Mol_PMB

Signal style looks good for BCDR: https://flic.kr/p/2pwkdzq Construction style of the bridge also looks good for BCDR: If the double track means it’s on the Bangor line, then there aren’t many stations to check, and being on straight track in a cutting will narrow it down.

Interesting puzzle. The spacing of the rails indicates 5’3” gauge rather than standard. Trackform on the near line is bullhead but the far line may be lightweight flatbottom. With a signal and points, plus an access path from the bridge, we’re most likely at one end of a station. I wondered whether it is true double track or if it’s one end of a passing loop with a spur siding. I’m not sure I can see enough point rodding or evidence of FPLs for the crossover to have FPLs so I think it’s a trailing crossover on a double track line. The lattice post lower quadrant signal is distinctive but I’m no expert. The stone arch bridge looks a funny shape - the top of the arch seems rather flat. It may be a skew bridge but I’m still unsure of its integrity. If the line still exists then most of the distinctive features are likely to have been changed since the photo was taken. So I’ve no idea!

I recall this was discussed on the forum about a year ago and there was some conflicting info, or at least they weren’t in order. I’m not in front of my library at present, I’m afraid.

Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway

Also worth noting is that Rapido are offering several variants of open carriage truck, with slightly different bodywork. These existed in Ireland too, and some lasted into CIE days, here's a little bit of one, which I think is a former MGWR vehicle: The book 'Irish Broad Gauge Carriages' has much better photos of MGWR, DSER, CBSCR carriage trucks of this general type, plus a 6-wheel WLWR type. They were latterly painted in CIE green livery like horseboxes. Also in the book are photos of GNR and NCC carriage trucks. Some IRRS images showing open carriage trucks: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511613225 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53507982437 https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509191259

To be fair, I don't have personal experience of the Heljan A4, but I've read a lot of comments online about the inadequacy of the motor, and a lot of models needing repairs. Which seem to me like design and build quality issues. My point was more about overcoming the poor reputation they have gained. I'm not trying to rubbish the Irish market, and I apologise if it came across that way. Irish O gauge is a small niche within a niche, and I think the price of an O gauge 071 is likely to be beyond what many people would buy on a whim for something outside their main interests.

I can't imagine them being a priority. The market will have been filled with the Heljan ones, many of which will be shelf queens as few people have an O gauge layout big enough to suit an A4. And there would be a lot of work needed to resolve the design and build quality issues, and overcome the poor reputation of the Heljan ones. Having said that, there's probably more money to be made with an O gauge A4 than with an O gauge 071 class...

I have been spending too much money on eBay again, and I only bought this slide for a little detail hidden in the corner. Here's a photo by Ken Cooper at Glanmire Road shed on 13th June 1955. Colour photos from this era are scarce. The main subject is 2-6-0 No.369, a Coey design of 1909 built for heavy goods work but also used on passenger trains. This loco was withdrawn in March 1957, but still very much in service here and with a mound of good lump coal in the tender. The smokebox appears to have been freshly painted or at least oiled, so it contrasts with the rest of the loco livery. But what's that hiding in the corner? It's an AEC railcar, mostly in the shadows but the part in the sunlight clearly shows that it has a green roof. Or at least the edge of the roof is green. The vagaries of colour reproduction make it difficult to be certain whether this railcar is painted dark green or brilliant green. Most of the AEC fleet would have been about 2-3 years in service by this time, so one would expect them to be in original paint. If it's one of the first four (2600-2603) which entered service a year ahead of the rest, then it may have had a repaint by 1955. Here's Ernie's photo of a freshly-painted 2602 in 1955, showing off some of the modifications that may have prompted a repaint - the tablet catcher hatch, the new exhaust pipes, the enlarged buffers. It is clearly a lighter colour than the adjacent carriage. In the colour photo it's also hard to be sure whether the roof is entirely green, but only partly cleaned, or if the centre portion of the roof is painted black and just the edges are green: In that context I'll put this image here; this is from IRRS journal 25 dated 1959: I'm probably waffling on too long and this ought to be in the thread on green liveries, but it'll give you an idea of the sort of evidence I'm looking at, and trying to make sense of.

That looks excellent - an unusual wagon and very nicely finished. I like your justification for getting another one!

A superb selection this week - many thanks! I particularly like the Cork street scene, with the horse-drawn cart, cars, lorry, pedestrians, and the man up the ladder. So full of modelling cameos! Interesting to see the part-demolished buildings in the background - where the bus station is now.

Set of 4 hattons genesis: https://ebay.us/m/n63jIl

Have you got any wall space in the railway room? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/206306989206

Yes, it's just some of the words that have changed. 'revert', 'reach out', 'copilot', 'touch base', 'granularity', off-line', 'leverage' ... "BULLSH!T!" In my career I've had a couple of good managers and a lot of bad ones. My manager in my first proper job was a good engineer but terrible at managing people, and I could see he had many traits in common with me. So I resolved that I would not become a bad manager, but pursue a career path to being a boffin instead. Now I think I'm a reasonably good boffin but people keep trying to push me into management! I've had to change employer a few times to avoid it. Foxtrot Foxtrot Sierra!

Ah, you’ll need these people to help with that…

When I saw the 'spiders' I wondered if they would cause a problem through checkrails. I think you need to shorten their legs so that they don't go right to the tip of the flange. At the moment you have effectively got 2 (or 4) spots of tight back-to-back per wheel rotation. The rest of it looks superb!

In the monochrome pic, you can see the steam hose rigged up from the traction engine, across the road to the rail bitumen tank. Which, once melted, is being discharged into the road tanker below. It would make a wonderful cameo. There's another view in the NLI collection: Holdings: Engine, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. :: Library Catalog Holdings: Tar tanker, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. :: Library Catalog

Reminds me of this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53454109653 RSL_MGWR_Mullingar_c1960s | [Photographer: Robert Shortall] … | Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/54256990908 Latterly a steam supply for melting the contents of tar/bitumen tankers at Mullingar.

Yes, I'm sure you remember Roger! Remarkably his relief at Crewe was another FR driver, but after your time I think. I'm not sure I ever rode on a Southern Region thumper, all my fond thumper memories are of the 80 class and I'm hoping to be surprised by one in August!

I can’t wait to get mine and start modifying them!

I’m not with my library but I recall that Hodgsons also had 5’3” gauge wagons which later joined the DWWR fleet as ballast trucks, or similar.

Several examples here: A little later, there were two painted BnT with advertising slogans along the edge of the roof.

I will try to deal with all of these in my post on the Park Royals. There were at least three different variations of the green livery applied to Park Royals, and two shades of green. Some/most of the main line Park Royals were brilliant green when new. I have in mind to do a visual timeline of the liveries to explain the evolution of the greens (and the silver interlude). There were as many as 10 different liveries between 1945 and 1961. Not all different shades of green, but when you consider underframe and roof colours, different lining/lettering styles etc, it seemed to change about every 2-3 years. The story is more complicated than just light or dark green.

A bit of an aside, I bumped into one of my friends on the way to work this morning and it turned out he was driving this at the weekend: It went all the way from the deep south to the Scottish highlands, and back. My friend drove Carlisle - Manchester - Crewe, and was surprised how well it performed over Shap summit. 4 power cars and 4 trailers though, so a better power to weight ratio than a 3-car 80. It made a change from his normal freight trains!

I think the dark green on 1944 is UTA dark green, which was darker than CIE dark green. I can fully appreciate the desire for a uniform livery at the DCDR, it looks smart and saves on the number of different pots of paint needed. So I've no complaint about it being painted that shade. It is possible that the first few PRs would genuinely have been dark green, if there was a long transition period between dark green and brilliant green in early 1954. It appears that the very first coach was delivered ready-assembled (and the other 49 were put together at Inchicore starting some months later) so maybe the first one was different. Personally, I think it's unlikely that more than one was dark, if any. But then I thought the silver-painted one was unlikely until JHB produced the photo. Because of the variations in light, exposure, film sensitivity and deterioration, it's very hard to judge the shade of green when all the carriages are in the same shade. The most useful photos are those which show more than one livery in the same train. It's important to note that there are differences in the liveries other than just the colour of the green - for example the colour of the roof, underframe or ends, the style of lining, the presence or absence of snails and class designations, and whether the running number is at one or both ends. All these can help to identify when a carriage was repainted and in which shade. When we look at photos from around 1956 showing two shades of green, we're looking at dark green vs brilliant green (I've added a 1956 photo of that to my earlier post - just scroll up a few). When we look at photos from around 1960 showing two shades of green, we're looking at brilliant green (slightly darkened in service) vs light green (newly applied). The photo on Chetwynd viaduct is a good example of that, but I have collated 20 or so other colour images showing the same contrast. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here, we need to finish off the brilliant green phase and then the silver/aluminium period before we get to the final light green scheme introduced in late 1958.

I would be very interested to see this evidence, and happy to change my views on the basis of new evidence provided. I have put a lot of work into collating and reviewing the green livery evidence and I accept that there are some unresolved issues.