jhb171achill

Some of those actually were monochrome - sharpening that one up the way it is would certainly look the part.

Senior used to get "O" gauge stuff from them - I recall the packages arriving.... rails, chairs, pins and other bits for his coarse scale track, sadly long gone now.

They ARE amazing! Lovely to travel in, beautifully made. And there's an authentic MGWR internal door in one of them, and authentic GSWR door handles.

"Teatime railcars".... interesting. I am guessing that the railcar set used on the Cork - Bantry service was swopped for maintenance purposes at this time with another set from Glanmire? The evening service left Albert Quay for Bantry at 18:30, I think, so if they were swopping them it would make sense for the set coming in from Bantry earlier, to have crossed the tramway to be replaced by another in late afternoon, in time for the evening down departure? Does that sound about right? I only saw the place once myself, and that was just weeks before it closed. I wandered in, took a few pics, and wandered back - no signs of life that day in the place, and few wagons.

The loco needs a coat of paint! Next time I'm down there, maybe..........!

Senior is out’n’about in the 50s…. There’s always a J15 bumbling about SOMEWHERE……

Folks, this is a bit of an odd one. This is for a friend of mine, who is involved in a TV production about the "Enterprise". This will incorporate stories on non-"Enterprise" trains on the route too. He is looking for people with stories to tell above unusual or interesting incidents or experiences with travelling on the service, ideally back in steam days, but any time will do. People with such first-hand stories are becoming thinner on the ground, but I told him I'd ask here. For example, did you go to Mosney? Long shot, but is there anyone who got the "Enterprise" on to Cork? Did you use the line to go to the seaside at Malahide? Any experiences changing trains at Dundalk, Goraghwood or Portadown? With dining cars? With customs? Smuggling? Please PM me with any thoughts.

I love that layout!

True!!!!

Largely wagonload. With sugar beet, the pulp was going in the opposite direction to the beet, so a train of beet empties might have one or two laden "H" vans containing pulp going back to the farmers. On a laden beet train, the vans are returning empty. Vans containing pulp could also be in the consist of an ordinary goods train. With lime, wagonload included in an ordinary goods train. Coal was somewhat different - in the normal course of things, a wagon here or there in a goods train going to some coal merchant down the country from Belfast, Dublin or Cork. However, trains of all or mostly coal wagons left Deerpark and Wolfhill in the 1920s and 30s. And of course, the narrow gauge Arigna branch would have closed years before the rest of the C & L but for the Arigna Mines at Derreenavoggy, which produced coal trains on the C & L - the only bulk traffic the Irish narrow gauge ever had - until the end in March 1959.

That's a nice one to Bantry - apparently with a B1a up front!

Yes, just like in steam days! Had the lines survived, you’re going to have C’s on the goods for a few years more, then almost certainly a takeover by 141s. Half a dozen would have replaced everything, including the railcar. By 1970 you’re looking at a passenger set consisting of three laminates and a tin van, with 141 haulage. Goods the same. A self contained system with nothing but 141s actually has quite an appeal about it!

Interesting old BG vans at Cushina. The one closest to the camera looks like a GNR standard pre-1940 goods van, while the other is a CIE "H".

No - in fact 001 might have been the only one; mind you, they often got so dirty they might as well have been. But I think the black roof was like the orange shading on numerals on a black background - the first few only, or in this case maybe only the first one.

New one to me, Warbonnet - I suspect this is like the very first "Woolwich" in MGWR livery, but sprayed GSR grey before even a fire had been lit in her, and that "A" with the yellow band at Inchicore - something which didn't actually see the light of day. As Seagoebox shows above, at first it had "001"; that pic was a photoshoot before it entered traffic. It will also be seen that the very first examples painted into "Supertrain" livery had their numbers on the ends shaded in orange, same way that the ones on the sides were shaded in black. I saw this on at least one 141 too, but the very first 121s I saw (IN 1972) had plain white numerals on the ends.

"A"'s were never used in traffic in West Cork, but a trial run was carried out once or twice. The traffic didn't warrant them, nor would it ever have been likely to have done, and in places it's possible bridges or track - which by 1955 was indifferent at best - mightn't have been keen on them. However, had, for example, the Bantry oil terminal required oil trains in the 1960s, and the line survived maybe until the 1975 closures, it's likely you'd have got "A"s on the oil trains and inevitably 141s on passenger.

Had the West Cork system remained even three to five more years, grey 121s would have been very likely visitors!

Supertrain livery with “A1”? I thought it had 001 on its first ever outing in “Supertrain” livery?

What are the practicalities of putting DCC in that thing?

Ahhh - nostalgia. I had savings once….

I got mine delivered to a relative in Britain, who accidentally brought it over to me.......

Exactly! And I echo your comment about bulk buying. This Sunday I will be meeting up with a few characters who may also be interested in this.

Yes, I got one locomotive a while back which resulted in the postman wanting an extra €126!

That's the trouble! Worth selling the car for......... And, for a layout based in Wisht Caaark, boy, it's essential, as J15s never ran there!

Remember those old pre-Murphy 121s? Anyone got the bits and pieces for the cab and body? No chassis needed. Scrap bits welcome.