jhb171achill

Very true!

Inspirational stuff, Colm!

That's what I would have thought, indeed....... haven't been able to run mine yet as they need to be chipped still.

Are these "A"s any more prone to this than other models?

Just reading the attached article; ex-GSWR J15s - far from being "ubiquitous" in all of the former MGWR territory, were quite exceptionally rare - and would as good as certainly never have been anywhere near Westport Quay! The J26 class could well have been there in the early MGWR period, but the line was usually worked by a goods engine like a J18 or J19 0.6.0. A kit of a J18 is badly needed.

Fenit Pier, Co Kerry, from “Rails Through North Kerry”: Note the curved siding - a way to save space on a small layout - or a real Fenit Pier! Pictures - Barry Carse

I think the galvanising appeared during the 1960s. It still had black bases though.

I thought it was something to do with measuring incontinence….. (I’m in me sixties…)

It is - but vans if that design were to be seen in many places until the very early 1960s!

Indeed. I have several Silverfox bits myself, two “C” class among them, plus some coaching stock. They fill a very valuable niche, even if the liveries aren’t always right! And I have more on order….

Good to see that the Lakeview district is keeping both St James' Gate and CIE busy!

Nice!!!!

True indeed; I have a big interest in Indonesian, Brazilian and Indian railways myself and yet In those countries it's all Bachmann LNER, Athearn USA stuff, DRGW or Hornby GWR....because it's available.

There’s a very disproportionate amount of Bandon wagons, and even a couple of Muskerry ones and a West Clare one! Hard to see how that could have got lost….!

There was all sorts of mad stuff happening then!!

As well as that, a modeller here who has, for the sake of argument, long ago settled on N gauge Union Pacific or an 00 gauge Welsh branchline, is much less likely to be on IRM, or even know of it. I knew a guy in Dublin who had a great big LMS layout, no interest at all in Irish stuff. He’s gone to his reward a few years ago, but he isn’t the only one.

Better check your layouts, spares box and all those green boxes on the shelf and in the cabinet…. Incorrect or late returns will be punished by a stern letter from Kingsbridge, and ye wouldn’t want that, would ye?

Totally agree - if the kit was dirt cheap, maybe. Very nice looking loco, mind you, but I expect that a scratchbuild of the BCDR equivalent might be not just cheaper but more effective?

It's the middle of the dark days of the "troubles", maybe 1976-ish, when bomb scares, as well as REAL bombs were an almost weekly occurrence. I was returning to Dublin on the "Enterprise". It must have been mid-winter as it was dark at Central Station in Belfast, and there was a line of buses for Dundalk. The line was closed somewhere between Portadown and "the border". No local trains beyond Lisburn. We were to be bussed to DDK where we would get on a scheduled local which would be held for us. Naturally, half a dozen tired-out Laminates and Park Royals, and a spluttery genny van were of much greater interest to me than a Mk 2 set of either NIR or CIE ownership. I got off the bus in Dundalk and just happened to be the first one into the carriage - a 1904-series laminate brake. I sat down and immediately noticed a suitcase-type bag tucked under the table! I don't think I've ever moved so fast.......... I got out and told a man in CIE uniform that there was a "suspicious package" under the table and showed him where it was. He stared suspiciously at it. I expected him to start waving his arms and yelling for everyone to get out of the station RIGHT NOW! But - he stared harder - poked it with his foot, and then gingerly lifted it and carried it off the train.........! Had that been what I thought it was, and what it often actually was, both that adventurous railwayman and I plus bits of the train and GNR architecture in the station, would have been splattered in tiny messy bits all over Dundalk........ (The haulage was a 141, and he went like the wind! Great run, once we DID get going!)

Absolutely outstanding, Patrick!

Someone posted somewhere about wondering about a "commuter" service to Bandon prior to 1930 or thereabouts. So I dug out the 1926-30 working timetables tonight. I had never heard of any such thing myself, unless perhaps in VERY early CBSC days. So, perusal of above sources shows what I suspected; there is no commuter-type service in the 1920s at any rate - what there IS other than through trains to Kinsale, Clonakilty and Skibbereen is just one single working, which is that the 04:30 goods to Clonakilty Junction would return to Bandon, from where it added a brake coach to form an 09:00 MIXED to Cork. That seems to be the solitary working which conveyed passengers specifically between Bandon and Cork only (and points in between). In those days, there would have been no south-western Cork suburbs worthy of anything approaching an actual "commuter" service - mind you, today might be different if the line had survived - doubtless as a haven of ICRs or 2600s.

Me oul eyesight is confused. Mirror image "snail", yet "GW" the right way round!

A “midlands” club would just have to do a MGWR layout!

Further into; during trawling of old photos for unrelated reasons, I found several showing lattice posts painted with white, and black at the bottom too. The top was not visible.

Very true, I forgot about that. They might have had more of those for Dublin area heavy goods transfers, and perhaps something like a development of the "D" class along the lines of British 08s........