murphaph

A nice way to add significant interest to the train. I've wondered what the scrap containers looked like before. I don't think I've ever seen a good clear picture of one.

I think it behaves exactly as I described. Idle no smoke. Pulling away smoke. Cruising speed no smoke. The last minute of the video shows the same loco producing barely a whiff as she gets up to speed. The other 2 locos in the video don't show any signs of smoke at all. You'd need more complicated control of the smoke unit to achieve that behaviour. You can't simply couple it to either the loco speed or loco sound frequency. A loco at full tilt typically wouldn't produce a stream of visible smoke. Only perhaps when moving off. Too fiddly if you have to manually switch smoke generation on and off I feel.

Some were wrapped in green "shroud" plastic which could often be seen spilling out under the doors.

Bake at gas mark 5 for 1 hour.... I decided to do something with these spoil containers which are too modern for my chosen era. Maybe I will find a spot for them in a corner somewhere someday. The one at the back was the first thing I attempted to weather and it was....bad. I think I can save it though. The rest are being weathered from new condition. First I am spraying the inside as they were not yellow inside for very long at all. Rust soon took over more or less completely on the inside surfaces. When these are dry (that's actually why they were in the dehydrator) I'll apply a wash and a blast of sleeper grime. Might make the numbers look more recently patched too.

A fleet to be proud of. They all look smashing.

They are pretty cool but in reality once warmed up most diesels don't produce these huge plumes of smoke at high revs. The water vapour generation would need more complex control to be realistic, fading out as the revs increased, back in at medium revs then out again at idle. Only a cold engine would typically belch smoke throughout the rev range. Simply coupling the sound frequency to the generation rate may not work that well. The water also has to land back on the layout so that's something to bear in mind.

Looking good George. Very nice.

It would be nice if a certain manufacturer of model railways of Ireland would include different inspection date stickers or transfers in any possible upcoming range of coaches said manufacturer might be contemplating

Guys, thanks to your images I have been able to put together a small spreadsheet of the subtle differences in these vans. Might be of use to anyone modelling them in future. If I come across any new details I'll update the spreadsheet, so it's a work in progress. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zLupSzoj6kkkA9H-s7W62MpoggdXJgr8ORQXHkTA0Vs/edit?usp=sharing

I believe the "unrebuilt" Dutch vans always had the lower black band. First pic here, for example: https://steverabone.com/RailwayPhotographs/ Nice pic of an inspection marking all the same. Quite a fruitful thread this thanks to all your help guys. A million times better than asking google anyway!

Good stuff chaps. That long shot in Heuston is probably 4601 again (it has the extra louvres which I think we're unique to it) with the orange roof. It's definitely orange and goes right up. I'm convinced 4601 was originally painted with an orange roof now, at least largely orange. The roof hatches may have been black. Without an as newly painted pic from 91 we'll probably never know though. Makes no odds to me however as by 95 the orange was barely visible and only along the edges. Everything in the middle was filthy dirty black by then. I wonder were the BS and IC markings on both sides of the van or just one side.

Great pics guys. The Jonathan Allen one of 4601 really suggests the roof was originally painted orange, at least up to the ribs, to match the mk2 stock presumably. It's possible that they noticed how dirty the roofs became and switched to black for the rest. I think this is the same vehicle seen departing Athy in the pics I linked to above. The pic of 4603 really helps date those black bands as I think I can make out an inspection year of 1996. This makes the black band on that vehicle plausible for my time period I believe. A very small bit or artistic licence can make 1996 into 1995 and job done. Close enough and the black band certainly adds interest. I would probably restrict myself to 4603. The pic also shows that the white test says BS 3-96. I'm guessing this is some sort of limited brake inspection (and the calendar week it took place) whereas the IC xx-xx is the bigger inspection and its date, possibly often simultaneously performed? I don't suppose anyone has any pics of the interior of these things?

And I'm sorry to rehash an old hobby horse of min, but I stumbled across another pic which I hadn't looked closely enough at previously. It's a rebuilt van (I can't make out the number unfortunately) and it really does look (to me anyway) like the roof was painted orange, at least up as far as the first longitudinal ribs on either side and just got filthy black over time. Or is there another plausible explanation. One side: ...and the other as she departs under the bridge and out the other side: The only possible explanation I can come up with, assuming it was not painted orange, is that the orange was sprayed first and this is overspray. The roof was then painted black but this black paint is coming away and revealing the overspray. I'm not convinced by that possible explanation though. Does anyone know the order the coaches were painted in in reality or was it random? I have never come across a picture of a newly rebuilt Dutch van. I wonder were any ever taken. IRRS archives perhaps?

Here's a nice clear example of an original Dutch van's inspection marking. The I almost blends into the so hardly surprising the transfer makers assumed a C (probably for check).

That's very good info about the IC Noel. It seems neither transfer maker has the detail of that yellow backed inspection marking down properly. The I is missing in both cases, though Des' comes a bit closer to correct without the dash. This one will probably have to be made up on my printer to get a correct date.

That is brilliant. Really coming together nicely

Ah from looking at the Railtec transfer it seems there's possibly a dash missing in Des' version, which would strongly suggest these yellow backed markings are inspection dates: https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=1154

Absolutely. These are the 2 clearest pics I've seen of these things, cracking stuff. Interesting variation in the sash window frame in the guard's door also! JB you are probably right as usual. I think I will do none with the black band as it's clearly way too late for the mid 90s to be plausible. I'll do maybe one with the markings however, minus the black band like in Ernie's first pic. I really like that. I believe I have identified the yellow backed marking. It's visible here: http://georgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.com/2010/01/irish-generator-van-kit-arrives.html The marking is C 29-98 and there are three identical markings in Des' Dutch van transfer kit, so I suspect the same marking was on all three. Perhaps a type of lubricant? The other plain white marking I cannot identify. It doesn't appear to be in the transfer kit either and doesn't seem to appear on the George Dent image either, so I think it was a bit random and can be ignored for now.

That's a great pic Ernie, thanks for posting. However I think the paint job carried ever so slightly around the corner on both sides. It's just caked in dirt on the right hand side - you can see the warning flashes are completely obscured by dirt too The van is actually the same one in all three pics, 4602. Your pic shows that they started adding some stencilling before the black band itself was applied, which opens up another can of worms lol. When did they start stencilling those things on? Your pic clearly confirms the black band as being a much later addition, definitely into the 2000s which is out of era for me. The lower stencilling however needs further investigation as this could add interest to the kits I'm working on. Would you happen to have any other images that might help identify those markings clearly?

Does anyone know when the Dutch vans went from looking like this: ....to looking like this: ? The latter image was unknown to me until a couple of days ago. I had seen the black band on one of the vans in its condition as a brake van for the stock transfer trains but never while still in revenue service. I suspect this was quite late in their revenue service lives.

I wonder would they like their flash car given a similarly artistic treatment.

So I have finished the rebuilt Dutch vans I started working on a long time ago. These are destined for another member's collection. Starting point: After fabricating a chassis, adding the Silver Fox Werkspoor bogies, painting up, applying transfers, fabricating glazing out of a CD case and weathering appropriately (none of the pics I have found show them in an absolutely filthy state while they were in revenue service, so I haven't overdone it):

Theresa May came up with the famous Brexit means Brexit slogan. Now we know that Brexit means this.

Great stuff. Did the North Wall to Ballina block train go via Mullingar to Athlone or via Portarlington?

Cheers Noel, very insightful. So you reckon pre-98 you'd have a full fert block train to Ballina (what time roughly?) and post-98 they'd only have enough traffic to warrant tagging them on to the back of one of the liners? Am I understanding you right? I'm looking to model around '95. Roughly how often would a fert block train be sent to Ballina from Dublin?