Mol_PMB

Many of my visits to Ennis in the 1980s were like that! But sometimes there was a train. Sorry for going off topic into my childhood reminiscences and terrible photos! I haven’t yet found any pics of a very young me on the footplate of a plinthed green 5c. It did happen, before it was moved and painted black. I’ve not seen it since then. Just visible in the background of this pic of the Ennis datacentre of the 1980s… You’ll have seen the last one before! I was not the cool kid… Well done to Mum for knitting the A class jumper - there was a Mk2 carriage on the back.

I remember the GSRPS stock at Mallow and Tralee, even the Ruston which reached Fenit. A sadly missed opportunity but ultimately the infrastructure is one of the most expensive aspects and all CIE’s branch lines were completely life-expired. Given the tourism focus in the Killarney/Kerry area I think Tralee-Fenit could have worked, but a branch line nearer Dublin would have been better.

Wow. When I was a kid there was no passenger service at all to Ennis, just the occasional special train. Amazing to see how the service has developed now and the extra stations opened or planned. Thanks for the info.

Indeed. I hope the crew at Maam Cross can call on the expertise of people who know how to keep it going. Modern stock is much more challenging than 1960s locos, and if IE have given up on the 2700s that says something.

Good news, Bad news, Good news, and a Question I have tested my green A42 on DCC, having worked out that its ID was 42. No surprise I suppose. Initially it was very jerky and inconsistent. Giving the wheels a good clean with IPA solved that issue - mechanically it runs. Good news But there was no sound (this was advertised as DCC sound fitted) and the lighting functions weren't set up right. So I looked in the roof and found that the chip fitted wasn't a Loksound, but what appears to be an old entry-level non-sound Bachmann chip. Bad news I contacted the eBay seller, and suggested that the best way to resolve this was a partial refund. They responded within a few minutes, agreed to my proposal and sent the amount I had suggested. Good news Now I need to buy a Loksound V5 sound chip for a Crossley A class. There seem to be two options: Accurascale for £114.95: https://www.accurascale.com/products/a-class-crossley-sound-decoder Roads and Rails for £109.99: https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/products/loksound-5-decoder-for-irm-irish-a-class-diesel-crossley When AS loyalty points are considered, the prices of both are very similar. They appear to be different products - they certainly have different function listings. The Roads and Rails option has a Kadee Shuffle function which would be useful for me. That doesn't seem to be on the Accurascale function list. I don't know whether the sounds are from different sources, and/or which might be the more realistic for the Crossley. I have actually driven an XA on the main line in Australia so I ought to know what a Crossley A class would sound like. But it was a long time ago and my memory is more of the steam-era driving controls and the absolute filthy oily blackness in the engine room! So the Question, for those of you with sound-fitted Crossley A class. Which option did you choose, and why? Are you happy with it?

Hi John, Many thanks for offering the coach side etches. Sorry for the delay in responding - given the way they are grouped on the etches I've had to think carefully about which combinations of options make most sense. I'd like to order the following: 1339-55 Series Side Corridor Third - sides for 2 coaches 1904-8 Brake Second and BSSGV sides That's in addition to the 4-wheel luggage van and heating van kits already requested (1 of each). Many thanks Paul

I think you've covered the best ideas already in your first post. CC1 would be truly unique with no similar survivors worldwide. Probably the most interesting option for a static exhibit. This may be heresy but I'm not so excited about another big GNR 4-4-0 as we have a nice set of 3 already. I like your ideas of an MGWR loco to fill that gap, and for mainline service the Woolwich would indeed be the obvious one, however a J26 / E would be more practical at Downpatrick. But for true MGWR style I'd pick a 2-4-0 tender loco with the distinctive Atock 'fly away' cab. Not actually too much bigger and heavier than a J26 but much more style, and preserved 2-4-0s are scarce.

I believe there's another bidder for Greenland, whose budget may trump even Accurascale?

Very Nice!

This is my livery matrix for the A class, you'll need to download this or open it in a new window for it to be legible: And the key: Notes: It is very difficult to tell shades of green apart on photos, especially monochrome photos. I have not attempted to distinguish shades of green, only whether they had a waistline. I believe that most of the green locos with a waistline were light green, but a few were dark green. I believe that all green locos without a waistline were light green. On the matrix, if there's an entry in the cell then that corresponds to a dated photo of that loco in that livery. An exception is if the entry is in italics where the evidence is written rather than photographic. If there's no entry in a cell then I have either left it white, or if the same livery is known from before and after that year then I have carried the colour code over between the known years. Some photo dates may be inaccurate. A43 in the mid-1960s is an obvious error on photo dates but I don't know which is wrong. I'm sure there are more photos out there that could fill some of the gaps, I've only looked through about 40,000 images to prepare this matrix...

It does look very nice - I'm glad I was able to get a light green one, which was a fairly common livery for the class. Of the 18 models made by IRM, 12 were in variants of orange and black livery plus two in black. Only one in plain light green, and none in light green with a waist line. The dark green on the A46 model was short-lived and applied to only a few locos. I suppose at least I'm helping to sustain the resale value of IRM locos, even if the money doesn't go to IRM. Hopefully it will work when I test it later!

A new arrival from eBay today, a green A class which I had been mulling over for a while and eventually gave in despite @DJ Dangerous badgering me to buy an anteater instead... I have posed it here with three of my vans which are conversions from the IRM fitted H vans. All of these have been modified to 21mm gauge which isn't as bad as I thought but still a fair bit of work with the brake gear. The green one 18829 has the extended buffers fitted as per prototype. The middle one 18828 is one of the rare prototype Palvans converted from H vans. This is a kitbashed Parkside BR Palvan body on an IRM chassis, also with extended buffers. These were originally green too, but at least one received the plain grey livery shown here. The left-hand one 17083 represents the batch of vans built before the H vans, with a similar body but on a conventional non-triangulated chassis. This uses the spare IRM body from the middle van, on the spare Parkside chassis from the Palvan kit. Both with appropriate modifications. All have been repainted, lettered and weathered. My green van was probably a fair match to the shade of the green A before I weathered it. I have yet to test the A class, and of course it's presently the wrong gauge. I have yet to try regauging an A; as with the wagons it will need new wheels but the existing axles should be OK.

The approvals process for new and refurbished vehicles has moved on from the days of 'Grandfather Rights'. Old steam locos are in most cases well beyond their original design life and have many replacement parts so they are hybrids anyway. Essentially the key aspects to demonstrate are: Acceptable design (applicable to both old and new locos, new-build parts to old designs can be justified as OK in many cases, but even old locos need design changes e.g. for signalling system compatibility) Conformance to design (for new locos/parts: materials and build quality; for old locos/parts: condition (corrosion/wear etc) Maintenance policies and practices (equally applicable to new and old locos, but in some cases more critical for old locos if parts are near end-of-life) Operational policies and practices (equally applicable to new and old locos, does their operation on the network have an acceptable level of risk, considering that the network has changed a lot since the locos were designed, and thinking of modern approaches to competence, safety and tolerable risk.) There's no reason why a new-build loco based on an older design can't be approved - Tornado for example. These days, available materials and manufacturing methods are different from those 100 years ago, and technical standards and requirements have changed too. So nothing will be exactly to the original design, not even an overhauled old loco.

No, I decided that the 6 unfitted H vans I'd ordered before that was announced were enough! There's no point me getting one as a collector's item because regauging it would destroy its value. I'll modify the 6 normal ones I've bought, and renumber/repaint some of them.

Ridiculous! Next you'll be claiming that there's a new-build NCC Mogul... (I did see Peter Scott beavering away at it on Friday. He's done a sterling job, but there's a long way to go and I fear he may not see it finished.)