jhb171achill

Excellent job!

If I had a euro for every every nonsense urban myth I’ve ever heard that such-and-such a railway was “lifted for the war effort” (north AND south!) or “dropped on Hitler”, I’d be a billionaire. The one and only line which was deliberately dismantled with this purpose in mind, soon after it closed in 1942, was the Clogher Valley. Certainly not like Patterson to propagate urban myths, but there ye go. Senior reported a small section of the Cushendall line as being navigable in the very early 40s. He travelled on the footplate of a light engine up to Cargan or Rathkenny or somewhere like that at about that time - though since I’m unaware of the date, it’s possible that jaunt was a few years earlier. The mission was to collect an empty wagon from a dairy siding somewhere.

Indeed - and that never ends well!

Will the bus servcices switch straight to the new place that day?

I paid 11 shillings (55 pence) for a Hornby Mk 1 coach in J C Pattersons, about 1969. My pocket money was two shillings (10p) a week, so this was a significant investment. A three bedroom detached house in a nice area, at the time, cost £4000-£5000, and if your take home pay was heading towards £100 a month you were minted.

I’m pretty sure 18 had been no scrapped by then - it wasn’t long in use. No, indeed they never were used on line work at all, even within the UTA, bar a trial run or two no further than Carrickfergus. They were strictly, and purely shunters. They didn’t pull trains. One only lasted a few years, the other shunted York Road and Belfast dicks all of its longer, but still very short life. Strange choice for a model, as they were short-lived, and never used as train engines.

33rd Septober 2042 now confirmed as definite. Journey time just one hour from Grosvenor Road Grand to Clongriffin, and just under three hours from there to Clontarf Road.

It's the IRRS special of 2nd August 1949, covering Ardglass and Ballynahinch.......and the Copeland Islands (Steam) Car Ferry.......

Worth adding, for those modelling a particular one at a particular time, the following: 1. Originally in the green livery as shown. Possibly slight tad darker from what the late Bob Clements told me, but there or thereabouts. 2. None got the very short-lived blue livery (only a handful of main line passenger locos did) 3. Any repainted between 1918 & 1924 would have been black lined in red - though, I’ve never seen a photo of one like this. 4. After 1925, all dark grey to the end. Photos at the very end of steam appear to show a black 560, but it’s been polished with oily rags. I know this as I had the numberplate off it from final condition! So CIE never painted any of that class black.

Or a bus shelter, thankfully! Now, Rosslare....... Many ex-GSW station buildings still exist on the Cork line, and Limerick Junction to Waterford. Presumably they're listed. But most are in need of TLC, and if left alone will deteriorate in the near future to a point of no return. Pity they don't refurb them and rent them out. Not one reason in the world why not.

I note in the photo the window frames are varnished wood rather than dark maroon…..

Do you mean making the loo IN the coach into a museum?

IRRS archives will have some stuff. I had a couple of UR Boardroom Miunute books from 1876/7 some years ago but I'm afraid I either sold them or donated them somewhere (IRRS? DCDR?) UR Luggage lables turn up on fleabay now and again.

SUPERB!!!!!! And 17.5 Fumpers = 1 Gricer.........

True, and amazing!

Ah, them oul Ottomans!

When it was built, measurements would have been in inches, groats, roods, quarts, perches and cubits...... and other such medieval nonsense!

On a quiet summer evening, Dugort Harbour reposes, since the late afternoon mixed went back to Castletown. Since it’s fair day tomorrow, several cattle trucks and spare passenger stock are stabled here this evening. Smell the salt air and drifting turf smoke….. beyond the gulls down at the harbour, silence. This might look better for 1959!

It’s a quiet sunny afternoon at Dugort Harbour in August 1959, as Pat unloads a VW-sized consignment of turf just arrived from Kenmare. Meanwhile, the sun illuminates the gorse and fuchsia behind the buffer stops….

“I thought PJ had got someone to fix that fence?” ”C’mon SHOO!!!” ”Ye’d better get Bridie - I think they’re hers….” —- —- —- “…Need to get ‘em out before PJ comes back. And put some oul oil drums or lobster pots in that gap or they’ll just come back in….”

Indeed - and worthless as scrap metal! Yes to both of them.

Outstanding! Excellent!

100 years ago you're looking at the end of GSWR days, at which time the line was far from sleepy, with the Nenagh branch, as it was known, having heavy goods traffic plus two main line trains a day plus locals. Typical locomotives would have been standarrd GSWR types, mostly J15 0.6.0s, but with a good few of Limerick's ex-WLWR locos, including 2.4.0s. Passenger traffic would have been in the hands of various classes of GSWR 4.4.0s, with ex-WLWR ones more to be seen on locals, especially to Killaloe. Passenger stock was a mixture. Local trains almost entirely non-corridor six wheelers, main line trains a mix of about 50/50 these and corridor and non-corridor bogies. Not sure about pullmans - they only had a handful of these, and they were more normally one each on the up and down Cork and Galway mails. However, the main line services had dining cars after, probably, about 1900. Within a year, with the GSR taking over, and ex-MGWR stock working into Limerick somewhat more, the odd ex-MGWR coach might have turned up, but this line remained pretty solidly "southern" territory until diesel days. The forthcoming Hattons Genesis six-wheel coaches are very close to what would have operated over this route on all but Dublin services. 00 Works' J15, if you could get one now, is the "go-to" locomotive for local, mixed and goods trains on this line at the time you're talking about.

A replica UR one would be interesting - IF they had them!