Flying Snail

Top notch!

Is the Richards and Pender book a straight compilation of the 1924 carriage diagrams that you've published extracts from on this forum @jhb171achill, or did they draw on additional sources as well? I'd second what Colin R said about it selling well - I'd say there would be good interest in it, I would definitely purchase a copy.

these look excellent

Read back over this thread with a cup of tea this morning. It really gives a great sense of what is involved in kit building and as others have said, it's invaluable for someone thinking about building their own SSM kit. It shows the amount of problem solving, fettling, and additions that a really good modeller does to put their stamp on any kit. Excellent work and it really is inspirational!

Since you've mentioned old time freight: A great introduction to the history (charm, and sheer quirkiness) of Irish Railways are the photos that @Irishswissernie publishes daily on his thread on this forum. He also has some flickr albums here covering from the 1930s on. Have a browse there - especially through the 50s and 60s albums - and you'll be inspired (and hooked: there'll be no going back)!

I don't think so MAL, I believe the grey 121's were repainted within a few years (i.e. by the mid 60s) I have some of them myself and I run them with covered and open wagons and a brake van from https://jmdesignmodelrailways.com/en-ie. The owner is @Mayner on this forum and he is currently working through options for a new 3D print supplier, so he should have new stock in the not too distant future. I've also ordered the light green coaches in the Hatton's Genesis range here. The light green ones are contemporary with the grey 121's, but some of the dark green coaches (the older livery) would also have still been around. To complete a passenger train a heating van (tin van) would be required. Silverfox do them in RTR and Mayner and others have done kits of them before too

Have to say I agree with the sentiments above. Like Phil, my memories only go back to the 80s and my favourite era is the railway of my teens in the early to mid 90s, but I've also bought some of the early A class and 121s which has got me interested in the early stuff. In my case, I'm also dealing with space restrictions and I've realised that Mk3s and 42' flats take up more space than 6-wheelers and covered vans. I also grew up near the old WCIR line and my interest in history has me now looking at WCIR, GS&WR, GSR etc. Speaking of history I reckon the RPSI, Downpatrick etc. will also act as a gateway to the earlier eras as people that get an interest in a historic loco or item of rolling stock that they see there and start digging into its past life in traffic ... so the likes of the Jeep will continue to gain new fans in the modelling community!

I'm hopeful that there might be some more Ken Nunn shots of the WCIR somewhere from his 1900 visit to Waterford .... although I'm mindful too that in 1900 camera-technology didn't allow you to just snap away rapid-fire like.

Yes, all the references I've come across indicate that they were almost immediately withdrawn - it seems very hard to get pictures of WCIR stock. The same picture actually appears in Railways in Ireland Part Four: Great Southern & Western by Martin Bairstow. I picked up a copy of that too on my hunt for WCIR pictures. It has a short section on the WCIR with that photo together with photos of stations including one of Mountmellick from an unusual angle taken during a 1961 railtour (which will be handy if I go ahead and base a layout there). The hunt continues

More progress. Got my hands on a secondhand book of Ken Nunn photos: Steam in Camera 1898-1960 : Second Series by Patrick Russell. - and found this on page 43:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching_stock_of_Ireland The Wikipedia page above is a really good starting point if you haven't seen it already. In 1990 the Mark 3 and the Mark 2D where the primary coaching stock for the daily scheduled intercity services. The Mark 2Ds would have been used extensively on the Galway routes, so I expect the Mark 2s that BSGSV was referring to were the 2Ds (but no doubt he'll confirm). As the Mark 2Ds were the only Mark 2s in service from 1972 until the arrival of the Mark 2B/Cs in the early 90s (and even then there were far more of the Mark 2Ds), the Mark 2Ds were often referred to simply as "the Mark 2s" - I recall railway men in the 1990s referring to the Mark 2B/Cs as the "Mark 2 airbrakes" to distinguish them from the 2Ds. You'll find an overview of the Mark 2B/C history (and a link to purchase) on the IRM shop here. However, given what you've said about the windows above and what BSGSV confirmed about back-ups its the Cravens for your second journey. In addition to being back-up the Cravens also ran on specials and they also ran some time-tabled services too - just not the daily services (e.g in the mid-90s when I frequented Heuston, there was a Friday lunchtime service to Tralee that was made up of Cravens). 1990s is a great period to model - in my opinion the best liveries, best variety in locos, best coaching stock (I went onto become a big fan of the Mark 3s once the young me got over the shock of those new-fangled seats ), and a decent freight operation too!

Keep an eye on this forum and you can't go wrong - any Irish models will be discussed here

Murphy Models is a small operation and the website isn't updated very often, but you'll find more details here.

There's some old Lima ones that are repaints of British Rail models i.e. they have slam doors instead of automatic. However Murphy Models have announced that they'll be producing Irish Mark 3s - so not here yet but on the way! ... oh and Sliver Fox also do Mark 3s, but again repaints of British outline

There you go https://www.flickr.com/photos/cianginty/2733391242

They would have been standard class. Here's a picture from 2006 on a Mark 2d interior .. apart from the logo its pretty much the same as 1990

Thats a most excellent reason for your decision As a child, I was extremely disappointed the first time I came across a Mark 3 in the 80s when I saw that they hadn't got the old-style seats with the padded arm rests at the end and the leatherette headrests that I had being used to on my trips to Dublin in the Mark 2s

Hi MAL, and welcome aboard! Dublin - Cork would be considered the premier route in terms of allocation of rolling stock, so my bet would be on Mk 3s for your trip to Dublin. Can you remember anything about the interior of the carriages? If they were bench type seating and wood veneer then they were Mk 2s (at least in standard class anyhow), but individual seats with a cream/blue interior would be Mk 3s. The Mk 3s had automatic doors also if that jogs your memory. As for your trip back down to Cork they could very well have been Cravens. Park Royals were still around in 1990, but I don't think they would have still been on the Dublin - Cork route in 1990 and I don't think that the Mk 2 air-brakes had arrived by then (someone more knowledgeable than me can confirm)

Yes please! Wouldn't be right not to honour the oldest heritage railway in Ireland. Hon Laois .. there's a C&L connection in that picture too!

Coincidently, Ernie has just posted a picture of Ballinrobe in 1959 here A fine stone building it is too!

Looking forward to seeing this develop ... and maybe even on the exhibition circuit too. Good luck with it!

Seems that way to me too ... I picked up 088 from them (a year ago mind) for less than half the price they had 078 up for

Well £299 is pricey to begin with, and there will be postage to Ireland (think its about a fiver if I recall correctly), so its too pricey for me .... but in fairness to Hattons they are VAT registered for Ireland so there shouldn't be any customs charges or An Post charges to worry about But someone somewhere thinks its worth it

It can easily happen - I often see G&SWR images coming up when I search for GS&WR online (and yep, the editor would have expected to be able to rely on Getty Images too). And as I said above, it's a fascinating read - the author clearly knows his subject.

Interesting article up on RTÉ'S website about Irish railways north and south in 1922/23 - civil war disruption, strikes etc all feature. Article here: https://www.rte.ie/history/irish-free-state/2022/1123/1337904-the-conflict-on-irish-railways-1922-23/ Fascinating read ... only let down by this pic <ahem, ahem> of a Great Southern & Western Railway steam locomotive at the company's Inchicore Works, Dublin, Ireland in 1916. But apart from that Scottish diversion, a fascinating read!