Mol_PMB

"I am the Walrus" With all the Oasis hype at the moment, Walruses were in my mind when I happened to spot a Cambrian kit for one on ebay for a good price, and thought it would make a nice little project. It's a bit outside my core interests, but I can put it in the NIR works train I'm gradually assembling to accompany the Hunslet I have on order. With a bit of spare time today I've made a start, it's not the easiest kit to build but I think I've managed to get the main structure fairly square and tidy. Thanks to inspiration from these threads: https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/10712-nir-ballast-hoppers/ https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/1979-nir-ballast-wagon/ https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/2449-popeyes-workbench/#findComment-38942 And from Jonathan Allen for his photos on Flickr, especially this wonderful colour shot: Of course, on close inspection there are a number of differences on the NIR ones so I'll have to make some modifications to the kit. Indeed there were also considerable differences among NIR's small fleet, with wagons from two batches and each having their own unique modifications such as patches on the bodywork and different buffer types. And I'll need to widen the bogies to suit 21mm gauge. Meanwhile my rake of 7 H vans is almost complete, with final assembly in progress - couplings, wheels etc. I'll hopefully get them finished this weekend and will post some pics.

Really impressive what you did to upgrade the old Brassworks models. I've got one of those 08's stashed somewhere, which I repainted in blue with wasp stripes, but I wasn't aware of the detailing kit at the time. I seem to remember trying to get a load of marker light options working on DCC but getting it wrong and blowing the decoder. Electronics not my strong point!

Nice (partial) view of the lettering on a new corrugated open wagon in that last image, including the snail. Note that this is one of the wagons with 4-shoe handbrakes positioned outboard of the wheels. Also I like the narrow-gauge bogie container flat in the first image!

Thanks Mike! It’s the GNR goods wagon diagram book WD002 I’m looking for. The IRRS list it as available for sale in digital formal on their website: https://irrs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Digital-Drawings-List-22-UK.pdf But actually getting hold of it seems challenging!

I'd tried Windows 11 and Safari on the phone with no luck. Glad Patrick has it sorted now, some great photos.

Spotted over on RMweb thanks to Big Jim: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/70783-jim’s-“out-and-about-with-gbrf”-thread/?do=findComment&comment=5882926

Thank you for the quick and helpful response.

That's better - I can see this pic. Looks superb!

Thanks JHB! I don't suppose you have the GNR wagon diagrams too? I've been trying to buy a copy of those from the IRRS but there's only an email address for contact and my emails have gone unanswered.

Please could IRM could give us an update on delivery dates for the Park Royals? Also for the unfitted H vans, for which I was invoiced (and paid) last month? I am aware of the project status page but at present it isn't particularly helpful for either of these projects, with the Park Royals showing as In Production, due Q2 2025 (now in the past) and the Bulleid wagons all grouped together and showing as In Stock (which the unfitted H vans are not). https://www.accurascale.com/pages/projects I'm not in a rush for these models, just looking to plan expenditure over the coming months. Many thanks, Paul

Will the maroon production samples be running with matching IRM Mk2s as well? That would be a nice surprise from IRM...

For those of you who like 29000s https://ebay.us/m/xAfle9 Or if you prefer to travel al fresco: https://ebay.us/m/FWCzQN

Agreed, that’s not the former Irish coaches.

I like the shot at Thurles, reminding us how the last year or two of steam overlapped with the black and tan livery.

My first thought was more like IRM, Murphy, Dapol, JM, Past-Avenue, etc etc…

I think I have a couple of packs I bought secondhand and then plans changed. I’m away from home for a couple of days but will check when I’m back. I’m in GB - is that better or worse for you regarding taxes and duties?

This photo came up in one of my eBay searches - I haven't bought it but just linking it here in case it's of interest to someone. Us modellers spent most of our time looking at carriage rooves, so it's good to get the roof details correct. But good photographs from above can be hard to find, especially for rarer coach types. So, just in case anyone wants to model a CIE kitchen car, here you are: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/167625844392 There were only two of these, 2403 and 2407, and I think the number on this one reads 2407. The BR van in the foreground is in a shocking state compared to the rest of the train!

Many thanks Jonathan, that's very useful info. Here's the only photo I've found of on 'outside planked' one in GSR livery, the photo is dated 1939 and only shows about one-third of van 16460: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508914253 As some of the photos show, they had inside planks as well as outside planks, which is why I had referred to them as 'double skinned'. But it's useful to know that they weren't considered anything special.

I have acquired a few prints and slides on Ebay recently which are relevant to this thread. Here's 16093, a GSR-built van seen in clean CIE livery. With the doors open we can see part of the interior including a diagonal brace on the inside. Does anyone know the significance of the white diamond above the running number? Here's 16098, just 5 numbers higher. This van has had its sides repanelled with sheet material - either on top of the original planks or replacing them. However, the doors and ends are still planked. The position of the internal diagonal reinforcing is highlighted by the bolt heads, which are more obvious on the sheet sides (but also present on the planked example above):

Looking good, John! Loosely on this topic, here's one of the TPOs as later converted into a luggage/parcels van. Letterboxes sealed, and renumbered in the 27xx series - possibly 2766. I'm not sure if there were any other changes - possibly the rooflights plated over.

A classic example of how to drive away custom. Ideally everything would run smoothly, although most people accept that things go wrong from time to time. But misleading or absent information during times of service disruption is extremely frustrating. Must do better!

It could be coming through from Whitehead - a blue 4-4-0 with a rake of green Mk2 coaches?

Here are photos from Ernie's archive of C203 and C218 (twice) with electric lighting jumpers: Edit: a search on Flickr found the following extra locos with the jumpers: C208: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54251291146/ C217: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/50995050488/ C226: https://www.flickr.com/photos/holycorner/6749912153/ In addition to D Renehan's six: 203, 213, 215, 218, 223 and 231 all of which can be confirmed from photos. There ought to be one more, for the total of 10. As yet I haven't been able to disprove C228, which was rather camera-shy in the period of interest.

IRRS Journal No.90 (feb 1983) includes the first of a 2-part article by D Renehan on CIE's Crossley Diesels. He notes: "An interesting development was the fitting of equipment to supply electric train-lighting for use on branch line services; 203, 213, 215, 218, 223 and 231 were among the ten so fitted. A jumper box was provided on the buffer beam, and a cable carried current from the generator to specially-equipped carriages. The experiment was, however, short-lived - the reason for it ceased to exist when the branch lines were closed." A study of photos might identify the other 4 locos fitted, and the dates when the equipment was fitted and removed. An interesting variant for IRM to consider on their (hopefully) forthcoming C class model. Edit: from looking at a few photos it seems they were installed around 1960, and retained until the locos were rebuilt with EMD engines. Their place on the bufferbeam was then taken up by multi-working jumpers.

"oul railcar. NIR thing"... Sometimes I wonder whether I was born about 100 years too late.