jhb171achill

Yes, that's the olive green and white - and you can see that the coach behind it is olive green all over. I'm sure some of the Hattons six-wheelers will be in (British) Southern Railway green. Now, before I go on, beware - the SR had, at different times, two VERY different shades of green, one of which is completely unsuitable. The "malachite" shade is wrong. I can't recall what they call the other shade, but it's an olive green. IF Hattons do any of their 6 wheeled coaches in the SR olive colour, all you have to do is gently remove "SOUTHERN RAILWAY" from the sides, and you'll have something about right. These things aren't expensive - I think they will be maybe £30 a throw? So, you get the 00 Works loco in green, and two of these things, and half a dozen wagons (all in very dark grey; I have an idea that at one time the CBSCR may have painted some wagons black but I'd have to check), and hey presto! A CBSCR branchline train.......

The CBSCR always painted carriages the same olive green as their locos, at various times with white upper panels, other times plain green. The lining on carriages was a pale yellow. The GSR initially painted carriages an extremely dark maroon colour - check out the preserved GSWR coach at Downpatrick, No. 836 - so dark it almost looks brownish. From 1933 onwards they used a much lighter shade - what would nowadays be called "burgundy". So if you like maroon rather than green coaches, maybe go for modelling the 1925-30 period - you can still have your loco "not yet repainted" in grey if you don't like that! - plus this very dark "crimson lake" colour on carriages. Go for late CBSCR days and loco and coaches are green. Unfortunately, for GSR days, every single solitary loco they possessed was plain grey bar the three 800 class - like the 071s now! It was only in in the mid-50s that CIE started painting some locos black - though the majority stayed grey (covered in seven layers of soot!) until withdrawal. The one and only black loco I am aware of that ever worked over the West Cork system was the "Bandon Tank" No. 464 in its very last few years (it had been grey up to mid-50s) and literally about a year or 18 months before withdrawal, preserved No. 90 seems to have got a new coat of black paint. Out'n'about round the system, though, always grey, unless a green "Bandon Tank" got an occasional run there in the early fifties - I doubt it, as the only reason one was painted green was to operate on Dublin suburban services. Again, always go by "Rule No. 1", which states "It's your layout"! I had many a layout in my youth which was far from correct historically! However, simply as a matter of record, the situation was as above. You've got me looking up 00 Works again.....! I have two of Roderick's J15s - excellent locos. I missed the GNR ones, but everyone I know who has one is WELL satisfied with it.

A loco like this would probably have worked the Kinsale branch. There seems limited info about what they actually DID on their home turf; my guess would be mostly branch work. In steam days the main line was to Skibbereen (in diesel days they switched this to Bantry), so I would suggest that the 472 class were probably mostly to be seen on Drimoleague - Bantry, Kinsale Jct. - Kinsale, and the Ballinascarthy and Courtmacsherry lines. If you take this loco in green, you're pre-1930 - although the livery changed to grey in 1925, they took their time repainting the lot, and there are contemporary reports of a number of CBSCR locos still green for a few years afterwards. But you'd need six wheel coaches. Get some of the new Hattons ones and paint them the same green as the loco. If you model a branch line, the typical pattern in West Cork was 2 or 3 trains a day - one mixed and the other(s) passenger only. You can use a bit of "licence" and fast forward to the 1950s and get a Silverfox railcar in CIE green, or a Silverfox "C" class in dirty silver, and pretend that one of these 472 class types survived a bit longer - but then you're looking at the grey model. All in all, many options! By the way, if you ever want details of a West Cork timetable, PM me privately - I have all of them from 1926 onwards. I can copy the relevant bit for you.

He offers it in both CBSCR green (pre-1925) and also GSR grey. Different numbers - the 00 Works website has all details. There were inly a few of these locos, and they were gone by the mid-40s; also, their range of operation was quite simply nowhere but Wisht Caaark plus shunting between Albert Quay, Victoria Quay, Penrose Quay and Glanmire. It's only just occurred to me to wonder if one of there locos ever made it to Macroom; it's possible but I'd say unlikely. It's a very nice little model and suitable for an imaginary branchline anywhere - if they could send MGWR tank engines to Ballinascarthy and Tramore, who's to say that a West Cork loco didn't end up on the fictitious Ballygobackwards branch in Co. Cavan! "Rule No. 1" applies! Might get one myself............

£900??????????????????????????????????

What's this, Galteemore - not marrying a Leitrim native? What's got into ya!

CIE & NIR used them well into the 1980s. Inchicore had its own printing press - I think there were two. They bought card and cut their own blanks. In the 1950s to 70s, the UTA and NIR curiously got tickets from the NCC lines printed in Britain; a throwback to the NCC, while those for the Bangor line and GN section (what was left of it) were printed locally. The SLNCR got many tickets printed by the GNR, tough I am unsure if it did the rest itself or got them done by Inchicore. You could set up Edmondson machines to do whatever letters or numbers you wanted, but the typical style was 14MAR56.

Well said!

Thats exactly what it looked like. Hadn’t seen that before. Mystery solved!

That’s what occurred to me!! Does it have lights along the side, almost literally LIKE the “holidays are coming” ad?

Love the sound effects! (May we say 1970s, with all the brown wagons? ) Keep 'em coming!

I have just this minute heard an 071 go past the house (slowing to approach Malahide in the down direction). 00:44, Tue 16th. Bit late for empty Taras, I thought, as the other empty dawdled through a good couple of hours ago. So I peered into the gloom, and I see strange lights; what appears to have been a set of Taras with small lights strung along the side of each wagon. Too long a train to be one of those inexplicable yellow things, and they don’t sound like 071s anyway. Can anyone explain? No, I’ve had no beer.

Yes, it does! Yes, I'm aware that they are very flexible regarding individual orders and that they have a range of stuff that nobody else is doing. All very positive and beneficial to the hobby. The re-tooled railcar is a great deal better than the original - but to be fair to that too, IT was the only thing of its kind. As I said, they've a particular niche in the market, very welcome to many of us.

I'm a big fan of the Silverfox stuff - it has its own place in Irish model railways, I have several of their coaches. I have several items on order too at the moment and I look forward to getting them when ready. However - you mention liveries - there are many errors in their liveries, most notably CIE green things. All seem to have light grey roofs; they should all have either very dark grey or black roofs. Coaches and railcars alike never had light grey roofs...... Easily put right, of course.......

Looks brilliant, Ernie - excellent stuff.

Dreadful to see it like that. A few sidings, and loads and loads of fencing, gravel, graffiti and dayglow warning signs.......

Best description of a UTA AEC ever!

Yes, I identify with all that too. When one is young, things stick in your mind and become the stepping stones for nostalgia; for me, my earliest memories are very late 1950s, so I remember steam just about, and green UTA coaches and buses, and green CIE everything! AEC railcars, of course, on both the UTA (GN section) and CIE were the norm in those days too - I will always remember the throaty roar of those beasts as they did their best to accelerate away from stops......

VERY much of interest, murphaph; my mother was from there and I have very early memories (late 50s) in the old family home there, with my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother - and being made to stay away from the beehives..... they had a quince tree; quite a rarity. Hardly model railway stuff for here, so if you know Athy or much about, ping me privately.

Hi Tobin OK, a number of interesting questions there. For ease, I have edited out the points to be answered, as above, so in order: 1. "Emerald Green" is indeed what Clements (Bob, not Jeremy) described it to me as, or grass green. The last time i spoke to bob, Midland loco liveries were one thing we did discuss at length. I asked him if it would have been a bit like the green on Isle of Man engines in the Ailsa era, late 1960s. he said it was distinctly darker than that, but not my much! Much discussion suggests that the green used by the British Great Central, or something very marginally darker, might be the best estimate. Bob told me he had a paint sample which he would give me, where he had been in Broadstone one day and found a tin of it, opened it, lifted a bit of stick, swirled it round in the paint, wrapped the stick in newspaper and brought it home. He told me I could have it - but two weeks later I got the unfortunate phone call that he had passed away, so I never got it. 2. Regarding the blue locomotive livery, Bob Clements distinctly told ME that the lining was black and yellow! I think, but cannot be sure, that I heard GOLD and black somewhere else... Yet Michael and Jeremy quote Bob as having told them red and yellow. If someone of the stature of Bob had two separate memories - I can't be sure. It's hard to tell from black and white photos, though at least one I saw somewhere shows one very light colour which might be yellow or white, and one dark colour which could be red or black. Personally, I've tended to go with black and yellow, but no definitive proof appears to be to hand. As to what locos were repainted blue, it was indeed applied to the "A" class, but the "D-bogie" ("Achill Bogies"), or GSR D16 / 530 class saw a trace of it too - in 1900, No. 37 "Wolf Dog" was briefly painted thus as a "guinea pig". This engine was initially put to use on the Sligo line but proved hopelessly underpowered for it, and like its 5 sisters, ended up spending most of its time on the Achill branch. Despite it being noted early on that this livery did not wear well, and a fairly prompt repaint into green for "Wolf Dog", the Midland painted up a few main line engines. I cannot state that (other than "Wolf Dog") that nothing but the "A" class were blue, but it is known that they stopped painting locos blue after only a very short time, reverting to green. The 2.4.0s (G2) on the Clifden line and the 0.6.0s which followed (J18) certainly, as you infer, would not have qualified as priority, but if one "Achill Bogie" got the "blues", who can say? Bob C told me that at all times, green locos were in the vast, vast majority. The blue shade may be seen on a scrap of paint on the end of one of Downpatrick's unrestored six-wheelers. It has been suggested that a more obvious idea is to examine the "Dargan Saloon" in the UFTM; however, this is a 1950s CIE repaint, and while probably close enough cannot be verified. To my eyes, the small original sample is, though, more than adequately similar to the Dargan Saloon, so if I was making a model in MGWR blue, I think it would be more than satisfactory to colour-match this vehicle. Yes, I agree that Ernie's comments about blue at Clifden refers to the coaches. As far as goods engines in blue are concerned, I am aware that a very large amount of Ernie's research was from the MGWR's Traffic Minute books, which I extensively trawled in the past. He will have picked up, I guess, a reference to a goods loco being painted unlined blue. Clements' comments suggest it was the exception. 3. Sorry, I know it's a bit of an essay by now; but bear with me! The pic of "Titanic" (a FINE beast!) is unfinished; I suggest that it's blue, but lining, lettering and crest have not yet been applied. The postcard in a lime green colour, like almost all postcards, is not correct. I looked back at my notes of what bob Clements told me just now. he mentioned the green being put back "as before", but when I spoke with him he did not mention it being lighter. Having said that, it could be simply because i did not ask him! Several other sources suggest a slightly lighter shade, but not exactly a "light" green at all - maybe "grass" green instead of "emerald" green (Clements used both those terms). The green livery would also start disappearing in 1915, when just Inchicore was abandoning black lined in red for all-over grey, now Broadstone starts painting locos black; plain if goods, with red lining if mixed traffic / passenger! Bob Clements did say, though, that repaints into black did not take place at a fast rate, and at the time of the amalgamation many engines were still green - one as late as 1932 before the GSR sheep-dipped it grey. 4. Regarding "Celtic" and the Royal train......yes, I would agree that the artist has used his famous "licence" with regard to the postcard; such things can never be taken as an accurate livery guide. The locomotive was almost certainly in the dark blue livery, and the carriages definitely were. The "Royal" or "State" Saloon, later No. 346 with CIE, actually spent most of its life indoors. Long after what few carriages HAD been blue and white were repainted brown again, this vehicle retained the blue and white livery until it was eventually repainted in the Midland's post-1918 maroon livery shortly before the GSR took over. If that postcard is taken from a photo, this will presumably show the coaches clearly in black and white. This will account for the fact that the postcard painter appears to have the brown upper panels looking a bit lighter then the lower ones; and he is presumably aware that at the time, MOST trains had green engines and brown carriages!

Superb! SO atmospheric......... (I'm sending this to Barry.......)

Mainland Europeans use that notation - what we know as as 2.6.4 is to them a 1.3.2!

THREE wheelers?

Wow! You'll have me reaching for me smelling salts!

It's a bit like the British "Hymek" done up in a faux-CIE livery about thirty years ago - in an example like you mention, probably just re-livery the existing thing.