Mayner

He was certainly innovative in his modelling breaking the boundaries with a diesel electric and diesel? hydraulic powered Brush Type 4 & Hymek in the early 1970s. The design and construction of the Class 47 was covered in a detailed series of articles in Model Railways magazine, used to look forward as a teenager to colleting the latest edition every month from Southern Model Railways Grafton Arcade.

I sometimes think that the GSR was a much more astute and better run company than it was ever given credit for. GSR management were faced with a similar challenge to the LMS and Penn-Central in amalgamating two major companies with quite differing operating and engineering traditions, against a background of declining revenue and road competition, together with catching up on maintenance following WW1 and repairing Civil War damage. The GSR seems to have been much more successful in lobbying Government in relation to road competition than the railways in Northern Ireland, the ability to operate road and rail services in the 26 counties placed the GSR was in a much stronger position than the GNR, NCC having bought out or eliminated most of the competition. Once it had established a virtual monopoly of road and rail transport the GSR seems to have been equally ruthless as the Stormont Government of the 50s & 60s in closing uneconomic railway lines. There was little point in the GSR committing capital to building modern new locos and rolling stock, while at the same time lobbying Government to close nearly 900 miles of branch and secondary lines. It looks like the 1950s time warp of ancient and modern locos and stock on scenic lines in West Cork or Kerry may only have arose as a result of war breaking out in Europe in 1939 stalling the implementation of GSRs closure plans. JHB I am not sure if buying a diesel from NBL would have been such a good idea. The reputation was so poor that New Zealand Railways rejected the offer of a free demonstrator and instead went to GM and eventually ordered over 100 locos of the same class

Interesting photo it looks like steam locos were regularly used as station pilot at Sligo into late 50s. 610 (Midland standard goods) is possibly preparing to pull out the stock of a recently arrived diesel hauled passenger in order to release the loco (A Class?) from the buffers. Possibly post 57 very clean light green coaches no SLNCR vehicles visible. The Mldland van looks like either 25 or 27 built in 1908-9 for the Sligo & Mayo roads, another of these vans also appears to be parked on one of the two centre roads. Broadstone built a further two batches of 6w brake and luggage van the last were completed by the GSR as 51M & 54M in 1925.

No access in those days to an on-line "service desk" in Kiel. The MAK was originally supplied as a demonstrator with an English speaking German crew in the hope of getting an order for main line diesels from the GNR or the UTA, then bought quite cheaply by the GNR. 800 was more a heavy shunter than a main line loco excellent for trip working between Boyne Road and Drogheda, being non-standard she seems to have spent a lot of time out of service waiting for parts. .

1. How did you get interested in Railway Modelling? A bit too far back to remember a present of a Traing No23 locomotive as a toddler & stories of my late grandfather an engine driver. Introduction to the hobby through Model Railway News magazine some time in 1967 nice picture of Mallard in garter blue on the cover, articles on garden railways, Isle of Man Railway re-opening and reviews inside. 1969 1st proper trainset Traing-Hornby "South African Goods", joined Model Railway Society of Ireland as a junior member 1973. 2.What do you enjoy most about your hobby? I am a modeller rather than a collector, my greatest interest is in designing and building models. My greatest enjoyment is planning & starting new projects I am very slow to finish anything. 3. Do you go to events and if so how often and where? Local exhibition annually, specialist conventions every 2-4 years 4.How much do you spend per annum on railway modelling? Difficult to establish, current expenditure mainly on workshop, equipment and maintenance as opposed to locos, rolling stock and track.

The ducket in the photo of 1906 may have been plated over at some stage before withdrawl, the coaches in the photos with B616 & B220 appear to have duckets on both sides. I have not seen a photo of the coaches running as driving trailers (mules) they only appear to have been used for one season before the Cu-na-Mara went over to a 6 car working with a 4 car AEC set for Galway (incl buffet+ open trailers) +2 AEC railcars for Westport. The lack of a drivers side window would not have been a major handicap with an AEC driving trailer. To allow single manning the guard was responsible for single line staff exchange, communication between guard and driver as by bell signal, rather than showing the driver a green or red flag.

A bit like waiting on a bus Flangelubricators photo of 1906 and some evocative photos of Loughrea train with Bredin MK2 & Laminate main line brakes. http://paddyscrossbetimes.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/by-rail-and-by-tram.html on Paddy Crosse's blog. The arrangement of the guards compartment with the ducket (look out) close to the end and doors flush with the sides has more in common with Bredin suburban stock of the 1930s than the Laminate main line and suburban brake standards. JHB. Downpatrick already has the guts of a passable Loughrea branch train, (apart from the lack of a toilet compartment and bus seating) a green or black & tan Laminate Brake Standard 1918 would be very close to 1910 the regular Loughrea coach.

1910 the "Loughrea coach" may have been withdrawn before the line closed. A 1904-8 brake standard was used in the last train and they appear in several photos of the Loughrea branch in its final years including one behind a B141 by Jonathan Allen. http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20L/Loughrea/IrishRailwayStations.html#Loughrea_20100118_002_CC_JA.jpg There is a reasonable CIE photo of 1906 in Locomotives and Rolling Stock of CIE & NIR, but its difficult to make out the detail around the guards door & look out.

Sad news, John had great drive and determination did a lot to raise the profile of Irish modelling. Besides Rahfarnham

I am looking at introducing as set of side overlays for these coaches. Introduced in 1953 different in outline to the Laminate Brake standards 1909-1913 o 1958 at least two were converted to driving trailers for use on the Dublin-Galway/Westport Cu-na-Mara service later used as Loughrea & Ballina Branch coaches. Has anyone a photograph or drawing which show the guards/luggage compartment of these coaches?

In my experience with Kato & Atlas diesels a 4 axle loco has better traction than a 6 axle loco Unless there is some form of springing or damping a 6 wheel bogies or steam loco chassis will tend to pivot around the centre axle and loose traction/power pick up. On the other hand the MM141s may simply run smoother because they are older and more-run in than the 201s & 071s

Blaine is correct the last batch of 22'6" flats 27768-91 were fitted with spark proof brake blocks and wheel guards for the Acroylonitrile traffic and could only carry a 20' container unlike the rest of the 22'6" wagons that could carry 2-10' Unload or 1-20' ISO container. The wagon in the photo does not appear to have centre cuplocks for 10' containers. The silver tank barrel and red end framing appears to cover off the Class A coding requirement for rail traffic.

I saw the train passing Hazelhatch at speed quite a sight.

One of the tank wagons in the background looks like a CIE built bitumen tank wagon with an anchor mounted tank possibly dating from the early 1960s In loose coupled days bitumen traffic appears to have been shipped as individual wagon loads to railway goods yards and private sidings.

The ex GSWR12ton brakes may have been retained for use with G Class locos on the Loughrea and possibly the Castleisland/Fenit branches. I am not sure if the Loughea branch brake survives, the van was partially restored by Westrail the bodywork later burnt by vandals. One of the interesting features of these vans was that like the GWR Toad vans in the UK the guard had to go out on to one of the verandas to apply the brake.

I decided to try out I P Engineering Tralee & Dingle inspection railcar while looking at a possible change in modelling direction. http://www.ipengineering.co.uk/page4.html the kit is in laser cut ply construction and includes wheels, motor and detail parts to complete a working model. Body assembly is relatively straightforward with accurately cut ply parts and some nice whitemetal castings. Although the instructions recommend superglue, I used PVA for assembling the ply parts. The corner clamps (Micromark) are essential for supporting the joints while the joints are curing. Roof construction is similar in principal to full size traditional carriage construction with the roof boards supported by ribs. The roof is typical of the semi-elliptical roof profiles introduced by companies such as the LNWR, LSWR & MGWR of the early 1900s The planking on the coved section immediately above the gutter is fixed first and allowed to cure before filling in the arc section in the centre. I P recommend Kleenex tissue fixed with PVA to represent the canvas roof covering, model aeroplane glider tissue fixed with dope is probably a better alternative. Its nearly a shame to hide the interior planking. Assembled body posed on layout. I am planning to build my own chassis sub frame rather than rely on the whitemetal axleguards supplied. I am planning to build a separate chassis/subframe to support the running gear rather than rely on the cast whitemetal axle guards supplied but that's another days/years work

Happy Birthday Patrick. Good time of the year for parties, on reflection any time of year is a good time to party

Another little surprise it looks like the weedspray train tanks have Bulled triangulated ISO demountable frames. It looks like CIE may have simply chopped off the running gear from some 1950s era anchor mounted tank wagons and grafted ISO cuplock pockets on to the ends of the existing underframes. The original wagons were fairly modern in design with welded tanks and anchor mounting compared to the Oil company owned wagons, but fairly low tank capacity. CIE appear to have built relatively few tank wagons in the 50s most seem to have been originally for bitumen or industrial alcohol traffic from Ballina, Derry or Dundalk.

Most of the IE store oil and molasses tank wagons were originally built for specific traffic flows such as Irish Cement, Quigley Magnesite, Burmah Oil and possibly Texaco. Many of these wagons basically became surplus to requirements during the 1980s with the ending of the Irish Cement and Quigley Magnesite traffics. The wagons were built in small batches 26570-89 Irish Cement 1966, 26628-31 Irish Cement? 1967, 26636-52 Quigley Magnesite?, 26723-26728 Burmah Oil 1972, 26720-26740 1978. Most of the latter tank wagons including 26640, & the “Burmah” tank wagons were built on the standard 20’ container wagon underframes complete with cuplocks. Originally the store oil wagons were numbered in the Departmental wagon number series similar to 629A, 26640 and 26748 appear to be ex-traffic tank wagons converted to carry store oil. 26748 is a bit of a mystery as 26740 was the highest numbered tank wagon recorded by Doyke and Hirch in Locomotives and Rolling Stock of IE & NIR 1987. 26748 appears to be one of the earlier Irish Cement tank wagons with an anchor mounted tank and no cuplocks. It’s possible that IE may have re-numbered some of the 26570 series wagons following a change in use from carrying heavy fuel oil to diesel or molasses. Funnily enough I have a weight drawing of a CIE Fuel Tank wagon but it has the long tank barrel with 13 ribs similar to 26640

A loco like 461 or one of the WLWR 0-6-0s would be a better choice than a J15 for a first scratch build. The curly Beyer running plate on most small GSWR makes building the locos especially tricky. Drew Donaldson used to use a jig or fixture for forming GSWR valence & running boards. The SSM J15 valence is designed with a sacrificial reinforcing strip that keeps everything in line until the curves in the running board are formed.

Just dug out a copy of the 4mm Wagon Part 2 by Geoff Kent of Dunwich fame mainly UK but a complete chapter on modelling tank wagons including converting the Airfix/Dapol ESSO tank wagon into a class A & a photo of a new tank wagon supplied to Shell-Mex Ltd for use in Northern Ireland. Tank wagons with a hand wheel on the top like the http://www.ehattons.com/60950/Bachmann_Branchline_37_672_Pack_of_3_14_Ton_tank_wagons_in_British_Tar_livery_weathered/StockDetail.aspx or Dapol ESSO tanker were used for heavy oil or even molasses. No hand wheel and a vertical tube petrol http://www.bachmann.co.uk/image_box.php?image=images1/branchline/37-684.jpg&cat_no=37-684&info=0&width=650&height=417. The size of the dome may be more to do with the age of the wagon than its function. It had to be big enough for a man to get through hopefully with some form of rescue system Irish private owner tank wagons appear to have been mainly standard UK Railway Clearing House (RCH) designs, standard RCH tank wagons also appear to have been imported for bitumen traffic by CIE before developing its own tank wagon designs in the 1960s. Some private owner wagons found their way into departmental use in the 1960s and 70s including a complete rake of Caltex/Texaco wagons on the North Wall-Inchacore oil trains. Texaco anchor mounted tank wagon last used North Wall-Inchacore fuel oil train dumped Dardannelle Sidings Caltex lettering grinning through A few private owner tank wagons found their way into preservation, though a large number were stored/dumped in the Dardnelles Siding East Wall before the yard was re-modelled in the early 2000s . Initially Class A tank wagons were painted buff or light stone with a red horizontal band around the centre of the tank barrel in a similar style to the Ammonia tank wagons. Silverette or silver grey replaced immediately before WW11. The red band moved down to the solebars, from the 60s onwards "dove grey" replaced silver. The wagons evolved through several stages up to the introduction of the ESSO 35T GLW tank wagon in the late 1950s. Railway Clearing House (RCH) pre-1927 cradle tank wagon with cable stays The Irish Shell wagon is for Class A with vertical syphon pipe for unloading visible at the top of the tank. RCH Post 27 cradle tank wagon with horizontal tie bar between butresses 210 was a bit unusual with the tank divided into two compartments possibly to carry petrol & paraffin or TVO. The livery is still the old style with the horizontal red line in the middle of the tank. CIE 26570 series tank wagon with anchor mounted tank Introduced during WW II anchor mounted tanks were the next phase off tank wagon development. CIE & Caltex appear to have imported anchor mounted tank wagons from the UK on traditional RCH style unfitted underframes (hand brake only) up to the early 1960s. The 26570 series built for Foynes-Drogheda & Castle Munget oil trains represented a change in operating pattern from individual wagon load to block train operation for a single large customer in this case Irish Cement. These wagons ran on a 20' 11'wb underframe with a capacity of 4760gal heavy fuel oil. CIE 26695-26772 series CIE-Burmah tank wagon Introduced in the distinctive Burmah livery in 1972 or Cork-Limerick Oil traffic four wagons appear to have been painted blue for class B traffic and 2 in an interesting variation of the Class A dove grey and red scheme similar to the Hornby model http://irishrailmodels.com/2012/01/27/hornby-burmah-oil-tanker-r792/ While the chassis of Dapol tank wagon can probably be shortened to represent the CIE tank wagons, none of the British tank wagons are really suitable.

I finally got around to publishing a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jmdesignmodelrailways.

Tempting but it would be safest to check that the diameter of the Lima OO gauge wheels and the HO scale wheels and axle lengths match before buying. A 33" American freight car wheel works out at approx. 9.6mm, the typical CIE 3' coach wheel at 12mm in OO which would lead to problems in matching coupling and ride heights. Hornby or Bachmann wheels may be too large in diameter as it looks like Lima OO stock was designed around an 11mm diameter wheel. Markits produce replacement wheels for Lima http://www.markits.com/MARKITS_Price_Guide_2013_09.pdf MRJ11/b-3Rmfd 11mm T/Disc 24.5mm Axle ('LIMA') £2.00 MRJ12Do/b3Rmfd 12mm T/Disc (LIMA) 24.5mm Axle £2.00 These may be available through DC kits or other UK suppliers

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year. Santa arrived early signalling a possible change in direction with a vintage Unimat & a kit for a large scale T&D inspection railcar.

Going off thread a little some of the older companies had nicknames the DSER was known as the Slow & Easy & the unfortunate SLNCR The Sow Lazy and Never Clean. Wonder if there were nicknames for the liveries. The Waterford and Tramore seems to have remained in an 1850s time-warp with ancient but highly polished locos and colour coded 1st & 3rd Class coaches. In the 19th Century wit the exception of the WLWR most companies seem to have some variety lined green locos and "lake" or dark red coaches. In the early 1900s loco lining became more simplified, the Midland tried Royal Blue locos with blue and white coaches, green gave way to lined black on the Donegal, DSER, GNR (I), GSWR, Midland, SLNCR. Grey replaced black on the GSWR during WW1 and became the standard for GSR & CIE steam locos and now IE 071s. Most companies stuck to some form of red for coaches. The DNGR stagnated & stuck with LNWR "Plumb & Custard" for its coaches until closure, the NCC followed on where the WLWR left off following Midland (UK) and LMS practice in terms of locos stock and livery under LMS & BTC management until subsumed into the UTA. For a time Donegal even painted coaches its coaches black before adapting the highly colourful "Geranium Red for its loco with red and cream (Blood & Custard) for railcars and coaches in the 1930s. The GNR followed suit with colourful liveries in the 1930&40s with its "Sky Blue"& Red for its top link & U Class locos, with "Oxford Blue" & cream for its buses and railcars. Unlike the Donegal the Swilly saw its long term future as a road operator and was cutting back on rail operations by the mid 1930s. Despite this steam locos seem to have been well maintained and nicely turned out in lined green up to abandonment of the remaining rail services in 1953, in later years the remaining increasingly shabby coaches were painted grey like the wagon stock. The Swilly developed a stylised LSR diamond logo in the 1930s that was applied to some of the 4-6-0T, 4-6-2T & 4-8-4T locos and even some of the coaches rather than the L&LSR or L&BER initials.