Flying Snail

No. 2 look excellent - lots of detail, lining is sharp - it really looks well. As others have said, the layout looks great too ... looking forward to seeing more of both!

Thanks @Colin R - some good leads there: I'll keep my eyes peeled for David Walker's article too!

I was taken by that too - and did you notice the bars in the windows? Given the poor reputation of WCIR carriages I was beginning to wonder if there was some fate worse than 3rd class travel on the GS&WR. So then, I had a read of the IRRS article that you posted above back when I first started asking about the WCIR, and the answer to this problem (like so many others) appears to be: BEER

Photo: GSWR 600 - 30' Saloon Third Found a RN Clements picture of an illusive former WCIR carriage thanks to this spot on the ebay watch thread. I went ahead and purchased it and it arrived this morning. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I hope I can spot it or its sister 601 in other archives! Am well-chuffed (pardon the pun)

Caaark, boy! Kent station might be what you're looking for (bend goes immediately into a tunnel mouth though) For inspiration look no further than @scahalane's excellent thread here: And there's soon going to be an N scale version too from @Kevin Sweeney:

Wow - you've been busy and very productive: the layout looks brilliant! Excellent camera work too, it really brings it all to life!

Welcome Darrman! Stick the Tayto lorry on a 20' flat wagon behind the Guinness and the Lyons and you'll have the ultimate train

My sincere condolences to Noel's family, friends and colleagues.

This is something else indeed. The scale of the project, the mix of techniques and the quality of what you're producing: wow! This is awe inspiring!

I really enjoyed watching that: its a seriously impressive project alright ... I was fascinated by the various techniques and jigs he used to "scale up" the modelling process

Nollaig shona daoibh go léir Hopefully Santa left a few train sets under the tree for the next generation

Looking great - can't wait to get my hands on these. Happy Christmas to all at IRM, and thanks for all you do for the hobby!

A Lima Orient Express train set (SNCF version) got me going when I was 11!

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