jhb171achill

That is precisely the way it was - not just on CIE, but on all railways. Add to that the fact that there was no such thing as standardisation. Many coaches were built as one-offs, or perhaps there were two, six or eight of them - so in many cases even if the traffic department had the pick of the whole fleet to make up every train, there simply did not exist enough of the exact same type to make up a single train, let alone (as now) every signle train on any given route.

I reported the ad. Spoilsport busybody, me, but it had to be done. Maybe the seller should stick to tarmaccing drives for cash only, sir.

I know that there's the old saying "let the buyer beware", and many will argue that if someone is prepared to pay a certain price for a certain thing, there ye go - it's nobody else's business. However, this is downright FRAUD. When I come across such things, I report them as fraud to the website. What, by the way, is a "ralway"? Something to do with paint colour reference numbers?

By far the most interesting period, indeed; the twilight of the "grey'n'green" era. BCDR trains would have wandered beyo0nd fairly close-by GNR locations, and certainly not onto the GSR / CIE. By the time you're looking at, the NCC has become the UTA. Under either, you wouldn't have got trains running to CIE territory either. However, the GNR is a different matter. GNR coaches made it to Cork on the "Enterprise" for a short time in the early 50s. By the time the GNR was broken up in late 1958, EX Great Northern locos, wagons, and rolling stock appeared in all sorts of places across CIE, especially the ex-DSER section. Well into the 1960s, it was possible to see wagons still in GNR livery (especially opens) with the large "G N" on the side - though with a "CIE" stencil perhaps, and an "N" added after the wagon number. One GNR coach managed to last until 1967 still in brown livery - I've a note of which one somewhere - it was an open brake 3rd. A GNR clerestorey coach, again still in brown livery, was used on passenger services on both the West Cork system and the Loughrea branch, in both cases very briefly, around 1960. GNR locos, including a (dirty!) blue "U" class 4.4.0, were regulars on the Dun Laoghaire Pier shuttle from 1959 to about 1962. While full trains didn't run in the circumstances mentioned above, it was by no means unusual to see individual carriages and / or passenger vans operating to all sorts of weird places - carrying pigeons to be released. I kinow of one case of a UTA van of some sort ending up in Baltimore with pigeons - literally as far from home as it could be, which was presumably exactly the point of the pigeon people. By B&NCR I presume you meant BCDR? The B&NCR was the same as the NCC. The (English) Midland Rly. (NCC) took over the Belfast & Northern Counties; it then was taken over in Britain by the LMS, so the NCC became the LMS NCC instead of the MR NCC. That became part of the UTA in 1949, then NIR. The BCDR, on the other hand (Belfast & Co Down Rly) was a separate company, physically unconnected to the BNCR / NCC except through belfast dock sidings. The BNCR was north and north-west of Belfast; the BCDR south east of Belfast. So it was nothing to do with either BNCR or NCC - however, it, too, became part of the UTA in 1949, before they closed almost all of it 18 months later! Special trains into Dublin from northern places would have been GNR, and even after the UTA and CIE ate the GNR in 1958, you might say the UTA's ex-GNR stock. However; as you say, "Rule 1"!

Rightly so! Was unable to go myself unfortunately. RIP, Noel.

That’s exactly the two I was thinking about.

The all-first appears to be one of - from memory - one of two built about 1962, the last timber-framed coaches ever built in Inchicore. Regarding older wooden bodied stock, yes, all gone by 1980, as were the last Bredins. The last of the steam-era timber framed, wooden panelled stock appears to have been withdrawn in 1972-4, all of it ex-GSWR. Last Bredins about 1976 or so.

Exactly - that’s pretty normal for those times!

That 567 engine is pure music. Reminds me of my teenage years travelling about the country, often with them up front.

Killala. And yes, Schull too, and Killybegs had a pretty busy fish traffic, as did Ardglass, Co Down. Dingle too - it had a pier siding like Killybegs, Schull and Ardglass did.

AEC railcars were also the almost staple diet of the Cork - Bantry passenger service from about 1953 to closure. The C's worked the goods and the branches. The Guard's Van must have been stinking by the time it got to Dublin! They used old fish vans, dating back to pre-1925 (pre-GSR) days. They never built any of their own. Fish was handled at a number of places. Going back to GSR times, even more places (e.g. Achill and to a very small extent, Clifden). Latterly, West Cork & Valentia mostly. Possibly somewhere on the South Wexford?

I'm sure it would. No diesel loco in the silver livery ever carried the "snail" in traffic, other than the "A" class, on which the attached metal cut-out symbol, like the number, was painted light green. As for C234, if anyone can unearth a photo of it in use with this thing on it, I will be surprised.

One “C” (or possibly an “A”; I’d have to look it up) very briefly had an orange buffer beam instead of red; it was a black loco at the time. Another, while in the black-with-yellow-end livery, briefly had the yellow patch on the ends extended down to cover the buffer beam. I’m unsure of C234 carrying a “snail” while actually in traffic - have you a photo?

The light green was introduced about 1957/8 to cover up the absolutely ghastly mess that the "silver" had become; I think, actually, that the very last few "C"s commenced service in green rather than silver. The orange and black commenced in 1962. However, just like the survival of the (awful!) Mlime green, white and navy blue on 29 class railcars today, it took quite a few years before all were repainted from green to black'n'tan, or after 1964 or so, all-black. There was still the odd green "C" to be seen up to about 1967. Exact same story for the B101s and "A" class. What other livery variations were you told about as a matter of interest? I'm unaware of any, to be honest, other than the famous yellow and (separately) orange buffer beam experiments.........

I asked Senior about that years ago. He said that he thought the lettering on "Lissadell" had been painted white. As we know, nameplate "liveries" in the SLNCR varied; some plates had red backgrounds, some black; some polished, some painted. Must draw up a list sometime. But look at the COACH! It is so faded and so dirty is actually looks brown - when in fact it was painted a dark LMS-like maroon! In later days many of their carriages were so extremely shabby that you could barely tell what colour they actually were under it all. Note the BNCR coach in the background. The flat sides were the tell-tale sign of Belfast & Northern Counties stock, the very last examples of which (in emergency peak suburban use on the Larne line) were still to be seen in use as late as 1965. This one, at this stage, is a Mess Van in UTA green.

Love the chimneys on the right-hand coach...........

Yes, it and C231 (now preserved) appear to be the only ones to get this one-off variation. The rest were all in the lighter green, like carriages and railcars after 1955.

Is there much Irish stuff in it? And - do they have historical articles (like, say, the IRRS journal) or would it be more about their own organised trips / modern image?

Most of the Woolwiches ended up in green. At least one ended its life still in grey (which they were all in until 1945/7). The single one in lined black is correct, although that one engine - the only one of any class to carry that livery - only did so for about 18 months and only on one route, before withdrawal and scrapping. The several which were black had a correctly coloured pale green “flying snail”, not a yellow one. I think that plain black model has yellow logo - so it’s wrong. Easy to fix, though. In terms of realism, very heavy weathering would be appropriate for all of them in any livery! The only time they were clean was when they were grey…..!

€3 into the Casino Model Railway Museum in Malahide all this week, to celebrate their 3rd birthday.

Considering what you can do with it, I’d say that’s good value.

Thank you, Signal Post, I’ll pass this on to Tara (the lady issuing tickets at the door). She deserves the credit as it was her idea! She and I are currently discussing other possibilities. As always, funding is an issue!

Looking good!

One of my favourite layouts of all time, having seen it “in the flesh” twice. Captured the spirit of the real thing perfectly.

Love the cab controls! Absolutely excellent model.