jhb171achill

The difference with WLWR stock was that while the side panelling was very much like this, the ends were bowed in rather than flat. Common on the MR & GWR in Britain, this style was unique here. Since this feature makes a considerable difference to the overall design, these yokes are unsuitable for WLWR. If anyone wanted to model the WLWR specifically, six-wheeled Midland of England stock would pass generically. They do. On a layout, though, the difference isn’t quite as noticeable for some reason.

Sure he wasn’t the Londondean of Derry?

Is this one DC or DCC?

Senior spoke of seeing gigantic and heavily laden Cork mail trains leaving Kingsbridge in the 1930s. I wish I’d paid more attention to his descriptions of the loads, types of coaches and vans, and locos. Obviously 400s were prominent….

Never saw an orange one - any pics?

A 3D print of these would be good - very much a part of a 1960s scene.

You too!

I’ve a good stock of these beauties now, but I also had a set of four actual GSWR ones from Studio Scale Models. The SSM ones are beauties and correct for Irish loading gauge. The Hattons ones were done in an Irish livery because as will be seen, they resemble very much the GSWR “house style” in design. But they’re British in width! See below. Despite that they look perfectly acceptable among the SSM ones. It’s important to note that the Hattons design does not even closely resemble the design of coaches on any other Irish railway, and would thus - to be honest - look peculiar in GNR or MGWR guise. But, GSWR or GSR liveries, yes, as actual GSWR stock carried both! The closest you’d get in any other Irish company, and it’s a long shot to be fair, is DNGR. See the “real” GSWR design, as in SSM, compared to Hattons’ generic design, below:

Winter sunset, Castletown West, Christmas Eve, December 1964. Stock for Tomorrow’s Christmas Day service, which CIE still had until 1965, awaits at the platform. One coach is plenty - it’s not going to be busy. As usual, a C or a B141 will provide haulage.

Old colour pic from 1958 showing the branch set during shunting at Dugort Harbour. The last surviving Bandon saddle tank was put out to grass at Dugort Harbour for its last fifteen years.

“Ye working over the Christmas?” ”Yeah, I’m on the 8.25 in the morning, then up to Margaret’s for the dinner…” ”Who’s on the afternoon train?” ”Mikey’s driving, and I think Pat’s firing….” Happy Christmas & New Year from the CIE staff and others in Castletown West and Dugort Harbour….

Perfect candidate. Had it survived into the 1970s, you’re probably looking just 2 or 3 goods sidings for Gouldings, and a single passenger set of a 141, tin van and about three old laminates. Perfect for limited space.

Indeed - Albert Quay likewise…

The last driver, who I know (Paddy Burke) told me that about 1973/4, coach 1910 was “walloped” by a B201 during shunting. Many windows were smashed and it was deemed not worth repairing. So they replaced it with 1904! After Loughrea closed, it went back to Ballina for a short time but was soon replaced by one or (variously) two laminates and a tin van…. Interestingly, an almost carbon copy incident occurred at Loughrea in the 1930s when a loco whacked a coach while shunting…

I heard about that. Several of the Dugort Harbour PW gang attended, with a few bottles of holy water from yer man out beyond No. 2 gates…..

First, horse boxes. While it was common, if not traditional in some lines, to have these in passenger livery, they were grey or unlined maroon in GSR days. When maroon, ends were too. Initially in CIE days they were plain unlined (dark) green, ends included, but with small painted flying snails as on wagons (in pale green, obviously) rather than the snail transfers put on loco tenders, buses and carriages. After 1955/6/7, any repainted got the plain lighter green. From 1962, any repaints were standard wagon grey. The green “H” vans - according to official reports over 100 were supposed to be green - but as others mentioned the livery changed after months, so in actual fact very few indeed actually entered traffic that way. An unconfirmed report I had years ago suggested that 4-6 were painted that way, but no more. Personally, I suspect that somewhat more were, but by no means many; and (as others have observed) what few did get the green, didn’t keep it long. Within my own observation of these wagons, all over Ireland, and dating back to the early 1960s, I never saw a single green H. And I saw goods trains on an almost daily basis from 1962 onwards. My perception (unconfirmed), from those long deceased who would have “known stuff”, was that initially at any rate, they were intended for Cork - Tralee mails, and to be hauled by the ICRs of the day - the AEC railcars, which were almost the staple on those services. I’ve yet to see a picture, though, of one behind an AEC, let alone on that route, but I’m aware they did do that.

It’s a ten-millionth of a cubit!

This -

No. 14 They also had a 38ft brake 3rd bogie…

Indeed. I'm aware, too, that SeniorX2, while Chief Draughtsman, made several official visits to Derby with his engineering colleagues….

Fertiliser traffic today….. IMG_0696.mov IMG_0698.mov

What’s interesting too, is that despite the passenger livery applied - green sides but the rest black, roofs appear to have been grey. Standard passenger livery for coaching stock had black roofs on all types of stock in all liveries, until the first Mk 2s in 1972.

Correct - I had forgotten about that one! And it probably had the least legroom between seats of any carriage in Ireland! Pretty much! I’m not sure if the West Clare ever had red - I’d need to check, but what I am aware of is that the GSR used used the very dark brownish-maroon “crimson lake” to repaint them all after 1925.

The Ballycastle Rly Co was GWR-style brown and cream - original BR stock which I think was all six-wheeled. After takeover it was standard Midland Railway (England) - later unlined LMS maroon of similar shade, on the ex-B&L stock brought in for the reopening. After the UTA took over, they repainted several locos but none of the carriages ever got UTA green, as the line was closed 18 months later. Aim for 1925/6 and you’d have a mixture, as not everything was repainted at once!

Exactly. An excellent example. Fenit, Castleisland and Youghal all had heavy, albeit only occasional, excursion traffic. Had West Cork survived, probably the same to Clonakilty. 141 class heaven…..