Niles

Sorry Niles has only just seen this, better late than never. Yes there's quite a few photos out there depicting them in dark green. The current livery 1944 wears is an approximation, the shade isn't 100%. As for two eau de nil bands, I don't believe any of the PRs carried them but until recently I thought none carried silver so... Great research above @Mol_PMB

102 arrives at Tragreany on an ITG railtour.

For my tuppence, laminates or GSR "Bredin"* stock. *likely designed by Harty but hey ho

Odd, try refresh. The 90 badge is sold out but the mugs are in stock (I should know, I counted them yesterday ) .

DCDR have added some new enamel badge designs: 80 Class powr car 69 in retro NIR maroon/blue and 40 class set 458 in "DCDRified" Translink livery. Proceeds from the sale of these badges will go towards heritage carriage projects at our railway. There's also a range of 450, 80 and 141 Class mugs if that's your, em, cup of tea.* www.downrail.co.uk/shop *sorry not sorry

On a Friday evening circa 1989/1990, 174 arrives at Tragreany with the late running branch train. It is being routed directly into the bay platform because the Friday Only direct is hot on its tail and there won't be time to shunt out of the main platform without further delays.

Preserved Park Royal 1383 in the consist of a steam special at Tragreany in the mid-late 2000s. The Craven is correctly marshalled at the end of the train. On a real world note, I've been holding off finishing the platforms pending the arrival of the Park Royals to check clearances. Now I can restart.

In advance of a diesel gala, 37403 has arrived at Sonstrand from the SRPS.

Plenty of advance notice on this one, @jhb171achill will be guiding us on another bus substitution tour, this time along the former Westport-Achill branch. While we can't promise any J26 tank engines or D16 4-4-0s*, we can offer a fun, informative day out. The bus is timed to connect with morning and evening services from/to Dublin, and a through ticket is available. Hopefully we'll see some of you there. https://www.tailtetours.com/event-details/the-achill-explorer-a-bustitution-railtour *though if anyone wants to fund a newbuild example of either class we'll happily listen Incidentally, we (Táilte Tours) recently made another donation to the Cavan & Leitrim Railway towards their Tralee & Dingle carriage project, so while organising tours has become more difficult in Ireland in recent years, we very much feel these efforts have been worthwhile.

For anyone travelling from Dublin or Dublin Airport, Táilte Tours will be running a connecting bus: https://www.tailtetours.com/event-details/bus-to-downpatrick-diesel-gala-29th-august-2026 https://www.tailtetours.com/event-details/bus-to-downpatrick-diesel-gala-29th-august-2026

Monday's trains are sold out. Some places left for Sunday but these are filling up too. https://www.downrail.co.uk/event/easter/

Many thanks to everyone who supported the tour on Saturday, great to put a few more names to faces. An extra highlight was the 'after party' after the tour. With the current restrictions on mainline charters we weren't entirely sure how a 'Bus Substitution' railtour would go down but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Hats off to @Westcorkrailway for his insights and bonus tidbits, I don't think many of us knew of the Churchill connection! @jhb171achill and I are already concocting more tours along these lines (well, different lines, you know what I mean ), so, watch this space...

All can now be revealed, filming took place last summer using the 450 set. https://www.downrail.co.uk/2026/03/dcdr-crookhaven/

124 will be out again on Easter Sunday & Monday, advance booking recommended (people had to be turned away on St. Patrick's Day!). https://www.downrail.co.uk/event/easter/

Very enjoyable show tonight, some quite interesting train formations in there too (GSWR 351 + mkIId set anyone?)