jhb171achill

Not just a "belief"; it's fact! The CDR never painted domes black on red locomotives. Like many another livery faux-pas, this is a product of a lack of accurate research at Whitehead; we've TWO of these things with black domes now.....! Mind you, not just the domes, but often the tops of the water tanks, the cab front and rear, and most of the boiler ended up caked with so much soot and general gunk that it might as well have been painted black - same with bright blue GNR locos. I'd say if someone painted 171's or 85's dome black, there would be war...... Many CIE green or grey engines, similarly, ended their days so filthy that they could have been painted lime green, tartan and flourescent pink for all anyone could see..... Rant over; to Ernie's latest pictures - absolutely SUPERB stuff. That's standard GNR 3rd class material of the day. The C&L coach 1L has what was then standard CIE 3rd / 2nd class.

True, indeed. Maybe we should be scanning what British chassis might suit something Irish...........

As 00 Works showed with their CBSCR 0.6.0ST, obscurity is quite possible! There can be few prototypes more obscure than these, but it sold out I believe. As for the first IRM one, and the foregoing being the case, it could be absolutely anything under the sun. Availability and suitability of the internal gubbins may have a big say in determining what it will be.

Not even that - his “model” is a bluish grey colour!

Achill bogie please!

Priceless stuff

Great to see Brookhall again, and Kieran Lagan's and Alan's excellent BCDR locomotives. (Paddy - I was there on Saturday!)

Great work by the IRRS in digitising this old early colour footage......

I believe there’s a whole array of bustitutions planned.

Time for a “last fling” into Uncentral Station soon, methinks!

IRM - will it be possible to get these singly?

They did use a somewhat darker red initially - not a great deal darker, but a bit. A cherry red rather than British letter box red. The early railcars were a very dark purply-plum colour, later repainted red and cream, but this yoke was red and cream from new., as was its sister.

There's a pencilled date of that on the underneath, but I am unsure if Fry wrote that or not. Generall he put his dates as painted-on "makers plates", with something like "C L F 11.42" on them ("11.42" meaning, for example, November 1942). Naturally, these cars didn't have such plates, of course, so the above is not an exact science!

I’ll actually have a look at the model today to check what year he made it, out of interest.

Good stuff! That's saved me doing that tomorrow! However - David - if there is any angle you WANT me to take a pic of, let me know as i will be in there anyway at some stage tomorrow.

Upholstery in those was either a very dark navy blue or black. Driver's uniforms were also a very dark colour - probably black or very dark grey. I'll have a look at the model tomorrow to see what shape the fuel tank is, and post pics.

Never knew it was autonomous customs-wise etc..... bit like the Isle of Man, which is neither part of the UK, nor part of Britain, and when Britain WAS in the EU, they still never were................

There's the clue. What steam loco hauled Punjana containers? (Gotta be a jeep or a midland something)

Looks like one of the digitised IRRS archive films! Can we say that Tony Price or Joe St Leger took it in 1964 on an IRRS "outing" as they are (quaintly!) called.............

This one is small, but Bangor is far away............

That's the week in 1957 that they borrowed one from the UTA to assist with a busy time...........

They - plus the SSM kits shown above - are a perfect match for the J15!

Outstanding as always! Love the scruffy looking roof - the upholstery in those compartments will have a very musty smell (I remember this in old UTA steam-era coaches!)

That really is absolutely top class! I spent all of yesterday with friend Barry Carse going through severl thousand pictures with a view to organising our next book. many of these were taken in the 1970s and 80s - locomotives usually clean, but some absolutely filthy. By the 1990s, those facing retirement - first the "A"'s, then the 121 / 141 / 181s - were to be seen in an absolutely atrocious state of filth, and with badly faded paintwork and rust too. Plenty of prototypical scope for a "weatherer"!

Good spot. Yes, I'd say that's what it is.