jhb171achill

This - in the National Museum of Ireland. What on earth was a locomotive like this doing in Wexford, and a load like this, apparently in 1946? Or am I mistaken about Wexford? DSER coaching stock evident (second vehicle behind loco, and at platform). If date is correct this was just before the withdrawal of large numbers of DSER coaches by CIE. But already the GSR had brought in other stock, from the beginning in 1925. All the other passenger vehicles are ex-GSWR except the 4th vehicle in the train (MGWR), and the van behind the loco appears to be ex-MGWR. If the date is correct, it looks as if nothing in this pic has yet been painted into CIE green.

It seems to have been based in Belfast for many weeks now.

Was delighted to see Mol_PMB’s GSWR coach in the flesh at Downpatrick yesterday. To say this is a work of art doesn’t even do it justice. This is seriously high-end exhibition standard.

Be careful what you wish for! Commuting in those things, the centre cars and trailers were great, if bland; but I saw innocent people’s eyeball sockets in their laps when in an accelerating vvviiibbbrrraaatttiiinnngggg ppoowweerr car…..

The top and bottom ones, certainly - they are very WLWR (and thus, after 1901, GSWR)-esque. They don't actually look like NCC stock, perhaps surp[risingly, as they have these bowed-in ends, common in GWR and Midland Railway (of England) worlds. The only company here to have that, and their stock of bogie coaches only numbered about six (bit like the BCDR!) was the Waterford, Limerick & Western. The middle coach, with clerestorey roof, is utterly unlike anything that ever ran here. The style and proportions of the roof isn't like anything here, nor (with the exception of the above) the ends, the panelling style is also not similar to anything here, and nor are those high-up small windows. The WLWR had two brake thirds, whose cloest relative would be the bottom of those three images. One lasted until the late 1940s, the other about 1952/3 as far as I remember, therefore one of those would only be in GSR maroon or the dark green, fully lined CIE livery. Both were gone before the A, B101 or C class diesels turned a wheel, though, so they'd be for a steam-era layout. I got one of the kits of the coach at the top, with the intention of putting flat ends on it, which would make it passably GSWR in appearance (two foot rule applies!), but I haven't got round to doing anything with it yet. Moreover, I've lost the bogies; no matter, the thing cost me €5 in a scrap bin sale at an exhibition somewhere.....! Meant to add, if you're not worried about the "English" ends, in MR / LMS / NCC livery they'd do well for an NCC-area layout.

Enjoy your well-deserved travels, Leslie! Beware of cuckoo clocks......

No black bits on tin vans of any type; plain silver all over. However, grime and weathering made many look as if they had black roofs (especially), ends, or other bits. All of Fry's models of carriages too, have silver roofs. Grey steam engines looked black, but weren't. Donegal* and GNR locos, being respectively geranium red and blue, looked as if they had black domes, black boilers sometimes, black fronts and backs of cabs, but they weren't. The railways in the past were dirty! As a result, tin vans, like the above, often looked (at worst) as if little more than the sides were silver - but they weren't. My own "silver" tin van has been weathered to the point that it just looks dirty all over bar the sides, which as per prototype ended up looking like a nondescript silvery grey.... probably the single most impractical "livery" ever devised by man - small wonder it didn't last. (* Drives me mad to see an actually black-painted dome on the Donegal engines in Cultra, Derry and Donegal! WRONG!)

Thing about a Jinty, though, there were only two, and even one of those only saw about five years use. The other, apart from one or two trial runs never did anything but shunt Belfast docks. Only one got the UTA livery. The less-used one spent its days in plain black with "N C C" on the side tanks. They're actually very unlike anything Irish to look at, especially the cab area.

Luggage wagon, I believe.

You’re making me jealous!!

100%; couldn’t possibly be Abbeyleix.

One of those in 7 1/4? Now THAT sounds nice.

I had a look for them online. I had never heard of them, still less their (very nice) Irish stuff. And yet, I was doing G scale in the garden then (but Spanish prototype).

Well, it is and it isn't - if you look at the right hand end of it in that pic, the roof just ends, without enclosing the balcony (as at the other end). That would have to be rectified, but I see that the bits for the balcony railings appear to be included. I must look at what else there is there out of interest. On a more minor detail, and easily fixable, what appears to be a white line above the windows should be pale green, as on other CIE-liveried coaches. For garden railway scale, it's a nice model indeed - I'd be tempted if I had a garden railway. Who's the seller?

That’s an original 1887 Cavan & Leitrim coach, converted to a brake compo by CIE.

Saw that before - it’s excellent!

No - this leads to a link which needs a password. It has a domain name dot io …. which seems odd.

Attachments won't open....

I hope it does, as the potential premises are perfect. But he can forget about an operational heritage railway to start with, for a whole range of reasons. He ought to focus on wider interpretations of local history - the famine, Yeats, Countess Marcivic, Lissadell House and the influence of the local landed gentry on the town, emigration, the border, mining, Ben Bulben & other unique local topography and so on.

There isn’t. I think a loan of something from Whitehead (the SLNCR loco might be a start) would be their only option.

True!

On the right? Top corner of one, yes.

And extremely smart it must have looked!

Tommy and his apprentices built the layout itself. The models were built by others - many being MRSI members.

That's in keeping with literally 100% of enthusiast feedback so far! Fry's models total some 361 items. About a dozen more remain in the possession of his family. Other than about a dozen models f mainland European items, plus a Fry-repainted Bing American 1930s diesel railcar train, about 100 are of British prototypes, and 200-odd Irish. For the first time ever, all of his Irish stuff is on display - so are the handful of mainland European models he made. There isn't room (yet) for the British stuff, though that won't bother visitors because they're generally unaware of their existence! His British stuff is mostly LMS & LNWR, and some very fine stuff there is in it, but it is hoped that funding may be obtained for more display areas for these. People unfairly compare this the the "old" "Fry museum". But - the old one, which many wax so lyrical about, in Malahide Castle - where there was a massive "0" Gauge layout operating - was NOT Fry's models. When Cyril Fry died, he stipulated that his models were never to run again. For one thing, many of the motors are badly worn due to very high mileage in his house. Secondly, his reasoning was that he "didn't want them being dragged round the carpet at the end of a bit of string by a child". (Fry was not known for being child-tolerant - quite the opposite!). Therefore, they were to remain ONLY as museum exhibits. So people who compare the modern layout there with the old one are barking up the wrong tree - the models that were seen running in the old place were made in the 1980s and 1990s by a mix of some 6 or 7 modellers, including the likes of Brendan Kelly, the Magowan brothers of the old Phibsboro model shop, and several others. Some of these are operating on the high level 0 gauge track in the casino today, and others are on loan to the likes of DCDR and Enniskillen Railway Museum for display. The place advertised itself as the "Fry Model Railway" - based on the fact that SOME of his models were there in display cases! Most remained in storage - until now. But it was not a "Fry" railway - neither the models nor the layout it ran on had anything whatsoever to do with Fry. His own layout at his house had been broken up and scrapped years earlier. It was not possible to take apart and reassemble. Moreover, the tech side of it was even by 1970s standards, archaic. The layout seen in Malahide Castle had been built separately by apprentices in Inchicore Works, to teach them soldering skills and the like. Again, nothing to do with Fry. Neither this layout, nor the models which ran on it, were even thought of hile he was alive. So, while the actual Fry English models remain in store, his Irish collection is on display in its entirety for the first time ever, as in the Castle only a handful of his models overall were able to be displayed. The operational layout now is digitally-controlled 00 gauge. The concept today of a large layout with up to six manual operators trying to keep it going is just not realistic, especially with the hopelessly outdated control systems that were in use. The modern layout showcases what's available for 00 scale Irish stuff today - with a wide variety of IRM & Murphy models in operation. The Casino building is of historic interest in itself, but that's another story. With the constraints of a listed building, the best possible use has been made of available space, and feedback from visitors remains good. I likewise think "woeful" is pretty harsh.