Mayner

18828 the Pallet Van with the snail logo(photo dated 1963) on the IRRS Flickr site is in the same number series as the 1722-19754 series H Vans introduced from 1953 onwards, rather than the 26001 Palvans introduced in 1964. Doyle and Hirsch talk about 18762-18861 built in 1958 having vacuum brakes fitted 1961/2 and 15 being fitted with sliding doors giving them a similar appearance to the 26001 series vehicles. 18828 is on a fitted version of the 'standard' Bullied wagon underframe with handbrake wheel quite different to the 26001 Palvan underframes

The freights in the Lisburn photos are likely to be un-fitted, its unlikely that the two vans at the head of the train consisted are fitted or through piped. Interestingly in both photos a CIE built H Van is leading an older GSR van with external body planking. This particular type of van were a 'double skinned' version of the 'Irish Strandard' Van introduced during WW1 and used by several companies that made up the GSR and Great Northern, the double skinned body may have been to improve insulation to carry perishable traffic such as butter. The Belfast Line freight workings were an oddity on CIE as the majority of trains terminated at Dundalk rather than running through from Dublin or Drogheda to Belfast, possibly customs clearance purposes or possibly different Union agreements between train crews based in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Whatever the reason Cross-Border freights continued as loose-coupled unfitted operations (with modern fitted wagons) for several years (early 80s) after the rail system in the South converted to fully fitted Liner Train operation. Its likely that the trains in the two photos are marshalled in station order wagons coupled next to the loco for Dundalk, followed by a cut of Cement Bubbles for Drogheda wagons for Dublin and destinations further South towards the rear of the train. Sometimes 'modern' fitted stock like Cement Bubbles, Container Flats and Bagged Cement wagons ran unfitted because it was more convenient to marshall a train in Station Order than marshal the fitted wagons next to the loco. In several photos of the Burma Road goods Bell Container wagons to and from Waterford are often marshalled next to the brake van at the rear of the train. In the Mid 70s Cement Bubbles to and from Ballina were often marshalled towards the middle of Limerick-Claremorris goods trains. During the first season of operation Platin-Ballinasloe/Roscommon Pallet Cement train operated as a 20 wagon Liner between Platin and Drogheda before splitting at Athlone and running as loose coupled workings complete with Brake Vans to their destination.

Best of luck with the new layout, great to see an open frame baseboard with L girder construction being used on an Irish outline layout.

Doyle & Hirsch Irish rolling stock books are likely to be based on official CIE & NIR information, I am not aware of anyone publishing a "CIE Wagon Diagram Book". Its possible that CIE isolated the Vac gear on some 'Fitted" H Vans while the vans were still in traffic. The 'fitted vans appear to have been originally intended to run attached to Passenger/Mail Trains and the fully fitted Derry Vacuum, the majority of CIE goods trains made up of conventional wagons ran unfitted until the end of loose coupled operations in the late 1970s (A coupling broke as the final loose coupled Dublin-Tralee goods climbed the Gullet out of Heuston and the train ran back into the passenger station.) When I visited Mullingar in 81-82 "Fitted" H Vans stored waiting scrapping were all neatly lettered "Handbrake Only' indicating that the Vac gear was isolated during a works visit while still in traffic, unfortuinately I did not have a camera on the day. One of Jonathan Allen's photos is of a MPD railcar shunting an unfitted H Van (handbrake only) at Waterside indicating the North Wall-Derry "Derry Vacuum" scheduled to run as a fully fitted freight sometimes included 'unfitted' wagons"

I saw one Bulleid Open wagon with Vac brakes stored awaiting scrapping at Mullingar around 1981-2. The majority of traditional opens and vans built during the 50s were unfitted with handbrake only as the majority of goods trains ran unfitted.. Although no "fitted" open wagons are listed in Locomotives and Rolling Stock of CIE & NIR the need would have arisen for a 'fitted' Open following the closure of the Derry Road and the diversion of freight traffic for Donegal to run in a fully fitted freight to Waterside. Before the introduction of the Back to Back Fertiliser trains in the late 60s fertiliser traffic from Shelton Abbey was carried in conventional open wagons often Corrugated Opens, its possible that CIE fitted some opens with Vac brakes for this traffic. Its likely the body pressings for the Bulleid opens were manufactured by companies like the Pressed Steel Company a subsidary of Budd a US company that pioneered the use of corrugated pressings in railroad rolling stock. CIE experienced a shortage of end pressings when building the Pallet Wagons in 1964 which resulted in three different end designs on these wagons. Interestingly CIE turned out 11 vans with all metal bodies and corrugated ends during the early 50s but did not repeat the design. I suppose it would be simple enough to swap the chassis between an IRM Bulleid Open and their fitted H Van if someone wants a fitted Open.

I think there is a story in E M Patterson's Donegal book of a loco on a coal train departing Killybegs bunker 1st and demolishing the loco shed. The crew though they were on the main line and did not realise they were on the headshunt/locoshed road. There is also a photo in the same book of a loco running bunker 1st on an Orange Order specail at Bruckless on the Killybegs line.

Please contact me at info@jmdesignmr.co.nz if you have problems placing an order on the website and I can issue an invoice.

Hi Stephen The Vans are £48 ea plus £19 shipping by international economy with tracking. If your interested please PM and I will issue an invoice. John

All pre-orders of RTR Brake Vans and Covered Wagons have now been delivered to customers in Ireland and the UK. A special thanks to our customers for their support since I opened our on-line Store in July 2021. Two unsold CIE 20T Brake Vans 23642 in brown with wheel logo and Two "1946" Covered Wagons in light grey with snail Logo remain in stock If interested please order by 4th November when I will be closing our on-line store.

Traditionally the majority of Irish railways broad and narrow religiously turned their tank locos to run chimney 1st at the end of the journey. One of the factors is that some of the steam classes may have ran seadier and possibly faster running chimney first, many steam classes had a leading bogie or truck to help ease a loco into a curve and the valve gear may have been set up to allow a loco to run faster chimney first. The principal exceptions on the narrow gauge appear to have been the CBPR 2-4-2T which may not have been provided with turntables in narrow gauge days and the large'modern' Donegal (2-6-4T & 4-8-4T and Swilly 4-8-4T there does not appear to have been a loco turntable at Killybegs on the Donegal the later turntable was provided for turning railcars. On the Broad Gauge the DSER 2-4-2T & 4-4-2T appear to have been turned to run chinney first on Dubin subrban trains, though locos used on Amien St-Westland Row-Dunlaoire workings may have run bunker 1st The NCC/UTA WT/Jeeps appear to be equally capable of running at high speed chimney or bunker 1st but the locos were running chimney 1st in most photos of WT hauled passenger trains in UTA days, but there is a 1966 daytime photo of WT 56 running bunker 1st substituting for an MPD railcar on the CIE Derry freight, there is also a photo of a bunker 1st No4 on a PW train waiting to pass a 70 Class hauled passenger train on the Larne line.

Back in the day a number or prominent economists possibly including Dr Sean Barratt and political commentors criticised CIEs (the Government) for wasteful spending by ordering of the original DART cars with conventional rather than articulated bogies. At the time the Irish Government invested over £100m in the DART which was considered a huge a huge sum of money at the time. Around the same time CIE introduced suburban services to Maynooth for £1m to fulfill an Albert Reynolds election promise/stunt. Interesting how times and the attitude towards rail investment has changed.

The Park Royals were banned from Heuston based Intercity services because of inadequate crashworthyness around 87 but continued in used on suburban, branch and secondary main line services until replaced by more modern stock in the late 80s possibly early 90s. Dublin-Drogheda suburban services were worked by Park Royal coaches (rake 4-5 coaches + genny van) until replaced with the MK3 Push-Pull sets. I took the train to Drogheda in 89 or 90 hoping to travel in a Push-Pull set but found the Park Royals were still in use. Apart from Waterford-Limerick and the Nenagh Branch, Cork-Tralee trains were also worked by 'refurbished' Park Royals, I travelled from Mallow-Killarney in a Park-Royal set on a Cork-Tralee working during my summer holidays in 88 or 89. The interior was repainted and the upholstery replaced on the 'refurbished' Park Royals resulting in a clean though quite Spartan interior. Its possible the introduction on the 'International Train' and MK2AC stock allowed IE to 'cascade' some Craven stock from Intercity to suburban, branch and secondary services allowing the Park Royals to be finally retired. My longest journey in a Park Royal possibly suburban coach was in 77-78 Heuston-Westport on a packed train otherwise made up of Cravens and the mandatory early 1950s Buffet Car. Train was hauled by a 121-141 combo 071s had not yet entered service. The coach ran quite smoothly at speed apart from some alarming jolts on poorly aligned railjoints near Roscommon

1000 was the minimum batch size when I received quotes in 2020-21 from Accurascale and a number of the Chinese factories for rtr plastic injection molded models. One of the Chinese OEM factories also produces brass rtr models with a minimum order quantity of 500 units in a quote for a 4mm steam outline loco The minimum batch size of 1000 allows for tooling and livery variations, from memory 250 was the minimum number for a particular livery or number variations. Although the minimum batch size was 1000 I would have needed to sell over 2500 at a similar price point to other Irish outline rtr models of a similar nature in order to reach break even point. Kader (Bachmann) significantly increased its minimum order quantity for OEM models following its take over and closure of Sanda Kan (manufacturer for Hornby, Walters and other prominent Model Railway/Railroad brands around 15 years ago. This in turn lead to the emergency of the current generation of Chinese specialist OEM model railway manufacturers, some managed by former Sanda Kan staff to fill the gap/opportunity created by Kader. Its possible that Kader may have reduced its minimum order quantities in order to compete with this new generation of manufacturers. Its unlikely that Kader would have been exactly happy with major former customers like Hornby and Walters successfully finding alternative manufacturers and a new generation of disruptor manufacturers like Rapido and Accurascale emerging eating into its Bachmann US and Bachmann UK market share

I suspect the release of pre-group rtr and oddities like the Fell & gas turbines has become viable as a result of a combination of the sheer size of the 4mm British Outline market and the preparedness of some of the Chinese factories to produce manufacture small (1000+) commissions of a particular model. I think a persons age may also be a factor in their modelling taste many people start out intending to model the rail scene of their formative years and move onto different eras as they get older interests change. As a teenager I wanted to model the GWR steam era because of magazine coverage before I moved on to the contemporary CIE scene as I joined the IRRS and explored the railway network in my late teens. I became interested in modelling CIE in the steam era during my 20s and began to develop an interest in American Railroads in my 30s. Gone back to modelling the GSR in the late 20s-30s possibly because the locos appeared cleaner and the railway looked less run down that the CIE/IE era that I recall and the challenge for me of finishing a loco or coach in the elaborate lined out MGWR or GSWR liveries.

Quite a strong family resemblance between Robinsons WLWR 2-4-0s and the GWR Armstrong & Dean 2-4-0s

Possibly a next for Accurascale after their GER Buck or J67 0-6-0T https://www.accurascale.nz/collections/j67-j68-j69 Reasonably close in general outline to the ex-WLWR locos though driving wheels slightly smaller Holden's GER and Robinson's WLWR 2-4-0s may have been inspired by GWR standard gauge inside cylinder locos https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/26156-2-4-0s-and-the-armstrong-era-in-particular/ Holden was chief assistant to William Dean before moving to the GER and Robinson served his apprenticeship at Swindon under Joseph Armstrong before his eventual move to Limerick. Its been commented that Robinson's 2-4-0s resemble Armstrong's standard gauge GWR 2-4-0s. Perhaps some of the British Outline RTR commissioners may be tempted to bring out a GWR Armstrong or GER 2-4-0, Hornby having produced a Y14 (J15) 0-6-0 and Oxford a GWR Dean Goods. Failing that a generic GWR/GER/Irish 2-4-0 on similar principals to the Hattons 6 Wheelers and Evolution coaches allowing for variations in cab, boiler fittings and tender bodies.

Des Coackham in his book Irish Broad Gauge Carriages wrote about DNGR coaches and the ex-LNWR coaches acquired by the GNR during the late 40s and includes some photos. The three DNGR bogie coaches were 50' arc roof stock smilar in profile to the Bachmann coaches were built as 1,2,3 composites with lavatory accomodation for each class and a guards compartment at one end. The coaches passed to the NCC in 1933 where they were re-built as Full Brakes there is a photo of one of the vans at Larne Harbour on p75 but not really suitable for modelling purposes. The GNR acquired 20 ex-LNWR coaches a mixture of Arc, Cove (low elliptical) and High -elliptical roofed stock which became GNR Classes G7,K25-8, L5 & 02. The underframes of the Arc roofed coaches were too narrow to re-gauge to 5'3" and ended up as lineside huts! There is a photo of 470 an ex LNWR "cove roof" First-Thrid Slip Coach at Clones on p61 of the Irish Carriage Book and of 478 a High-elliptical roofed 3rd at Clones in Irish Railways in Pictures No.1 GNR (IRRS 1976) While the Bachmann LNWR coaches are correct for a DNGR bogie in lenth and profile, its said that the compartment and lavatory arrangement was closer to GN than LNWR practice, though a train of Bachmann D316 corridor brake composites especially in fully lined LNWR livery would probably pass the 2' test. The roof profile on the Rapido LNWR coaches looks closer in profile to High-elliptical rather than Arc roofed stock, are shorter and non-gangwayed unlike the GNR ex-LNWR stock nice coaches but quite unlike the ex-LNWR GN coaches.

What a dilemma, I was blown away when I sneaked into Amiens St 50 odd years ago and first saw the train and always wanted one although totally outside of my main area of interest and over committed financially what do I do? Keep away from electronic media, lock myself in the shed until I complete all my unfinished modelling projects?

During the early 90s IE would have been just about able to justify the investment in the 201s because the Supertrain and Mark3 stock would have been considered good enough for another 25-30 years and long term freight contracts with businesses like Asahi, Bell Lines, Cement Ltd, CSE (beet) Esso, IFI, Irish Cement and Guinness, which would have supported its Liner Train network and developing traffic flows like logs and mollases. The closure of Asahi and the failure of Bell Lines would have undermined the economics of IEs freight operations. Rail traffic through Waterford Port never recovered to similar levels to Bell, most likely Belfast, Cork, Dublin Ports and the established shipping lines did not want a competitor entering the market and diverting 'their" business through Waterford. Afterwards IE came under a lot of criticism for the high cost of operating loco hauled trains as opposed to railcars, both in terms of damage/wear and tear on track and the actual running cost which at the end of the day is heavily subsidized by the tax payer a high proportion of whom don't or are unable to travel by rail. My impression from visiting Ireland and travelling by train (one journey each time) in 2005 & 2018 was the general condition of infrastructure, rolling stock and service reliability had improved significantly since regularly travelled by rail in the 80s and 90s.

Standler appears to be becoming a major World loco manufacture. Kiwirail have just taken delivery of a narrow (3'6") gauge version of the Standler Euro 4000 Class of locos. The two locos delivered are the first of a class of 66 locos intended to re replace older 40+ year old locos on both Islands. The original order was for 44 locos to replace GE U Boats (3000-3600Hp) dating from 76 used on South Island Coal trains and export dairy and meat traffic. Additional locos added most likely to replace General Motors (2750Hp) locos used on North Island freight and passenger traffic) Its intended to use the two locos to trail the locos in service to identify and resolve design problems before manufacturing the production batch. Will be interesting to see whether there is sufficient work for these locos when they enter service, as Kiwirail is expected to be self-sufficient financially from 2025, has been forced to cancel a project to improve rail-ferry links between the North and South islands, last week all Kiwirail staff have been offered voluntary redundancy. One of the underlying problems is that industries that once generated significant rail traffic such as meat and timber processing are becoming uneconomic and are closing as a result of reduced demand and high energy costs and while coal, logs and dairy exports remain buoyant domestic and international container traffic has fallen as a result of reduced demand for imported consumer products.

A bit of my personal modelling for a change IRM Bullied Open with Bachmann BR container load & one of my own GSWR/GSR/CIE "Irish Standard" Open Wagons with Bachmann conainer load. Took some carving (removing of rasied detail from the containers) to fit the containers into both opens, though the IRM wagon possibly as a result of its very rigid construction was a very tight fit. I guess Leslie must be right its a collective figment of the imagination that BR containers were carried in Irish open wagons, though its just about possible the rasied detail on the containers is a bit on the heavy side. I spray painted the underframe to match the 'light grey" of the Standard Open and finished the wagon with a coat of Gunz "Mr Clear" flat finish to tone down the "sheen" of the unpainted corrugated iron body panels, its likely sheen the wore off quickly once the wagons enered service/were exposed to the Irish weather.

IRM have anounced that they will have the tooling for a new Irish outline loco at this weekends MRSI exhibition so the decision on whether to produce a steam or diesel loco has already been made and we will all find out this weekend.

Internationally Governments lowered interest rates/increased borrowing to simulate economies during the pandemic which contributed to inflation with some govermnents/Central Banks slamming on the brakes by increasing interest rates and cutting spending to reduce inflation they caused 2-3 years earlier, just like the Irish and British Governments did in response to the Oil shocks of the 70s, Black Monday (87) and the GFC. In other words responding to economic shocks in the same way for the best part of 50 years and expecting a different result . Cannot comment on Ireland but a hell of a lot of people speculated on rising propery prices in this part of he World during and afer the pandemic and the Central Bank delierately engineered a recession by increasing interest rates basically increased price inflation to reduce consumption to bring inflation "under control". Cannot really comment on the 'sweet spot" for model railway demand in Ireland although working on a totally different scale to IRM, over 10 years producing rtr models and kits demand for new models has been at a reasonably consistent level and therefore predictable, however I experienced reduced levels of demand for variations of a particular model although there is a collector element in the market who would ideally collect each livery and detail version of a particular model. Although price point and shipping costs may have been a factor I experienced a significant decrease in sales of rtr wagons during 2023-2024 compared with the numbers sold during 2021-2022 when the majority of wagons were released, maybe everyone that wanted a paricular wagon had bought one or possibly customers were tightening their purse strings as a result of rising costs in my three main markets, Ireland, UK and United States. I had hoped that IRMs release of Bulleid wagons would help stimulate demand for my 3D printed Brake Vans and use up my stock of wheels and couplings, but demand did no meet expectations although apart from the SSM 30T Brake and Leslies GSWR 12T van Kits no other suitable models are available. The sheer variety of variations offered incombination with rising living costs may have been a factor in demand for Intercity Railcars not meeting IRMs initial expectations. Although outside my area of interest and likely to end up in a display cabinet I reserved a 3 Car IRM Intercity set late last year, I have been hankering after an "Intercity' railcar set after I first saw a Trix Transpennine railcars in Southern Model Railways Leeson Street shop when I was 14 amd totally out of my reach financially.

I think the video of the B141 and C Class may have been on a late running Waterford-Mallow goods with the C Class later returning on a Dungarvan-Waterford goods while the B141 continued to Mallow. During the final years of operation goods traffic over the Waterford-Mallow line goods traffic was heaviest between Waterford and Dungarvan and Fermoy and Mallow. B121 and B141s appear to have been the regular motive power for the once daily goods which worked over entire length of the line the Waterford and Mallow bound trains appear to have crossed at Cappaquin. Dungarvan was also served by an out and back Trip Working or 'Turn' from Waterford possibly worked by a C Class. Its possible the C may have been double heading with the B141 on a Waterford-Mallow goods as there may have been insufficient traffic to justify running a separate Waterford-Dungarvan trip or it may have been more convenient to doublehead the train. It would have been necessary to 'double head' with a driver in both locos or haul the second loco dead as a B141 & C201 were incapable of working in multiple until C233&234 were rebuilt with Maybach engines and re-classified and re-classified as B Class in the mid-1960s. For most of the 1960s the B121 Class were incapable of working a train in multiple with another loco.