jhb171achill

Excellent stuff. Pity at least some of it didn't survive, though today it would probably have a single two-car 2800 doing two daily return trips to Bantry and nothing else! Still, I'd rather see that than nothing....

Very much appreciated, Broadstone. Thank you.

Superb. Sixty years ago yesterday.......!

Thank you, m'lud. On behalf of my client, Mr. Holman, I would like to submit that he has done a superb and accurate job here, and one with which this court may not reasonably find fault. Thus, I submit that the jury must find him not guilty of any wrongdoing.......... Seriously, you've nailed it. From observation of only two very tiny samples of original brown paint that I am aware of, that's perfect. You're going for a slightly older look; gold lining up to approximately 1910, with pale yellow gradually replacing it until the all-over very dark maroon of 1918. I'm not 100% sure that the "VR" logo was used by the MGWR - some companies here used it and others didn't! It probably depended on the political affiliations of the relevant managements, and would possibly have been influenced by the clientele and general public to be found in the vicinity! If you've evidence of this, fair enough; I'm just unaware of it. I have seen a pic of a coach in blue and white (1902-5) with what appears to be some sort of intertwined letters on the mail coach, but this would have been Edwardian rather than Victorian, as that livery only appeared in 1902. But other mail vehicles don't seem to show anything like this - but it possible I just haven't noticed it. In any event, a brake third would not have had anything like that - only specifically dedicated mail vans if anything. In Belmullet, mail bags would have been just thrown in the van of the brake coach. Excellent job, and that coach build is superb, your carriages are perfect companions for the loco. A train like this could have left Belmullet with just those two coaches, picked up two more at Westport, another at Claremorris, and off we go to Athlone, where our D16 remains, and its collection of carriages join the up Galway - Broadstone Mail. The make-up of a mixed train, as at Achill in the illustration you refer to, was ALWAYS in this order: Loco Vacuum braked stock (usually coaches, with passenger (vacuum) brake vehicle like yours last, but it COULD be ahead, maybe right behind the loco); then - Loose coupled stock Goods brake at the end. The only way you'd have a trailing truck without a goods brake would be if it was fitted, or (unofficially) maybe only one. So, when your train leaves, if it's passenger / mail only, the two carriages above are enough. If it's a "mixed mail", you'll have your two coaches (the brake will be a brake third and the other a 1st / 3rd or 1st / 2nd), and then any wagons, and at the end a goods brake to control them. As an aside, this is why it is essential for any modeller to have brake vehicles on EVERY train pre-approx-1970, no matter what it is, or where it is. So, as I've often said, we need the tin vans, goods brakes, and full brake carriages for steam days.

You'd actually be surprised what a Giant's Causeway one could throw up! A line with a fascinating and very unique history......

An 0.2.0 "train engine"!

Ah sure that'll never happen...........!

This one's a Tralee & Dingle coach.........

Let's hope when he gets to Achill he doesn't trot out the old "first and last train carried the dead" myth...........I almost dread watching that episode!

I wonder if Roderick might do a re-run! First two are identical, Westcork, both DNGR tanks. I see what you mean about similarities with CBSCR saddle-tanks (a rare enough breed in Ireland) but if you see a DNGR and a CBSCR one together, you'd see they're quite different.....

Love the BR blue and grey era - it was a period of strong corporate identities, with the black'n'tan here the equivalent.

More NCC

Correct.

"Now DAT is a DISHGRACE, you're INSULTING d'good peeeple of Kerry, boy; you need to TAKE DAT BACK!", Michael Healy-Rae has just told me......... I think there's quite a few of us here wouldn't even fit into the 21mm gauge ones...........

Yes, there is. What I DO know is that both Edgar Bredin and my grandfather (who did this drawing) had been to Derby, and people from there had been to Inchicore. While this is supposition, Inchicore was also in constant discussion with Dundalk in the 1930s (and probably other times), and that the GNR at one stage wondered whether it was possible to make a large six-coupled tank engine. I wonder was there a connection amongst all of these matters? It stands to reason that those in the loco works of all the major companies both here and on the Isle of Brexit would all have compared notes from time to time. On smaller scales, the communication between both the CDR, SLNCR and even Isle of Man Railway with Dundalk Works are well known. The IOMR and the GNR had Beyer, Peacock & Co. in common, after all! While I have no details whatsoever, another distant relative of mine went to England as a railway engineer of some sort in the 1910s, and ended up advising the Argentinian lines somewhere, and eventually went there.

Both recently, and in the distant past, there were posts on here about the proposed-but-never-built GSR 820 class, of which five were apparently planned, initially at any rate for the DSER section. They were based on a tank version of the 800 class, albeit with many modifications, and designed obviously in Inchicore about 1940. I have an outline drawing, currently on loan to a relative, but thanks to GSR800 and Mayner, I have been able to retrieve a copy of it along with an article from an old publication. (Ken - I think you were asking about it?) I had long forgotten even lending the drawing to be published before, otherwise I would have mentioned where it appeared. So here it is, along with the spiel. For an attempted model of it - which would look VERY nice - while it's tempting to think of it in the lined green that the GSR used on the trio of 800s, my old notes suggest that it was planned to plain old grey. The notes written about it are indeed interesting in themselves......

The Invincible Dublin GAA men and Irish rugby team have hired it to take them over to the Neighbouring Island to thoroughly thrash Manchester United, City, Spurs, Liverpool, Millwall, Rangers, Celtic, the Oxford rowing team and Somerset cricket.

An excellent "earliest memory"! In terms of speed, it seems that nowadays trains approach all platforms at walking pace, and we've got used to that. In the past, people seemd to think nothing of things passing at speed - I recall being in Westland Row and seeing a light engine - a 141 - FLYING through. No idea where it was going, but he wasn't holding back....and the platform was well-filled with people as there was a train due behind him..........

And you've got the "old" post office green too! For scenery nerds, I am unsure when the current lighter green came into play - 1970s? I'll need one of those pillar boxes myself - you seem to only be able to get them in packs of half a dozen....

He was lucky it survived - an enamel surface on a steel sheet! I’d love to have that one!

Nice little exercise! I’m doing something similar with a light plank, which is 7’6” x 18”, small 12mm gauge terminus for South African H0 scale; one steam loco, one carriage and half a dozen wagons (typical 1980s branchline). But it needs a (tiny!) fiddle yard. Your scenery treatment looks superb.

I think Harcourt St did have GSR bilingual. I knew about Macmine, but not some of those others you mention - interesting, shows that there quite a few variations. When I explored Woodenbridge in the 1970s, there was an old sign inside the then-disused building. I saw it through the window - too big to retrieve! It was a DSER one, so unless Woodenbridge had a GSR on the other platform, then it remained original till closure.

Sounds great! It's a superb build. I do think that plastic is nowadays often very underrated! The "G N", though, would be gone - the UTA put paid to that! Looking forward to seeing it.....

I agree, Tobin. It’s hard to tell. Whatever livery it is in, it’s unfinished as there is no lining, no crest and no “M G W R” on the tender. Blue has a habit of appearing as a very light grey or a very dark grey in black & white pics depending on the daylight in which it was taken. GSR / CIE grey is also 57 varieties in old pictures, even if it reasonably consistent in real life. The loco above could be green or blue.... Pity the lining isn’t on it, as that would give a clue.

In your time, Galteemore, I believe the few left were NIR maroon! At least one was. But a THICK coating of brake dust, grime and rust made them look different! In GNR days they were obviously grey when new, though since the GNR (unlike CIE) started painting fitted vans brown, it is possible this was used. I think the UTA painted them brown but I am uncertain. Certainly I don’t think any got the UTA green. For NIR, brown or maroon. I am unsure of chassis colour - probably black except in GNR days, when it would be largely body colour. Of the “P” vans which CIE inherited, most were scrapped within a few years without any repaint beyond “CIE” stencilled on the ends. At least one was painted full passenger green, centre line included, though I’m unsure if it had a “snail”. Either this or a different one even managed to be repainted in “black’n’tan” full passenger livery, in which it looked odd but interesting! It doesn’t seem to have lasted long, though, before withdrawal. But they lasted into NIR days just about, in the north. Livery details above! I would go for NIR maroon sides and ends, mid-grey roof, black chassis. Lettering (number) in mid-yellow, no edging; NIR logo was the normal transfer on one I saw (gold, white edging) but it’s possible yellow painted ones were used too.