jhb171achill

The 15:40 from Achill to Claremorris departs from Newport in the last light of day on 11th November 1973.

Hi I would perhaps go into Marks Models in Dublin (Hawkins St) and ask for a decent quality train set which would fit the bill.

Very interesting post, Steve. Why it was built to a length which was non-standard not only to the GNR, but to every other railway too,is something I would have no notion about. However, I would discount any idea that it was built using railcar / railbus parts or chassis, or as something specifically to be hauled by one. It would be too heavy, despite its length, for a glorified road bus to haul. It might well have been built for that branch, though. My best guess would be that somebody decided that a full-length coach was an extravagance, as passenger traffic on this picturesque little branch line never amounted to that much.

Lishen, boi. Ye are in Caaaarkk now, so to hill wit dem ****** jackeens, ok? Ye are nowww in DE REEEEEEEEEL KAPPITAL, boi!!!!

Very good thinking. Sourcing suitable short wheelbase bogies shouldn’t be a problem - with the double footboards hiding them, the “two-foot rule” may be liberally applied. Many of the CBSCR “shorties” Mayner mentions were culled in early CIE days, but sat about for years in that museum graveyard that was Albert Quay. They were replaced by (I think five) ancient GSWR bogies of 35-40ft long, for excursions on the T & C. These feature in many pics at Courtmacsherry, even behind “C” class diesels, or double-headed 90 + 100. These yokes, being ex-GSWR, are even MORE suitable for the Hattons stock, as the GSWR is by a very long way the closest design to them! Latterly, with Cork’s inevitable sense of independence (!), they were in a non-standard livery - all-over DARK green, with no lining or snails, just a number. This seems to have been a Republic of Glanmire application to secondary stock, boy, as some ex-CBSC stock was similarly treated, boy.

This is a truly exceptional piece of work.

Yes, that's the "stripey" one I referred to.

As a schoolboy I watched it, without the sense that more mature-aged enthusiasts had of the extent to which its days were numbered. To me, it was just another steam train. Filthy locomotive, dark green carriages heading somewhere far-distant and exotic, like Dungannon......

Shunting at Dugort on a sunny day in 1966….. Cloudy the following day as B141 brings the morning passenger train across the remote Lettermore Bog en route to Castletown West. On the approach, a recently withdrawn GSWR bogie rests in the old cattle siding. IMG_5539.MOV

Looks great, Paddy! I like the way you've enhanced the trackwork and associated vegetation.

1958, and 472 eases away with the mid day mixed to Castletown West.

With a dead donkey logo in it…

Yeah, but I’m finished in the loo now. I did open the window.

Indeed; forgot about the two greens! That’s 12 liveries, then.

Even the ones with no teeth, one leg, extreme flatulence and hygiene issues?

You've won a 5-week luxury holiday for seven in the Maldives! Add to the above: 10. CIE green with stripes on top of the front of the roof, and 11. GNR navy / cream with UTA numbers and logo. Both 2 & 11 were both limited to very few vehicles, and also very short-lived.

For ten points and a bonus prize, and a chance to win a luxury Porsche, how many livery variants can you identify for AEC railcars? (There are 11......) Neither the first nor the last instance of official drawings differing from the eventual real thing!

Here’s hoping!

Yes A very pale green.

Indeed - that light grey roof was a one-off variation, like the short-lived "whiskerless" green you've illustrated, but confined to the UTA. Everything CIE, be it in green or black'n'tan, always had black roofs.

That's EXACTLY what Irish carriages were like back when they WERE four-wheeled. the almost total differences with the English ones seen in Mayner's post above are obvious.

Worsley would sell a lot more if they would provide illustrations of each etch. Many people don't know what the various things offered look like, and few would be bothered researching each and every one to get a picture! ...........and BOY, were they NOISY!

I'd say so, yes; and this also represents well what would be the ultimate general type of design for Irish 4-wheelers, just before a similar stage-coach-inspired body design was slightly lengthened to produce the first 6-wheelers. The livery, by the way, is believed to have been a very dark maroon.

Is that thing DCC fitted? Mind you, a 121 could just about have hauled six-wheelers on a Youghal excursion - but only in the year 1962! However, the loco would have been grey and yellow, and the six-wheelers green. In terms of the black'n'tan full brake, one at least DID run behind 121s in both the grey and yellow, and black and tan liveries - but not, obviously, the supertrain version.

Latterly the CMDR had straight-sided six-wheelers. But any railway which operated before 1875 or so would originally have had 4-wheelers; however, as you suggest, they were very long gone from passenger use by the 1940s. A few just survived because they got stuffed into some shed or down some weed-grown siding and forgotten about; others were used as mobile tool sheds and the like in place such as Limerick Works, Waterford Yard, or Inchicore.