Mayner

There was a lot of interesting information on the performance of the various classes in Dan Renehans series of papers on CIE Diesel Locos in IRRS Journals of the 70s & 80s. The 071s have a tendency to slip because of a combination their high tractive power and relatively light weight or adhesion factor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhesion_railway and the absence of a traction control system. Interestingly the 071s were only rostered to work passenger trains when introduced, possibly as a result of safety concerns raised by the unions representing drivers. The unions lodged documents with the Courts detailing concerns as part of their bargaining process when the company attempted to roster the class to p.w. and freight work without first negotiating with the drivers. Interesting scene on Taylorstown Bank sending out workers to assist the train by placing ballast on the track, in loose coupled days the goods trains were restricted to a maximum of 550 tons over Taylorstown Bank. During the Beet Campaign CIE operated a shuttle service of beet trains between Wellington Bridge and Campile and later Waterford where trains were re-marshaled to a max of 780 tons for the Beet Specials to the Thurles Factory. Shuttle working ceased and the scheduled Beet Specials ran through from Wellington Bridge to Thurles & later Mallow and the load limit for liner trains over Taylorstown crept up from 630-780 tons following the introduction of the beet double wagons in the late 70s. Likewise the majority of loose coupled goods departing the North Wall were banked by an E Class or a main line loco as far as East Wall Junction, Cabra or Liffey Junction in loose coupled days, Heuston (Kingsbridge Goods) Main Line and Liffey Branch were banked to Inchacore & sometimes Clondalkin and North Wall Transfer Trains banked to Cabra.

The CMEs office (60s & 70s) was opposed to using sand to improve adhesion with diesel locos, possibly fear to sand getting into the traction motors, excess wear on the final drive gears. The Sulzers and Metrovicks were originally supplied with sandboxes. EMD apparently strongly recommended fitting sanders to the 071 Class and sent photos of their locos working in the Saudi Desert to assure the CMEs office that sand getting into the traction motors was not a problem! The Small Bo Bos and 071s suffered from wheel slip and adhesion problems, the B121s were not considered suitable for heavy loose coupled goods work due to limited braking power as they only had 2 brake cylinders per bogie, the 141s had better braking power but were considered to be light on their feet, the 071s were(are?) prone to slipping in poor rail conditions, at one stage CIE would send a a loco and brake van up the "Gullet" from Island Bridge Junction to Inchacore to sand the rails on wet or frosty conditions to sand the rails for heavy southbound departures. Slipping and inadequate braking power seems to have been less of a problem with the B101 and A/001 Class than the GMs as they had better slow speed hauling ability with their Metrovickers electrical systems and drop equalising bogies.

We are not proceeding further with the commissioning of the bulk grain wagon and open wagon at this stage primarily as a result of uncertainty of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the World economy, but may re-visit the models at a later date. I would like to thank everyone who has expressed support for the project, by completed the survey, responding to this thread and who contacted me directly. Although the survey results were encouraging with over 75% of people who responded interested in both types of wagon the sample size of 74 (including members of this thread, customers and people who responded on social media) was relatively small considering the size of the Irish railway modelling community.

The majority of 1930s streamlining and speeding up of trains was mainly for marketing purpose by making the railways seem more modern to fight off road and air competition. Narrow gauge NZ locomotive performance is not exactly pedestrian Minister, and NZR loco design and practice highly regarded by international commentators since the late 19th Century. While high speed running is not practicable on many routes, a Ja Class 4-8-2 is said to have reached 85mph across the Canterbury Plains on the "South Island Limited" and high speeds achievable in Canterbury and the more easily graded Southern (87miles) and Northern (124miles). The enginemen and maintenance staff apparently hated the streamline fairing on the boiler of the J Class as dirt tended to collect on the top of the boiler creating very dirty conditions for the engine crews and anyone maintaining the locos. Apparently senior management resisted removing the fairing despite union representation, until someone in authority noticed that the Class looked better without the fairing after fitters removed damaged fairing from one side of a loco to keep traffic moving during WW11. Probably the most bizarre attempt at streamlining was when Tasmania's EMU Bay railway fitted a pair of small wheeled Edwardian 4-8-0s with smoke deflectors and fairing for its West Coaster motor rail service which operated between 1960 and 1964. The train was introduced as an interim measure to cater for increasing tourist traffic to the West Coast, as there was no road access between the North and West Coasts of Tasmania until the opening of the Murchison Highway in 1965 The EMU Bay quickly went back to its normal business of hauling mineral traffic after the ending of the Coaster though No 8 is preserved in Zeehan on the West Coast a small wheeled narrow gauge version of a Highland Railway Castle 4-6-0 J15 186 with smoke deflectors and fairing anyone?

Maybe a bit more low slung the NYC J3s streamlining inspired the streamlining of the NZR J I wonder what an 800 Class or GNR Compound would have looked like with 1930s classical Streamling.

My comments about the Lima N gauge locos are based on my experience with operating several different types of Lima N gauge locos during the 1970's including the BR AL1 overhead electric, Brush Type 2, Irish 0-6-0 and German V100/BR Clayton. The Lima V100/ painted dark blue to resemble the GNR MAK was the most reliable of my Lima diesels, these locos used the same 4w chassis with central pancake motor used in the 4w diesel shunter with pony truck at each end to resemble a double bogie loco. The Lima tender drive appears to be mechanically similar to the V100 and diesel shunter, with a reliable power pick up system and no traction tyres. I may have replaced the 4F tender drive with the chassis from a Fleischmann Piccolo 7218 diesel shunter because of motor failure or to achieve reliable slow speed running rather than poor power pick up or pulling power, I don't remember the exact circumstances as I scrapped the loco over 30 years ago. The armature of the pancake motor used in the Lima N gauge locos have a tendency to fail when the commutator work loose on the motor armature shaft and breaks away from the armature windings. The problems with power pick up and poor haulage power mainly affected bogie diesels and electrics, with a single motor bogie and pick up on the un-powered bogie, performance became increasingly poor after a couple of weeks service, with slipping as traction tyres worked loose on the power bogies and increasingly erratic running due to the poor design and choice of materials used in the power pick up system. To be fair the Lima N gauge locos were probably no worse and in some cases better than similar priced N gauge locos produced at the time for the American and UK markets.

The DRG61 and Pennsylvania Railway GG1 electrics were broadly similar in styling American locomotive builders shifted away from stream line carbody styling to the more utilitarian Road Switcher designs spurred on by Alco's success with the RS2 & RS3 designs in the late 1940s. The BL2 appears to have been a response to Alco competition with its early introduction of road switchers but quickly switched production to the utilitarian GP7. It looks like the EX may have been a concept or proposal based on using standard EMD components for a loco suitable for Irish conditions and never got beyond the concept stage as it was not really a practical proposition and would have been very expensive to set up to build a small batch of locomotives at Inchacore. The 600 hp engine is likely to have been forced on the designers to keep the axle load within acceptable limits to allow the loco to run on lightly laid branch and secondary main line routes. At an estimated 93.5 tons and 56' long the locos would have been very heavy and cumbersome for shunting or branch line work and underpowered for main line use, though possibly good for low speed heavy goods work. It was simpler to modify domestic American designs like the F7 to Australian & Continental conditions due to the larger loading gauge and heavier axleloads compared to Ireland

Our office was on the corner of Grand Canal Place and Harmony Row, with a great view of the railway from the staff canteen. Although it was a fairly modern 4 story building with brick cladding, it was demolished or possibly re-built as a 6 stroy office blocl with curtain walling, totally different in character from when I worked there about 20 years ago. At the time there was not a lot of variety in train workings DARTs on inner suburban workings, Arrow railcars on Maynooth line services & 201s & MK3 push pull services stabled on the line between Pearse Station and the Boston Yard for peak hour Northern Line services, 201 Class running through on the Ammonia and bulk cement trains to and from the Cork to the Belfast line running to the Boston Yard on weekends to run round. Power on the Rosslare passenger was more un-predictable with a single Bo Bo sometimes working the train if an 071 was unavailable.

GM concentrated mainly on the North American domestic market into the mid 50s hence the reluctance in the late 40s to build locos for CIE, the early Australian & Scandanavian GMs were basically scaled down versions of the F7 on A1A -A1A trucks modified to local conditions. The introduction of GM export models from 1953 onwards may have been spurred on by Alco's export success with its "World Locomotive". A BL2 on an SD7 or SD9 chassis in CIE green or a GM inspired colour scheme would be an interesting talking point on an Irish layout.

During the 70s the Rivarossi N & HO Italian diesel locomotive https://picclick.it/N-Gauge-Atlas-Rivarossi-D341-FS-Italian-Diesel-392010191981.html was the standard rtr donor for CIE C and B201 class conversions. The Rivarossi N gauge locos were reasonably good runners by the standards of the time with simple reliable mechanisms, Minitrix was pretty much the gold standard in terms of engineering and reliability but had nothing really suitable for an Irish conversion. The Lima BR N Gauge MK1 coaches were oddly proportioned designed to a composite scale like the British Trix OO gauge coaches of the same era. The coaches appear to have been to Continental & US 1:160 scale length and British 1:148 width. The Lima HO scale 4 F was close to HO in length and OO in width.

The F2s were a standard North American domestic model rather than a lightweight export design. Clyde Engineering adapted the F7 to Australian conditions in 1952 with the 5'3" gauge Victoria Railways A & B Classes Certainly would have looked impressive on the Cork Mail or the Enterprise

Dunlavin & Hacketstown stations are featured in the May 2020 edition of New Irish Lines, if you are not already a member I am sure Alan O'Rourke will sort out a copy alanorourke@hotmail.com The article includes tracklayouts of both stations and some information on train working. According to the article Tullow Branch passenger and general goods traffic proved 'vulnerable" to road services (GSR?). Dunlavin dispatched up to 30 wagons from fairs when livestock traffic was good and the station was the railhead for the Glen of Imaal firing range. In its heyday foodstuff for the Dublin Markets including dead rabbits, fowl and milk which presumably have gone by passenger train.

The EX proposal would make sense in the context of CIE building the locos under license at Inchacore (possibly with an eye on potential export orders) similar to Clyde Engineering in Australia and Nohab in Sweden. At the time General Motors focused mainly on the domestic and Canadian markets and GM do not appear to have built export locos in the States or Canada before 1953. I don't know if locos similar to the EX were built for railways in other countries, GM built some neat B12 cab units in 1953 for Brazil and East Pakistan https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:EMD_B12_locomotives#/media/File:General_Motors_Diesel-Electric_Locomotive_B12_FTC_SALV-ABPF_6001.jpg and introduced its standard G8 & G12 export road switchers which became a World Standard in 1953-54 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_G8. The Great Northern proposal appears to have been a G8, I remember seeing a diagram for an 875HP A1A A1A for the GNR in many years ago. A G8 would have been too long for the Dundalk Works traverser, but a G8 or a G12 would have been excellent for working loose coupled goods trains over the Derry Road and the more heavily graded sections of the Dublin-Belfast Main Line. GM introduced a light weight version of the G8 in 1960 leading to the introduction of the Irish B121 Class and similar locos in Asia, Australia and South American.

You have certainly captured the atmosphere of the station and the semi-circular buffet-refreshment room

The Lima Irish N Gauge steam loco and passenger coaches were British outline models in CIE livery introduced in the late 70s early 80s. The Lima coaches and wagons were reasonable models by the standards of the time, but I would not recommend the locos if you want a working model. The motor, traction tyre and power pick up system was pretty poor and would cease to run reliably or haul anything after a couple of weeks use. I replaced the tender drive in a Lima o-6-0 with the chassis from a Fleischmann 0-6-0 diesel shunter which transformed the running and haulage ability.

Possibly a proposal a late 1940s proposal for a light axle load branch line loco for Brazil, Australia or possibly CIE. A number of CIE board members and senior managers visited American in the mid-1940s no doubt visiting General Motors and the returned convinced of the benefits of replacing steam with diesel. The BL2 design was dead end and quickly replaced with the GP7 the first of the classic General Motors Road Switchers or General Purpose locos. The Brazilian locos appear to be mainly standard American domestic and export designs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Diesel-electric_locomotives_of_Brazil. Victoria preferred locally assembled GM types. South Australia a mixture of locally assembled Alco & English electric types. 600hp was a fairly common power rating for branch line and secondary work during the 1940s and 50s, Clyde Engineering introduced a 600hp version of the EMD GL8 type for shunting and branch line use in Victoria and Western Australia during the 1960s

Slight change of plan a 5m LED flexible light strip was simpler to install and easier on the pocket than buying several 324mm strips. The new light strip is brighter at 970 Lumens but is not over whelming for normal viewing, and provides adequate illumination on a dull day or when the room lighting is off. Its now possible to achieve a reasonable depth of field in a photo using a tripod without additional lighting. The swans have returned to the waterway and the photographers have pulled up to take a picture of the passenger special! More Tralee & Dingle in atmosphere than C&L, I am planning to develop a farm entrance scene here with more elaborate gates and semi low relief farm buildings on the back scene.

David you can relax with 659 according to the "Bible" (GSR Locomotives by Clements & McMahon) she ran with a Y superheated boiler between 1932 & 1950s, before reverting to a round topped boiler, so its just about possible the loco received yellow numerals and tender flying snail between the formation of CIE in 1944 and re-building with a round top boiler. The 650 class boilers appear to have been treated as a common pool and all four types of boiler swapped between locos during overhauls. 659 No 13 Rapid had four boiler changes each with a different type of boiler between 1922 & withdrawl in 1961. No 27 Clifden 666 appears to hold the record with 5 boiler changes, 4 different types between 1919 and withdrawl in 1957. Its challenging building a loco re-built with a GSR superheated boiler as no drawings are currently available of the locos in their re-built form or of the 1930s range of superheated boilers and smokeboxes.

There was an interesting article in the MRJ about treating model making as a Mindfulness exercise which rings particularly true in a time of stress. The article was about focusing on a single simple project such as a small shed that could be completed to a high standard using readily available preferably natural materials such as wood or card to shut out distractions by keeping the mind fully occupied. Working from home the lockdown made relatively little difference to my working routine, the I found 3-4 days spent on small building project was a nice change from my usual routine.

On a totally different topic I had intended to improve the presentation of Keadue the narrow gauge layout that lives in the office by fitting a lighting pelmet. The area above the layout was originally set up to display models on tiered shelves, but is now needed for other purposes, the tiered shelves have in turn been used to form the pelmet. "Country' section linking station and fiddle yard. Station section with storage above. I decided to try 3M LED "Cool White" lighting strip to see if it is effective for taking pictures and captures the washed out lighting effect of a typical "soft day" ion the borders of Roscommon, Sligo & Leitrim I tried a 500mm section in the area between the loco shed and the corrugated iron store. Photo with camera on automatic exposure with strip lighting on. Same scene and exposure settings from a slightly different viewpoint lights off! Close up 8L on the turntable. I also bought a 324mm 48 LED linkable light strip for comparison but at 280 lumens may be a bit overpowering.

If someone wants a model badly enough they can always follow WARBs example and scratchbuild a plasticard body on a proprietary chassis. If I re-member correctly it took longer for IE to commission the 2750 Sparrow railcars after their arrival in Inchacore than it took WARB to complete his model from scratch including to measuring and photographing the prototype shortly afters its arrival in Ireland!

There was consternation in Inchacore during a scrap drive during the early 1990s when when a number of bogies from withdrawn OO1 Class were cut before the class was finally withdrawn. An number of the bogies had been earmarked for bogie changes to keep the serviceable locos running. There tend to be similar problems on most railways including asset strippers ordering the cutting wagons that were still in regular service and cutting the civil engineers stash of spare crossing vees and switches kept for emergency repairs at critical junctions.

Railway Closures and final abandonment North & South had to be approved by a Transport Users Committee representing local community interests up to the mid/late 1950s. This delayed the abandonment and disposal of locos and rolling stock from early UTA closures notably the County Down until the mid-1950s. On CIE "mouldering" branches that had lost their passenger or regular services goods and passenger services like Sallins-Tullow or Kilmessan-Athboy clung on until the 1958 Transport Act cleared the way for wholesale line closures and line abandonment without public consultation.

I built a large tank based on a photo in Neil Spinks book many years ago out of tin plate (drink cans) on a butchered Triang-Hornby Princess chassis. In all liklihood she was pretty crude but was my pride and joy ran pretty well, aprat from removing the outside cyliners and valvegear and replacing the Princess with Jinty driving wheels I don't remember what I did with the chassis. The Princess came cheap second for around £1.50, I chopped her down to a Black 5 following a RM article before converting her to an 0-6-4T one of my better buys.

We had an incident that was like something out of an Ealing Comedy when I was running the site development work for a new housing development in County Dublin in the early 80s. I was working for a civil engineering contractor that unexpectedly picked up a fairly big earthwork job, just after exporting all our suitable plant to the States. At the time it was profitable to export Caterpillar plant from the Bathgate factory to the States and the boss was planning to move the business from Dublin to Atlanta. Anyway faced with a big job and no suitable plant the boss found an extremely decrepit Cat Traxcavator (tracked loading shovel) from a land fill site much to the disgust of our dozer driver Harry, the machine was pressed immediately onto service without any attention apart possibly from an oil change and some cursory greasing. Our mobile fitter spent a hell of a lot of time on site replacing seals in awkward spots as the transmission and hydraulics came under sudden pressure from having to do some work. The defining moment came when the starting motor packed up and no suitable spares were to be found in the country. The fitter removed the motor made a blanking plate with a piece of ply and tow started the Cat with the bosses brand new Nissan Patrol. The Patrol lifted off the ground spinning all four wheels when harry engaged the clutch on the trax, (luckily it was manual). For the next four weeks we had to park the trax on an earthwork ramp with the bucket raised so that she would run down and start by gravity when the driver engaged the clutch. Nevertheless the bosses Patrol was called in more than once to pull start the trax when other machines failed including the combined efforts of two JCBs. I don't know if the boss noticed anything odd with his Patrol he was a pretty hard driver. We wern't going to tell him his brother had been using his car as a tractor.