Mol_PMB

A couple of plug and socket signs at Tralee, and a CIE notice of indeterminate age. I have seen IR points logo signs en route too.

I meant to mention that I really liked the wrong-end departure from Cork - that took me back 20 years to when some of the Tralee trains did that (though they were 141+Cravens back then). 220 made an appearance too, looking smart if a bit midge-spattered this morning:

Spa: I’m nearly back in Tralee now, hopefully time for a beer before the train back to Cork. I can see why the GSRPS thought this would make a great tourist railway. As a Greenway it’s a lovely walk / cycle and there have been hundreds of people using it today.

Thanks - it was great to meet you all! Today E410 has visited Fenit on a sunny but very windy day. Seen here on the causeway and in the station. Now I am going to walk back to Tralee along the greenway.

What a great trip! Thanks to all those involved in organising it. All ran very smoothly from the punters’ point of view. It was great to meet some other forum members on board and see the progress on the Bandon tank too. Whoever arranged the weather deserves a bonus!

Can we do the same with the 3’ gauge and use all the BnM track being lifted to reinstate the more useful narrow gauge lines? As I’m in Cork right now I’ll nominate the CBPR and extend it with a branch to the airport!

Ticked off so far: - Long Valley - Welcome Inn - Idle Hour - Hi B - Vicarstown Bar All good so far! I might do one more tonight but I have two more nights to work on your checklist

Sounds like he has some fascinating memories. Hopefully you can introduce us?

Interesting- thanks. That may also explain the great variety of styles.

Many thanks. The reason I ask is that I’ve acquired two GSWR 6-wheel coach kits as part of a job lot, and now trying to find a legitimate use for then in 1960s/70s period! The loco department seem to have kept some truly ancient vehicles as sleeping accommodation but I don’t think they moved around and many were kept in sheds. The loco department also used old 6-wheelers as tool and mess vans in breakdown trains. Some were loco grey with red ends (often faded), others retained GSR or even GSWR livery! But it’s hard to justify either of those turning up on a branch line. The traffic department sleeping cars are a bit more plausible. They seem to have been painted in passenger livery in the green era, and some later survivors were repainted in wagon grey. A first look at photos suggests that no two were the same, as they were modified from a variety of coach types and the conversions were all different in detail. I will try to make a list. A couple more illustrations from Ernie:

I was wondering, has anyone researched the CIE sleeping cars, or built a model of one? I mean this kind of vehicle - the green one (photo from Ernie): I understand these were used as temporary staff accommodation which could be moved around to cattle fairs and other events where a normally quiet station would have a large influx of traffic and need more staff to deal with it. Most seem to have been converted from 6-wheel coaches, and carried numbers in the 2##A series. Also potentially of interest are the Permanent Way Department 'ballast vans' which again were staff accommodation, and one also appears in the photo above - the grey and red one. These were numbered in the 248xx or the 845x series and were less numerous, and looked less like carriages. Shall I have a look down this rabbit hole?

Looking superb already!

On the railtour on Saturday I'll wear my MOL T-shirt so you can recognise me. I answer to the names of Mol, Paul or PMB. Please say hello - it would be great to meet some other forum members face to face. I'll have the E class with me if you want to inspect it at close quarters. Cheers, Mol

Glazing added. It looks better on the photo plank in the spring sunshine! A few pics with a short train of equally grubby silver trucks.

Some foxy locos... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226676877681 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226676869002 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226676871357

Very nice - super photos! I was wondering whether 220 might appear on the Cork services and I'm pleased to see that it has done, just in time for my visit

Those will go very nicely with the IRM 'H' vans, and hopefully they'll sell well for you. The lettering and finish is excellent.

Some information on the G class at Tralee from Andrew Waldron, after I asked a related question on the Industrial Railway Society group. With relevance to John Langford's photos on Fenit Pier as reproduced in @jhb171achill's North Kerry book: A ship load of timber was due that day for McGowan's merchants in Tralee, loaded into open wagons and taken over the branch to Tralee by a G class Dtz shunter. McGowan hired the second Tralee Dtz, the one in reserve to shunt the wagons at his site, while the first Dtz went back to Fenit, for the second load. The last shipping order was the one after this consignment in 1969, then the curtain came down. I hadn't realised that Tralee had more than one G allocated, so I asked more about that, and Andrew responded: G Class Dtz locos, allocated to Tralee in the period 1965 to 1970 were G 611, G 613, G 614 and G 617. McGowan hired 617 in 1967, again in 1968, he hired 613 in 1969. I will dig some photos out and send to you off group. I'd already got my eyes on G611 after I found photos of that at Castleisland. Given that we also have photos of G602 and G616 at Fenit (outside the time period mentioned by Andrew) it seems that the majority of the Gs would have visited Fenit at one time or another. I'm beginning to wonder if a G class chassis etch would be worth doing to modern standards, and maybe a G601 cab to fit the Worsley Works model?

Thanks I look forward to showing it to you in person on Saturday!

I've been gradually working on the weathering on E410. It's so easy to overdo it and I fear I have ended up with something a bit more grubby than I was aiming for. It's not as bad as some of the prototypes though! It has moved on a bit since I took these photos, I have taken some of the weathering off and added more in different shades and places. I can't quite settle on the right look. A black one would have been much easier! The green on the transfers looks too bright in this lighting, that may tone down with some weathering, but it looks better in sunlight. Tomorrow I hope to fit the cab window glazing, then reassemble. That's about as much as I can do before the loco's trip to Cork and Fenit at the weekend. I think it looks a bit better now than in the photos above. If the weather stays sunny tomorrow I'll take the photo plank outside for some pictures. In due course I may revisit and refine the weathering. I haven't got a driver figure yet but I will need one. I also think there's some fine-tuning needed on the DCC motor control as the loco seems to almost come to a stop and then lurch forward a little. But it feels like I'm very nearly there. The instructions are almost complete too. Once I've finished them off I'll add them to this thread and then you can see what you're letting yourself in for if anyone wants to build one for themselves. I still plan to build a second loco in black livery, and I have the parts to do so. But I have an embarassingly large queue of other things to make...

Perhaps Stuart can instead look at the Industrial angle; some of the Irish broad gauge industrials had near-identical counterparts on the big island. But first, get that C class rolling! Perfect for north and south, plus layouts based in Manchester docks or central Leicester!

It would have rolled over into the bog and sunk without trace!