jhb171achill

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!

Shame - never used it myself but was aware of several folks who found it extremely useful.

S T U N N I N G !!!

Fascinating array of weatherbeaten rolling stock! Like the nameplates, and their red (or black!) backgrounds; some did, some didn’t!

Looks superb! (The layout, not the emojis!) Dunno how they appeared....... That two-plank wagon looks like a BCDR one - or possibly one of the very rare examples of genuine private owners in Ireland - in this case an East Downshire one, possibly. The gunpowder van - now THAT is a new one to me, and a rare one! Excellent spot. Regarding the UTA's wagon "livery"; yes - such was the state of their wagons that any attempt at reality pretty much completely excludes anything clean, pristine or tidy. Bare wood, overpainted "G"s and "N"s on some vans, clumsy renumbering - normal. The ballast - it is actually there, but has been trampled into tghe ground and possibly not properly been renewed since BCR times! There ye go! Emojis gone...........

They'd better not let the NTA hear of this, or they will close the DSER south of Greystones within the week, and build seventeen sewage works and motorways across the railway formation, after removing all the bridges and selling the land to farmers..........

An excellent plan indeed!