jhb171achill

Indeed! Indeed - many a rural line saw little else, ever!

Often wondered if it’s possible to tell a Protestant locomotive from a Catholic one….. (….here’s me bus….)

It does - and if you add in the period 1969-63, you’ve steam locos running alongside many types of diesels - A, B101, B121, B141 (brand new), plus - of course - AEC railcars on most main line services - like ICRs today. As for wagons, barely two alike in any train…. Plus, concurrently, in 1963, six different carriage liveries, three (filthy) steam loco liveries, and four for diesels…. Now, if THAT isn’t variety, I don’t know what is!

VERY true. I rant on about wrong liveries, or stock from a different era or area behind a loco from another. Sure, there’s “Rule 1”; and by far that is the most important. But for those whose aim is actual accuracy, the political equivalent of a black wagon chassis, or a grey 121 hauling brown goods vans, or a white or yellow “flying snail” on a steam engine…… or ALL that oul shtuff, is this: ”In 1741, the English took away all the food and sent a quarter of the Irish as slaves to Australia. Most of the rest died and a few were left. Then, in 1916, Ireland became independent from England and the Protestants killed all the Catholics in the north. Then there was the “troubles”, when the Irish Free State (or “Eier”) went to war with Northern Ireland (which is part of England). The American president came to sort it all out and now there’s peace between the two places thanks to America, and that’s called the Good Friday Agreement”…… As an aside, good folks, please sit down, take a deep breath, and have your smelling salts and therapist handy before you read what follows; and you will not be able to UN-read it. ALL of the above drivel, and break it down by each individual nonsense detail; all of it - at one time or another, I have heard (or even been TOLD) by the good folks from the USA - is absolutely true. I busted a few myths to a citizen of that country one time, who insisted that his ancestors belonged to a mythical race known as the “Black Irish”. Ohhh boy. Never was so much nonsense spouted by so few….. I digress. I look forward to the cookery programme with interest, and hope that footplate fries in Achill locomotive shed feature prominently. Let us HOPE they research it properly.

Duffy’s it was; just home. Great oul night and great to meet several more of us IRM website folks. Tim-O, Ironroad and several others whose “handles” I forget; hope to see yiz all again. A perfect example this evening of the camaraderie which keeps model folks in touch - excellent night. You’ve put an idea in my head, George. Some sort of gathering where it’s the museum first, then a bar with food and pints…. I’ll mull over that idea.

Rugby or tennis?

I’ll post bits and pieces here from time to time about “what’s on”. Bit late for many, but if anyone is about tomorrow evening (Thursday) the museum will host a modellers’ “get-together” between 17:00 & 20:00, in which demonstrations of the layout and its highly complex DCC control system will be shown and described. Model maintenance and repair experts will be on hand too, and you are free to view the entire Irish collection of Cyril Fry’s models. At 8 pm or so, an informal few may adjourn to a local hostelry for pints. See ye there. The museum asks me to mention that the €10 entry fee (which includes the whole museum) should be booked online in advance as they’ll have no facility to accept payments after 4.30pm, the normal “last orders” time.

EXACTLY!

The Enda Kenny one was an unmitigated car crash in terms of research - or lack of it. The researcher, a young lady from Belfast, was given my contact details and emailed me with a list of questions. I answered every one. When the episodes went out, she ignored every single thing I told her, yet included my name in the programme credits. I was unamused, and emailed her to enquire as to why she bothered asking such questions, then trotting out a whole series - not just one programme - of such unutterable rubbish, when she had the information needed to hand. I await a reply................................. Her drivel did, of course, include the obligatory eyewash about just about every closed railway in Ireland "being dismantled and then dropped on the Germans" - and the "first and last trains on the Achill branch carrying the dead. Awful.

Rebekah, can you give Kathy my condolences as well. I don't have her contact details any nmore.

Correct. No matter what anyone's politics are, privatisation of railways in a country like Ireland (north AND south) would be disastrous. It's simply not an option. However, this is not to say that a commercial operator could not "buy access" too - but such an operator would find the rail operation not to be something which put euros in its shareholders' pockets.

One of the longest trains I ever saw in Ireland, possibly THE longest, was about 1975. It had twelve or thirteen bogies with a 6-wheel heating van at one end and a Dutch or BR van at the other. Just three coaches were Cravens, another three were Park Royals, and the others were a dining car and laminates of two or three different types….. all were mixed up.

You’re very welcome here, Darrman. If you’ve any questions on any aspect of the hobby or Irish railways in general, you’re in the right place.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, from new until the late 1980s, they almost ALWAYS did; other than the post-1972 Mk 2s, trains of a single uniform type of carriage were almost totally unknown. Almost ALL trains were a random mix of: Bredins (until last one withdrawn c.1975/6) Cravens Laminates (of many different types) Rebuilt / unrebuilt 1951-53 CIE stock Park Royals (several variations) Ex-GNR stock like K15s Remaining old wooden GSWR bogie stock (until last withdrawn in 1974; almost no two alike among several dozen). VANS: 4-wheel luggage 4-wheel generator 6-wheel generator ”Dutch” generator Ex-BR generator (several variations) The extent of this variation is such that a 1960s-80s train of more than two carriages simply does not look realistic if all the carriages are the same.

That's a very good way to get started, and inexpensive! The only thing I might suggest is put the white lin e on the vans and paint the roof black before doing the weathering.... in traffic, the white line often looked distinctly off-white / tannish due to weathering (brake dust).... Looking forward to seeing this project develop.

In this case, yes!

Excellent weathering indeed! And yes, the whitish deposit often found was indeed limescale.

May we tentatively HOPE that they get the livery right on this one!

I regret to advise that Noel Playfair, known to very many of us, died suddenly today. May he rest in peace. Noel has been driving on NIR for decades, and was the senior (and often, only) NIR steam driver for the last thirty years or so. Noel will be a massive, massive loss to the railway, his family, and NIR main line steam operations.

Mud-fired steam loco, anyone?

That’s outstanding! Re. architects drawings - very often, even if a building was strictly built to them, during the life of the building doors or windows might get bricked up due to internal alterations, or new ones might appear where there wasn’t one for the last 40 years. So it’s still quite possible that your model WAS as you’ve made it - originally but not laterally.

All very valid comments above; the takeaway, though, is the mixture of apathy, lack of detailed knowledge, and actual aversion to railway development within the NTA. They make these announcements every few years - wasn't there one a while bacjk from some local politician in the west which stopped just a little short of claiming that the so-called "WRC" was going to fully reopen. Six-times-daily 36-wagon double-decker freight with electric locos to Swinford, Glockamorra or Manorhamilton, anyone? Hate to be the cynic, but while ALL of the above-suggested are VERY valid and sensible ideas, the rate that our planning authorities move at, the pandering to local gombeen men and those who happliy annex parts of the railway while whinging about drivers seeing into their houses, and the shrill, sanctimonious antics of the lycra-greenway brigade, are all obstacles enough with out the eh, "assistance" of the NTA. What is needed is a fleet of bulldozers, and an exemption for all matters pertaining to planning permission, or any other type of permission, plus compulsory purchase orders dished out where needed and when needed - and no obligation for IE to have any "enquiries" or "local consultation" with "stakeholders". Just DO it. It's in the national interest. In all, I will believe it when I see it. And I do not think that I will live that long. It took 40 years to reopen the Harcourt Street line. Not a sniff of a train to Navan, or how to overcome the car-park industry which doesn't like the idea of trains into Dublin Airport.

Ah, now, Gorey is OK. I know a very nice person from near there…. (I’ve to get me bus now)

For GSR the above is a bit on the light side - the shade they (PLUS the NCC & BCDR, as it happens; I've seen actual examples of all three!) used was as close to 1920s LMS maroon as makes no odds. Any English supplier of authentic pre-British Railways colours could presumably supply that? By the way - Galteemore - what IS that absolute beauty of a coach?

Pretty much what it looks like, Pete - a pinkish colour with a brownish tint - much of which would be brake dust. While railways all went to great lengths to keep paint colours uniform (despite many urban legends about a million shades of this or that), fading would be different in every case. Weather, sunlight, intensive use, storage at different distances from smoke-producing loco sheds, etc etc, all played a part. A vehicle might be more work-worn on one side than the other….. So if you wanted to model something that looks that much worn, I’d go for some mix of a beige colour and a light red, maybe. Experiment on card first! You’ll note that the green on the other coach is almost as bad. The C & L had no carriage shed by this stage and everything spent 100% of its time outdoors in the rain!