Mol_PMB

I agree. Considering the main fleet of AEC / Park Royal cars, there’s already a Silver Fox RTR model, although it has had mixed reviews. Worsley Works also make a basic set of etches but the distinctive cab curves are left to the builder to work out. IRM will probably (hopefully) make a top-quality model eventually. So there doesn’t seem much point scratchbuilding one. But the Wedgeheads were short-lived in their original form, only existed in small numbers, and their distinctive looks weren’t pretty. So an RTR or kit model is far less likely to be produced. This would make a scratchbuild more worthwhile. I am mulling over the idea of an etch.

While I was trawling books and websites for the Wedgeheads, I have also made a much longer list of photos of the AEC / Park Royal railcar fleet, again focusing on the green livery period. I may analyse that in a similar way in due course - there are some interesting variations in buffers and headlights as well as liveries. I've found about 50 colour photos of them in various shades of green, as well as a couple of hundred monochrome photos. The book 'Diesel Dawn' (Flanagan) includes a list of the coaches through-wired to work with them, which include: 10 pre-GSR coaches, the oldest from 1902 9 GSR coaches 51 CIE-built coaches 12 Park Royals 6 Cravens So now I have a challenge of finding photos showing each type in a railcar set. I've already found two photos of the clerestory diner which is one of the most distinctive. I am not sure whether the list in the book is thought to be complete For example it only lists 2 driving trailers, but I thought there were three. I may be mistaken.

The powered intermediates seem to have entered traffic in light green livery, just before the black and tan livery was introduced. The rebuilt cars were all second class, and their lined light green livery had a snail each side. Another difference from the unrebuilt cars was that the main part of the toilet window was painted green rather than white - this was also done on many of the AEC / Park Royal cars. It's important to note that there were 9 of them - 6 converted from the Wedgehead cars and 3 from AEC / Park Royal cars which had been accident-damaged. As far as I can tell, the rebuilds of the AEC / Park Royal cars replaced the windows with the same style as the Wedgehead cars, so that they were not so obviously different as one might think. To close out the Wedgehead story, here are some photos of the rebuilds in when new and whilst they retained their green livery: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305631 https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305580 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53447301370/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511772699/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510557012/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511453281/ There's also a colour photo in 'Diesel Dawn' (Flanagan) p101 As with the main AEC railcar fleet, they were converted into push-pull cars and 2664 (as 6316) was one of the last survivors in 1987.

Moving into February 1960, this NLI photo shows a wedgehead car being overhauled in Inchicore. The headlights have been removed from their low position: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000304878 This undated IRRS photo shows 2662 at Cork Glanmire Road. The headlights are in their higher position about mid-way between the bufferbeam and the cab windows. The car number has been repainted in large figures. However, the car still seems to be in unlined dark green with white toilet window, so I suspect that only the cab front was repainted: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510559287/ This undated IRRS photo at Tivoli (by the same photographer) is probably the same car: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511772644/ It certainly has the same missing panels on the underframe. A photo of 2661 at Listowel appears in 'Rails Through North Kerry' (Beaumont/Carse) p75. It is dated summer 1961 and has its headlights in the higher position, but retains its small numbers and the car still seems to be in unlined dark green with white toilet window. There is a suggestion of patch painting around the old headlight position. So it appears that both 2661 and 2662 received their headlight modifications in early 1960 but retained their original livery. However, 2660 received a full repaint in 1960 to accompany its modified headlights. It was used on West Cork lines in their last few months including the very last train, so it became a bit of a celebrity and appears in several photos in this condition. @Westcorkrailway has gazumped me in the post above, which is perhaps the nicest view of its bright green livery with large running number, waist line and snail. Note also the black roof including the upper part of the front wedge. That photo from Ernie is at Cork Albert Quay on 12th September 1960. There are more photos of 2660 around Cork in this period: From Roger Joanes, 15th September 1960 at Bantry: IRRS photo at Albert Quay on 12th August 1960, also a colour image, which in comparison with Ernie's photo shows how the same shade of green can look quite different! https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511728190/ Here is 2660 in colour again, at Drimoleague in September 1960: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419890835/ And 2660 did sometimes escape the CBSCR, here probably heading for Cobh at Myrtle Hill: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511620958/ 2660 in this condition also appears in books on the CBSCR: Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway (Shepherd) p136, The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway Vol.3 (Creedon) p128, p129, p131. So far, that's all I've found of these cars with their Wedgehead cabs. In 1961 they were rebuilt into powered intermediate cars, losing their cabs. The cars without boilers also had their guard's vans replaced with more seating. This NLI photo dated 15th April 1961 shows three of them at Inchicore being rebuilt. The nearer one is still in unlined dark green livery: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305443

Photos from 1958 and 1959 showing these vehicles are as follows: This IRRS photo at Inchicore dated November 1958 shows just part of the bodyside - who parked that kettle in the way? https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53506816536/ There's a photo of another wedgehead car at Harcourt Street in December 1958, this is in 'Rails around Dublin' (Murray) p59 2664 is seen at Enniscorthy in August 1959, in 'Railways in Ireland part 3: DSE/MGW' (Bairstow) p26, and the same car is also seen at Wexford North on p28 of the same book. An undated photo of 2661 in original condition at Newcastle West can also be found in 2 books: 'The Waterford, Limerick & Western Railway' (Shepherd) p29 and 'Railways in Ireland part 4: GS&W' (Bairstow) p45. Considering the railcar's condition, this photo is likely to be late 1950s. All the photos in the 1957-1959 period show the headlights in the low position just above the buffers. Later, they were raised. [The AEC / Park Royal railcars also had several different headlight configurations over their life.] You may have noticed that this thread is a bit short of photos actually linked in the thread. Sorry! There will be some later...

I have found myself going down a rabbithole looking for photos of these in the early years, while they still retained their driving cabs. I've got a fair number now, so I thought I would share the list of references. In this post I'll give a description and some 1957 photo references. The six railcars 2660 to 2665 were built at Inchicore and introduced to service in 1957. 2660-2662 are recorded as being completed in February, 2663 in March and the remaining two in April 1957. As with the AEC / Park Royal built cars, they had 12 first class seats, 32 second class, a toilet and a guard's van. Even-numbered cars had a steam heat boiler in the guard's van. The layout of the accommodation was the same as the AEC / Park Royal built cars. Visually they were rather different: Most obviously, the cab front was an angular wedge-shape rather than the smoothly rounded shape of the main fleet. The carbody was slightly taller and had flatter sides (though there was still a small curve in the lower bodyside). The windows had rounded corners, being similar to those fitted to the Inchicore-built carriages. The arrangement of vents on the roof was different, and with a smaller type of vent. They entered traffic in a dark green livery, with no lining. Class designations 1, 2 and GUARD were on the appropriate doors. Bogies were silver, and I think the roof was black. The toilet window was white. The clearest photo I've found in original condition shows 2664, brand new at Inchicore in 1957. This is in 'Bulleid and the Turf Burner' (Shepherd) p73. Another good photo shows 2663 at Cork Glanmire Road on 14th July 1957. This is in 'Irish Railways 40 Years of Change' (Boocock) p23 There is one IRRS photo dated 5th June 1957, at Inchicore, which shows 2664: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511297171/ The only colour photo I've found in original condition shows an unidentified car at Kingsbridge in 1957, viewed from the other side compared to the three above. This is in 'Irish Railways in Colour' (Ferris) vol.1 p87 Finally for 1957, there is a photo of an unidentified car in a train at Clonakilty Junction. This appears in 'Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway' (Shepherd) p38 and 'The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway' Vol.3 (Creedon) p67

The 60 AEC / Park Royal railcars were supplied to CIE in 1952-1953. At the same time that Inchicore were busy building carriages to run with them. I know that some outsourced rolling stock was supplied complete and painted, whilst others were supplied complete but just in primer for Inchicore to paint. Some other orders had the first few supplied complete and the rest were supplied as 'kits' which were assembled and painted at Inchicore. What happened with the AEC railcars? Were they built and painted by AEC / Park Royal in the UK and shipped complete? Or did Inchicore contribute to the assembly and/or painting?

Continuing the topic of 1950s liveries, I stumbled across this post which is worth a read: This re-opens the prospect of multiple shades of green (not just light and dark) as well as describing different lining styles. I've been doing some more research on this myself recently based on photographs, and it might be interesting to try and cross-reference the statements in the above linked post with what appears in photos. However, I'm minded to wait until the old IRRS journals become available online, so that I can check back to the original news items and studies. Most photos from the early and mid 1950s are monochrome, though colour becomes more common in the late 1950s.

I'll send you a PM.

This looks like a nice plan with plenty of scope for some varied scenery. Somewhere to run your NIR stock? The boards will provide a generous size for the layout - I like the idea of using the wider boards to make the most of the scenery where hopefully you won't have to reach over too often. I look forward to seeing it develop!

One Heating & Luggage Van kit, plus one Luggage Van Kit, please.

I'm pleased to say that I now have official permission to measure and photograph the van at Cultra, so in late August I'll gather that data and then prepare a scale drawing. Thanks to the staff at Cultra for taking the time to respond to my request and grant permission.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Here's an old pic of mine on the one occasion I made it to Shane's Castle: The only time I've been to Giant's Causeway was before the present railway existed (but long after the tramway closed). Is the present railway worth a visit?

Wow, quick and quality work! I look forward to seeing this develop and hopefully it will inspire me to get on with some of my own projects. I've got a set of those universal rods in my stash but haven't tried using them yet, so it's good to see your approach to it.

Announced April 2023 for delivery Q2 2024, they’re not yet so far behind as some projects! It would be nice to have an update but I appreciate the AS/IRM team have a lot going on at present. Somehow I’ve ended up with 5 on order, 3 paid for months ago. Looking forward to them, and I have some potential conversions in mind too. Do they ever sell ‘seconds’ or ‘misshapes’? Maybe that’s just for biscuits.

That’s not too bad - you can still see the rails! It’s when the train leaves a bow-wave that it’s properly flooded. I have once been on a DMU that braved 6 inches of floodwater above the rails and left a bow wave. It was all for nothing, the track dropped further and when the driver could see the platform surface was underwater at the next station, he stopped before he got completely stranded and went back to dry land!

Those 6-wheelers look excellent! Any chance of a photo of the underside - how did you arrange any sideplay/steering on the wheelsets?

Hopefully it’s not the Boyne Bridge that’s flooded!

I can't find the good photo now (I'm at work) but this is one of the brake standard conversions, note the headlight on the end: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54252109222/

No, they were powered. As far as I am aware there were two types of driving trailer converted for use with the AEC railcars - at least one Park Royal on the W&T section, and two of the early 1950s CIE-built brake standards. Good photos of both types exist.

80 Class were Mk2s of course, indeed some had trailer cars from the original Enterprise Mk2 fleet. Before the 3000s were delivered they would have been first choice for a substitution on the Enterprise, but I wonder when that last happened?

It couldn't have been much later than 2007 as the Cravens and Mk2s were withdrawn around then.

Interesting - thanks for sharing some photos of the budget paint job - ideal for the modeller without a lining pen! They all appear to be dark green, and (where class designations are carried) third class rather than second class. In C.Creedon's book on the CBSCR (volume 3) there are several references to carriages being sent to Rocksavage for painting in the mid-1950s, including two of those converted into driving trailers for the AEC railcars. I thought that was interesting because I've not seen a photo of a driving trailer in use on the CBSCR, maybe they just visited for the paint job? In which case, I wonder if Rocksavage managed to match the standards of Inchicore! I'm sure I found some photos of these driving trailers converted from CIE-built brake standards somewhere, but I seem to have mislaid my reference. Will have to look again...

RPSI steam Enterprise, or the regular version?

They seem to be multiplying! Is that disembodied tail a fifth one?