exit at the south end of the Up platform beside the Starting signal and the water column. This exit was down steps to Albert Avenue under the Railway bridge. The bricked-up doorway at road level, can still be seen in the bridge abutment. These exits were used on fine summer days, especially Sundays when extra trains from Dublin were put on for ‘Day-trippers’. It has been mentioned about looking out the window. It was common in a train coming from Dublin as it was crossing the river Dargle at the harbour, for someone to look out at the three doll Home signal to see which signal was off and to announce to the rest of the passengers “It’s the near side” or “It’s the far side" Because of the single line beyond Bray, if a train was approaching from the south and another from Dublin, then both were brought to a stand for a few moments at the outer home signals, the up signal at the ‘Wicklow sidings’ behind the Esplanade Hotel and the down signal just after Woodbrook Golf Course. Then both cautiously entered the station. On a week day, there were 25 arrivals from Amiens Street, 2 from Westland Row to Rosslare and 22 arrivals from Harcourt Street, 1 for Arklow and 1 for Rosslare. There were 16 departures for Greystones, three for Rosslare and one for Arklow. Arrivals and departures were not evenly spaced out during the day. Usually departures for Harcourt street and Amiens street left within a few minutes (sometimes 4 minutes) of each other especially if one train had arrived from Greystones. Then there could be almost 45 minutes or more to wait for the next departures. Shanganagh Junction worked with Bray to ensure that when two trains from Dublin arrived at the junction at about the same time, the one going on to Greystones went through even if the other arrived first. Sometimes it was the one from Harcourt Street, (the Main Line), sometimes from Amiens Street. Very often, the train for Greystones ran to the very end of the up platform. Then the second, about four minutes later, followed. It was stopped at the home signal then the ‘Calling on’ signal came off and the train came into the up platform behind the train for Greystones to let passengers change trains without having to cross the footbridge. Sean Kennedy’s picture in Great Southern Railways by Donal Murray, of a train from Dublin on the facing crossover from the down to the up line after getting the calling on signal to come in behind the train already at the up platform. If the platform line was clear, the main or top signal would be used. On Sunday afternoons in Summer, when the weather was fine, droves of day-trippers came out to Bray and in the evening, it seemed that the time-table was abandoned. Both platforms were used for arrivals and departures. Trains waited in the Wicklow sidings and sometimes in the sidings on the north side of the gates. Engines were waiting on the centre road. When a train arrived from Dublin, the first of these engines would go forward and reverse on to the back of the train, while the engine that had just arrived was uncoupled to go to the turn table. As soon as the train was filled it would depart. If there was gap in the arrivals, a train would be brought to the platform from one of the sidings. All sorts of goods and parcels arrived in and were dispatched from Bray. The window to collect parcels was beside the exit gate facing up Florence Road. The 7 bay goods shed was entered from the Meath Road. All day long you could hear buffers clanging as wagons were shunted to be loaded or unloaded. In the evening, at about 8.00 or 9.00 pm, the Wexford goods would arrive from Dublin to drop off and pick up wagons. It would depart at about 10.30 or 11.00 and very often would need a banking engine to get up the gradient out of Bray. This would return a short time later. I only discovered a long time later that there were two staff instruments in Bray Signal cabin, one the train staff and the second the banking staff. The line remained ‘occupied’ until both staffs were returned to their instruments. In the summer of, I think 1956, Bray and Shankill parishes had a combined pilgrimage to Knock. The train arrived in Bray from Inchicore. The engine, a new A class diesel, ran round the train and then took the carriages to Shankill Station on the Harcourt Street line for the Shankill pilgrims. The engine ran round again and brought the train back to Bray for the Bray pilgrims. It ran round again and then ran nonstop to Knock. The line through No 5 platform in Amiens street ran straight to the down line to Glasnevin before the alterations for the Dart. I was standing at the door at the rear right hand corner of the carriage and as we swept round the curve beside the passenger entrance to platform 5 at about 40 mph, the edge of the carriage over-rode the platform leaving a trail of sparks. Finally, my first practical lesson about steam engines. We were in Amiens street to meet cousins arriving from Belfast. The big Blue Engine (a Vs) had stopped just short of the huge hydraulic buffers on Platform 2. There was a lot of hugging and kissing, meanwhile I was enthralled by the outside valve gear and motion. I reached out and touched the cold silvery piston rod only to discover it was HOT!!! - VERY HOT. DSERetc
  20. Leslie, Perhaps, when you are building it, you can correct a big mistake in the original design. For a young train spotter travelling from Dublin to Belfast, the one big disappointment of the journey was Portadown Roundhouse. All we could see was the back wall. You could place it so that passengers to and from Dublin may see the interesting engines inside DSERetc
  21. 184 being turned in Bray. There were three Dublin to Bray return trips on 22/9/1979 and on 12/04/1980 and 13/04/1980, I cannot remember which day I took the photos. The film coaches were stored in the siding between the turntable and the up platform and on the line at the then disused Goods store. DSERetc
  22. In the magazine of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, FIVE FOOT THREE, No. 42 Winter 1995/96, Peter Rigney has an article, FILMING 1995, describing the activity of the RPSI in filming Michael Collins. Also, in FIVE FOOT THREE, No. 52, Winter 2005/6, there is an article, Cameras, Continuity and Codology by "Best Boy" describing some of the events in 1978 before and during the filming of The First Great Train Robbery.
  23. When Alice retired Mella took charge of the catering. She had a habit of leaning out of the window when the train stopped at a station. I waved to her a few times in Dundalk when she was in an up train heading to Dublin and I was on a train going to Belfast. Andy Crockart made a TV programme on the GNRI Line between Belfast and Dublin and interviewed Mella. She was from Omagh and started work on the Derry Road. She told me she was on the train on 24th November 1950 when 5 men working on the track were run over in Omagh Station. She said she was down on the track under the restaurant car nursing one of the men who died as she was holding him. Being from Omagh, she knew the five families. In the New Year's Honours List, 1991, She received the British Empire Medal for faithful service to the Railway all through the troubles. After she retired she sometimes attended the RPSI winter Meetings where practically everyone attending knew her.
  24. If it is Mella, I first met her and Alice Quinn in the Restaurant Car on the 11.00? am Dublin to Belfast train on 19th January 1966.
  25. Sympathy to the families of the Driver, Conductor and passenger who were killed and also to Scotrail on the loss of two employees. Looking at the aerial photographs, where is the leading locomotive? The news report says that there was a locomotive at the front and back and four carriages. Looking at the wreckage, it seems to illustrate the risk of Pull-push working compounding an accident, when a powerful locomotive continues to push after the front of the train has suddenly stopped. The rear carriages ride up over t he derailed carriages in front in spite of buckeye couplings and anti-climb buffers which are supposed to keep the carriages in line in the event of a derailment. Pull-push working is more economical than double-heading, un-coupling, running round and coupling at the end of each journey. Is it safer? DSERetc
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