Flying Snail

September's Railway Modeller just popped into my email inbox. Very nice piece David - really good, and in the 900th anniversary issue no less. It's nice to have an Irish connection to the anniversary issue - especially since Cyril Fry featured so prominently in the 1st!

Removing the roof reduced structural integrity of the sides, so there was also bracing installed from the roof level of one side to the floor level of the other - as shown by this interior shot from the Robin N Clements collection on the IRRS Flickr: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/3251-turf-carriages/#comment-270174 (IRRS membership required to view). There's a few more shots of the turf carriages in that collection if you're interested. And if you want to mix your turf trains up a little, there's also an interesting shot of a more conventional turf wagon (to my bogman's eyes anyhow): a GSR flat, complete with with creels, fully loaded in Inchicore: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507832482/in/album-72157661623942928/

... surely we should be changing Kilkenny McDonagh to Cummins instead? Give it a nice blue and white paint job too while we're at it?

Naming after celebs could get controversial very quick ... would Mullingar get renamed for Joe Dolan or Niall Horan?????

Nice weathering - it looks well on the Hunslet but I'm really drawn to the containers and flats!

caused no end of trouble whenever a conductor tried to point it out to the engine crew

I think you'll find it was the right livery, just applied in all the wrong places

The Galway, Newry & Waterford?

That is a great picture - a nice shot in its own right, but it also really captures what the ITG and Downpatrick volunteers have achieved.

In addition to those listed above, a GSWR 4-4-0 like a class 52 would be one I'd like to see saved.

Where did you get you hands on the the GSWR carriage diagrams? Was that Downpatrick too?

Here's a couple of mining branches that did manage to get built around that time The Wolfhill branch from Athy was built at the end of WW1. More here: https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/ForgottenRailways/The-Wolfhill-Branch The Caslecomer branch of the Kilkenny Portlaoise line was one of the last built (1922). More here: http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway Stations C/Castlecomer/IrishRailwayStations.html

Thanks Eoin - thats very helpful. Good job I don't smoke!!

For those of you etchers based in Ireland (Dublin specifically), how do you deal with the waste etchant? Do the local authority's' bring centres accept it? I know they take household chemicals, but ferric chloride is hardly a household chemical, is it?

Your drawing is impressive - you clearly did your homework on what to measure