Mol_PMB

Continuing to work on the body, I next made the bunker, which was not so easy to get everything square and aligned. I also found I had to slightly reduce the width of the bunker rear, maybe by 0.5mm, to better match the upper valance and the cab width. Etched kits have come a long way since this was designed! But I succeeded: Then I added the cabside beading, which the instructions admit is fiddly! Then I could judge the correct relative spacing of the bunker and the tanks, based on the footplate and the cab doorways. Having done that, I used 1mm square brass section to connect the tanks and bunker into one unit. Again, this took a bit of adjustment to get everything square: Here's the cab loosely placed on it. The idea is that the cab, bunker and tanks will all be soldered together, but will not be soldered to the footplate or boiler which will be separate sub-assemblies. My next step is to modify the cab back to fit the window bars, before any further assembly.

Step 1, starting randomly in the middle of the instructions. Side tanks: With a bit of care to get everything square, these went together well.

If you can find more pics of 559, I'd like to see them. I found plenty of 552 and 557 in West Cork but none of 559 down there. At present I have only found three of them, the colour one above is at Fenit 0n 27 April 1960, and the IRRS image linked below is at Tralee on 22 August 1960: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54252113662 Plus the one without date or location, but it's a nice clear view:

A nice photo of J26 559 from 'Ingy the Wingy' on Flickr, but it's undated (probably 1950s) and has no location. Does anyone recognise the place from the background? Is that a covered coaling stage immediately behind the loco? Piles of ash in the foreground also suggest a loco depot.

Inspired by Alan's build of a J26, I have dug my kit out of the stash and I'm going to build mine too. https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/13383-alans-workbench/page/20/#findComment-278367 Mine is also an old kit acquired secondhand, and may not be entirely complete. At the very least I need motor, gearbox and some extra chassis bits, as well as tube for the boiler, so I have ordered those. That means I can't start the chassis but I can build the body, if only I can make a decision on which prototype to make! My interests are Cork/Kerry around 1960, and that effectively limits me to the following locos: 552, a regular on the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry line prior to closure, and then shunted around Cork until withdrawn in 1963. 557, a regular shunting around Cork and sometimes on the T&C, withdrawn in 1959. 559, which appears in some photos around Tralee around 1960, withdrawn that year. 560, which spent much of its life on the Waterford & Tramore but moved to Tralee by 1957, also working in Cork until withdrawn in 1963. In reality they probably all moved around in the Cork/Kerry region and the number of times each was photographed at a particular place was more to do with when the railtours arrived! There are fewer photos of 559 than the other three, but there are enough good ones to confirm the details. A photo of each thanks to Ernie and 'Ingy the Wingy': As you can see from the photos, there were detail differences between all of them, including: Rear of cab and bunker: 557 and 559 standard, 552 raised bunker, 560 W&T enlarged cab Safety valve bonnet: 552 and 560 oval, 559 round, 557 absent Buffers: 552, 557, 560 standard tapered, 559 large parallel Numbers: 557 and 560 plates, 552 and 559 painted Smokebox handrails: all four locos have different arrangements Footplate valances: 560 has W&T variant, others standard Cab roof vent: on 559 only Bars protecting rear spectacles: on 559 only Rivets: a whole host of differences once you start looking closely So, which do I pick? 560 is the logical choice as it lasted the longest, and there are many photos of it in Cork and Kerry (including Fenit) but it's highly non-standard with the W&T modifications, and not as attractive as the others. I think the work-weary 559 is the most attractive, even if there are fewer photos of it. Hmmm. I'll have to make a decision early in the build as there are so many differences between them.

Found in the weekly operating notice for the week ending Saturday 15th October 1960, the official prohibition of C class locos from Fenit Pier: Of course this means that prior to 1960, they could potentially have been used on the pier. Whether it ever happened is another matter, probably not.

A few more snippets on horseboxes. Firstly, a nice print I acquired on eBay recently showing J26 561 and a matching MGWR horsebox of the later type, in 1950: I also bought a few weekly operating notices on eBay recently, dating from late 1960. Here are some details of a horsebox special to Listowel races: And a much more extensive set of special trains associated with the bloodstock sales at Ballsbridge:

These are the wheels I’ve got. They actually measure 17.8mm diameter over tread and 19.2mm over flanges.

Excellent work, good to hear you got there in the end! That last photo is very helpful - thank you. As expected the cutout in the footplate is bigger than it needs to be, though it will look quite different in 21mm gauge. Certainly that slot towards the right-hand end is unnecessary. This photo is a good broadside view looking through the cab, and my impression is that the backhead is aligned with the front of the cab doorway and is just behind the wheelset centreline. It may be necessary to tweak it back a tiny bit to conceal your gearbox position but I don't think that would be noticeable. https://www.thetransportlibrary.co.uk/-/galleries/rail/lens-of-sutton-association/lens-of-sutton-association-irish-railways-part-2/-/medias/40ebd796-82e9-4733-bd47-2682a9a71a2f-cie-560-ex-mgwr-j26-0-6-0-being-turned-at-tramore-16-4-53-jn Height-wise, I wonder whether those wheels are going to be taller than the splashers? Maybe maximum size wheel diameter plus slightly overscale flange size might cause a problem, or require the footplate to be packed up a bit relative to the frames? Have you looked at buffer height with it assembled as-is? This is another interesting photo! The dismantled loco will be light and hence high on its springs here, but the wheels hardly come above the footplate level: Also thinking about heights and clearances over the gearbox etc, many photos of the right hand side of the locos appear to show a raised floor in the cab: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508698033/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511645263/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53499079344/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54419707859/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53510472622/ But this is not so apparent on the left hand side: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253010976/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253254994/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511776694/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54253241858/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509091889/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54252113662/ So maybe the raised floor was only on one side of the cab? I've spent all day staring at spreadsheets but perhaps tomorrow I'll get the soldering iron out. Or at least do some careful measuring and planning. I have some wheels in the stash somewhere which I think came from the 3mm Society. I'll have to look them out and remind myself. But my square-ended axles are the wrong gauge (maybe EM?) which will be a pain.

I'm not aware of any true right-hand running sections of double track in Ireland. I think there are some sections of double track that are bi-directionally signalled - GNR line north of Dublin? - but would normally run on the left. There are some locations where there are two parallel bi-directional single tracks which later diverge (for example west of Waterford). At Mallow, trains for Kerry run wrong line for a mile or so giving the impression of right-hand running.

Recently I have been continuing my CIE carriage research. Having already put the 1960s and 1970s carriage registers into a spreadsheet thanks to forum members on here providing copies of their documents, I am now extending the data back into the 1950s and late 1940s thanks to the IRRS records. There’s a lot to do here but I’m working through it. I curse the MGWR for their numbering policy with several different coaches having the same number! I think, with the info I’ve got, I can produce a complete all-time listing of CIE vacuum braked 5’3” gauge carriages. I will be going to the IRRS archives in Dublin later this month to fill any gaps, I hope. Bear with me…

22G1 would be a 20x8x8’6 I think. Sorry, can’t help with its location.

I think I might buy one of these, if I don’t already have something suitable in stock: https://ebay.us/m/bMeZgB

I have (or can easily produce) the transfer artwork for what you need, I think. And a supplier. Are you looking for the dark green numbers to go on a broad EdN waistline, or the EdN numerals to go on a plain dark green carriage? Do you need 'GUARD' and/or the EdN tonnage lettering for the ends?

5th April 1952 and here are some freshly-painted carriages at Inchicore in 'plain dark green' livery: https://www.thetransportlibrary.co.uk/-/galleries/rail/lens-of-sutton-association/lens-of-sutton-association-irish-railways-part-2/-/medias/d694a9fe-c7f9-4823-9d78-e63ec4c947d9-cie-37m-6-wheel-birdcage-brake-third-coach-and-cie-185m-6-wheel From 1945 to 1950 CIE used the dark green with elaborate EdN lining, snails, and class digits 1 and 3. In 1950 under the new nationalised CIE board, the livery was dramatically simplified with no lining or snails, and only 1 class digits. This 'plain dark green' livery appeared on CIE's new-built stock in 1951-52 such as this composite 2135: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508722781 It was also applied to older stock as seen in the first photo linked above. Seen also here, in colour, in June 1953: And here, looking a bit work-worn in 1956: As you can see, this plain dark green wasn't just a 'West Cork' curiosity but was applied at Inchicore and to a wide variety of carriages including MGWR, DSER, GSWR and CIE vehicles. The extremely plain livery was revised slightly around 1952/3 to include a thin 2" waist line in EdN, which matched the AEC railcars being delivered at that time: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507832507

The date is given as 1950s, but can be narrowed down to post-1956 by the laminate, the '2' class digits and the presence of C219 itself. Given that the laminate and the loco are already a bit shabby I'd say maybe 1958? That may be the last surviving GSWR 6-wheel brake third. I have ambitions to model one of those laminates by fitting new etched sides and roof details to an IRM Park Royal. The underframe and interior were near-identical.

I was reading the body instructions and noted that the whole thing ends up soldered together in one piece. My preference would normally be to have separate sub-assemblies for footplate, boiler and superstructure. I've got some ideas about how to do this which I am mulling over. I'll be interested to see how your motor/gearbox option looks within the footplate cutouts (which I suspect are much larger than needed for a modern motor/gearbox). Also, my kit has no boiler. Do you have one, and if so what are its dimensions? The photos in that old thread show a massively thick-walled pipe which explains why the instructions say it requires a lot of heat to solder to the smokebox! I would envisage using a much thinner tube.

Indeed. I’ve seen and travelled behind classes 56 and 86 in Hungary, and there are 87s in Bulgaria too. On an Irish angle there are the NIR 1 class in Sri Lanka!

I know this thread is a decade old, but thought I would bump it as it contains some useful information for @Tullygrainey on the options in the J26 kit. I got my kit out last night and had a look at the bits and read the instructions. I am mulling over the options, one of which is to put it back in the stash… @Horsetan did you get a CSB chassis working in the end?

Is there a list of which stations Andy Cundick has modelled already, so I can cross them off my list of options? Assuming that he hasn’t done every branch terminus in Ireland!

Well I'd read somewhere that A class were prohibited from the Quartertown Mill branch, but obviously not by the 1970s: 0:43 to 1:00 or thereabouts, a snippet of shunting at Quartertown. It looks like the train is just 2 bitumen tanks and a brake van. Very useful though frustratingly short and with little of the surroundings in shot, but a whole lot better than nothing!

Courtmacsherry would make a great model railway!

This is the only carriage I have seen it on. Part of the slogan, but the typeface of the C.I.E. is consistent with the containers, not the rest of the slogan, so I think this can be considered to be the logo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54372688542 As you know, it's on the annual reports for 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1963. Up to 1959 they have the snail, and from 1964 it's the roundel.

A few from Skibbereen:

A few of my pics showing some different locations from @Westcorkrailway's photos above. I just realised that all the placenames start with B or C, but that was true of nearly half the CBSCR stations! Four at Ballineen: Note @jhb171achill giving the building a stern talking-to for being the wrong colour! The engine shed at Baltimore: Container at Baltimore: My toy trains at Ballinascarthy: Chetwynd viaduct: Clonakilty Junction: Wherever Tailte decide to go next, please can you arrange the same weather?