leslie10646

So Mr Alexander was The Primate? It turns out that we Armachians can't lay claim to Cecil Frances, as she died before her husband was elevated to Armagh - so all claim to her belongs to Derry! Nonetheless , through Mrs Alexander, we ULSTER folk do well in church at the two great festivals - invariably the first hymn at the Ceremony of Nine Lessons and Carols is Once in Royal David's City; while There is a Green Hill is always sung at Easter. Mr Alexander's wife was a talented lady?

Photos of the Day Mail usually show a very heterogeneous collection of vehicles with roof and side elevations constantly changing. Obviously a TPO, net 'n all; probably a full brake and a complement of varying coaches, vans etc. Must try and find a photie! Just popped in to let the dog out (his owner is in St Lucia enjoying his 50th), while I'm replete with a great Christmas Dinner cooked by his "Little Brother"! Dare I say it here? I thought that The King was on good form, quoting Mrs Alexander (Once in Royal David's City). @Galteemore will tell you, even if you don't know - she was the wife of the Dean of ARMAGH (Centre of the Known Universe). Happy Christmas and Peace to Men of Goodwill.

Yes, mail / parcels trains are great - you can stick almost anything into the consist. The "Big Four" rand twelve bogies with a crack express engine. In 1965, the NCC had a daily extra mail train to Derry which typically consisted of a passenger coach, a bogie van and two brown vans. One of them reputedly did 86 mph down the hill into Antrim, so I went out to see: My Journey precis for the day said: "1145 Postal Special. These trains had been rumoured to be real flyers, Train of one bogie, a bogie van and two brown vans. 25 min on Bank, then tsr and wrong line working, so nothing to write home about". PS David, love those vans at Enniskillen. Happy Christmas, all.

And now with motion (and a sort of music!)! A rather electric start, but a WT with 100 tons would have FLOWN! I'd forgotten that the GN(E) van had lights! If I'm honest, I was afraid that the loco would stall on my track which hasn't been cleaned. Let's hope that the CMX rail cleaner really works! Mail Train.mov

Christmas time, so time to run the Christmas Postal extras. My bogie vans are packed away (somewhere), so this year's train is a very made-up job. WT No.10 on a train of four and six wheelers - Brown Van (would never have seen Portadown), DNGR (really LNWR) full brake, Great Northern six wheel full brake (wrong GN, of course), a CIE Green full brake (just about legitimate) and a PW GNR(I) Y5 van (TOTALLY legitimate!). I LOVE tail vans.

Well done, Paul. If Airdrop worked from my useless iPhone 13 to my (probably more useless) Mac Air (2015), I'd show you Enda's Uniload containers on this wagon - a perfect fit! WHOOOPPPEEE!!! It's worked.

Interesting to see the U Class at Foyle Road - when I was doing my Summer Runabout in August 1964, there was a S Class on the 1015 from Derry most days, which I would pick up at Strabane. However, on 6 August 1964, No.201 (UTA No.66) was on the train and by an unhappy circumstance, I only was able to travel with her from Portadown to Belfast, not very speedily! Quite why she was on the train, my eighteen year old self did not ascertain. No.171 had gone to Derry on the previous day's 3pm train, and should have been on the 1015 on the 5th. She may have developed a fault and the little U Class was substituted. A S Class was back on the 3.15 that afternoon in the shape of No.172 (UTA No.60) and ran well enough for me to risk the Omagh connection into the 5.08pm relief back to Belfast - which I made! Takes you back ......

Interesting. I like the loop with the crossover which feeds trains back from whence they came, but on the correct line. However, how does an arriving train (an "UP" train), get across to the departure platform to form a "Down" train - don't you need a crossover somewhere? You've hit the age-old issue that points take up a lot of linear layout, which I sort of got round by buying a big house and mortgaging myself to the hilt (paid off when I was 75!). Good luck though, just a bit more innovation?

No, you're wrong Paul. IRM are going to announce their Irish Steam loco on 25th December. This thing's ANOTHER diesel. To quote my favourite Christmas character from literature - "Bah, Humbug" But as it's the Season, the last words of the same Book. "God Bless us Everyone".

Journal No. 57, pages 149-158 is the article John refers to. The same Journal has an article on the then CIE Railcar Fleet! Useful having a bound set on the shelf above me! Containers and the Railway - C.J. Whalley 10/149-158 I've PM'd you.

Hi guys I got an e-mail from Rails yesterday encouraging me to vote for them in the annual Model Rail Model of the Year election, so I did and, of course Accurascale: https://www.model-rail.co.uk/magazine/latest-issues/model-of-the-year/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=Model Rail MOTY Awards 2024 - Voting Open&utm_id=01JF85VRAHD9ZAKD79VE3AZ7F7&_kx=94TVSTwJKaw1u9s0VI6GSrlZad3yB7CBtaw17rSe4OjqnSFePN1n7xZw98DdvMB7.RXkVMS Your favourite manufacturer NEEDS YOU. So Vote!

Is Coach 24 one of your missing ones, Colin? Henry Casserley photographed it in 1932 and as I (The Syndicate) have both a Glass negative of it and a normal negative of it, I should be able to oblige. I don't seem to have scanned it yet. Let me know. Leslie

Glad to be of service!

Great story, Jim, thanks. Sorry to have missed it!

Yes, Darius, I'm also blown away by this layout - well done GSR800! Who wouldn't want to build this station with it s amazing refreshment room at the East end. Anyone here ancient enough to have had a cup of tea in it? I ask especially as there's a tea fixation about this thread, of late!

Rails of Sheffield are selling the Dapol GWR 14xx 0-4-2T for £109.50, an unbelievably low price for a lovely model see - https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/bargain-dapol-o-gauge-steam-locos-advent-calendar-day-16 Anyone need an 0-4-2 chassis for a BCDR tank, perhaps? It would make a nice ornament for the wife's Christmas stocking - better (and cheaper) than many ornaments? Much nicer on the mantlepiece than endless family photos!

Lovely bright picture of the A Class at Youghal - a good buy on your behalf - pretty eye catching and an interesting set of coaching stock. I even notice one of my GSWR 10 ton brake vans in the background!

Obviously good news, but will it pull a scale "Day Mail"? Great work.

PM sent to you, William. The simple answer is come and re-create your Portadown in my loft! The track's down, but little else. Oh, trains run on my awful track! Leslie Thanks, Patrick. Fine fellow!

Hi William, if you're on here -- can you PM me - I need help! If any of you know his e-mail address, can you put him in touch. Thanks Leslie

I've just found this thread. As I showed quite a few slides of Macmine in 1960, I was intrigued. I hope that the layout is still giving you pleasure. Leslie

I wouldn't sit up nights worrying about it @Westcorkrailway, after all @jhb171achill is unlikely ever to see your coaches in the flesh (plastic, resin whatever). If photos of your coaches don't look right to him - blame the camera! Heed the words of that great prophet from Perthshire, late of Dublin @Old Blarney - "It's my railway and I'll run what I want on it"!

The Late Drew Donaldson had a very high opinion of the 500s, a view shared by others, so yes, you are right that more of them would have been good, but I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't have agreed with you about the 800s! They had the misfortune to be built just as war loomed (of course, there should never have been a war at all, but that's another issue) so never had a chance to show how good they were (or not). The Blessed Oliver put paid to any future they might have had by ordering the A Class in the mid-fifties. Of course, for a country with little steam-able coal, they were a nonesense as even in 1939 the yanks were proving that diesels offered a future? Now, having acted as an Agent provocateur, let me make another suggestion. Perhaps Ireland should have looked at electric traction? There's a long and well reasoned article in IRRS Journal Volume 1 on railway electrification - it concluded that it wasn't on then (1947/8) as it would have wolfed up masses of capital and a high proportion of the electricity then generated. It DID touch on battery power, which Dr Drumm had proved was workable and touched on partial electrification (like the "power islands" they're talking about today, to zap power into battery trains and which we will soon see - seventy years later). Another what if?

Very sorry to hear this. Chris was omni-present at every Irish event I attended and there are quite a few vehicles in my collection obtained from him. I was travelling on the Heart of Wales line one day, which happened to be his annual visit to the line, and took the opportunity of ordering a single ended B Class from him. He'll leave quite a gap. Chris, may you rest in peace.

Mind you, I can possibly help with barrier wagons - You don't have to have the container.