jhb171achill

Indeed. Even worse in the days of the 4 and 6 wheeled tin vans - whether in silver, green or black'n'tan livery they always seemed to be FILTHY whereas passenger-carryong stock was kept remarkably clean.

I must say I like the SF BR genny in RPSI maroon.........

Tin vans have a much greater and wider field of application than many realise. As well as being tagged onto ALL diesel hauled passenger trains in the 1960s, they also were to be seen (when new (and silver)) on the back of steam trains, both branch and main line. They made occasional appearances in goods trains carrying parcels and newspapers, especially on the Dublin - Dundalk - Portadown - Belfast goods. Until 1965 they were to be seen unhooked at Portadown awaiting hitching to either the Derry (Foyle Road) goods, or stuck on the back of an AEC set heading that way. On CIE main lines, they were often seen on the back of AEC sets too, carrying parcels. As well as THAT, mail trains could often have up to half a dozen of them, right from the late 50s through to the mid 1970s. I saw a photo (might be one of Barry C's unpublished ones) of a Cork down mail some time early 70s, with the first four vehicles being tin vans, then a TPO and some other stuff, and another couple of tin vans at the end. Note: if buying Silverfox ones, tell him to put a silver roof on it - he makes them BLACK, which is wrong for the silver livery - but correct for all other stock - which he puts light grey roofs on! We BADLY need an IRM range of these things....

I have to say that in terms of pre-1960 models, if the posts here are any indication, or the number of enquiries I get from modellers a third my age in some cases about what ran with what back then, the interest levels and knowledge base in the “grey’n’green” era seems to be rising over the past few years - small though it is in the grand scheme of railway modelling. The recent efforts of Messrs. IRM, Provincial, JM & OO will no doubt have helped immensely. One doesn’t have to remember this era personally. It is an era which is by far my personal biggest interest, and that of many younger than me, but my very earliest railway memories are from about 1961.

Airfixfan may well comment on this too - but given the location of Donegal Railway Heritage Centre, and the cross-border residencies of several of the volunteers involved, it would be perfectly feasible for them to arrange for it to be posted either in Donegal (Irish / EU postage) or in the north (Brexitsterling postage).

Could be off a traction engine.

No…… nothing brown ever had the snail, other than a couple of (untypical) breakdown vans which were painted brown for the PW Dept.; one featured in many lifting trains in the late fifties. The “flying snail” was replaced by the “broken wheel” in 1963, but all forms of routine goods wagons - be they goods vans, guards vans, cattle or open wagons - remained grey until 1970, with many never becoming brown. A 1960s scene will have nothing but grey wagons; some will still have snails, but any repainted 1963-70 will have CIE roundels.

Can we put some rats into the 26, 28 and 29 class railcars?

Some of the other small companies taken over by the GSWR a long time ago were the same - old and very inferior passenger stock, which the GSWR dumped almost instantly - along with their wagons.

I would think that those "uncomfortable" flat-sided coaches would have been withdrawn just about as immediately as the GSWR could manage it. I've never heard of any getting GSWR livery - but more importantly, Inchicore was churning out brand new bogies by this stage, so there was a very good stock of quite new 6-wheelers drifting about to replace them.

Mystery solved then; the yellow posts for invasive weed, and the thing on the platform sides to measure the heights of rats in relation to rail level...................

Anyone know what these things on platform faces are for? They’re to be seen, all with different numbers and settings, all over the place. Also, at various spots on NIR, especially between Central and City Hospital, there are dozens of roughly metre-high wooden posts on embankment sides, painted in a very bright day-glo yellow. Same question….

Once the new 00 Works J15s are about the place, and the Hattons six-wheelers, the "grey'n'green" (and silver) era will get a well-deserved further boost. In an era where all trains consist of a set of entirely the same vehicles, and there are but two types of locomotive on the island, the 1950-70 period is surely the most interesting in railway history.............

He's been too long in a small hostelry up in Buckna or Bollyclurrr, so he has, with Cushendall's best poitín, so it is.

Superb!!!!

In all reality you’ll see little there which isn’t here too - if anything - in terms of Irish railways. For those into British or worldwide stuff, especially the more specialised aspects of it, there is much of interest, though.

I rarely look at it. IRM is the “go-to” for matters Irish; quite possibly RMweb serves better those who choose to model the 7ft 5 and seventeen-nineteenths gauge Arbroath to Pembrokeshire line in 1852. (Not 1853, very obviously)….. My understanding is that it is administered by a small number of unpaid individuals; if that is the case (and I can’t verify or deny it), one might understand; however, the ads are excsessive, all over the place, and annoying to the most patient. I made a comment to this nature on it one time and they barred me straight away! They did, to be fair, re-instate me - though I see little content there that isn’t here too. Life’s too short. I’ll stick with boring people here, rather than both of them!

Perfect; thus, what the brexitstanners call a "DMU" is hereby and henceforth officially a "CR".....

Some interesting stuff there, all right. (I wasn't aware that Ballyshannon was in "Britain", though!)

Oh no, just curious! I'm all for retro stuff, as you might imagine! And yes, I'd love to see an NIR railcar in UTA green or GNR navy & cream; and an ICR or 201 in older CIE dark green, complete with pale green lining and "snails"................

Looks real, all right. Yes, a rarity among "genuine" forgeries..........

Something I knew about but never dreamed there was a picture of! Good find...............

I still find it hard to understand why Translink persist with applying the old NIR symbol to these three locos; NIR still exists as a legal entity, of course, but the entire railway has used the overall Translink brand as its sole publicity and marketing label since 1996 - that entity now, in itself, being into its third logo. The equivalent is CIE still putting a MGWR or GSWR crest on something on rails, well into the 1950s, or a Craven or 071 being painted in CIE green with a flying snail in 1987.......

It's on my long-term "To Do" list, hopefully.........

Various types of central buffer are in use all over the world, and are actually in the majority. On narrow gauges - including NZ’s “Cape” gauge, plus the Irish narrow gauge, they g FG institute the vast, vast majority; 100% of Irish narrow gauge lines had central “chopper” couplings as above. The loco shown was one of a pair, the second-strongest narrow gauge locos in Ireland.