Mol_PMB

Sadly I’m of the wrong generation to remember those times, but I have fond memories of some RPSI trips including a very valiant effort by 186 (a substitute itself after 4 had failed). 186 seemed to enjoy it as she arrived in Connolly with a huge glowing red smile! We’ll not talk about the speeds achieved by those little goods-engine wheels. (A good thrashing over the hills had filled the smokebox with half-burnt char which then heated the lower half of the smokebox door to a red heat, hence the smile) I also enjoyed a Herculean effort by 85 with 7 on, unassisted out of Cork on a wet slippy day and in simple mode for the first 3 miles, barely reaching 12mph. The tunnel roof got a good blasting and 85 was more black than blue on arrival at Mallow. In the old days, trains would have 2 or 3 locos for that climb.

Yes please! I was hoping that IRM would announce the 22’ container flats, but in the meantime some of yours and John’s earlier 20’ variants would be very welcome.

I’m reminded of an Enterprise trip in early DD days when the timetable was optimistic and the substitute was a 6-car 80. I was ‘lucky’ to get a seat with my back against the engine compartment as it roared, thumped and howled in a valiant but doomed attempt to keep time.

I have visions of a vessel the size of the Ever Given with every container full of Accurascale and IRM products!

I’ll add another vote for the importance of plenty of bracing, and sealing the tops. If parts are waving around then they aren’t doing anything! A bit more time invested now to ensure a robust foundation will save a lot of heartache later.

They have a rather limited timeline and geography so perhaps not a priority? But who knows - IRM have surprised Irish modellers in the past!

The Dapol ones are similar in style but the well is shorter than the Irish ones - only 40’ rather than 45’.

I’m very tempted! On holiday at present but I’ll be in touch when I get home and have finished the brake van!

Super progress despite the small setback. And excellent workmanship. Looking forward to seeing this take shape.

Yes, I thought it looked a good price. It’s too late a period for my modelling though I have plenty of memories of the year or two it spent down south - including on the beet campaign.

Might this be of any interest? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235809461941?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5t9tlMaHSfS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=PWnBnL0RQpq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

NiR 112: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/316027066234?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gzvx98tlryw&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=PWnBnL0RQpq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Anyone fancy doing a repaint? (photo posted by @seagoebox in a different thread a couple of years back)

Regarding the D class, I'll write in words what I've found so far. There are a lot of mysteries! The class entered service in 1948 carrying a dark green livery with an 'eau de nil' cantrail stripe and flying snail, and numbered 1000-1004. There are photos of 1000, 1001 and 1003 in this condition in the 1948-1950 period. This is a fascinating colour photo dated 1964, though only IRRS members will be able to see it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570791059 Only the top part of the D class loco's number is visible, and it could be 1000, 1002 or 1003, still carrying its original number and livery. But also in shot are three E401 locos freshly repainted in black and tan, so the quoted date of 1964 is very plausible and it couldn't be earlier than 1962. C216 is also visible, freshly repainted in plain black. It seemed remarkable to me that one of the locos would still be carrying its old number and livery in 1964. We may be able to work out which of the 3 locos it was by a process of elimination. 1000 became D301 and ended its days in black livery with a white 'fringe' as seen here. It was officially stopped in 1960. There's a 'mid-1960s' photo of it here in the same black livery with fringe, in the company of some more E401 locos freshly repainted in black and tan, and with its rods and buffers missing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511473459 Did it get a repaint after it was stopped, surely not after it began to lose parts? Now, let's have a look at 1001. Here's a photo of Ernie's which shows it at work at Heuston in April 1961: Again, it still has its original number as late as 1961. But there's no trace of a cantrail stripe or snail, so I wonder if this has been repainted in light green but still with its old number? There's another much closer photo of 1001 in this condition in the IRRS archive, but only dated to '1960s': https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511321098 Assuming 1001 became D 302, the books tell us that it was stopped in 1960. Apart from the minor issue of Ernie's photo of it still at work in 1961, there are two more problems. Here are three photos of D302 freshly painted in black and tan livery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53526390417/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53526421872/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53527323881/ None is precisely dated but they can't be earlier than 1962. But the story doesn't end there. D302 was repainted again, into plain black with white vee on the cab, as seen here in Jonathan Allen's photo dated 1970: Is it really plausible that the loco was repainted TWICE in two different liveries, after it was stopped from traffic? Now, 1002 later D303. Ernie's wonderful photo shows it with new number and pristine light green livery, dated 1956. That is surprisingly early for light green livery. Note also the black roof. Even if the date isn't spot-on, nevertheless it proves that the loco did carry light green with its D number, which I don't think any of the others did. Later, D303 carried black with a white 'fringe' similar to D301's last scheme. There are several photos of it at Inchicore in the 1965-1970 period in this condition. D303 wasn't officially stopped until 1970 so it would still have been in use at this time. Staying with Ernie, here are D303 and D304 together in the mid 1960s. As you can see, D304 had acquired black and tan livery at some stage in the 1962-1964 period. The tan band on D304 was a few inches deeper than that on D302. D304 was the last of the class in service, until 1972. As these photos dated 1968 and 1975 show, it was repainted in plain black with white V on the cab end: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570882505/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53570643303/ Finally, 1004 later D305 seems very camera-shy, and the only photos I have found of it are 1970s well after it was stopped in 1966. By then it was plain black with white V on the cab end, as seen in this photo by Jonathan Allen: So, 5 locos, and a multitude of different liveries. 2 or 3 variants of green, 2 variants of black, 2 variants of black and tan. All started in dark green, and all ended up in black, but went via different colours in between. I wonder which was the loco featured in the first photo I linked? A curved top to the last digit so it must have been 1000, 1002 or 1003 still in its old livery in 1964. Well it wasn't 1002 because that was painted light green and renumbered D303 in the 1950s. Possibly 1000, but it seems that was black with a fringe by 1964, so it's unlikely. It could have been 1003 - maybe in the works to be repainted in black and tan as D304? There are some mysteries here, but also some fascinating variations. Can anyone add more pieces to the jigsaw?

And now the equivalent for the G class. Plese refer to the notes below as well. Where there is a text entry in a cell that indicates a dated photo showing that livery on that loco. Cells coloured but empty are a reasonable assumption based on the same livery appearing in the years before and after. The blue boxes at the bottom represent the period when the locos were stopped. I expect there are some gaps that could be filled by photos I haven't found yet. There are lots of photos which aren't dated, or only to the nearest decade. They aren't shown here, unless they depict a livery not shown in any dated photos, in which case they're in the bottom row. It is possible that some photos are wrongly dated. Some findings, which probably aren't a surprise. Firstly the G601s: All locos were painted silver when new. G603 was painted green around 1961; the frames were green too. I have not found photos of the other two in green. At some stage, all three were painted in plain black with a white vee on the top of the cab end and a white line around the top of the cab (B -v-). They carried this livery when withdrawn but I have only found photos of G601 in this livery in service, and those are undated. I have not seen any photos of the G601s in BST livery. Then the G611s: These were all painted green when new, and a photo exists showing all seven together at Inchicore in green, with the cabside numbers painted on the first three. However, they were all quickly repainted in black and shallow tan line around the top of the cab (BST). This may have been before they entered traffic. From the late 1960s when they needed repainting, the standard livery became plain black with a white vee on the top of the cab end and a white line around the top of the cab (B -v-). Only 4 locos received this scheme and the others remained in BST They mostly worked on branch lines, and when those closed their remaining duties were shunting at the sugar beet factories. Initially still owned by CIE the surviving locos were sold to CSE in 1977. In the mid-1980s G611 was working for CIE again, based in Limerick wagon works. I have shown this loco as still in traffic for this period, which may not be correct, but it's all a bit academic for this table as its livery didn't change for over 20 years. It should be noted that some locos have carried liveries in preservation that they did not carry in CIE service. I have been trying to prepare a similar table for the D class. It's complicated and sparse - I could do with more in-service pictures but the vast majority show them after withdrawal. There were at least 5 different liveries carried.

There were many other oil tank wagons which looked superficially similar but were different in detail and dimensions.

I've now finished preparing the livery table for the E class. These didn't attract as many photographers as the main-line locos so there are some significant gaps. Nevertheless, I think it's useful. Plese refer to the notes below as well. Where there is a text entry in a cell that indicates a dated photo showing that livery on that loco. Cells coloured but empty are a reasonable assumption based on the same livery appearing in the years before and after. The blue boxes at the bottom represent the period when the locos were stopped. I expect there are some gaps that could be filled by photos I haven't found yet. There are lots of photos which aren't dated, or only to the nearest decade. They aren't shown here, unless they depict a livery not shown in any dated photos, in which case they're in the bottom row. It is possible that some photos are wrongly dated. Some findings, which probably aren't a surprise, mostly livery-related but a few other snippets. Firstly the E401s: All locos were painted silver when new. Most were based around Dublin but some worked in Cork and they occasionally reached other locations like Bray, Fenit, Cobh. From around 1962, a few locos were repainted in black and shallow tan (BST) with a white stripe at bonnet-top and a white vee on the top of the ends. I have not found any photos of them in green livery and it seems unlikely that any carried it. From about 1964, the standard livery became plain black with a white vee on the top of the ends (B v). However, some locos already in BST retained that scheme, and these may have been the locos normally used as carriage pilots (E402 and E412 were regulars at Heuston). In the 1970s they apparently had a passenger duty on the Dun Laoghaire to Heuston boat train! After a serious exhaust fire in on E405 in 1975, the exhaust pipe, silencer and cowl were removed from the bonnet-top on most locos still in traffic: E403/4/8/9/12/14 but not on E410. Then the E421s: In theory these all entered traffic in black and shallow tan (BST) with a white stripe at bonnet-top. Because the bonnet was lower than the E401s, the white stripe continued onto the cabside across the side windows, and the white vee on the cab end was set lower than on the E401s. In practice some locos were used in service whilst still in red-brown undercoat, and the paintwork was finished later. Because they did not obviously display their numbers when in undercoat, it's impossible to tell from photos which locos briefly ran in this condition so I have not attempted to show it in the table. From the late 1960s when they needed repainting, the standard livery became plain black with a white vee on the ends (B v). E428 was based in Limerick from new until 1974; E422 and E429 were based in Cork for about the same period. The Dublin-based locos occasionally ventured out to places such as Howth and Enniscorthy. So, not the most exciting, only 3 liveries to choose from and they spent most of their lives in plain black. Has anyone seen photos of E416 or E433? They have entirely evaded my searches!

Whilst searching for E class photos I found this detail shot of the end of a 25201 series flat loaded with Guinness:

...and I've just found another one of my own from the early 2000s:

Also, here are photos of the earlier (1970s) livery when the Esso logos were still carried, and before the extra reinforcements were added: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53527716615 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511632134 The only time I photographed them was around 1990 by which time the lettering was mostly in white rather than black: I think the tank colour was still the same mid-grey, under the grime. This is one of Ernie's photos dating from 1994 showing the white lettering variant when it was clean:

There are some photos in the IRRS archive, but will not be visible to the wider audience. For example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509330394 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509330399 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509328959 The hazard markings carried are 3YE 1270, which would indicate petrol. That would explain the Class A livery. Edit, correction, thanks to @MOGUL. 1270 is heating oil/kerosene.

Who guessed the tank wagons? https://irishrailwaymodels.com/en-gb/collections/b-class-tank-wagons

Lovely! I'm compiling information on the green H vans for another of my wagon essays. They appear in the background and on the edges of a lot of photos, but rarely as the main subject. Many thanks for sharing all your excellent photos. Mol

I'll finish with a few more of Ernie's excellent photos showing whole trains of bubbles. Can you spot the difference from this distance? 1967: 1973: 1979: 1990: 1999: In general, the modifications over time made the various batches more similar to each other. The differences are more obvious in the grey and early orange eras. The IRM models represent the 1970 and 1972 batches accurately, and are very close for the 1967 batch They're also pretty close for the 1964 and 1965 batches later in life, and passable for the 1965 batch in original condition too. They're not great for the 1964 batch which had handwheel brakes from the 1960s into the 1980s, though to be fair most of the models numbered in that batch are offered in the later ivory livery. Pack J must have been a Friday afternoon job - it contains two wagons numbered in the 1972-built batch, which were never painted grey - both the 1970 and 1972 batches entered service in orange. And the third wagon in Pack J is one of the 1964 batch, which ought to have handwheel brakes when in grey livery.

They have hinted at a narrow-gauge loco in a previous video. But not this one: