Mayner

Although I did not see any trains the section of line around the headland at Ballyvoyle and the level crossings in Dungarvan left a profound impression on me as a kid on a family road trip from Dublin to Cork a couple of years before the line closed. I was lucky enough to travel over the line as a passenger in two IRRS Specials including one just before the line closed and later explored sections of the line. The line was probably was busiest and carried its heaviest tonnage during the days of the Quigley Magnesite operations, apart from the Boat Trains both passenger and goods traffic was quite light on the Mallow-Waterford line

The Push-Pull driving cars were originally designed to be convertible to diesel electric railcars with A/C traction motors hence the LHB bogies. IE applied for Government funding in the mid 1980s to build 20 MK3 based diesel railcars for suburban and branchline duties in addition to the 126? coaches in the Main Line MK3 programme. The application to build the railcars was rejected, instead authorisation was provided to build 6 Push Pull driving cars and the last 20 coaches of the MK3 programme were set up as trailer cars for Push-Pull operation. I have an IE/BREL drawing of a MK3 push pull coach titled "Railcar Trailer.

The ITGs webs site contains detailed information of their two A Class in preservation including railtours and restoration work carried out on the two locos. https://www.irishtractiongroup.com/itglocos/003

One of the distinctive spotting features of the Irish Mk3 coaches is that when viewed from rail level the bogies project out further past the body than a standard gauge MK3 coach, which would accentuate the narrow gauge appearance of a OO gauge Irish MK3. The disproportionate effect appears to be accentuated by the MK3 body profile and is less noticeable on the BR Vans and MK2 based stock which have a more conventional body profile.

That sounds a likely explanation, although there is a lot of pressure for non-resident retailers to export DDP, Customs Services are set up to levy duty and VAT at the point of entry and do not appear to be set up to process DDP shipments unless they arrive through the 'big boys" like E-Bay GSS or Amazon. I received a number of high value items ($400+) duty and tax paid from the States using the E-Bay Global Shipping Services interestingly there was no customs declaration or tax invoice on the parcels and they did not appear to have been stopped by Customs.

Loose coupled goods trains used to load to a maximum of 55 wagon or 1100' based on a wagon length of 20' over buffers. Currently Liner trains made up of 18 42'9" would be slightly longer than a train made up of 62'9" flats or Pocket Wagons, while an 18 wagon train made up exclusively of 47' ^6' flats would be substantially longer. Add 3' per wagon and allow for coupler slack to work out train length. Currently IEs liner trains are allowed to load to 36TEU (20' container) 18 bogie or 36 4 wheelers which is short/unprofitable by international standards. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/watch-irish-rail-trials-longest-ever-440-metre-trains-34840428.html#:~:text=The company has trialled,rail network%2C a spokesman said.

1995/96 using 62'9" flat wagons (3-12 wagon trains) redundant following the end of mail traffic in 2003/4 The traffic built up fairly quickly and 2-3 additional trains using 2 axle 22'6" flats were converted to carry log traffic. Alterations to the wagons to carry log traffic was minimal IE fabricating de-mountable log cradles and bulkheads that could be removed from the wagon.

Traffic to Clonmel ceased in the early 2000s when IE lost the Coillte contract, traffic to Waterford resumed about two years later under a revised contract when Coillte took responsibility for loading/unloading including ensuring the load was secure before departure. Originally both the Clonmel and Waterford (Bellview) plants were planned to be rail connected, but ran into a barrier with IE apparently unable to obtain to obtain funding to construct private siding for freight customers. IE had been in negotiation during the mid 1990s to transport zinc from mines being developed in the Lisduff area but the traffic was lost to road after IEs funding application to the Department of Transport was rejected. The loss of the ore traffic from the Lisduff area marked a turning point in the fortunes of Irish Railfreight as IE seemed to be more pro-active that CIE and had been making headway in developing new traffic flows with minimal investment in new infrastructure or rolling stock such as grain, mollasses, domestic coal and pulpwood, the prospects of deepsea container traffic appeared promising with the opening of the new Bell Lines Belview Terminal and the long awaited EU funded connection to Dublin Port.

JIT evolved in Japan where different stages of the manufacturing process was carried out in a series of often independently owned workshops than in a single factory under one roof, using small vans and possibly handcarts to move components from the workshop to a factory for final assembly, This evolved into the Toyota Manufacturing Process and was later adapted by manufacturers in the West. Rail only appears to become a viable option for JIT manufacture for moving "train loads" (80-100TEU) to and from manufacturing plants, ports and distribution points, Irish freight trains have low capacity and transport light payloads by international standards. Although a lot of the JIT smaller shipments are moved by road, rail often forms an important part of the JIT manufacturing chain e.g. the IWT Liner is used as part of the chain to transport Coca-Cola concentrates from Ballina to manufacturing plants in Europe, the Coillte Log trains used to transport pulpwood to the Waterford OSB mill. In the UK rail has been used for many years to move steel, engines and other components to car assembly plants as part of a JIT manufacturing chain. Following the opening of the Chunnel the motor manufacturers integrated their UK and European supply chains using rail to transport vehicles and components between UK and European plants. In New Zealand rail is used as part of the distribution chain of the dairy industry both transporting raw milk (train load) from collection points to processing plants and in the transportation of dairy products to the ports for export.

The loss of cement Cement traffic was lost mainly due to Irish Cement loosing its monopoly position and the opening of the N50 Liffey Toll Bridge rather than strikes. Irish Cement lost market share in the North West, Midlands and East from the late 1980s with the opening of the Quinn Cement Plant in Derrylin and the Lagan Cement Kinegad. Competition from Quinn Cement lead to IEs loss of bulk cement traffic to Sligo. CIE closed the Cabra Bank Cement depot following the opening of the first phase of the M50 in the late 90s as it was simpler to supply bulk cement to the concrete plants in the Dublin area direct by road from Platin than by rail and road via Cabra Bank. The remaining bulk cement flows to Athenry, Cork, Tullamore and Waterford continued for several years after the ILDA strike and seem to have been lost when IE tried to increase their freight rates. I think that CIE/IE managed to hold on to railfreight for a long time because of CIE monopoly position, the poor state of the roads and streamlining freight operation and new rolling stock during the 1970s, conditions which had ceased to exist by 2000, with de-regulation of road haulage, good roads, a shift from commodity to a knowledge based economy and a worn out obsolete wagon fleet. Interestingly IE placed an order with a European manufacturer for new freight rolling stock including (bogie) bulk cement wagons in the early 2000s, but was forced to cancel because the IE railfreight division was unable to prepare a convincing business case. The big question with climate change and a post Covid environment is whether the current Globalised economic model with an economy based on exporting and importing goods and services to an from the opposite side of the World is sustainable.

The Union Pacific Railroad sued MTH (A high end American O Gauge manufacturer) in 2005 when the railroad attempted to enforce a licensing agreement for the commercial use of UP trademark material including "fallen flag" companies. At the time it looked like the railroad saw the model manufacturers as a potential source of royalty income, rather than free advertising. MTH negotiated a royalty free licensing agreement for all model manufacturers that applies in perpetuity for both UP and "fallen flag" companies. https://mrr.trains.com/news-reviews/new-products/2006/11/mth-negotiates-new-union-pacific-licensing-deal-for-all https://www.up.com/aboutup/corporate_info/licensing/index.htm

The first Tara ore shipments were dispatched through Foynes possibly in Barytes Wagons as a result of a dispute at Dublin Port. The Dublin Port Tara Terminal was built on Gouldings Wharf and redundant Gouldings Fertiliser workers picketed the Tara Terminal to put pressure on Gouldings to provide better redundancy payments.

It could be argued that the ILDA loco drivers walked into a trap set by senior management and the established unions and played into the hands of a Government that had grown frustrated with infighting between CIE management and the Unions. The future of the railways was in doubt before the publication of the Strategic Rail Review in 2001?, Mary O'Rourke as Minister of Transport instructed CIE to sell/develop surplus land in order to fund investment in passenger services and the Government was not prepared to subsidise loss making freight services as it claimed that it could not subsidise businesses to transport freight. Discontent built up among drivers about the poor standard of representation by the the established transport unions, the feeling seems to have been that SIPTU and the National Bus & Railworkers Union did not adequately represent the drivers interests and formed ILDA in response to concerns with safety concerns to a new rostering agreement. SIPTU and the NBRU was likely to strike if IE negotiated with ILDA, the situation was resolved when ILDA members transferred to a British transport union that were able to secure negotiating powers. I my experience the biggest problem with unions like most large organisations is that they become process bound and often fail to represent or support their members at times of crisis.

I had some CIE tan aerosol mixed a couple of years ago , but got an orange peel effect when I attempted to spray a coach tonight. I am not sure if its a problem with the spray can nozzle or the paint mix I had the paint mixed to a RAL code but mislaid the colour reference. Does anyone know whether a BS. or RAL code exists for the tan used from the 1960s to the 80s Thanks John

In my experience freight trains usually depart once the train is loaded/unloaded, a driver and a path is a available rather than waiting until the scheduled departure time in the WTT. I don't know if IE has reduced passenger passenger train frequency because of Covid travel restrictions. I would imagine Boliden will scrap the privately owned Tara Mines wagons once Tara mine closes, Canadian (Group Eleven) & Australian (Glencore) mining interests have stakes in Pallas Green https://arkleresources.com/our-projects/zinc/. Its anyone's guess whether the Irish ore fields will be developed or the mining is worth the hassle when the tax payer has to pick up the tab for the ecological damage and clean up when mining finishes.

Its an ambitious scheme and could be very interesting from a "main line" operation point of view with relatively intense by Irish standards Intercity passenger and Liner train operations during the 1990s. The scenic aspect could be quite interesting with relatively flat terrain not unlike the American Mid-West with distant hills and mountain ranges & Kildare Church spire on the backscene. It might be worth while looking up Bill Darnaby's "Maumee Route" and Tony Koster's "Nickleplate Road" layouts https://mrr.trains.com/how-to/track-planning-operation/2015/01/a-day-on-the-no-20 which were featured in the Model Railroader about 20 years ago. I have a 2% ruling grade between stations/yards on the garden railway which can make shunting/switching interesting if I am not careful, but should be less of an issue on a railway with mainly fixed formation trains and very little shunting apart from reversing trains at Kildare and the Tegral operation at Athy. I think the main challenge will be providing sufficient staging for a normal days operation on the Cork & Waterford Lines, it would be worth while trawling the IRRS Journals as they usually included an in depth review of timetable changes and carriage link workings, the big advantage of modelling the mid-late 90s was that the majority of Intercity passenger services were worked by similar rakes of MK3 coaches hauled by 071 or 201 diesels, with a smaller no of diagrams worked by Supertrain or MK2AB stock. While the Cork line was laid with CWR on concrete sleepers sections of the Waterford line retained chaired bullhead rail on timber sleepers until the early 2000s and opportunity for handlaid bullhead track with C&L chairs and plastic or ply sleepers or possibly 3D printed sleeper strip for use with Code 75 or 82 Rail

My first train ride was on a Summer afternoon in a non-corridor coach from Killiney to Tara Street around 1968-69 after taking the bus from the City Centre to Dalkey and walking along Vico Road with my mum her sisters and my cousins on a big day out! Don't remember the colours but the partitions were matchboarded possibly cream, the coach part of a Summer rake of GSR/GSWR coaches hauled by a black diesel that was leaking oil all over the place, my first impression of a CIE train.

It has been done as miniature engineering projects but they don't sound anything like full sized diesel locos

BTW - the Manor Class looks fantastic.......God's Wonderful Railway was always my favourite of the UK Big Four.............I might yet be tempted! Whatever about 7mm Gauge 1/ Large Scale Live steam is extremely addictive and expensive My first thoughts were that the boys had teamed up with https://www.accucraftestore.com/g1-aster-5mt when I first heard the phrase Accurascale Steam. Strangely enough Accucraft/Aster haven't any GWR locos in their current catalogue although Accucraft UK have announced a live steam GWR Mogul and a Cavan & Leitrim 4-4-0T as their first Irish loco.

98 final assembly back from the paint shops. Sub assemblies and tools. Before painting the loco was washed to remove any remaining traces of flux, verdigris and other crud before sand blasting with aluminium oxide with a Badger Air Abrasive Gun. The wheels were de-greased with Isopropyl alcohol before I masked the wheel threads, tyres and axles with Tamiya masking tape. The loco was primed with a Finixa aerosol etched primer, the initial coat allowed to cure before applying a second which acted as a surfacing coat. The loco was painted with an aerosol lacquer matched to a sample of GSR grey. The painted model was left to cure for approx a week before attempting assembly. First job was to clean out the axle bearing holes and fit the driving wheels. I usually use Markits wheels in OO they have stainless steel or nickel tyres, diecast centers and fit on squared axles which self quarter. I use the "live axle" system on OO gauge tender locos picking up the power through the loco driving wheels on one side and returning through the tender frames and wheels on the opposite this simplifies assembly and is extremely reliable. Checking that the live wheels are on one side I fixed the wheels to the axles using the Romford/Markits slotted axle/crankpin nut and screwdriver system, I first check that the wheels are seated properly on the axle before using thread lock to secure the axle nuts in place. I have had Romford wheels and crankpins work loose in the past, not a great experience. When I assembled the loco for test running I screwed but did not thread lock or loctite the crankpins in place. The crankpins unscrewed from the wheel centres when I attempted to remove the crankpin bushes while dismantling the loco for painting! Leading axle fitted, before threading rear axle through frames and gearbox. Big jump ahead with chassis assembled and brake gear fitted! I fitted etched axle nut covers to hide the crankpin nuts, but the cover centers do not line up with the wheel centers which could be interesting visually when the lcoos is running. Loco boiler smokebox and cab-running board sub assemblies. The firebox is a sliding bayonet fit at the cab end with a 10BA bolt securing the smokebox to the running board at the leading end. There is a cast brass step ring between the boiler and raised firebox and I have revised the boiler wrapper to form a full circle. This photo is a good example of the amount of metal that has to be removed from the boiler firebox to assemble the loco in OO with the driving wheels literally inside the firebox and boiler. Loco superstructure and chassis sub assemblies. The tongue at the front of the chassis fits into a slot behind the buffer beam, the body is secured in place by a bolt that fits through the drawbar and chassis into the cab floor. I hadn't finalised the backhead/cab floor design when I completed the test assembly. I have designed separate OO and 21mm gauge backheads and cab floors that can be slotted in place in the cab in a similar manner to the MGWR 2-4-0 kit. The tender is the Studio Scale Models GSWR tender with a re-designed chassis for use with a weighted tender system to allow the loco to haul a reasonable load. Tender chassis 2mm parallel reamer to remove paint from axle holes/ bearings rear axle. Tender chassis with temporary wheels showing springing of leading and center axles and axle retaining wire. Tender chassis brake gear sub-assembly fitted. The goop on top of the chassis is glue residue from a ballast weight. Tender superstructure, tool boxes and springs. I decided to fit these parts after rather than before painting the tender, 0.45mm wire pins are soldered into holes in the springs to assist location. Assembled loco & weighted tender chassis. 98 approaches completion. Buffer beams to be painted number plate and vacuum pipes & couplings to be fitted. I have completed the final amendments to the loco CAD work and expect to make an announcement on the expected release date of the loco within the next 4-6 weeks.

Still on the unfinished projects thread another step in finishing off some coach projects. I started the luggage van several years ago when I had the etched brass frets but no castings and completed the assembly when I received a batch of castings about 12 months ago. The model is finished with Tamiya AS12 "Bare Metal Silver" aerosol and is awaiting decals a final coat of clear finish glazing and door handles. After a lot of trial and error I found the Tamiya Bare Metal Silver the most effective way of reproducing the CIE 1950s silver livery both in terms of appearance and durability. I started building a pair of SSM GSWR 6 wheelers a couple of years ago intending to use planked plasticard for the compartment partitions. The project stalled when I ran out of planked plasticard, then discovered the idea of forming the partition by laminating three layers of plasticard together with the planking facing outwards would not work for the Brake 3rd was not going to work due to the resulting thickness of the 3 layers of plasticard, so I ended up making the partitions and floor from .030" plasticard. The partitions were spray painted with a Tamiya yellow to reproduce the cream colour of the prototype partitions the seating red. I seem to have mislaid the seating for the other two compartments since I started to assemble the coaches. Fitting an interior to an SSM non-corridor coach can be challenging as the interior has to be fitted & assembled in-situ as its not really feasible to fit the interior as a separate sub assembly due to the body design. Fitting the seating in the end compartment was bit tricky with the transom and captive bolt for fixing the roof in the way. I first fitted the floor and glued the seats at the end in place (superglue) before fitting the 1st of the partitions in place on the slot and tab principal. Second row of seating glued into position while fitting the partition! Fitting the remainder of the floor and partitions was basically a matter of progressing from one end. I will need to source some more seating possibly along with some more GSWR 6 wheelers to go with my 52 Class. The soldered joint to the captive nut that secures the roof at the van end failed so I fitted a 10BA bolt instead before re-soldering the bolt and supporting bracket in place, luckily the heat from the soldering did not damage the paint on the visible side of the roof. Roof bolted in place. I will treat the paint damage with a "gun black" and probably re-paint the roof before fitting final detailing, decals and galzing. Re-assembled Bk3rd one compartment now with seating. The coach is supposed to be in late GSR condition, painted with an automotive spray can possibly a Ford red. 556 passing the signalbox with a mixed on the test track. The loco actually works but I still need to sort out couplings which will be B&B rather than the Kadee I once used as standard on 21mm gauge stock. The B&Bs are more discreet and look less incongruous than Kadee's on 19th Century steam locos and rolling stock.

I am not sure about the 80 Class hauling freight but MPD and 70 Class railcars regularly hauled the overnight North Wall-Derry "Derry Vacuum" Irelands 1st Liner train during the 60s and 70s, in addition to hauling "perishable" and parcel traffic on the Larne line and p.w. duties. The MPD cars (Multi Purpose Diesel) were intended to haul goods and parcel trains from the beginning and were somewhat ahead of their time with a high horsepower diesel engine and torque converter drive but struggled with reliability. The railcars took over from a CIE loco at Lisburn and hauled the goods over the Antrim Branch and NCC main line to Derry. Jonathan Allen captured 71 River Bush hauling the 20:55 Waterside-Lisburn "fitted" at Downhill on a summer evening in 1979 https://www.flickr.com/photos/152343870@N07/40139251611/in/album-72157717313152071/

Parish pump politics seems to be more of a problem in Ireland than other western democracies because of the lack of effective local government with power centralised in Leinster House with little or no power devolved to the Councils or regions. We have a three year General Election cycle with a considerable level of power devolved to Regional and Local Councils this helps to keep the MPs focused on policy and the big picture stuff, while the regional council focuses on the environment an co-ordinating services at a regional or provincial while the Councils focus on delivering services at a local level, true parish pump politics. The plus side is that we get to elect from a wider talent pool, the downside is that many of our politicians become invisible when elected and we have to pay taxes to central government and rates to two tiers of local government. Interestingly the regional councils rather than a national body like the NTA are responsible for the funding and provision of public transport, so the local rate payers know exactly how much they are paying in terms of subsidy for the public transport services in their region or locality.

Its possible that few people realise that the IE rail system came very close to collapse in the early 90s with worn out track and infrastructure on most main line routes. IE was expected to operate within a tight budget with insufficient funding to cover rolling stock and infrastructure renewals under the Governments "Building on Reality" programme with no major new investment in the railways following the completion of the Cork Line CTC & MK3 Intercity coach projects. The railways were basically in a gradual run-down to closure pattern as track and infrastructure wore out and locos and stock required replacement. Ireland's finances were in a precarious state following the oil shocks of the 70s and recession of the 80s the Irish Government struggled to fund essential services such as health and education let alone subsidise the railways. The Government started to loosen the purse strings mainly with EU money with the approval of the Kildare suburban services and 201 locos in the early 1990s but continued to keep IE on a tight rein until the major investment in track, signal and rolling stock renewals following the publication of the strategic rail review in the early 2000s. The main drawback is that rail will always be seen as an un-necessary drain on public finances and has little effect in reducing emissions or congestion when you consider the big picture while roading can be made to operate as a true user or polluter pays system with tolls, road taxes, duty on fuels, insurance levies and taxes on purchasing motor vehicles, while the Irish Government basically pays people and businesses to use rail through subsidies and tax breaks.