jhb171achill

You’re 100% right about the 1967 bubbles, and I suspect others too. ALL my recollections were of all over grey ones, and going to school beside the GNR main line I saw them daily. I never saw a single black chassis - in a world where every single solitary goods vehicle was all grey, it would have stuck out like a sore thumb. But - there’s photo evidence of black too. My conclusion is that some were black but most grey - and when they painted the “bubble” bit orange eventually, the grey continued on the chassis.

You have it in a nutshell, Mol! I doubt if a solitary wagon type which ever ran anywhere on any line of either gauge on this entire island ever had less than almost as many variations as members! Your excellent research and posts have not only pointed this out and illustrated it, but illuminated this fact to a new and younger generation, who have unfortunately never seen anything but trains comprising a standard number of entirely identical wagons or coaches….. hence the excitement when an ICR has 5 instead of 6 coaches…..!

Trailer part way too big for Irish equivalents.

What’s the older corgi one? I could use a few of those.

Very much looking forward to that!

September 1968, and the goods for Tralee is ready to leave. At Castletown Junction the first five wagons will be detached to be added to the Tralee - Cork goods. At Mallow, two will be detached, one for Thurles and one for North Wall. The other three will go to Cork, with one onwards for the West Cork system over the Cork City tramway, to go to Dunmanway. The remaining wagons on the train are all for Tralee, Lixnaw, Abbeyfeale, Newcastle West and Limerick, with one for Nenagh. That's the way it was..............

Excellent piece of work!

Several comments above relating to money. With the exception of (from memory) some 6 or 7 individuals, Irish railway preservation has never benefitted from the financial largesse of super-wealthy people as it has in Britain; and within the low numbers we HAVE had, the single most generous one I've been aware of in the last 35 years would still not be of the ilk of Alan Pegler, or the Rampton Trust with its seemingly bottomless pit of money. Time and time again, arguments are put forward here which sometimes come from within the enthusiast community, sometimes outside it, for example, well-meaning people who take the view that various long closed lines would be an absolute boon to tourism if reopened, with an attendant implication of financial self-sustainabilit, or better - as a result. We need to get this quite straight: (a) any cost of any such thing will be astronomical. Neither private individuals nor local authorities, still less central government, have ever been prepared to put up the money needed for such things, be it a reopened IE line or a preservation operation. (b) As stated before, there isn't the interest. This is how we differ from Britain, which we can but envy. In summary, England alone has something like ten times the population of all of Ireland. Ireland has a single standard gauge preserved line, and a total "main line" 5'3" gauge mileage of about 5 miles. If the English, specifically, had similar levels of interest, there would be perhaps nine or ten lines there, with a total mileage of about 45. As we know, there is very considerably more than that, both in mileage and in terms of actual number of preserved lines. Instead of about 9, England has OVER 200, plus endless museums. Have a look at the narrow gauge. Excluding WSVR, which to be fair is more of a pleasure ride than an actual preserved railway, we have the C&L & Finntown (which is so impossibly remote that it's hard to see its long term future) which together total about three miles. Look at the Welsh narrow gauge; and Wales has a smaller population than Ireland! I can think offhand of 12 lines there with 130 route miles. There is simply no comparison. As stated before, we must nurture what we have, and help where we can. Be content with reality!

True, though the growing “feral element“ is arguably worse elsewhere!

Never heard that - pity nothing like that happened!

A reopened Waterford to Tramore line in any shape or form would have been magnificent! (Thought for an ultra-simple layout; if open today it would probably have a pair of two-car 26 class on it and nothing else!)

What’s the reason?

Was thinking that VERY thing last night! Fantasising about what a colossal donation to Downpatrick would cover!

I believe so…. dunno when available, though.

While it may or may not be the case with this specific gate, that's exactly the type of location these signs were cast for. They are / were specifically gate signs.