jhb171achill

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.

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!