jhb171achill

Do you mean in real life? Downpattick has three locomotives, of which two are in working order. The RPSI has about ten, of which I think three are currently in working order. The Cavan & Leitrim have two, with one in w/o. Over the years, between the three, typically anything from 4 to 7 steam engines are operable.

They are, yes, agreed - though I'm afraid it's more than the odd error! He got to many places that other enthusiasts didn't and seems to have a special interest in the innards of signal cabins and their staff. That alone is gold dust - not many others thought of that. He was a very nice man to talk to.

Wonder what they mean by “616” vans? Probably 61ft 6ins….!!! The National Library’s categorisation of O’Dea’s pictures is riddled with mis-spellings, misinterpretations and numerous straightforward errors!

I don't believe so, I think it's safe to say no. There weren't that many of them and the livery wasn't that long in existence; they were eventually repainted in blue & grey with "bumblebee" stripes.

But on a happier, if more dieseley note: (All pics H C A Beaumont)

For our more northerly members: Maysfields, first, mid 60s.

I was in the cab of an 071 on the Cork line about 1979 and he was delayed leaving, then held at a signal somewhere near Kildare, making him ten minutes down overall. Begad, he threw the anchor and parachutes away after that (about 8 or 9 Mk 2s and genny van behind), and on what they driver referred to as “the racetrack” between Templemore & Thurles he was doing 84…. I think, though stand to be corrected, that the line limit there was 70….

If you’re looking at GNR stuff on the GSWR, the best bets are the 100 cement vans - like CIE “H” vans only with corrugated ends a bit like many British goods vans. Then you’ve the German diesel, K801, which operated for a while on the Cobh line. While as I said before I’ve no particular recollection of seeing a photo of an ex-GNR coach on the main line, and I never saw one myself, that’s not to say that a K15 or something like that never made such a trip. It’s your layout - and a green K15 may possibly appear at Dugort Harbour! Model the DSER in the 60s and GNR stock is common…. For the GSWR in that era, though, laminates, Bredins, Cravens & the more modern wooden GSWR corridor stock are the only show in town.

Somewhere in that area, I think. He used to stay near Clonea on holiday.

Looks superb - love it. Those were the days when track was well looked after and there were no graffiti merchants!

They mostly stayed on their old haunts at first, though one wooden coach ended up briefly on the Loughrea branch of all places, and another ended up even further afield - West Cork. In both cases their stays were brief, and both were old wooden ones thus brown - no wooden panelled GNR coaches ever got the blue and cream livery except No. 50, the Director's Saloon. By the time they started straying beyond home territory they had typically been repainted green. At least one - 114 (brake 3rd) remained in blue and cream until (I think) 1967, as (I think) the last GNR coach to remain in GNR livery in use. But I think it stayed on the GN section. Once CIE took over the GNR remains in the south, because they were based in Amiens Street, the first (and in most cases ONLY) place on CIE where GNR locos, railcars and coaches would have been seen was the DSER. They don't seem to have penetrated the MGWR much, and the GSW hardly at all. I have never seen any evidence of a single blue and cream coach venturing onto the GSWR or MGWR sections - though it could well have happened. Such an instance, I reckon, would have been rare if it happened at all; over years and years of voraciously trawling any photos I can ever see, I have yet to see one example of it. Within a short few years, anything GNR which ended up on CIE was repainted green, and from 1963 on, black'n'tan. The UTA tended to keep some stock in GNR blue and cream a little longer; examples were still to be seen until maybe 1964 or so - my solitary recollection of a GNR coach in GNR livery was a brown one in Lisburn around 1964 (though I cannot be certain of the date). Several GNR & BUT railcars remained in blue and cream for a while, albeit with the letters "G N R" painted over, and a UTA crest substituted for the GNR one. Nothing "clueless" about your good self, murphaph! Yes, just a delay. All three were in CIE stock. If 136 had been UTA property, it would have had an "N" stuck in front of the number. It is likely that it had been fairly recently painted when CIE took over, so a few years later it's still wearing its GNR clothes. Meanwhile, one of the two in the distance has been repainted between 1958 and 1962 (green) while the other has just been repainted more recently - after December 1962 / early '63 - in black'n'tan.

Would have been very nice and very scenic, but there's nothing up there which would have made a railway line even close to being economically viable, unfortunately. Given the topography it would have cost a fortune to build, too, and would probably have needed quite powerful engines to deal with very severe gradients!

Surrounded by some great reading material!

If I set that up in our landing, I would get into very serious trouble with the Dept. of Domestic Matters (Planning, Clearing & Tidying Division)....

Three GNR coaches at Amiens St., 1963/4. For modellers, this triple-liveried pic also shows clearly GNR 3rd class upholstery. (H C A Beaumont)

It's a fairly easy concept in engineering terms. It's not so much that they "cared"; their job is to get people from A to B. They re-engined the Cs because (a) spares for AEC railcars were becoming hard to get, and (b) Dublin suburban needed capacity. Old railcars and GM-powered Cs were the best solution at the time without spending huge sums of money. Indeed. Having said that, no need to unless its necessary.

That's superb. A template for a truly unique layout.

Actually, Shillelagh would make a TRULY fascinating layout. It’s small, so perfect as a small layout terminus, but also unique as the one and only true DWWR / DSER branch line. A perfect home for some of your stock, Ken.

Good move; supporting the RPSI too!

A thing of beauty…!

Yes, she’s in the Ulster Folk & Transport museum at Cultra. She was one of a trio; 800 (1939) and 801/2 (1940). The other two were scrapped as steam ended in the very early 60s. They were the biggest, fastest & strongest steam locomotives ever to run in Ireland, but never got much chance to show it, as first there was the fuel crisis 1942-46, then diesel railcars took over most main line passenger services in 1950, and diesel locos in 1955.

That would have been interesting - though they already had an alternative in Inny Junction - Clones - Porteedown….

Any idea what state it is in now?

So it’s not just LIKE 114 at Whitehead - it IS 114 at Whitehead!

Wagons were indeed great wanderers. There were common sightings of wagons with “G N” in West Cork and Kerry after CIE ate the remains of the GNR, and in my Achill book there’s a picture of a DSER van at Achill.