Mayner

Think GSR 800 may have been thinking of one of the early GNR railcars A diesel version of Cyril Frys streamlined model of Drumm Train C would have looked impressive. The as built styling of Trains C & D is remarkably similar to the LMS articulated railcar also introduced 1939 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_railcars#/media/File:LMS_Diesel_Multiple_Unit_80000–80002.jpg Interestingtly mechanically the LMS articulated railcar appears to have been a development of NCC railcars 2-4, GSR tended to buy Leyland trucks and buses so potentially access to the technology if there was a will. Everything is interrelated as they say, when I first arrived in New Zealand a Maori colleague asked what part of Ireland I was from and replied that his daughter worked in the IFC in Dublin when I told him.

The GWR, Midland and GSWR would have been concerned/alarmed by a LNWR being involved in a merger of the MGWR & GNR and possibly a Government (Westminster) and local interests (particularly Sligo) at the mergers impact on competition in a laissez-faire era when the railways had an effective monopoly on surface transportation before the onset of large scale competition by motor vehicle. The Free State took a very centralised approach to government including reducing the power of Local Government to make decisions which was also reflected in the Amalgamation of the railways into the GSR and the establishment of ESB, Sugar Company & BNM, where more localised decision making would have been more effective. In the UK Councils/Cities retained responsibility for their Tram and Bus networks. Interestingly while the GSR held its board meetings at Kingsbridge, the GNR alternated Board meetings between Amien St Dublin and Gt Victoria St Belfast which may have reflected a more devolved level of decision making that the GSR While apart from the Drumm Battery Train (driven by political pressure) and limited use of Steam Railcars the GSR was conservative in its approach to passenger rail operation, the GNR introduced diesel railcars and railbuses to improve services and reduce operating costs on marginal lines, the CDJR and SLNCR largely largely replaced steam hauled passenger services with railcars/railbusses. While apart from Ballybay-Carrickmacross the majority of GN lines in the Republic retained their (relatively frequent by Irish stds) passenger services until the late 50s the majority of branch lines in the South lost their passenger services between 1930 and the 47 fuel crisis. The branch lines lines that remained ran 1-2 passenger/mixed trains daily until closed in the late 50s-mid 70s. I think one of the possible drivers behind the Clifden, Achill and Killala closures was that the construction of the lines was largely funded by Government grant and their closure did not involve a significant write off of capital potentially affecting GSRs borrowing powers at a time the railway was building new 'modern' coaches and had began design work on the 800s. The closure of the three lines in the West is in startling contrast to the survival of the Kenmare and Valencia lines though CIE failed to exploit the tourist potential of either line with reasonable rolling stock or a reasonable passenger service. An diesel powered version of the Drumm Battery train would have made an excellent 'Tourist Train'/observation car for the Kerry or West of Ireland branches, interestingly CIEs 1st diesel programme included railcar set specifically for "Tourist" traffic. Probably better to go totally freelance than model a particular prototype in my teens I drempt up totally freelance railway systems both in Ireland and England complete with their own history and designs of locos and stock

I won't be proceeding with the Wagon Kits at this stage as I did not receive sufficient enquiries to proceed to production. One potential customer commented that the owner of a British Outline manufacturer (that has produced high quality kits in 4mm since 1972) said that 'people say they will wait until it comes out RTR" than assemble a kit. John

To me the big question is what would the LNWR have gained by absorbing the MGWR as a high proportion of cross-channel passenger and goods traffic from the Midland was already routed by the LNWR's North Wall-Holyhead sea route. The LNWRs involvement in Irish railway companies were hardly the most successful, the DNGR struggled to make a profit and passenger sailings on the Greenore-Holyhead route ceased in 1926, the GNR taking over maintenance and operation of the DNGR in 1933 the British Transport Comission closing the line in 1951. The LNWR became a major supporter of the DSER contributing a load of £100k to complete the New Ross-Waterford extension and paid a "virtual' annual subsidy of £20k to the DSER. The DSER plagued by tramway competition on its suburban services to Dunlaoire and Dalkey and coastal erosion the DSER paid a 1% dividend on its ordinary shares in the years before the Amalgamation. Its likely that the Midland would have been in a strong position in any negotions with the LNWR, Sir Walter Nugent the Midland Chairman became the 1st GSR Chair and Midland Officers took charge of GSR financial management, with a strong focus on cost reduction including singling double track sections of ex-MGWR lines. The other interesting one is the Baronially Guaranteed narrow and broad gauge line, where effectively the GSR was forced to swallow a 'poison pill" by absorbing the lines with the Free State continuing the guarantee ( guaranteed return on capital and making up of operating losses) for a period of 10 years. The GSR absorbing the lines would have been popular with ratepayers in the affected areas, immediately relieving them of the burden of supporting a railway that 'could not pay its way", but transferred the burden to an already struggling GSR after 10 years. The GSR lost no time in closing marginal branch lines after the 10 year guarantee period ended. A better option might have been to continue the status quo with Baronial Guaranteed lines continuing under local management and allowing the local community (ratepayers) decide whether to close the line or continue paying the guarantee, a number of lines including the Dublin & Blessington (outside GSR), Tralee & Dingle and Schull and Skibereen were operated by a Management Committee appointed by the Local Council. In Northern Ireland local control of the Clogher Valley was particularly effective under the leadership of Henry Forbes (of CDR fame) train services were improved and operating costs introduced as a result of the introduction of a diesel railcar & 'The Unit". The Stormont Government agreed to 'buy out' the shareholders and fund road improvements when the railway ceased to fulfill a useful function.

One of the more interesting aspects of the collision was that the farmer had apparrently adapted the practice of moving stock along the line between scheduled services and was caught unawares by the Knock Special. The reports into the derailment of the Knock Special and the 93 Knockcrockery derailments on the Mayo Line are not available on the RAIU website but should be discoverable under freedom of information. The whole business of Government(Ministerial) knowledge of CIEs concerns with the crashworthiness of older coaching stock is an interesting one and in this day and age would warrant Government Ministers, Senior Civil Servants and CIE Board members being held to account. In Annual Reports and no doubt meetings with the Department of Transport the CIE Chairman raised serious concerns with the crashworthyness of existing stock and expressed frustration with the (FF) Governments failure to approve the construction of new stock. At the time CIE was persuing a joint venture with LHB to build railway coaches for its own use and export at Inchacore, the Transport Minister who represented Longford-Westmeath refused to approve the project. The MK3 project assembling BREL kitsets at Inchacore was approved following the Cherryville Junction collision by a FG Minister of Transport who represented the Ballyfermot Constituency where CIE & the Works was an important employer. Things could have turned out significantly different during the past 40 years if the Government had approved the CIE-LHB joint venture with GM locos hauling Continental rather than British outline stock, would Irish modellers have turned to HO rather than OO?

One of the 1969 Journals as far as I recall, donated my collection of IRRS Journals to the Model Railway Society Of Ireland before I departed for NZ in 2004, perhaps MRSI or IRRS Libriarian may be able to help. Another oddity during the late 60s/early 70s CIE shipped several trainloads of export sugar (for Nigeria) in 8'6" containers on 4w Flat Wagons from the Carlow Sugar Factory to Dublin Port as out of gauge loads. Presumably CIE would have checked clearances beforehand and imposed speed restrictions at overbridges & other structures where clearances were tight.

There is a very good article on CIE freight modernisation programme appeared in an IRRS Journal (1969?) written by one of the engineers/managers in charge of the programme. CIE designed and built a small number of hopper containers to carry grain (malt) traffic for a particular customer. CIE would have preferred to have used a conventional bulk container that could be discharged by tipping (from a truck), but had to go for a hopper with bottom discharge due to height restrictions at the customers premises. Traffic appears to have originated in Tralee as there are several photos of cuts of wagons with these containers in the North Kerry Yard, traffic appears to have been short lived and had ceased by the 1980s

Apparently in Midland days 'the authorities' became alarmed with very fast running(speeding?) of the 'Night Mail' from Sligo regularly arriving in Mullingar ahead of schedule. Reminders & notices to run to schedule appeared to have no effect, eventually departure from Sligo was delayed so that crews could not make it to Mullingar before pub closing time. Although running speed was unlikely to have exceeded 40-50mph with short wheelbase 4w non-passenger stock of the day (8'6" wb Horseboxes & Vans) running must have been pretty lively, particularly before the 1920s relay of the Sligo Road with 60' rails on baseplates that saw the line through until re-laid with CWR in the 1990s. Going back to the Esso oil trains, I one saw a laden oil train stabled on a siding at Maynooth on a Saturday morning late 90s/early 2000s. Spoke briefly to a driver who had taken it from the North Wall, who did not know when the train was likely to depart for Sligo. Reminded me of the American practice of a Yard Crew would make up a train and then move it to a location well clear of the yard to be picked up by a Road Crew who would arrive by Crewbus or Taxi.

The springs/suspension of the Heljan model like the Airfix/Dapol kit appears to be based on the original late 1950s fittings, from the early 1960s onwards wagons appear to have been fitted/built with modified suspension with spring dampers. The ESSO tank wagons used in Ireland appear to have spring dampers. Paul Bartell's pages of ESSO Vac Braked tank wagons includes photos of wagons with original 1959 and modified 1960s suspension and how the wagons weathered in service, he also has a page on ESSO tank cars converted to carry bitumen. https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/essoatankwagonvb The Bachmann "ESSO" tank wagon is a model of a larger 1960s built airbraked tank wagon which effectively rendered the 1959 designed tank wagons obsolete, freeing up a batch of wagons for use in Ireland to replace older loose coupled ESSO tank wagons.

General layout, quality and fit of the castings is remarkably similar to the whitemetal CIE 001 kit supplied by Model Irish Railways (Portadown) during the 1990s. The 001 in supertrain livery as 018 powered with Athearn SD drive parts mounted on a simple scracthbuilt brass frame/chassis was one of my pride and joys at the time. At the time some modellers were re-powering British outline 6 axle diesels (possibly Class 31 & 47 )with Atheran PA1 chassis.

Livery wise the IRM ESSO tank wagons appear correct from Mid-1980s onwards with max speed of 35mph, addition of Hazchem markings are reflector stripes on tank ends & tanks with modified bracing There are two Seanus Lattimir photos dated Aug 86 of 1003 in this condition at Mullingar the tank retaining lugs for the Esso shield in the IRRS Flickr collection. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53509330394/in/album-72157661623942928 Interestingly there is a July 72 Tom Wall photo of an ex-works (possibly Chas Roberts) photo of 994 at Inchacore in as introduced condition with ESSO shield & electrification warning on a grey tank body & top of underframe original tank mounts, black underframe (incl buffers) red solebars and yellow roller bearing caps. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/53511632134/in/album-72157661623942928 There is a Paddy O'Brien a Mar 74 photo of 998 and other tank wagons in this livery at Claremorris. The ammended tank bracing appears to be a 1980s modification, there is a 1979 photo of the Oranmore-Claremorris oil train in JHB & Barry Carse 'Rails in the West" with the original tank bracing and withoutout reflective strips on the tank barrels. Modifications including ammended tank bracking and ammendments to the tank barrel are likely to have been carried out on a phased bassis when wagons were undergoing scheduled heavy repairs in the Works. Some of the wagons may never have carried the ESSO logo or plate while in service in Ireland, there are several Paul Bartell photos of the wagons in service in the UK with lugs no logo or plate. ESSO tank barrels with lugs no plates were stored for several years during the 1970s in the "Railway Village" outside The Works.

Extremely frustration, I am in much the same situation I converted our garage into a railway room about 10 years ago and for one reason I have been unable to find time to build a layout, sometimes the unexpected happens and things do not go to plan! Have you though of asking friends or the model railway community if anyone would be interested in helping out? Sometimes private layouts are colloborative efforts where people help out with the build and operation, sometimes people travelling quite a distance to help out. Several years ago I helped friends with baseboards and carry out tracklaying on their layouts one involving a 3 hr round trip. Nearer home the owner of the Greystones layout exhibited in the 90s, built and exhibited the layout with the assistance of a group of friends and in Scotland Richard Chowns 7mm Waterford Limerick & Western Castle Rackrent layout was operated by a group of operators who regularly travelled to operating sessions on the layout before his death several years ago.

Interesting a location where very little changed in almost 100 years followed by significant change in the last 20 or so years/ The layout basically remained un-changed from era the Dardanells Sidings (area on the right) were laid presumabably in the WW1 eara until the yard was re-modelled about 20 years ago. The one constant feature is the double slip on the crossover from the main running lines to the Granary Sidings & Alexandra Road Tramway. The running lines from Chruch Road Junction were once fully signalled controlled by the Granary and Sheriff Street signal cabins. The Dardanell's sidings and the remains of the Point (Polling Fields) yard were lifted and re-modelled to handle the reaining Liner trains (mainly keg traffic). Railborne Container traffic to Dublin Port had earlier ceased following the closure of the recently (1996?) opened rail terminal at the end of the Alexandra Rd terminal and transfer of traffic to a terminal South of the Liffey The Dardanells and the Polling Fields had been used mainly used to store stock awaiting repair in the adjacent wagon reapair shop or long term store/dump for out of service stock, some gems included the remaining ex-DSE coach & GSWR vans once in departmental service and a collection of redundant private owner tank wagons, stock that may not ahve turned a wheel in over 20 years, ironically the proposed hard stranding for container transfers to the Port appears to be partially on the site of CIEs original Point Depot (Polling Fields) container depot opened during the late 60s We have been here before Devestation at the Holyhead Yard 2003 Irish Rail final days of container operation July 2005 12:00 Cork Liner on left, Ballina Liner on right! No other destinations serve

The speed limit of the ESSO tank wagons appears to have been progressive reduced from 50 to 35mph in response to de-railments of empty ESSO tank wagons at Donamon & Moyvalley. Similar restrictions were imposed on other types of 4w wagon, I had a painting diagram of the 22'6" Flats used for Asahi Acrylonitrile traffic which indicates that the maximum speed was progressively reduced from 50 to 40 to 35mph. The effect on passenger train schedules would have been minimal as apart from the Cork Line trains speeds and frequency had not increased since the 1970s. On the Sligo and Mayo Lines the main issue was the easing of schedules due to an increasing number or speed restrictions as a result of deferred track maintenance from the late 70s onwards. The down ESSO & Claremorris Liners tended tended to depart Dublin in the evening after the departure of evening Sligo & Heuston passenger services and return in the mornings in the quiet period between morning arrivals from the provinces and early afternoon departures from Dublin. Interestingly the Foynes-Ballina Asahi Oil & Coal trains (35mph 4w wagons) were scheduled to operate via the Nenagh branch (when the Limerick-Claremorris line was out of service during the mid 1990s) rather than via Limerick Junction in order to avoid delaying up Cork line passenger trains scheduled to operate at up to 100mph.

0.4n/s I tend to build OO Gauge 2-4-0s with a rigid chassis (making sure the leading axle is free running) and hopefully some day will get around to completing a 21mm gauge compensated version or two for myself.