jhb171achill

As others mention, a G with a specially adapted modern laminate brake (No 1910 of 1959) took over from steam and an old wooden composite in early ‘63. The G611 class (as you say, never the earlier three because they had no vac brakes) worked most trains but alternated with the C / B201 class on busy days. Of the seven, G611, 613, 615 and 616 seem to have been the most common, but 614 the least. By spring 1975 the G class were being sidelined and most of the remaining months had B201s. 141s and even a 181 made rate appearances, but increasing ones in the last year. Had the line survived, 1975 would have been the last year for the Gs anyway; so your period is 1963-75. The book is complete and has been awaiting publication for some time now. Hopefully this year. Six wheeled passenger stock was finally retired from service the same time the Gs started at Loughrea. The only stock they ever hauled was thus modern, on the Loughrea branch. Coach 1910 was replaced by a similar vehicle, 1904, a couple of years before closure following damage sustained during a rough shunt at Loughrea. Even though a G never even saw a six-wheeler at Loughrea, for the few months one was trialled earlier on the Foynes branch, the passenger accommodation on that line was a single elderly MGWR brake third six-wheeler.

Interesting! I think the black looks much better.

Ya will ya will ya will! yawill yawill yawill yawill yawill….

Possibly Omagh, yes. Separately, I have seen a pic somewhere of a railcar set in UTA livery at Strabane with a CIE "tin van" in tow..... the Belfast Newspaper Train used to drop CIE fitted vans of various sorts at Portadown which were added to the first down Derry Road service. In GNR days, these would have been the GNR's "V" vans, but after the 1958 breakup, those which stayed south were very quickly replaced by new CIE stock (tin vans). The UTA retained a few GNR vans for traffic from Belfast until the mid-60s. Thus, quite a few ended up in UTA dark green, but as far as I know only a single one ever got CIE (light, obviously) green. As an aside, the GNR's 1940-era bogie "P" vans, of which the last survivor is at Whitehead, ended up in CIE green and even (in one, or possibly two cases) black'n'tan, and those that ended up north seem to have avoided UTA green but were repainted maroon by NIR for postal traffic between Belfast and Portadown. Two, I think, were still doing that into the early 1970s. As a further aside, the whole subject of what the Americans call "tail traffic" at the back of passenger services is a whole arena of variation, and thus major modelling interest.

I'd assume it likely went on to Derry to stable? Tin vans got to Derry laden with newspaper traffic!

An IRRS jaunt over the INWR remnant just before it closed (1960) saw CIE green (albeit on an GNR railcars) tread the rails of Dundalk - Clones as well. A green "A" plus green laminates also made it to Ardee with the IRRS. Wasn't aware of that, but possible, of course. The Carrickmacross CIE locos were based in Dundalk. Had the Wisht Caark section survived even to 1965, black'n'tan would have been regularly seen there on something other than the lifting trains! The West Clare also just narrowly escaped the start of the black'n'tan era. Imagine a black "F" or black'n'tan Walker railcars!

Interesting survivors…. The “A” class never got that far, and while I don’t think a 121 did either, I couldn’t swear to it. But 141s - yes, over a period of about 18 months they made several appearances. Goods trains saw many a CIE wagon - flying snails were no strangers to this route, and in the last couple of years, a few “roundels” too! Worth adding, other than the still-existing GNR lines, the “A” class did make it to some other closed GNR places. I think they got to Warrenpoint, and they certainly got to Monaghan (via Cavan).

The sound of those yokes has never been heard by the majority of people, but I was one of the lucky ones.... and despite this, IRM have managed to capture it very accurately indeed. I remember the first time I heard it - it was 102, and she was only days in traffic. Compared to a usual A class (both Crossley and then-new GM variant), and endless AEC and BUT railcars at the time, or a 121 / 141 / 181 it was just so different. Well done to whoever created that sound again!

Wow times two!

Serves the seller right.

Indeed, and several other fast suburban tanks of 2.6.4T or 2.8.4T type…. I think maybe “E” class? I saw two out of use in Delhi but I can’t remember the details.

I'm just thinking at this level of detail. a "WT" Jeep would have to have a fully-working Willie Graham, Barney McCrory and Frank Dunlop in the cab......

Unfortunately that’s just a few years before I was there. I’m pretty certain none of those were still about - certainly not in traffic. I didn’t see any even in scrap lines.

Not as a regular thing, though….. another “one-off” would be a transfer of a handful of empty cattle trucks somewhere in the Cork area once….. in their last days.

Yes, the SPS class 4.4.0s and SGS class 0.6.0s were in daily use well into the 1980s, possibly early 90s. I missed them, unfortunately, though I saw a near-equivalent 4.4.0 in India, out of use.

Aha! Must ask the Wee Birdy…..!

An XE would be nice!

It's that live Fintona horse, I can feel it in me waters.

A well-known former RPSI member was a ship's engineer on trawlers in his earlier working life. He was a notoriously argumentative type (when I was RPSI treasurer he rang me in one of his many drunken rages at 02:30 demanding a refund for expenses he claimed to have incurred!).... Argumentative on North Sea trawlers, too. Can you imagine being cooped up with someone like that on a trawler on the North Sea for 2 weeks? Well, if that wasn't bad enough, he didn't get on with the skipper! One day the skipper told him there was something rattling in his (very tiny) bunk room and he couldn't sleep, because the rattle was right overhead, maybe a foot away from his head when sleeping. Our man found the issue, tightened it up, but at the same time put a marble inside a pipe which ran literally alongside his bunk. That was even noisier. They were several days from port. When the skipper complained that there was now a different noise, but it was louder, our man put a SECOND marble in the pipe. All day and all night they rattled back and forth in that pipe, while our man insisted he was absolutely puzzled as to what the cause was.....

I'll risk wandering off topic here (not like me)..... Many moons ago, I interviewed a former driver now gone to his well-earned rest in the Great Locomotive in the Sky. He started as a teenage cleaner (as they mostly all did) in 1917, and the allocation there at the time was six J15s. He remembered the numbers of them too, and what duties they tended to be on. Probably in many sheds other than Tuam, tricks were played on new entrants. Billy's first job was cleaning locos on night shift for tomorrow's trains, after they'd been lit up. One would do the goods up to Sligo, and another would head to Athenry. On his first night they told him the shed was haunted by the ghost of a dead driver who had been a "fierce man". Billy got his bucket of oily rags and set about cleaning one of the engines. He was the only person in the shed - or so he thought. At fourteen years of age he was still very gullible (by his own admission). He was a country lad, brought up on a sheep farm out in the sticks outside the town. But the WAS someone else in the shed, tiptoeing about. This "someone" moved his bucket while he was round the other side of the loco. When he came back to it, he assumed he had been mistaken in where he left it. But it was moved again. Now he began to get anxious. Next time he went back to his bucket it had disappeared/ Panic set in and he ran like blazes outside to where a steam raiser was preparing another engine. Steam raiser casually said, "ah, that's just Otto*, the ghost. Don't mind him. As long as you don't ANNOY him, you'll be fine!" (* Can't remember the actual name, but it was something odd like that) He was terrified out of his wits. Next day he sought out the foreman and told him he wouldn't be back, and told him the story. Foreman exploded in a rage (not at Billy) and told him he'd better be back, and there was no such thing as ***** **** ****&*&*&*&*^&% GHOSTS................ He said he never found out who did this, but the same trick was played on someone else at another time......!

I had a footplate run on a WP 4.6.2 some fifty years ago on the main line between Lucknow and Varanasi. Driver, TWO (barefoot!!) firemen and a coal-breaker, sitting up in the tender with a hammer breaking up huge lumps of coal. He has no less than twenty heavily laden bogies behind an engine marginally larger than "Maedb" and he was doling 70 miles an hour. Most amazing footplate run I ever had, all on the 5'6". Boy, those engines were POWERFUL!!!! To be fair, long straight dead-level track for maybe 50-60 miles. Despite a crowd of that many people (like an RPSI steam train with 35 people on the footplate!!!) there was room for everyone. Cabs on those yokes are so big you could host a six nations game there while in motion..... (Did I exaggerate?)

WOWWWW!!!!!!!! Amazing stuff! (Any chance of a YP, YG, YL, CWD or WP?)

I have got mine but haven’t got a chance to run them yet - but bizarrely I have two older IFM ones which, though lovely models, don’t like curves or points!!!

Yes, very much so. Cowan Sheldon had standard types of 10, 20 & 30 ton cranes, delivered in many gauges to railways all over the world. I have seen almost exact equivalents of those used by the GNR, GSWR, MGWR & gawd knows who else, in India (5’6” and metre gauge), South Africa, Myanmar and somewhere else that escapes me (possibly Indonesia). So, yes, that model would do for many an Irish application.

Very much so, yes, and it would allow an excuse for a GSR-liveried one to haul something other than maroon stock. Indeed. GWR-type, and even more so the designs of the LNER and SR, were so utterly unlike anything that ever ran on any line in Ireland, that even at a vague glance they just wouldn’t look right, but if all in maroon or lined CIE green, it would at least present the mixed appearance you mention.