Flying Snail

Brilliant news - sorry for you and everyone else thats been driven to fork out so much recently, but its great news for newcomers like me especially. Mind you, I think the earlier runs will still be able to command decent money too

Absolutely - I'm not going to lie: I did a little dance when I saw that. Been looking at the prices some of these were fetching on eBay and had given up ever getting my hands on one.

Reading about the fate of some of the coaching stock on page 124 of the IRRS article, there's three carriages mentioned. One was sold to the W&T, and the drawings for that are available from the HMRS and Alan O'Rourke wrote a short article about scratch building a model of it in the HMRS Journal vol. 19 #12 (I have that stashed away somewhere if its helpful to anyone?). The other two carriages became GSWR 600 and 601 - eventually being converted into ''beer vans" by the GSR. 601 ended its days as a hut in Monasterevan. I wonder if anyone has come across any photos of 600 and 601?

Not to worry @jhb171achill, you've already produced a goldmine! Another thing that also might appeal to those interested in the WLWR and GSWR (and shipping too), is that I came across a lot of interesting late 19th century and early 20th photos on the National Library's website taken from Mount Misery and overlooking the station area and the quays. Lots of good panorama shots there and most are a very good resolution meaning you can zoom in - and because they're panorama shots if you set the 'railroad' filter on you'll actually miss some of the more interesting ones. The original WLWR terminus was a beautiful building ....

Thanks a million @jhb171achill - great reading there and the slightest, tiniest tease of a carraige and an open wagon in a couple of those pics!

1900 - 1910 might be a better starting point alright, and who knows where I'll end up . IRRS Journal 074 (October 1977) has an article on the WCIR which I'd be grateful to see if you have it handy?

I know I'm new to the parish, but I wouldn't be so sure about that @Westcorkrailway. Them IRM lads are like the Spanish Inquisition on Monty Python - did anyone expect the chaldrons? I reckon a WCIR 4-wheeler triple pack is nailed on as one of the announcements, the only question is whether or not its today

Thanks for the welcome folks - and for all that info! There's plenty to ponder there! @Westcorkrailway - I am leaning more on the Victorian stuff at the moment, but starting with what's there and working back seems like a good strategy. I like the work you've been doing on rolling stock conversions by the way - very inspiring. @jhb171achill - wow: thanks very much for that livery info! I see a trip to the museum in Malahide in my immediate future . Anything WCI related I'm definitely interested in, so GSR era timetables would be very welcome. Do you think any of the other WCI passenger stock lasted lasted far enough into GSWR days to feature in any of the GSWR carriage diagrams collections? @Mayner - I have a couple of your 3d models - an open wagon and a brake van that could nicely tie in with GSR/CIE era. I think they are great, the level of detail is excellent. So I really hope you find a solution to your 3D printer issues. I also have to say that the Abbeyleix picture I linked above actually prompted me to get your class 52 kit - to my untrained eye its very impressive and the deal in instructions show your attention to detail. Its not for beginners though, so the kit is in the drawer until I get confident enough with the soldering iron. I reckon pairing it with some Studio Scale Models six-wheelers might go a long way towards recreating that scene from the picture. Speaking of which, does anybody think that the SSM six wheelers would be a good option to cut my teeth on brass kits or should I go for something like their open wagon instead? @David Holman I've been looking back over your thread where you talk about the WCI build - wow - I'll definitely have a look at Alphagraphix and 7mm. As you can see, I've a lot of thoughts bouncing around in my head so I just need to focus and start one of them off. But first, I'm off to check out Castlerackrent ...

Thanks @Westcorkrailway - I'm under no illusions, this one will be a slow burner! I do have something a little more recent (and probably a lot more practical) in mind too - though its something from completely different era. I've seen a pic from Eiretrains of A30 in Mountmellick with a 1961 rail tour and there was the annual beet campaigns around then too. So there's a few options there in an extremely run-down Mountmellick in the years just before the line was lifted ... and yes, I've already picked up my model A30 from IRM (and very handsome it is too )

Hello all, I found this forum a little while ago and its a great mine of information, but for a long time I held off joining as I've yet to do any serious modelling. What I have been doing is pondering what I'd like to have a go at on once I do get going. Which brings me to the W&CIR. Back in the 90s I used to hike out along the line from Portlaoise to Cúil na Móna, and either Mountmellick or Abbeyleix strike me as interesting locations to model. In particular, this picture of Abbeyleix fascinates me - its taken in the early 1900s after the GS&WR had taken over the W&CIR, but it has piqued my interest in the turn of the last century. I know there's not much by way of suitable RTR (at least not until the big announcements from IRM this week ) so I reckon I'm going to end up giving scratch building a go at some point. I know there's some good resources for the GS&WR era to CIÉ era out there, but I'd like to see if anyone can point me towards the W&CIR? I've already come across Paul Johnson's W&CIR loco photos on SmugMug, and I've a copy of Locomotive's of the GS&WR by Clements, McMahon and O'Rourke. I've also seen two articles in the Railway magazine (May 1952 and an earlier one with more loco pictures taken in Waterford). What I'm finding it very hard to source are images/drawings of other rolling stock - apart from two sets of drawings for a 2nd class 4-wheeler and a 3rd class 6-wheeler which I've gotten from the HMRS. I've seen @David Holman's workbench thread where he's made a very fine model of a W&CIR inspired brake van - I think its from a picture in Ernie Sheppard's WL&WR book which also shows a carriage and convertible cattle wagons, but I can't make out much detail from these. So to recap, there's a reasonable amount of loco photos, and the two HMRS carriage diagrams are a good start, but has anybody any leads on where I might get images/drawings of W&CIR goods stock in particular?