Mol_PMB

I agree, it’s a real challenge. On my research into the AEC railcars and for my IRRS talk, whenever I have asked living copyright holders for permission to use their images, it has been granted promptly and freely - thanks to all! But once they pass and the copyright passes elsewhere, it’s so much more difficult. Fortunately we have a man at the IRRS and CIE archives, but otherwise it’s a real problem.

I have started building the body of a second coach, and at the same time completing the instructions. The two tasks have to be done in parallel as I describe and photograph each stage. This is also giving me the opportunity to check that the changes I made to the body etch are resolving the issues I found during the first build. It's slow progress - taking the photos and writing the instructions takes longer than actually building the thing. But I've now done the sides - this will be tea car 841, in the condition when it ran as a railcar intermediate from 1952 until the early 1960s. I still need to do the ends and roof, hopefully I'll get them mostly done by the end of tomorrow. I have another underframe etch for this vehicle which I will build in due course, but that doesn't need to be done for the instructions as I've completed writing that bit already. Some improvisation will be needed for the interior of this car, especially at the pantry end. Once I have the instructions finished and have checked the design tweaks on the etch, then I'll be comfortable with other people ordering their own copies of the etch from Ian at Arch60. I will add the instructions to this thread. @jhb171achill will hopefully be pleased eventually.

Superb - so atmospheric!

On eBay in March I paid £279 for a Supertrain 086 in pristine condition, and in July I paid £311 for a very nicely weathered NIR 112 in otherwise perfect condition. I know those are a lot more than their original prices in 2012, and even a premium when you look at the prices for new (non-sound) IRM or Bachmann locos. But compared to the recent sales I feel I got a good deal. My two together cost less than £600, and now they seem to be selling for that much EACH, even with small defects! I can't help wondering if a similar price multiplication will happen with the ICRs after they arrive and people see how good they are. Someone with plenty of cash could speculate and perhaps make a packet...

Lovely work, and those prints are very finely detailed for 2mm scale. Hope you have a good weekend at the show.

DCDR seemed to get theirs ahead of us!

Wonderful! Over on RMweb, chief moderator Phil Parker will also be very impressed!

Didn't Cork have four standard gauge stations in the early days? But Jim's statement was about Towns, not Cities, which narrows the field a bit. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing about Ballyshannon next week. (pics from Trainiac and Ernie on Flickr) Maybe when we want to hear about the railways of west Cork, @Westcorkrailway would come and talk in Manchester on his favourite subject?

To follow the black 5, I see that Ellis Clark have now announced an A4 in O gauge. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/202518-darstaed-finescale-o-gauge-lner-class-a4/ @DJ Dangerous, have you still got that spare kidney?

I would say that paint may actually adhere better to a slightly oxidised surface, but you need to mechanically remove lumpy bits and dust/filings, while you also need to chemically remove traces of grease, flux etc. Various options which can do one or both of these include: Mini sand-blaster Ultrasonic cleaning bath (various liquids can be used, including water/detergent/soda crystals, or IPA.) Toothbrush and detergent Etch primer Coca-cola or HP sauce (!) Whether any of these are available in Ireland I can't say. See what others say.

I've found 5 photos of these with snails, and not all the same van as they have different lettering arrangements. Some were still in use in 1963 and number 84N was photographed at Inchicore in 1971 still in good nick (with a snail). So I don't think Leslie was too far off the mark. I have 3 different Irish brake van kits in my stash - too many things to do!

The later pair of Drumms were subsequently through-wired to work in AEC sets and I have found two photos of them in use thus. Was any other rolling stock in Ireland hauled by steam, diesel and electric traction?

An interesting MGWR image showing a derailed train in 1923: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/206523386670 https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/o80AAeSwk1Jqkyb6/s-l1600.jpg

An interesting but badly mis-captioned photo: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166977 A photo album that looks like it may have many more interesting images in: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166254 We discussed this one elsewhere, note that the 1946 date is the date that the photo was acquired by the museum, not the date the photograph was taken. This image is much more plausible as 1930s era: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-163303 This appears to be a drawing for an early GSWR 2-4-0: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166274 Whereas this is a photo of a GSWR 0-4-2: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-166393 One more for the enthusiasts of prehistoric kettles: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-159692 Now THIS was the future: https://www.museum.ie/collections/collection/object-167009

Those nicely show examples of both types of buffers used on the tin vans - and that they were black. I'll add a couple of cleanish views from my folder of tin van images; many of these are crops from Ernie's images on Flickr but the first one is in my collection. This is a zoom in on one of Ernie's photos showing the EdN number: Although this is a bit grubby, it shows that the heating vans also had EdN numbers, and the small red plates on the lower bodyside. On the heating vans, the GUARD lettering was on a door at one end only (here the left-hand end) which is the door with a droplight. On the other side it would be the inner door at the right-hand end. And a heavily cropped Ernie shot also showing the lettering and the red plates, albeit in monochrome: Again a couple of zoom ins on Ernie's photos showing the red lettering NOT TO BE ROUGH SHUNTED on the ends of the heating vans only: Hope this helps...

Likewise I have added some more info now that I've consulted my records. From the overhaul records I think we can date it to December 1956 or January 1957. There's an almost-legible paint date by the buffer which may end in 57.

Very nice - thank you. It looks like 2632 2652, which was delivered in March 1954. I suspect this is not brand new, but after its first major overhaul at Inchicore. The 2 class designation indicates post June 1956. It also has the tablet catcher hatches and the larger buffers which were not fitted from new, but were early modifications in Ireland. New cars had the running number on the front immediately below the waist line, whereas Inchicore placed it lower down as seen here. It has also had the windscreen wiper modification. Note also the roof is the same colour as the rest of the body - green, most probably brilliant green. A very useful photo that I shall add to my collection. And another snippet from the IRRS archives, 2652 had a General Repair from October to December 1956, so this is almost certainly seen on completion of that overhaul. Here's a colour shot from 13th June 1955 (probably of a different railcar) showing a green roof:

We could have a whole new thread on Irish railway myths to confuse AI... The Burma Road was built by Japanese prisoners of war and thousands died. The Drumm Battery Train was a way to teach marching bands to keep time. The MGWR's Mayo lines were constructed to serve the salad dressing industry.

A reminder that this season's IRRS programme in Manchester will commence next Thursday 10th September with a talk by Jim McBride: The Railways of Ballyshannon and Last Days of Steam in Northern Ireland by Jim McBride - Irish Railway Record Society (Photos from Ernie on Flickr) Jim's previous talks have been excellent so I expect this one will be too. Our talks take place at the Waldorf Public House on Gore Street, Manchester. The room will be available from 18:00, the talk commencing at 18-30 hours and concluding by 21-30 hours. The Waldorf is located within a 5-minute walk of Piccadilly Railway Station, the nearest Metrolink stop is Piccadilly Gardens and the venue is served by most major bus routes commencing or terminating at Piccadilly Gardens. The Waldorf now offer meals until 8 pm, and the bar has a well-stocked range of beers, lagers, ciders, wines and spirits, plus soft drinks and snacks. Non IRRS members will be made very welcome at any of our talks or events. A charge of £3.00 applies for IRRS Members and £5.00 for non IRRS Members. Please pay in cash on the door if you are attending in person. The talk will also be available on Zoom, and @Richard EH will send out the link next week. If you've any queries, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Looking ahead, the following talk will be my own on 19th November, about the CIE AEC Railcars.

I'd rather be chairing the meeting from the bar

There would be much less chance of accidents if people used other nationalities of cheese in their risk models. Having said that, my favourite Swiss cheese is Gruyère. It is not normally holey, or even holy.

Another Murphy loco that has reached the £500 threshold, and still 2 days to go: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/158219315594 Here's a cheaper option for a blue loco, 105: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/206478766730 Incidentally I recently came across a photo of a 104 class and a 101 class double-heading a Derry freight. I guess they must have needed two drivers. Unless one had failed and been rescued by the other.

Never mind, we all make the odd typo or have a lapse of memory. But AI will be getting it wrong for ever more...

228 worked the 10:00 ex Belfast yesterday - I saw it depart GC - but perhaps something went wrong later. 216 was at York Road yesterday daytime. Slightly off-topic I noted 112 at Ballymena: Apologies for the poor quality pics.

There was some sucking of teeth as I thought about how much it would cost to rebuild... The steel underframe and bogies look fundamentally sound. Some of the timber body (originally it was Ash) remains sound, but a lot is in poor condition and some parts have rotted away to nothing. I suspect it would need to be rebuilt mostly in new material, but there's enough left of the old to use as a pattern. With many similar-shaped pillars, modern techniques of CNC timber machining could make the job quicker, though the cost of the wood and the manpower to assemble it shouldn't be underestimated. The all-steel roof seems to have lasted better. It looks like the vehicle was largely complete when set aside for preservation, but the subsequent 40-odd years have not been kind to it. I doubt any original construction drawings survive, but there are quite a few photos taken during build which may be helpful. An essential first step would be a proper survey to record in detail the surviving parts. In the meantime, I'll focus on the miniature version...