Mol_PMB

Some photos from Ernie and IRRS which don't shed much light on the colour of the lettering, but it's not red and looks more like eau-de-nil to me: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53468545586 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53468958785 Heating van has the end wording 'NOT TO BE ROUGH SHUNTED' in red, and I think the number may also be red. Very hard to tell. On the other hand, there's a Colour-Rail shot FIE04801 showing silver heating van 3131 which has the number and GUARD in eau-de-nil. The end is not visible. And this photo of Ernie's shows a green heating van with the 'NOT TO BE ROUGH SHUNTED' in red: Composites definitely had red lettering, again a pic from Ernie (there are other photos in books which show this even more clearly):

I am going to paint the van silver. I think that these vans did have eau-de-nil lettering. But if there’s clear evidence otherwise please let me know. I am aware that some of the other silver vehicles had red lettering, including some of the heating vans.

Great idea. Something small and fairly simple which should give quick results and good practice to hone your skills.

Yes, the kit provides an etch for the grilles on the main side windows. It is flat brass and I agree it might be better done with wire. On the other hand, getting them all evenly spaced would be hard work and uneven wire grille might be worse than flat brass. I suspect that once the windows are glazed it won't be so easy to see the shape of the bars. I'm keeping the grilles as separate parts for now so I can make that decision later. The extra small grilles I made are for the left-hand door on each side. These also had grilles in reality but they are not provided in the kit. The right-hand door on each side had a droplight for the guard to look out of, so there wasn't a grille. I've added the droplight surround instead so that the glass is set back a fraction of a mm compared to the adjacent door. One of my droplights is partly open. My next challenge is the eau-de-nil transfers, especially the 'GUARD' lettering. It's not a colour that's easily printed with an ALPS printer even with multiple layers. Railtec have the right colour but usually seem to busy to do custom work, even though they already have suitable artwork in white (e.g. for the BGSVs). We could do with 2" (0.66mm) lining in eau-de-nil too.

I bet you did a great job, all the better for being spontaneous. Hopefully their married life will be steered in the right direction, perfectly balanced, well lubricated and won't go rotten round the sills.

The tin luggage van is now ready for a final clean-up and a coat of etch primer. I've added some extra details such as the body support brackets and made some grilles to cover one of the door windows each side. On the other door with an opening droplight I have made a droplight frame. Extra details on the underframe include a simplified representation of the brake rigging, and a dynamo with the visible part of its belt. I've also modified the spring detailing. After the primer coat, I'll review whether the half-round beading I've added on the sides is OK or too proud. It may benefit from a bit of rubbing down to reduce its thickness. I am also considering using rivet transfers to give some more texture on the sides. In reality I think these were nearly flush but after a bit of weathering they tended to become quite obvious as seen in Ernie's photos below:

Has its boiler ticket now expired, or might we see another season of operation?

Thank you for the response and the reassurance. That sounds more positive.

I agree with @Ironroad. Whilst I have returned to Irish modelling relatively recently, this was entirely influenced by the existence of the high quality IRM models. Having missed the boat on many of the early products I have been scouring eBay and secondhand sellers to acquire some of the earlier products, and in my experience the secondhand prices are holding up well, often being a slight premium on the original price. Some models have been very hard to find, and the re-run of the cement bubbles was ideal for me. In the meantime I have bought a range of Irish kits from the smaller suppliers to fill some of the gaps, thereby spreading the benefit more widely. And of course I've placed numerous orders with IRM / AS, including non-Irish specific items such as the lokprogrammer and spare parts. The IRM commitment to correcting flaws and getting things right is impressive. Delivery delays are no doubt frustrating on both sides - it seems a very long time ago that I paid for my Park Royals when my expectation was that delivery was imminent (my mistake!) I would be very disappointed if Accurascale turned its back on the IRM market entirely, on the basis that there's lower risk and more money to be made with GB prototypes. But it feels like that's a serious threat, indeed it sometimes comes across as a literal threat to the customers of the Irish prototypes. Perhaps I'm treading on thin ice here, but that's not a good feeling as customer. There are still some major gaps in the lineup as Ironroad identifies - "AEC Railcars, Laminate coaches and C class locos" are also the three things at the top of my wishlist. There may also be opportunities for some more joined-up thinking on the range - for example coaches to suit the 800s, a BGSV, or some of the RPSI locos. I agree it would make sense to slow down the releases to suit people's budgets. If there really is a plan to stop production of Irish models entirely, then please do tell us. On the other hand, if there's a C class or AEC railcar in the wings it would be nice to know. I've already been considering doing a 'cut and shut' on an IRM A class, or developing a custom etch for an AEC (actually it might be a Bulleid Wedgehead). But I'd much rather spend my money on a new green IRM box, if there will be one coming along next year. Just my thoughts. I don't have the full picture, of course. Communication is always good so I welcome the IRM comments in this thread and would encourage you to continue communicating.

Facinating insight. Most things have gone up by a factor of 10 at least. As an extra bit of context, in 1978, the list price of a Hornby Mk2 coach was £3.15. But by today's standards it was extremely crude.

They're completely out of time and region for me, but I couldn't help myself! This is your required loco with the late 1970s vee shape: https://www.accurascale.com/products/101-eagle-maroon-with-revised-arc

I believe the carriages were repainted in the grey/blue scheme around 1979, and the locos in blue at the same time. The locos got a revised vee on the front (still in maroon livery) around 1973. Jonathan Allen's album here is well worth a look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/albums/72157713210080108

The camera-shy Fairy

Many thanks @seagoebox - an excellent view of each of the main types of MGWR horsebox, and a different example of GSR livery. I've found a few more horsebox photos in my trawl through the library, and can offer the following references: Railways in Ireland Part 3 DSER/MGWR etc (Bairstow) page 62, dated 1914, monochrome: MGWR horsebox (early type with dogbox) in MGWR livery. Railways in Ireland Part 4 GSWR (Bairstow) page 41, dated 1914, monochrome: 3 horseboxes GSWR diagrams 101, 100, 103 being shunted at Kingsbridge. Railways in Ireland Part 3 DSER/MGWR etc (Bairstow) page 35, dated 1954, monochrome: at least 3 horseboxes at head of train, 2xGSWR diagram 103 and another older type maybe diagram 100. Railways in Ireland Part 4 GSWR (Bairstow) page 87, dated 1955, monochrome: 3 horseboxes MGWR later type and 2xGSWR diagram 103 attached to rear of a Tralee-Limerick passenger train. Railways in Ireland Part 4 GSWR (Bairstow) page 87, dated 1955, monochrome: GSWR diagram 101 horsebox in Foynes passenger/mixed train. Irish Railways since 1916 (Baker) page 96b, undated, monochrome, Sulzer 1101 with a short passenger train, diagram 103 horsebox immediately behind the loco. Irish Railways in the 1950s and 1960s (McCormack) page 151, dated 1957, colour: loco 800 leading a 'horse van train'. Only one and a bit horseboxes are in shot, the first a very tatty diagram 103 and the second (only just visible) appears to be similar but freshly repainted in light green. Irish Railways in the 1950s and 1960s (McCormack) page 154, dated 1957, colour: End view of a diagram 103 with black end but side colour is hard to make out.

Heat then use an impact driver with a socket and an extension piece? Failing that, carefully cut off one side of the nut with the gas, making sure to stay just clear of the threads.

There's a sketch of GSR cattle wagon number 7592 (most likely ex-GSWR?) in 'The Farranfore to Valentia Harbour Railway vol.2' (O'Sullivan) which gives a body length over corner pillars of 174.5" which is just over 14'6". The sketch appears to be based on measurements of a wagon rather than an official drawing. Given that the corner pillars are partly beyond the headstocks I suspect this is also close to 14'0" over headstocks.

The SLNCR cattle wagons in these IRRS images all look moderately 'standard', although some have the numbers on the sides and others on boards just under the roof: No.65: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509202374/ No.104: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253261304/ No.132: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511366156/ Number not visible: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508883771/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53500846351/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253260779/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53501149394/ But No.132 seen here is entirely different, and has a shape more in common with a convertible van: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508783401/

Very nice. Cattle wagons 117 and 59 shown in those images are clearly a different design with more vertical ribs on the sides.

An interesting section in the book about the Valentia Harbour line describes the livestock fairs, including how various animals were transported. I imagine that this was based on the text of railway instructions. "Horses were transported in horse boxes, and before being accepted for conveyance were carefully inspected to see if they suffered from injury, wounds or other defects, and if so this was drawn to the owner's attention and a note made on the waybill. It was the duty of the staff to assist in the loading and tying up of horses and to ensure that the head collar was properly secured on the animal and properly adjusted. A chin rope was used, being adjusted so that it gave the animal's head restricted freedom and prevented its head coming into contact with the roof of the box or getting its forefeet in the manger. Horses were examined frequently to see that they were travelling safely. The removal of partitions was not allowed on the instance of a sender unless he signed an indemnity relieving the company from responsibility. If a sender wished to dispense with the head collar in the horse box an endorsement to this effect had to be made on the ticket and it had to be signed by the sender." Perhaps @Horsetan can give us some context of how this compares to the modern transport of horses?

That's great, many thanks. I had meant to ask about interior colour but was assuming it was light grey as you say. Useful to know about the floor and roof too. Hopefully I can make some more progress on the model later this week. I have travelled in Mk1 BGSV and Mk3 EGV vehicles on occasion - both when I had blagged a trip on the empty stock workings of the Ennis services. The Mk1 BGSVs were also light grey inside. The big rectangular water tanks over the bogies, and the apparently small but noisy genset stick in my mind. But I never knew the tin vans - they were gone before I was old enough to remember them.

If you search on Flickr within the IRRS archive for SLNCR you’ll get a few hundred images at least. A fair proportion of those include cattle wagons, mostly with legible numbers, and several types. Usually the wagons aren’t the main subject of the pic but still useful views.

Here’s another:

If marshalled at the back of the train, they were tail traffic. And I'd just like to clarify, when we refer to grey livery on a horsebox, we don't mean white. Unlike the horses themselves.

I am gradually making progress on the artwork for alternative sides and rooves for the SSM GSWR 6-wheelers. Another few hours needed on this and then I can send it for etching.

Excellent. I'm looking forward to seeing progress on the layout. As usual, I have got distracted by building rolling stock, but I need to get back to buildings and scenery on mine. The excuse I have concocted is that I need some rolling stock with wide footboards to make sure I put the platforms in the right place (and indeed my 6-wheeler is a rather tight fit against the one bit of platform I've built so far).