jhb171achill

His analysis is not without some degree of foundation, but that particular description of what he suggests was actual policy - official or unofficial - is simplistic and exaggerated to a pretty inaccurate degree. See Mayner’s detailed analysis in his answer….. If ever there was an anti-rail mode in government, despite the greens being in government it’s more recently, with some quite vehement anti-rail lobbies within the NTA.

Is NSFW an American or Australian railway company........?

Worth remembering too that the length will have changed over the years, so the length you want depends on the era you’re modelling.

Always thought that the exteriors of the two stations on that line looked way more impressive than the interiors! The platform side at Waterford (Manor) was a proper eyesore.......... That van is a purpose-built breakdown van, probably dating from some time 1895-1905. (Brown, for modellers!)

Ah! “Thomas”-style stuff….. looks interesting!

A 9F in maroon? That would look quite interesting...........

You'd need the entire fleet of 21 x 071s (yes, including the NIR ones!) to haul some USA goods (sorry, "freight") trains!

“Off with ‘is head! Off with ‘is head!”

There needs to be a model priest with confessional “customer” with a soundtrack. ”Father, forgive me, for I have sinned”. ”Yeah…. I saw it on Facebook……”

Even ordinary local services could have them occasionally, maybe one mixed in with other bogie stock, until the very early 60s. They were in general use in Ireland for decades after Britain got rid of them; right until closure in 1950, the entire BCDR system had little more than about a dozen bogies - six-wheelers were absolutely standard. CIE used them on branches, main line locals anc excursions - and for extra short-notice accommodation on main lines, until the very start of 1963. In suburban use, the Harcourt St line and the Cork-Cobh line had them until the end, while you’d get one occasionally tagged onto the back of a modern AEC railcar set on the Cork - Tralee and Cork - Bantry services, and even Dublin - Rosslare, into the early 60s.

“Cultivate patience”…… wow. That plus your other stuff is absolutely outstanding. By far the best “N” scale stuff I’ve ever seen anywhere. Makes you think, too - that was a very substantial station for a place the size of Belturbet, even allowing for the C & L connection.

Me too - I had a holiday job on the FR in the summer when I was 17…. almost fifty years ago….happy days.

No, there were no wagons with any advertising as such, nor coaches. However, the GNR reserved a small number of wagons, both the bogie grain wagons and some four-wheelers, for this traffic, and wrote “GUINNESS” on the sides, alongside the “G N” and wagon number. The MGWR had “GUINNESS” written on a small number of 4-wheel vans in the early 20th century.

Ah - kits….. ok. I mis-read it, thinking they’re RTR. Interesting, all the same - anything new is to be welcomed.

Very interesting stuff - particularly the Pullman. With only a few of them, only on two routes, and never more than one in a train, it’s a surprising but interesting choice. Will it be in GSR maroon or CIE green?

Genuinely, the amount of creative play time I had with that stuff as a nipper was unbelievable. One of the best inventions ever as a children’s toy - or hobby.

……Kerry?

Ah, well THAT is quite another story!

Whaaaat!!! No four-part series of some gricer in England walking round a table prattling on about stuff, while we wonder which episode (usually about 27 hours into it), we will stop having to listen to the bore, and SEE the thing running round a layout at something over a scale 4 mph! You know what really irritates me? People talking about "walking round" an item you could put in your pocket, as if it's a (real) 55 seater bus in a showroom...... take the damn thing out of its box and put it on the track. Switch on power. 4 second video.

Superb! They look excellent. And - those GNR tanks did operate on the DNGR once the GNR took on day to day running of it!

When I go to certain late evening premises and look at certain members of staff and raise one finger, they bring me a pint of Guinness and ask me for money................

That stuff is in remarkably good condition!

I got a circle of 0 gauge track, a crude push-along wooden locomotive, a cattle wagon, open wagon and guards van……

Curiously, those things were technically "silver" (= unpainted) until, double-stacked for beet in the 1990s, when like everything else by then, they became brown. As built, they had standard grey chassis, like any grey wagon. Earliest examples also had a tiny stencilled flying snail on the chassis. As life went on, both the grey chassis and unpainted corrugated body became a homogenous dirt colour. Only in the last few years before they were double-stacked, the chassis (only) of a small number of them was crudely painted brown, sometimes just a patch behind a painted number. While single height, none of the bodies were ever painted any colour.

In some respects, Stevie. It's fine for roughly pre-1960. They started painting them a slightly lighter shade about 1960-ish. The H vans and PalVans were lighter, and any older vans painted in the first few years of the 60s, likewise. But in all reality, the weathering and brake dust tended to overshadow the difference.