jhb171achill

And me!

Hope you're recovered OK!

Brings back memories. My introduction to model railways was the 160 foot circuit in the attic of our stable, on Senior’s 1930s tinplate layout. I was about 11. Big clockwork engines rattling round a barn with un-insulated track on wooden boards, and clattering coaches clicketty-clacking behind them….. to do one full circuit, you’d wind the loco fully, and it would just about coast to a halt at the right spot. Heavy trains, as in real life, had to be double-headed. The best option was an old 0.4.0 tender loco which was an absolute flying machine and could haul pretty much anything you put behind it….

The stuff you meet on the roads these days….. where’s the traffic gardaí, I’m wondering?

Big time, yes! Great to see this and one of the 071s at Ballina, like a throwback to the 1990s.... Now we await an ICR set in 1950s dark green with flying snails! Or one of the new Dart Pluses in GSR Drumm Train livery........???

IMG_1193.mov

IMG_1196.mov IMG_1192.mov

I have to say I never liked that livery - didn't think the yellow suited the orange and black - but there's no denying that looks really well.

A terrible shame, but you’re a million percent right. A relative of mine regularly uses the ferry as a foot passenger (through necessity - long story) and it’s an absolute ordeal.

If they haven’t withdrawn them. It seems there’s nothing for them to do any more.

Good thinking….. it’s something I hadn’t thought of. No idea, but yes, those and the D’s did seem to often carry oil lamps….

Last week’s operations IMG_1195.mov

“Oi! You can’t park that here!” IMG_1196.mov

Had a closer look. Yes, that’s a bit more to the point. The other picture didn’t show as much detail. In the absence of much else, in CIE green they’re a good idea.

I thought they looked smooth-sided, no? Meant to add, the six-wheeler on the right of that picture is ex-MGWR six-wheel 3rd, No. 13M. Its chassis survives at Downpatrick.

Those two were wooden-panelled, too. The one on the left was one of only three surviving coaches at the time from the Waterford, Limerick & Western - l think it was 934 or 935. Only one survives today - the unrestored 6-wheel family saloon No. 900 at Belturbet. On the right is GSWR 1110, also long gone.

Unfortunately very unlike anything that ran here…. The right livery, though, and it’s a convenient thing!

Anyone remember the old LMS boats that were still plying the Irish Sea in the mid 1960s?

Indeed. In days past, that's the way it was. But it's changed times now. Before the Mk 2 yokes were forcibly retired from use on the main line, this issue was being discussed anyway. It does seem likely that the RPSI would be hit with this sooner rather than later. Another nail in the coffin for any chance of northern trips becoming self-supporting, as the cost per coach is apparently high. I recall a figure being quoted - can't remember now what it was, but these vehicles would have to be putting up a high mileage to make it viable. And, seemingly, there isn't the market for that.

Long gone, I understand. Never proceeded with.

No grain trains, as such. Instead, the normal goods train, containing H vans, palvans, Bullied opens, etc, stopped off and collected / delivered grain vans at stations. Thats why they’re so suitable for layouts. You can run them mixed in with all the other stuff.

It used to be the case that steam was needed, though isn’t now. Just as well! But as you say, it’s the “normals” who pay the fares mostly, not “enthusiasts”.

A very good point indeed. As well as dealing with the money in, and the bills, for the May Tour in its heyday, I also looked after the seating plan for many years. Not as simple as it looks, as among the regulars some requested milepost seats, others wanted to sit with certain people, and at least one asked NOT to be in the same carriage as several others! When we had our older stock, some wanted a compartment coach, some an open like GNR No. 9. But overall - the ENTIRE contingent from the 32 counties of Ireland would have rarely exceeded one full coach, and occasionally as little just over half of one. The rest, bar a very small number, were all English. Not even British, but specifically English. IT IS TO THOSE PEOPLE THAT THE RPSI OWES ITS EXISTENCE TODAY. The May Tour in pre-Santa train days, provided the society with almost 50% of ALL of its income and profit from ALL sources. At that time there were some 45 operations annually. The other 44 together made less money than the May tour. Broken down further, the northern trips usually just about broke even. The big money was - and is - Dublin’s day trips. When one considers that in the greater Dublin catchment area there are almost as many people as the whole of Northern Ireland, that’s hardly surprising, of course. On a side note, many of us older persons always referred to the May Tour as the “two day tour”, despite it being a five day tour! This had its origins in the first few in the late 1960s, when it WAS just two days. Over the years, it became three, then four, then five; but I’ll warrant that there will still be at least someone about Whitehead who calls it the “two day”! Less said about the crass and contemptible “International Railtour” name, the better! Waylaid myself there; my point was to say that while Irish enthusiasts whinged about it being too expensive, it WAS exceptionally good value indeed. Yet, not a whisper of complaint from our valuable English visitors, who not only came regularly, but threw twenty pound notes into donation tins, and told dining car, bar, raffle book sales volunteers to “keep the change for society funds” with many transactions; and also spent hundreds on ferries, planes and hotels…

I might add that my predecessor in minding the RPSI’s finances, Galteemore senior, was of the same mind as I was, and so was my successor. Between the three of us we dealt with the society’s funds for some forty years.

So, in general, CIE wagon liveries were: 1945: mid grey, same as GSR or LMS in Britain, with take green painted snail and number. Mid-50s: Grey, but snail and number become white. Late 50s: Same again but snail becomes a stencil. Circa 1960/1: lighter grey starts being used, white stencilled snail. 1963: very gradually, snails replaced by “roundel” in white in existing stock but with white letters and a tan surround on new vans (H & Palvan) 1970: After seven years of the roundel, brown livery. By 1976/7 when the last loose-coupled goods ran, only some 60%~ish of vans were brown - many were still grey. With bogie stock (eg ferts), brown with white roundels and numbers continues 1987: After CIE is broken up, roundels discontinued. No logo at all on operating wagons, but some tankers and departmental stock, and a handful of oddballs, got the “set-of-points” logo. Indeed - rare indeed. With Inchicore turning out “H” vans as quickly as they could at the time, few GNR vans beyond the “H-like” Drogheda cement vans saw CIE markings at all before their demise, though a tiny handful survived to get post-1970 brown….