Mol_PMB

It's this one we're musing over. The fire engine was offered as a suggestion of something maybe similar.

I acquired this coach kit secondhand from @Mike 84C, and I've really enjoyed building it. He also sold me a 6-compartment third, and I have plans to get some replacement sides etched for that and to build it as a full brake. Now, I've had my arm lightly twisted by @Georgeconna (it didn't take much twisting, I'm a pushover) to buy his secondhand kit for a 6-compartment third as well. This is all generally cheaper, quicker and easier than buying them new! As yet I haven't decided whether to build George's kit as a 6-compartment third (which could have 6 or 4 wheels - see my thread here https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/19735-6-wheel-coaches-reduced-to-4-wheels-when-and-why/ ) or to draw up another set of sides to be custom etched to represent a type not available from SSM. This could include a luggage composite or a different type of brake third, or potentially if I draw new ends as well it could be one of the later, high-roof types of full brake. Another option which appeals would be to model a departmental sleeping car. Considering that I have also committed to a couple of MGWR 6-wheel coaches from Alphagraphix I'm well on the way to a Cork region excursion train that is far too long for my layout!

Ernie posted this photo recently showing a 4-wheel coach at Cork in 1955. It looks like a former GSWR 6-wheel 6-compartment third, but the middle wheelset has been removed and replaced with a truss to stiffen the underframe: This intrigued me and I have gone down a rabbit-hole looking for more examples. Here are some other links which apparently show former GSWR 6-wheel carriages reduced to 4 wheels: GSWR third at Glanmire Road, 1955 (possibly the same coach): GSWR brake third 50 at Albert Quay, 1955: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508677988 GSWR brake third 50 at Cobh Jct, undated: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511332173 GSWR (ex-WLWR?) 5-compartment third 933 in 1948: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508746396 GSWR 4-compartment third (ex-first?) 382 at Newbridge in 1948: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508747351 So, what was this all about? When were the vehicles modified and why? Some seem to have outlasted similar unmodified 6-wheelers. Any more info would be welcome and may result in a model.

Stunning! That scene has come together very quickly and looks superb.

The 6-wheel coach is inching towards completion. I'm hoping that it will all come together at the weekend. I just realised that I missed the roof out of the photo - that's currently physically complete and painted black.

The road vehicle on that carriage truck is intriguing!

I spotted this old postcard for sale on eBay, the date of the image is 1900. I haven't bought it! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236104935781 https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/gWEAAeSwKL9oJuR5/s-l1600.jpg Plenty of interest in this photo including an unusual open wagon with high curved ends and a sheet rail.

It has crossed my mind that my Quartertown Mill layout could be stretched into the 1980s at least, if the freight was containerised in bitumen tank containers and bulk grain containers. This did really happen with the bitumen, but after the branch line closed it went by rail to Mallow and was transshipped to road for the last mile to Quartertown. Cadbury's at Rathmore was another small industrial location which remained rail-served into the 1980s with the freight containerised. It was served by a trip working from Mallow and the containers were often BR 'Freightliner' types.

This is an extract of the listing for a rather grotty slide currently for sale on eBay. I'm going to try and buy it and see if I can extract any more detail. The date is 1964 and we can see 23911 freshly repainted, and another in tatty original paint. Beyond them, a clean Ranks hopper. Both the CIE hoppers have ladders on the visible side, and continuous catwalks. They don't appear to have the vertical rib below the doors (and both have doors). Note also the stencilled flying snail - not something represented in the existing commercial transfer ranges. My impression is that only the nearer wagon carries the 'BULK GRAIN WAGON' lettering.

Search for Carrickfergus in the IRRS Flickr album and there are several photos of the branch and this particular industry too, though mostly after closure: https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=142947080%40N07&view_all=1&text=carrickfergus https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508713523/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508865134/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508546821/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53508713528/ As well as the salt works, the map and photos also show an oil depot by the harbour, and perhaps there was fish traffic too? A condensed version of this branch could make a nice micro-layout with varied traffic. It closed 1957 though; might plausibly be pushed into the 1960s but not really beyond owing to the UTA's freight policies.

One of several salt works in the region, by the look of it. Near the middle of this map from NLS: https://maps.nls.uk/view/247678280 https://maps.nls.uk/view/247665908

Mixed success with my decal experiments. Another attempt will be needed. Railtec produce some eau-de-nil transfers but there are major gaps in the range needed for light green carriages and locos, including 2" lining, loco numbering, carriage numbering and 'GUARD' insignia. So I had a custom sheet produced by Precision Decals. The downside there is that they can't print eau-de-nil, but they can print white in various different grades of opaqueness. For truly opaque white I normally overlay two layers of white. So I tried using a partially opaque white, thinking that some of the green would show through and look a bit like faded eau-de-nil. Many photos show the lining and the class designations faded to different shades: It didn't really work. This trial panel includes EdN and white snails from Railtec, and partially opaque white line from Precision. You can see a bit of green through the line, but only just. However, John at Precision tells me that he has an alternative "ER Pastel White" ink which is even thinner than the partially opaque white ink, and definitely allows a show-through of underlying colours, as it's intended to be a means to white-wash pastel-ize other colours. I could try again with that. Alternatively there is a very faint possibility that Steve at Railtec might respond to my request for some lining and numbering in eau-de-nil. I'm not holding my breath... I also did some trials of transfers for the windows, intended to be applied to the inside of the glass. The representation of old etched glass labels worked well, again this uses the partially opaque white ink. However, my attempt at a yellow, black and white smoking label/advert hasn't worked for some reason. I'll have to try again with that. Gettting a bit off topic now, sorry.

Ernie has a couple of this loco, this one dated 1936: And this from 1948:

In the search for my "nugget of purest green" I have painted some more samples and taken some more photos. The full list of paints is now as follows: 1 Tamiya spray TS-35 Park Green 2 Railmatch spray 1632 SR Malachite Green 3 Humbrol acrylic spray 80 Grass Green 4 Railmatch jar 620 LNER Doncaster green 5 Precision tinlet P50 LNER Loco Green (Doncaster) 6 Revell tinlet SM364 Leaf Green 7 Revell tinlet SM360 Fern Green 8 Precision tinlet P892 Tank Green (this was supplied when I ordered CIE green) I have also decided that it's best to view them against a black backdrop, because green rolling stock had black underframes and black rooves (whether painted black or covered in Crossley excreta) and so we would normally see the green on our models framed by black. Here are the 8 samples under layout lighting and compared to A42: 1 to 4 on the top row and 5 to 8 on the bottom row: Here's a similar photo but with the colours shuffled so that the front-runners are in the top row and the also-rans in the bottom row: Here is the same arrangement outside in the winter sunshine. The colours look pleasingly similar which suggests my layout light balance is OK. Here are the 4 better ones alongside the roof of A42 for a closer comparison: To my eyes the best match to the hue of A42 is sample 6. It's a little darker but pretty close (and I think A42 is a bit too bright) @Mike 84C, you win the prize with Revell SM364. Sample 2 (Railmatch SR Malachite) is good for a slightly darker weathered shade. It must be said that the colours in prototype photos vary hugely and these three would be best matched by sample 7. But maybe they are slides where the blue component has faded? (note that A11 which is a preferred prototype of mine has some unusual features to its livery - green frame ends and I think a black-painted roof.) Anyway, the experiments haven't quite finished because I have some transfers to apply to the samples. Watch this space.

Boyne Road branch might be another one to consider?

Sadly not an option here. Once I’ve got all my green samples finished I will try to coerce a female friend to give their judgement.

Well Ireland was well-supplied with Beyer Peacock products, so why not?

Going off at a small tangent on the GNR bulk grain vans, because there's one in the train above, #7 in the train. We can see the side with the ladder just to the left of the doors, and a stirrup beneath. It looks freshly painted in CIE light grey with a roundel. These grain vans appear to have been converted from standard GNR goods vans, 10t to the IRCH pattern. However, there is no mention of them in the GNR wagon diagram book held by the IRRS, and they may have been converted in GNRB days. Here's a view posted on the forum a few years back by GNRi1959. Note the ladder to the left of the door (this was only on one side of the van) as well as the grab rail on the roof. These vans discharged via small chutes on the side, just visible on the left margin of this photo; there was one each side of the double doors. Here's a view by Des Coakham posted on the forum some years ago by John Mayne, showing them being discharged: This version is higher-quality but cropped, and appears on the RPSI website: This IRRS view shows the roof hatches clearly, also an advert hoarding on the side opposite the ladder. The grab rail on the other side of the roof is just visible, above the top of the ladder we can't see. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511443526 Another view of the same van: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511610703/ Another GNR van is shown on the edge of this image, posted on this forum some years ago by KIrley. Again, this is the side without the ladder, and it has an advert hoarding (for a different firm compared to the one we saw in the IRRS photo). Edit: I forgot one. Here's a photo posted by Irish Freight Models over a decade ago, which is of course a Ranks GSR type grain hopper. But just visible on the left is a GNR grain van, with the side planks reskinned. It's definitely GNR with an N suffix, and it's a grain van because the hatch on the roof is visible. Leslie sent me a photo of a very nice model of one of these; I hope to make something similar myself based on one of his GNR 10t kits. If anyone is aware of more photos of these GNR 4-wheel grain vans I would be very interested to see them. There were also of course the bogie Guinness grain vans as well, and this RPSI link is well worth a read: https://www.steamtrainsireland.com/rpsi-collection/52/504-guinness-grain-van

Here's a scan of part of that super image showing the grain vans as described above:

Excellent!

Very nice! Definitely sounds more like a Mason-Fairlie than a Forney.

Indeed. Even I don't try to represent the difference in leaf spring deflection or inertia when being shunted. Yet... Tank wagons (oil, tar, cement, ammonia etc), covered hoppers (magnesite), Taras and pallet cement 'blues' look much the same laden or empty too. Most types of container don't show their load state either.

A nice pic showing CIE pre-ISO containers on CDR road vehicles at Letterkenny. The containers are the later type with side doors and have probably been interchanged from rail to road at Derry/Londonderry. Also interesting to see some of the CDR road fleet. John Powell photo on Flickr, Andy Lance collection.

Lots of maintenance chores for the new year then! But I suppose it's good that some are an opportunity for a change or an improvement.

Ah, thanks - they look good. I've already ordered a pack of the Ratio extruded seating but what you've got may be better. Or perhaps it would be good to use different shapes of seat for each class?