jhb171achill

Yes, it is in store at Cultra, I believe.

I remember seeing that one! He told Senior that once he died, he didn't want his engines to be "pulled by children along the pavement with a string".........!

That's what they get for putting a finescale model on old Super 4 track! The cork underlay under the track has warped too - wrong glue, obviously, or water damage to the baseboard.

I should have added that the all-grey livery with central maroon band, as used on the sets which went south for a while, was again the same shade. I remember comparing a newly-painted one with a pretty clean 80 class power car in maroon & blue at York Road - definitely same paint.

No details whatsoever have survived about their coaches and wagon stock, though given the norms of the time the latter are likely to have been grey or black. As with many early railways, given that the passenger clientele were to some extent illiterate, or only able to read the Irish language (so studiously avoided by railway companies!), it is possible that like the early BCDR, D & KR, W & TR, etc., the carriages were colour-coded according to class. However, no confirmation of this appears to be extant. As far as the locomotives are concerned, they had two second-hand Ulster Railway locos at one stage, which like most of their own stock proved to be very unsatisfactory, but that's another story - so these two would have been in the Ulster's brick red livery, probably something like the 1950s / early 60s Isle of Man loco red. It is probable that their own locomotives were a green colour of some sort, probably a dark emerald green, as this was then common. I am unaware of any other information regarding this company.

To use British Rail carriage maroon would not at all be off the mark. Having seen both at close quarters many times, both in pristine and worn / weathered / grubby states, to my eye they're as close as anything. It is worth adding that the original maroon used by NIR in their maroon / light grey livery, then their all-maroon hauled coach livery, followed by their "Enterprise" / 70 / 80 class maroon & blue - was all the same shade.

That’s very much the best way to go!

Interested in the “A” class story - a couple of trial runs, yes, but West Cork experts have always assured me that none ever went there “in traffic” at all…. Nice idea, though!

Cyril Fry managed to produce a model of something which had yet to enter traffic, as he got the drawings from Inchicore as it was under construction…..(the Drumm train). Just sayin’….

Summer 1960 sees the last Bandon saddle tank in traffic drift into Dugort Harbour with the goods. Or…. With this new-fangled Kodachrome colour film…..

The weathered version.

Quite a few wagon relics still kickin' about in Limerick..........

I’d say so, yes. C&L vans probably weren’t high in CIE’s priority list then!

That does look like 16, indeed. At the end, no two of these vans were alike - every survivor had differences to its panelling. Thus, a model of a specific one is going to differ in at least some detail from any other!

I’ll be on the railway embankment under the tree, just to the left of the old washing machine, tyres and bent supermarket trolley.

Madam’s going to Wales tomorrow via train to Rosslare, which is why I asked! Thanks!

Now that’s a suitably civilised breakfast!

A bit late in the day to ask, but will this affect train services tomorrow?

THAT's not catering - there are BEANS on it!!! The horrors.........! Yes, but they did put extra air bubbles in the Aero to compensate.........

These are obviously plain canvas and quite new. Usually they were dark grey or black, as they were coated with some sort of waterproof stuff, and impregnated with coal smoke!

The IE catering staff were almost all foreign, mostly Polish. I knew quite a few of them and I’m aware many went home during the covid. I daresay this is what’s afflicting the caterers.

MORE "edgy" than Strabane? ...ye gawds...........!

One of Ireland's least known but best modellers ever in live steam, was the late A R W Montgomery of Bray, Co Wicklow. Alexander Randal William Montgomery was born in Dalkey in 1878 and lived in Bray, and was a very close friend of both jhbSenior and H J A Beaumont (my grandfather). He died in Bray in 1966. A highly accomplished modeller, he sought engineering drawings from my grandfather in the Drawing Office in Inchicore, and built a number of 3.5 inch gauge live steam locomotives, all in full working order except for the models of GSWR No. 36 and B1a 800 "Maedb", which he never fully completed. When he was getting on in years he gave his models to jhbSenior (don't I wish I had ended up with them!), who in turn donated the lot to the then-fledgling Ulster Transport Museum, where they were displayed in Witham Street. One more is believed to be hidden in the catacombs in the National Museum in Kildare Street. The models were finished to an exceptionally high standard - I remember seeing them in his house in the very early 1960s. I'm not sure they're on display these days in Cultra - does anyone know? If not, they ought to be. The one in Kildare Street also needs to be rescued. Here are the last two models he made, photos taken by Senior about 1962 at our house.

Had a look at their 4mm stuff too. The goods van they list at the top of their list would do as an old GSWR type if it had vertically planked plain doors.

Looks great - the off-centre door does tend to “disqualify” it, though. Having said that, lovely model and I know what you mean…. Looking at Slaters’ website now, I don’t see anything 4mm - seems all 7mm? Plus - minimum order for Ireland seems to €140!!!! Back to fleabay….