leslie10646

Naturally, I have given Paddy my vote, but don't tell Ben I've never even seen one of the model 071s! Thanks for prompting me, as it allowed me to vote for the exquisite C Class (Steam!!!!) and the Thompson coaches - they could nearly have been running on God's Northern Railway! As for the original Brighton Belle - superb, wish I could think of a reason for having it running through Portadown and Richhill!

Hhmmm, Kieran, from the scene at your "cattle" dock - I see you need GNR double decker sheep wagons AND from the bulls being loaded, you need a Prize Cattle wagon? - we'll get to work on them - they looked fairly like the standard cattle. The opening door is great - I must try and do the same for one of my 9 ton vans! Just terrific all round. Well done. Leslie

Off you go - this is Charlie's thread! Get back to HIM!!!! However, as you say, the designer of the HST got a knighthood - he designed lots of things which every Brit knows as the citation relates - Kenneth Grange CBE Kenneth Grange is one of the UK’s leading industrial designers, responsible for Britain’s first parking meter, the Intercity 125 high speed train, Adshel bus shelters, the Kodak Instamatic camera, the rural post box and the London taxi.

Some of you will have heard that Charles Friel - for decades the "official photographer" of the RPSI and organiser of their Belfast meetings - has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the UK New Year's Honours List. Charlie has been a tireless worker for the RPSI for over forty years and is generous with the help he has given many modellers. Several of my Provincial Wagons have been based on photographs from his extensive collection. Well done! Leslie

Mayner is quite correct about the suburban tanks. No.850 was painted green when she had her last overhaul in 1948. Source: the late David Murray's article in IRRS Journal Vol 9 p239. Leslie

The IRRS (London Area) is Stand F16 where you will find a display of Irish models and sales of IRRS publications. Also a "Join Today" bargain rate, complete with free Journal and one of our booklets. The 171 Appeal stand is next door - much the same guys, in truth. Provincial Wagons will be on sale off that stand, as will be lots of good books at excellent prices. Even if you don't want to buy, come and say Hello! Leslie Reply quoting this post MultiQuote Edit

Friends I copy below an e-mail from my friend Jonathan Allen - master phot'er - oh yes, he REALLY is good! For you poor souls who have to put up with them, for Smiths, read Easons (I can barely type that, as the bxxxxxs wouldn't stock my 101 Book!). Leslie "Warm greetings from Oban. After four years and two changes of Editor, Traction have now published my article on railways around Cork & Kerry. It’s in the local W H Smiths – and looks very good – so should be in your local Smiths as well. Tell your friends – tell them to tell their friends. Post on appropriate web sites if you can. If there is a clear upturn in magazine sales in Ireland and the Editor receives some positive feedback, it MAY lead to further articles. Not necessarily by me as I really don’t have the enthusiasm any more, but it could open a door for others. Best regards. Jonathan"

As I said on another thread - I can't recommend this too highly - I've seen much later pics and it's amazing - I remember cycling along the path you see in the foreground! Those of you who were born too late to enjoy steam will be relieved to know that Colm is the man for railcars - especially as he wrote the Book! Leslie

Folks I'm having to bend to family pressure and stay in "sunny" Surrey this weekend, rather than be at Cultra. So, I'm sorry if any of you hoped to see Provincial Wagons there! I will put a notice on my website as soon as Norton will let me have access to my own site! Fxxxing computers - or I should say software! Normal service available by post, of course and I have good stocks of everything you can see on the site. If you live in Ireland - GO - if only to see Bleach Green - I've had a sneak preview through a set of photos. brilliant doesn't start to describe it! Enjoy yourselves! Leslie

Dave, You're a cruel man, showing the little boys there pressies early. Now, none of them will get any sleep tonight! I hope that they sell well, so that Paddy can afford to make a grey / yellow single ended Yankie for we oldies! Have a great B/H weekend everyone - very clever of Paddy to delay the launch to a three day weekend! Leslie

IRRS Journal Vol 11, pages 82 to 95 carries an article on GSR Coaches by Brendan Pender and includes a stock list - it's Journal No.61 and may be still available form the Society. Only one photo, I think. Leslie (IRRS London hat on!)

Tony I DID think of being there with my Provincial Wagons hat on, but the cost of doing the event from the UK would not be worth it - even though it's always nice to put faces to names of customers! As for the price issue, we'll be selling it at cover price at Warley - in sterling. At least you know where the profit is going - we usually send our entire income (NOT just the profit) to the appeal - no expenses, not even the cost of the material we sell - most of which we paid for some while ago. I hope you guys have a great weekend at Raheny. Wish I was there ........ Leslie

You will be able to buy this new book (and lots of other Irish railway books) from the 171 Appeal stand at Warley. That way a fiver of your money goes to this excellent cause!! Visit us on stand F16. Leslie (for The Syndicate - aka 171 Appeal) PS we've sent about £5,000 to the Appeal already.

Thanks for that. I'm investigating the various options in hope that one will "fit the bill". Leslie

One of my aliases is that I am a member of an operation called The Syndicate - we have raised funds for Irish Railway Preservation for over forty years - truthfully, most of the money goes to the RPSI. At the moment, we are sending all funds raised to the 171 Appeal. A friend, Steve Rafferty, has produced this booklet based on the 1944 GNR Carriage book and we in The Syndicate have funded its publication, with proceeds going to The 171 Fund. Cover picture on next post - fornicating computers! This book is in two parts - the first a near exact reproduction of the internal list given to GNR staff giving details of the Company's rolling stock. The second part gives new builds after 1944; major rebuilds; coaches acquired from Britain; the post war railcars; alterations made to carriages; disposal and withdrawal dates. A mine of information and a must for any GNR modeller! 32 pages of A4 (the original was A5, so this is a lot easier to read!). Trivial Pursuit question - which coach was built in 1918, was burnt, rebuilt, later had BUT connections and worked with the Cork breakdown crane - it survives!!!! You can find a picture of the cover on my Provincial Wagons website and can obtain one through me there, using the usual methods. Yours for Fiver (UK) or €7.50 in the Eurozone (sorry, the postage from the UK is criminally dear!), post paid. It will be on sale from 171 Appeal Stand (F16) at Warley for a fiver sterling - so if you're coming order it for collection! Get those orders in!! Thanks for looking Leslie

The previous answer is quite correct - the steam stock was split pretty well 50/50. Of course, CIE, with its growing fleet of diesels, made fairly little use of them. There exist photos of GN 0-6-0s in some fairly strange places in CIE days, but the truth must be told, - they were little used after 1962 and of course, CIE sold three S Class and the VS No.207 to the UTA in the early sixties. "Merlin" (my proposed loco at the moment) went to CIE and saw some notable use on extra trains right up to the end of steam. She worked the Thursday (?) shoppers' train from Dublin to Belfast right up to 1964, if memory serves. The obvious loco to make for CIE use is a "101" (J15 if you want to use that name). Lots of us have considered repainting a Dean Goods and pretending its a 101. There must be a chassis which would allow a resin body to be made which would offer a 186 or a 184? Not for me, as I want GN 0-6-0s, but maybe someone with the expertise out there might take up this baton? Leslie

The real reason to have a Time Machine would be to buy a second tank, while we had the chance. AND, No.207, of course! However, we we're to know that hyper-inflation was three years away in 1970 and that any loan would have been easy to repay with devalued currency. Having the faith to keep 207 in 1966 would have been a longer bet, but, boy, am I sorry someone didn't find a way to do it! Not a day goes past without me thinking about her! (207 - not my wife!) Leslie

I have to agree with John on the railcar blue. The correct blue is Oxford Blue - a very dark, glossy blue, I seem to remember. Imagine my delight to be travelling around China fifteen years ago behind Oxford blue and cream diesels - see the Bachmann DF10 Co-Co to see what I mean! All that said, John has made a good effort and if you haven't got a handmade set, it's a good substitute and available without waiting for over a year for someone to build you one! At first glance, the UTA green railcar looked the part! Leslie

Folks This repeats a reply to Heirflick on the GNR DMU string - I thought it would be more visible here and encourage more replies! I should also have said that it would be a resin body on the Hornby chassis - the beauty of this approach is that you have a loco which should run well on a proven chassis! I'm still searching for a suitable 0-6-0 donor chassis for an Irish 0-6-0! Leslie ______________ Possible Provincial Wagons loco? Well, "My Man" recently suggested using the Hornby Railroad Midland Compound as the basis for a GNR Compound. I'm not to so sure for a few reasons - SSM have an excellent kit of it - albeit that it will put you back over £400 by the time you get it built and painted; It would encourage people to demand coaches from me; I would prefer a small GN 0-6-0 to pull my wagons! That said, he quotes me about £200 for a RTR loco in primer - giving people the option of fully lined (expensive) blue or 1930s black! I'm seeking a painter who could do the blue lined livery well, then it could be a "runner"! If it's of interest to any of you, then e-mail me via my website - if there's enough interest, it would be hard to resist! Over to you guys - silence means no interest! Leslie

leslie, can you give any indication what it may be please? Possible Provincial Wagons loco? Well, "My Man" recently suggested using the Hornby Railroad Midland Compound as the basis for a GNR Compound. I'm not to so sure for a few reasons - SSM have an excellent kit of it - albeit that it will put you back over £400 by the time you get it built and painted; It would encourage people to demand coaches from me; I would prefer a small GN 0-6-0 to pull my wagons! That said, he quotes me about £200 for a RTR loco in primer - giving people the option of fully lined (expensive) blue or 1930s black! I'm seeking a painter who could do the blue lined livery well, then it could be a "runner"! If it's of interest to any of you, then e-mail me via my website - if there's enough interest, it would be hard to resist! Over to you guys - silence means no interest! Leslie

I'm very sorry to hear of Des's rather sudden passing. I had a letter from him a couple of months ago. He really was a fount of knowledge on rolling stock and always generous with his time to provide info. Every time I did a GN wagon, I would consult him to find out where it ended up in the great rolling stock diaspora in 1958. He provided drawings for both of my BCDR coal wagons. A bad day, as Bernard Holden - he of Bluebell Railway fame - also passed on at just 104 years old. Leslie

My dear Kirley I've had a three cars et for ten years now - built for me by the estimable Ivor Hughes. Haven't I put pics up on the site at some time? If someone will tell me how, I'll make you jealous! His BUT was pretty good too! Still, I'm glad to see the AEC "available" - they really started true dieselisation off in Ireland - even if in the sixties we hated the things as they were the harbingers of doom for our beloved steam engines. Remember that it was an AEC set which took over the Dublin-based "Enterprise" and knocked an early nail into the VS's coffins. Dave, Old Boy, you're in normal expansive mode, I see. They wouldn't have moved at all with three K15s in a set! That said, is John doing the K15s separately? I may have a Provincial Wagons engine needing coaches in the Spring. Leslie

I agree that the Rotem looked very good in the orange. A pity IE don't realise that! If you attend exhibitions here in the South of England (that's the big place next door!) you may have seen an A4 in Virgin livery and a Spam Can in SWT livery! Nightmare! However, the Jinty ran "up North" so none of this repainting it in black and tan! Leslie

Charlie / Arran - your containers look excellent - well done. As for the 20 ft flats - Provincial Wagons plans a version of the 20ft skeleton flat that CIE built for this traffic. It isn't planned to be an absolute scale model, but an insert which will go into an existing Dapol chassis - we will supply them RTR, painted and numbered. I'll keep you all up to date with progress. However, I have "My Man" working hard on another two GNR wagons first - sorry but I can't see beyond 1958 where my own layout is concerned (mind you, I do have these Murphy diesels and need something for them to pull!). Charlie - the RPSI has a CIE "Orange" container out the back of the engine shed at Whitehead. They seem to have been everywhere in the '60s, so you know what to do to make a lot more guys happy! Keep up the good work. Leslie