MAL

Regarding late train back to Cork I am now 99% sure that these were Craven Coaches. I realized the Craven Windows have 4 upper segments : The MK2b/c (versus MK2d) have 3 upper segments: My train had 4 upper windows. I remember the 2 inner sliding windows to open them. So I think for my collection this train is done! More realistic than I thought before:

That's why I signed in here This short conversation brought me forward - more than thinking by my self in the years before.

Hah! I alway clicked immediately to the "in the works" or "future plans" page and did never scroll MM frontpage down to the Mk3 info. F*cked up myself

Yes. MM is a "not so perfect" site. But I really prefer the energy is put ito the products instead of a perfect site. The one and only fear I have is to miss the important information and all I see then is "sold out". I'm not on facebook or another (a)social network to keep my brain clean - accepting to miss sometimes something. But with a good forum it is quite easy to "survife". Now I am fine with saving some bucks for now and not running behind the Mk2d but hoping that the IR livery will come faster than with the Mk2d coaches.

Even that I cannot remember the checkerd blue/orange fabric of the seats I am now pretty sure it had been Mk3. It had been a sunny day and I was astonished about the modern appearence of the interior. What I expected was delivered by the return trip. Hopefully I can spot the undercarriage difference of the coaches on my few slides. Have to dig them out tomorrow and check. But thinking of them I am sure all this detail was hidden by the platforms as I took the pictures quick'n'dirty in Cork in the few minutes left to departure. I checked Murphy but did not find the Mk3 mentioned. Just the Mk2d in my requested four track IR livery to come next.

Quick search (don't ask why I didn't do this earlier) brought up a 2006 Mk3 interior. The cream walls and bright appearence makes the Mk3 more likely. Which 00 models do we have of these Mk3 in tippex?

Now it became 20% Mk2 and 80% Mk3. Now I need to find an interior image of a Mk3 for comparison.

Padded armrests is a good point - I try to get the interior image I have in my memory. Which kind of armrest were in Mk3 coaches? Did the seats have any?

Hi Flying Snail Thanks for the welcome (I know I did not introduce myself and jumped right in). Usually I am very well prepared about the rails around my holiday locations. At least when visiting for the second time. But with the honeymoon I had no idea that Ireland had rails anyway. I had been there for the second time but the first visit was only to county Clare from Shannon with the left hand driving adventure beeing more prominent in regard to trafic and transportation than anything else. Regarding interior - puh - I'll talk to my wife later. Maybe she has any idea about the doors. In any case we had booked standard class. The seating had been comfortable. We had a desk. My memory is 60% bench and 40% seat. My memory of colors is 50% cream and 50% wood veneer. Which color had a bench seat of a Mk2d? Which kind of fabric had it been? Maybe these hints will help to step forward in my memories. I have to investigate my few slides of that day if I can see the "intercity" lettering on the side of the coaches. Maybe it helps to see "IR intercity" or just "intercity". For sure the doors had no logo on it. My memory of the return trip was that they had the train replaced or such. Something about a deviation from schedule is somewhere deep in my mind. I am not sure. The department might have been delayed - something like 9pm instead of 8:30. The MM Cravens always had been somehow familiar to me. I think with your information above I can decide to remember the train as with Cravens. Not only because I have 5 of them in my collection. This is a good decision. I now need only some Mk2 or 3 intercity - coaches to complete my IR coaches collection.

Hi to all at the forum. In June 1990 on my honeymoon vacation in Ireland we went from Cork to Dublin via IR intercity. It had not been on a weekend. If I remember right it had been Tue 19.06.1990 but also a day before of after. To Dublin the coaches had been either MK2d or Mk3? with the wide fixed windows and "intercity" lettering & tippex livery pulled by 075 IR tippex. The train departed around 9am or 10am. I only focused on taking pictures of the 075 (beeing a GM fan by the interest in US railroads). I only happened to picture an A in the background pulling fertilizers. The train back to Cork in the evening (around 8.30pm or 9 pm) had been pulled by a Baby GM doubleheader. The coaches were older style (5 panel windows as with the craven coaches, defect toilets, rough riding comfort). I cannot remember if these had "intercity" logo on their sides (more NO than YES). I also think these had only one or none white stripes separating black and orange (not really sure). I couldn't take a picture as the light had been too low at that time (Kodak 100 asa). Could anyone of you help to find out which coaches were in service at that time? Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately I have to say NO. In the early 90ies when my interest in IR started and with the Baby GMs by Murphy I said 21mm for sure! An addition to my already exisitng US 1/87 collection. I had ties, rails and nails to make US style hand laid track. No problems at that time. All I was afraid was making points(turnouts). Now nearly 30 years later I have not one inch hand laid track. But started to be interested in JNR (Japan, 1/80 on 16.5mm / prototypical 1067mm narrowgauge). This lead to a collection of 1/80 narrow gauge JNR plus a collection of 1/76 wide gauge IR - both on 16.5mm tracks and in parallel to a collection of standard gauge US material (1/87-16.5mm). I noticed my lifetime seems not to be endless to regauge all rolling stock and prepare 3 separate layouts. tounge in cheek: It equals if you take the average of JNR 1/80 track is too wide and IR 1/76 track is too narrow.