leslie10646

And Martin Bott Books has a copy for £25 - look it up on ABEBOOKS - the (almost unfailing) way to get rare books. But, of course, there will be a copy in the IRRS library at Heuston - the Library has pretty well everything published on Irish Railways - a good reason to join the IRRS. You can, by the way, at the MRSI exhibiiton this weekend, or at the London Area stand (E33) at Warley)!

The GNR repaired five NCC locos at Dundalk, one even being returned in full lined crimson lake (I can't find the reference in the books, so can't tell you which one - still looking). The GSR and the GNR built 75 wagons each on salvaged ironwork. The GNR also did some carriage maintenance after The Blitz. Finally, three DNGR tank locos were loaned by the GNR to the NCC. Apart from shunting, their main base appears to have been Coleraine where they were occasionally used on Portrush branch trains!! Of course, it was after the Blitz that the two Jinties were sent over by the parent LMS.

Maybe looking at things like rugby/football/GAA/pilgrimage specials might be an idea? Good point, Mr MInister, but for the rugger, it was the GN from GV Street who ran the specials; likewlse when Down ("Up Down"!) were having their purple patch and taking trainloads down to Croke Park, that, too was GN. Did Antrim or Derry ever go South for big matches, that might have produced NCC coaches, but probably hauled by GN loco. As for the footie, that was Belfast-centric, so specials ran up the NCC to York Road (four ten coach specials when Derry City were in the Irish Cup Final in 1965); or into GV St. Back in the Bad Old Days, the two countries seldom played each other at footie and even if there was a special, that would have been GN. David, you'll just have to fall back on your old line - "it's my line"! (Pun intended of course!).

This plain grey reminds me of the "Chip as Chips" livery used on steam goods locos in GSR days - the battleship grey became a nice even black with time.

Hah, White, that sounds exactly how you would answer a query, even on your goods days! That said, IT IS YOUR RAILWAY and you should run whatever you want. I am unaware of any regular NCC workings to the GN. Obviously, individual wagons would have worked through and would have been seen all over the Island. Yer Man in Waterford is right that there would have been the odd van of pigeons from time to time. I don't need to tell YOU that the Enterprise was GNR stock, balanced by a train of CIE stock. The UTA loaned locos to the GNR from time to time in the 1950s -a Class U2 "Carrickfergus Castle" ran in the Clones area for quite q while and I believe a Class WT or two were on loan in the early 1950s.

Folks I have now seen at least fifteen of my kits built - unpainted, painted pristine and mucky - and while all these clever chaps have "mucked" the wagons up, no-one has yet tried to really "age" them. What I'm getting at is that after a fairly short time in service, the lips of the hopper got well and truly bashed! Can't wait to see someone's stake on that! I assume, by the way, that you youngsters know that the trains were referred to as the "Muck Trains" - so these are Muck wagon kits! People THINK that the M in the wagon number was for "Magheramorne" (Quarry where the Muck (sorry, "Spoil") came from), but the enthusiasts knew that it really stood for Muck! Without these trains, there'd be no No.4 today!

Yes, Des Coakham's book on Broad Gauge Carriages is a valuable reference work AND it's been remaindered, so you should be able to get it for not more than £10. I agree with Seamus that the earliest editions of the Locos and Rolling Stock book is a useful source of freight photos. ALSO, as mentioned on another string - Tom Ferris's two volumes on Irish Railways in Colour have lots of rolling stock photos (in the background, etc) and again should not put you back more than a tenner each. Leslie

This quip is aimed at Noel, who is taking anti-diesel bigotry too far - mind you Noel, when I was timing steam trains in the 1960s, I hated the xxxxing railcars. However, while I thought I was safely hidden from view in Hong Kong, a "friend" "outed" me by handing round photos of my GN AEC set! 33Lima's work, by the way. His BUT set was just as good. Getting back to the subject - steam age trains were much longer, in terms of NUMBER of coaches - the Dublin semi-fasts from Belfast were anything from four coaches to eight, or even nine. I am building my "Portadown" platforms to take eight coaches and a 4-4-0. On the branches, you can get away with a coach and a van, whether in steam or diesel days, North or South. Cork mainline trains were often great caravans of trains with TPOs, vans, restaurant cars etc etc. No shortage of evidence in the books. For a cheap and cheerful guide buy the two volumes of Tom Ferris's "Irish Railways in Colour" which is available second hand for under a tenner each, usually. I probably take Tom's books down, from the shelves above my head as I sit here typing, more regularly than any others to check photographic "facts". Long trains look great and most locos can pull ten coaches with relative ease.

Hi Nelson Thanks for the sales pitch for the Spoil kit. I'll slip you a fiver when I next see you! It must be reasonably easy to put together, as rakes of them seem to be popping up everywhere! I have good stocks of the kit, if any other UTA period enthusiasts fancy a rake, or a few to use as pw wagons in NIR '70s. Leslie

Hi Nelson Thanks for the sales pitch for the Spoil kit. I'll slip you a fiver when I next see you! It must be reasonably easy to put together, as rakes of them seem to be popping up everywhere! I have good stocks of the kit, if any other UTA period enthusiasts fancy a rake, or a few to use as pw wagons in NIR '70s. Leslie

Noel Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but ....... NIR Blue is great - it's like GNR Blue - the World's greatest ever livery (mind you the Milwaukee's Hiawathas had a pretty amazing colour scheme); Supertrain orange and black was simple but very effective - it did look good on an A Class with a rake of uniform Mark 2s BUT, have to agree with you, the Black and Tan livery had a certain je ne sais quoi and really looked good on certain locos and stock. For me, a silver A Class, please (although i've got one of John Silverfox's) and a grey / yellow single-ended Yankee. A final point, the 201s are a bit characterless, but they really do look good in the two tone grey / green livery. Thanks Mr Graham, who supplied mine. Leslie

Careful, Seamus, you might need her for baby-sitting one day! Then you'll be glad she doesn't run out of fuel! I speak with passion, having helped supervise my grandson's birthday party today!

Sorry, Noel, but you're ignoring the little matter of the numbers. The phone in your pocket - the manufacturer makes them BY THE MILLION. The sound chip guy is probably turning out hundreds? I haven't heard a Hornby "chuff" or "gurgle and roar", so can't judge whether their £25 version is up to the quality of the £50 - £100 version, often specifically "made to (Irish) measure". Sorry to repeat myself - we're in a minority sport and you pay for your pleasures in such a situation!

Re: my Spoil Wagon kits on Kieran's workbench. I like the "a while ago" - it was TWO WEEKS ago, I should know when I send things to people! Terrific stuff to have all five nearly complete in that time. Very well done, young man. Look forward to seeing them painted - looks like there REALLY will be twenty of them with a tank at each end running on Bleach Green in three week's time - maybe I should fly over to see it? Leslie

I'm glad Noel isn't looking at my bank account, as my sound-fitted Class WT cost me £500 - mind you it IS semi-handmade, but the chipping etc was £150 of that. Is it worth it? Personally I think it's great - I put sound in it to amuse my grandson, but honestly, it amuses me more! My NIR 112 was a lot cheaper (somewhere round £200 from Gareth at the Model Shop in Belfast) and it's brilliant (for a diesel). An insane, but useful side-benefit is that when you're wiring droppers for DCC (hundreds of 'em, in my case), if you have 112 sitting on the piece of track being electrified and you're connecting the droppers to the "bus", she leaps into life (ie, you can hear her) when you've got the connection right - I'm using those little gadgets nicknamed "suitcase connectors" to connect the droppers to the "bus" and it takes a lot of squeezing with pliers to get the connection just right!

Folks Almost time for Warley again. Same Hall as last year, opening times are - Saturday 0945 to 1800hrs Sunday 0945 to 1700hrs Advance ticket holders get in half an hour earlier. I don't see an Irish layout among the exhibits, but the Irish Railway Record Society (London Area) WILL be there on Stand B33. We will have a modest exhibit of Irish models from our private collections and will be selling Irish Railway books, IRRS publications (including back number Journals) and books of GNR loco and carriage drawings from the IRRS archive. I won't be selling wagons at this event, but I am happy to deliver orders to customers, who will then save some postage - please discuss your needs with me via the Provincial Wagons' website. I notice Mark will also be in attendance. Whatever you do, if you are there, be sure and drop by and say "Hallo". Leslie

Richard McLachlan is reproducing the GNR carriage books from originals held by the IRRS, but I don't know if he plans to do GSR types. Several volumes of GNR at about £35 a volume, if memory serves. You can see them for yourselves at Warley (Stand B33).

I put my money where my mouth was and bought a Park Royal suburban - I think it's a nice job and runs well (behind steam, to boot!). Puzzled by the wheels which seem small - anyone know if they had small wheels? I plan to get a couple more, though quite what excuse I'll use for having it in Portadown ......

Paddy may have been right a few years ago, but my customer database is 300 strong and there's quite a few of the 386 of you folk who have never done business with me (yes, yes, I know, I don't deal in anything built after 1970!). Not all the 300 are "active" but at best the marketplace is about 500?

Not just the densest railway network but one which receives a massive subsidy. Or, at least it used to. About twenty years ago, they had so much money to spend that they put their streamlined Atlantic through Leuven Works, together with four period coaches. They then ran about eight trains over a couple of days on a circuit from Brussels Nord out to Mechelen and back. A seriously lovely loco. They had TWO ex Caledonian designs in preservation - the "Dunalastair" (4-4-0) still exists, but the 0-6-0 goods, based on a McIntosh design was SCRAPPED in 2002! Yes, nice pics - mind you some of their stock is pretty vile, but those emus (like 481 above) are very nice (especially in First Class!). However, lots of loco hauled still, which makes a visit, or even a transit, quite enjoyable.

Come on, Colm, there's no such thing as GN mahogany! EVERY coach was slightly different. You might ask Mr LIMA above how he did mine, which I think he did very well on the dozen coaches he built me about 15 years ago (a couple of them hammering round in a mixed test train upstairs, Ivor, by the way). Apart from the effect of "scumbling", the effect of sun, rain, soot (lots of that) ensure that very quickly each coach took on its own hue. Personally, I prefer a rather "orange" mahogany - probably because of the wonderful photos of a blue Class VS with a rake of them - who couldn't LOVe the GN? Enjoy the hobby, it's YOUR railway, so YOUR colour is the right one? Leslie

You could view the piccies easily, I just clicked on the link - for which, thanks. Mind you it takes young Nelson to know how to get round the technology! Leslie

Not offended in the slightest. Glad you are doing your bit - keep it up. Leslie

Actually, Tony, I DO, and the 1,100 other folk who are members of the RPSI. As (I think it was) Niles who says later, we'd have a lot more nice coaches if more of you youngsters joined, smelt the paint and lent a hand! There were sixty five of us at the inaugural meeting on 30 September 1964 and we formed this Society so that you, then unborn, guys could enjoy steam-hauled travel in the future. Mind you never in our wildest dreams that night would we have realised quite what we were unleashing. However, a lot of hard work, both engineering-wise, fundraising etc has ensured that we are still here now. So, if you're not a member, come and join us. Final comment, the coaches are a major transformation and a great credit to all concerned. Good luck Jim Deegan with your latest Enterprise! Leslie

Hi Kieran Thanks for displaying the goods for me - I didn't dare empty a pack to photograph it in case I'd never get it inside again. You missed the transfers, which were a special commission (and had ANOTHER page of instructions!). Good luck with the build - as you say, the original idea of having a very few parts went out of the window when the hopper part was redesigned and introduced another half dozen or so "fiddly bits"! Still, it'll keep you out a mischief? Leslie