jhb171achill

Very much so. Throughout the lives of these coaches, they’re a modellers dream because they ran with, and among, ALL types of genny vans, mail coaches, diners and parcels brakes, with the exception of air-con stock from 1972 onwards. Therefore they are compatible with all of the following, until the last of them were withdrawn (dates in brackets): Six-wheelers (until 1963) Six-wheel full passenger brake (1969) Bredins (mid 1970s) ALL types of laminates (1986) Cravens Wooden-bodied bogie stock (c. 1972) Ex-GNR stock taken into CIE stock (c. 1970 I think) ALL genny vans; both the 4 & 6 wheeled tin vans, Dundalk and BR types.

That late - a set of two on Waterford - Limerick. One of them - I think - was Downpatrick’s No. 1944.

“Let’s get the rest of these loaded an’ then get the kettle on…..” ”Did ye get the Rich Teas?” ”Paddy’s got Mikado biscuits - ever tasted those?”

When you’ve a fair day and a large consignment of wagons for the mill, an “A” is yer only man. Here, one very busy day in 1964, A55 is doing honours. There hasn’t been a goods this long on the branch for years. Here, A55 slows from a breakneck 20 mph to little more than walking pace as it comes into Castletown off Carrowmore Bog. IMG_7209.mov

“Ye hear all that stuff about Dan?” ”Ah, listen. He’s the biggest bluffer in Kerry. Not one word of it’s true” ”Well Patsy Mike says he heard him in O’Donoghues…..” ”Sure don’t ye know he’s an even BIGGER bluffer….”

Absolutely stunning workmanship. That weathering (a favourite theme of mine!) is just outstanding.

Or you could have said "Yes, please!"...........

MIGHTY stuff there, Owen. I'll be looking for a few!

Wow! I remember those.............! Very much a relic of the "Troubles" - you'd get onto a bus with hard plastic seats and a "civilian searcher" might get on and go through your stuff..... or the RUC or British troops...... and Horslips were playing in the Ulster Hall, or the Undertones in the Pound.............

Could be - several old 4.4.0s were banished there too!

Was thinking that, yes - though after the Jeeps were delivered, these locos were apparently much less seen anywhere other than the Larne line. According to the late Harold Houston of the NCC, they "couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding", so by 1950 (according to the late Nelson Poots plus jhb171Snr) were primarily found between York Road and Larne. So while I'd agree it's Ballymena, it begs the question what the loco is doing there.......probably a local passenger from Belfast. The Midland TPO is an interesting one too. I would agree that it's possibly a "cripple" normally used on the up Sligo Day Mail (as suggested above) en route to Limerick for attention. It's tempting to guess it's run a hot box and been shunted off there, As per Mayner's opinion too, I can't see one of those in use on the Sligo - Limerick line - in fact I'd lay money on it that they didn't. None of the stations had snatchers for one thing. When I travelled over that line (albeit from Ballina to Limerick, not from Sligo), mail bags were being loaded and unloaded by hand into and from the tin van on the train at Claremorris.

Correct. The UTA painted some in a light grey, dark green and (bits of) red between the GNR takeover and the mid-60s; mostly on the Derry Road, plus a few on the NCC (Antrim and Ballymoney, in particular, surviving well into NIR times). CIE, for their part, either left stations unpainted, as they had been in GNR days, on lines they had no future for, such as Oldcastle and the Dundalk - Clones - Cavan section. In other cases, they got the then-standard scheme of green (their green) and cream if repainted between 1958 and the very early 60s, but after the modernisation plan from the mid-60s they got the quite attractive and generally well-kept scheme which many of us will recall, of several shades of grey, white and black. I'm guessing, by the green, that this one might possibly be CIE.......... but who's to say it's not faded UTA! As always, this will be a fascinating thread as the story unfolds.

One of the components is not called a "crank" pin for nothing.................

Can you get real ones too? It's just that I do be gettin' hungry at these things.............

Wow - that is spectacular! The level of detail is amazing!

I'm largely on babysitting duty this weekend, Owen - but I may make it on Saturday.......

I blame @Niles Maybe he thinks I spiked his drink in Caaark, boy, the other week...........

Amazing stuff, Owen - very well done!

Looking GOOD!!!

This is outstanding stuff. Gawwd bless your eyesight!

I wanted to see this but wasn't able to log on for some reason........

I think the Macroom ones were six-wheeled, so might have been 28-30ft.....

I think only one was black, and one or two green; the rest ended their days grey. The shade of CBSCR green is unknown, though is thought by some to have not been unlike the olivey-green shade that was used at one time by the Southern Railway of England.

Ah! Got ya. I can’t answer as per the actual code, but it looks as if a standard buffer beam red would do.

How do you mean?............. explain?