jhb171achill

Very good cause!

Absolutely top class work as always! More please!

Lineside scenery formation also got a start yesterday using DAS clay. Earthen banks for fencing to be based in, or to simulate overgrown stone walls, in place, plus traces of overgrown old potato “lazy bed” ridges.

“Ye hear they’re talking about closing this line again! They’re saying it’s losing over three thousand pounds a year!” ”Sure they’ll never close THIS line as long as PJ’s brother is elected in Leinster House! Sure he got the harbour extended too….” ”They could have done with PJ’s brother over in Kenmare last year, sure they’re lifting that now….”

Thanks to a visit from my Electronically-Learned friend yesterday, considerable progress was made with points, sidings and wiring. In the top picture, the two vans are sitting in what will be the up and down passenger platforms. Goods loop to the left and loco yard in the distance. The yellow pliers is where the station building will be. This will either be a stone one of GSWR parentage, or a tin sheet one, like those found on the Valentia Harbour or Kenmare branches. Haven’t decided yet…. Bottom view is the approach to the station from the other (branch) end.

A rare visitor to Dugort tonight. As the 1950s fade away, the few remaining steam engines in the area can appear just about anywhere, usually when a Crossley has failed, or on the day before Castletown cattle & sheep fair.

It’s 1964 and B165 shunts the incoming goods, while another member of the class prepares to leave in the background with the up goods.

Summer 1962, and J15 No. 109 shunts the lifting train into the disused loco shed road at Dugort Harbour for the night. When the bogie flat with the winch comes down tomorrow, they’ll start on the last five miles of the Drumbane branch which closed in some years ago.

Outstanding!!! How did you do that cast-iron ornamental table top?

I think 9ft was standard throughout Ireland.

Using a bogie for a shunter is exactly what modellers might do!

Thought so!

You obviously don't know about Eeyore's past..... and the strange business with the honeypot.

“….so we got to Headford Junction an’ I opened the door of the van on the branch train, an’ nearly jumped outta me skin - out he jumped from behind a few sacks of grain an’ ran away like all the divils in hell were after him…..guards are still looking for him….” ”This oul turf is as damp as hell…..ye’ll have to let it dry out.…”

BEGRUDGERY, SMALL-TOWN IRELAND, 1964..... "Would ye look at yer wan, off to buy high-heel shoes in Cork. I tell ye this - I remember her oul fella holdin' the Marquis' horse for a penny when he came into town, and that was only just after the Tans left, and me only in the railway a few weeks. Dirt poor, the lot of 'em were....."

Nor have I.....certainly not in GSR days. By CIE days Broadstone was just a loco depot anyway.

That's putting me in the mind to go and see U2 or the Blades in McGonagles or the Baggot Inn tonight.......... a pint's gone up to 60p, though. Need to check if I can afford that plus the bus fare.

"Negro" and "Sambo", un-PC as they are today, kept their names. These shunted in Waterford and Inchicore. There was the unofficial "Pat" at the coaling stage in Cork, and both "Argadeen" and "St Molaga" kept their names until withdrawal.

This entire thing is a brilliant concept from start to finish. I have going held that Westport Quay, either in its actual form or as a "tweaked" version, for example with a passenger service o loco shed added, makes probably the most perfect prototype for a small terminus layout; in joint first place with Fintona and Courtmacsherry. Most of the pics above are out of "Rails to Achill"; while this book was about the Achill branch specifically, I felt at the time that inclusion of the Quay line was of connected interest, hence a chapter on that line alone. The one taken from the sea, looking in at a boat with wagons outside the mill behind not is a picture I have never seen before, hence my earlier comment that I had yet to see any pics of the mill area. So that one is of considerable interest to me. The wagons seen are standard MGWR soft-tops, a kit for which is available. Almost all of the traffic down the quay line would have been covered vans of this or other sorts. On many shunting-type or terminus layouts, realism would require clearly laden wagons going one way, empty the other. For this reason, a layout where the bulk (or all) of the traffic is covered vans, you dunno whether there's anything in them or not, so they are ideal! Open wagons, for example a beet location, won't look real if they have permanent loads in them, or are permanently empty! Another reason why any sort of mill is deal as a prototype. To recap on then history of the line, the main line into Westport opened in 1866, with the Quay extension following in 1874. It was just under 2 miles long. In 1880 a seasonal passenger service was provided as a result of encouragement by the Harbour Commissioners; not so much to access shipping, as such connections might usually have ben assumed to be - but for "bathers". A few years later there was a year-round service. This did not last, as by 1889 it was seasonal again. In November 1901 passenger services were abandoned for good. It is believed that the branch train was a single six-wheel brake third. In 1897, then timetable for which has survived, there were two return passenger trains per day plus one mixed from Westport to the Quay, and in the uphill direction (most of this at 1:65) one passenger, one mixed and one goods-only; this latter, plus the downhill mixed, were subject to a footnote in operational instructions to the effect that if goods (mill) traffic warranted it, more then one run could be made. Journey time was generally 5-10 minutes, though the 3pm downhill mixed was allowed 15 minutes due too the necessity to pin down wagon brakes. After 1901, two scheduled goods trains per day operated, though it is almost certain that when quiet, both did not operate, while at busy times extra runs were made. In 1931 the branch lost its full signalling and the small cabin, details of which have not survived, but likely to be like the one at Loughrea, was removed. In 1943, even the scheduled goods trains stopped and afterwards goods was run on then basis of when required. By the late 1960s, little went down the branch except a tank wagon of diesel to the place where they kept and refuelled the local CIE bus. Occasional traffic, however, was to be seen into the 1970s. By this stage the old cattle bank was derelict, and the station building locked up for many years. The actual quay sidings beyond the station limit were derelict by 1964, and partly removed by 1969/70.Around 1978, other pieces of track at the Quay were being dismantled and the rest of the line was lifted in the early 1980s. The photos reproduced above, out of the "Rails to Achill" book, were taken by Barry Carse in 1975, the last year that much use appears to have been made of the line. Little traversed it after that, and certainly nothing on a regular basis. There were TWO mills down there - Halls & Polloxfens. MGWR working instructions stipulated that locomotives were not allowed along the quay to Hall's Mill - horses had to be used there. The larger one at least was built about 1910 hence its absence in one of the photos above. My own Dugort Harbour - if you look at it - is largely inspired by this place. In its planning stage, the idea was that it would be an exact replica, albeit with a passenger service still in the 1960s. However, lack of MGWR locos, rolling stock or anything else at that time pushed me south, as kits of GSWR 6-wheelers were (and are) available. I am glad to say that some MGWR stuff is now available, thanks to SSM and JM Design; I await IRM's all-singing, all-dancing MGWR six-wheelers some day! I'm looking forward to seeing the "Inglenook" develop!

After a sun shower, a few wagons are seen in bright sunlight in the goods yard, while the set for tomorrow’s passenger train sits at the old cattle dock, having been shunted out of the way for a special to Dublin for the final.

You know I won’t sing culchie & western songs - that’s why……

The bottom of the barrel is well and truly scraped! Seriously - everyone who can should try to support this venture. Most of our railway heritage groups have suffered very extremely due to covid lockdowns, several to a point which could place their existence in doubt.

Only seeing this now! Excellent stuff!

That’s a seriously impressive collection of wagons!

Not a bad oul start, to be fair!