jhb171achill

Exactly - and these fell into three categories, in terms of how many there were / how common they were: (a) the various iterations of what are now generically known as "tin vans", officially "heating vans" and "luggage vans"; both with guard accommodation and brake; (b) rebuilt 1951-3 standards as brake gennies, and (c) the few six-wheeled "tin vans" (which were all heating vans - these tended to be seen almost entirely on main lines (my own personal recollections were only of seeing them on the "Enterprise" or the Cork line). Then, of course, the Dutch ones in 1969 and the BR ones in 1972. The last four wheeled tin vans to be seen in passenger traffic were on the three routes out of Limerick; Ballina, Rosslare and Ballybrophy, and on Dublin and Cork suburban services, where I believe they lasted until about 1977. The last I personally saw were in early spring 1976, on the Limerick - Ballina train of two laminates plus van. That service ended about 2 weeks later.

Actual GSWR paint, livery & lining on this model in Cultra made by Inchicore apprentices over 100 years ago.

I'm wandering off topic in that while the above is "from the catacombs", it's not Irish! So, to ease us back home, here's one taken in Switzerland and one in Ireland. The Swiss one is 1956, as Senior was on his Funnymoon. That's a serious looking electric loco..... I remember seeing an elderly one something like that, with "steam"-era wheels and connecting rods, in Austria in 1979..... funny to hear it clanking past but no steam or smoke. The Irish one is one of Cyril Fry's (this particular one c. Hassard Stacpoole), and is the mixed train at Cahirciveen, about to depart for Farranfore. It is this type of scene that I will eventually want to emulate on "Dugort Harbour" once IRM get the "C" classes out! That MGWR Cusack-era six-wheeler is a long way from home.

Ah! Superb! Very many thanks, Stephen. I'll post some more of his British stuff by degrees. What is that coach with the loco? Also, what few notes I have suggest it might be earlier even - possibly HIS father took it in the mid 1930s. I wish he had kept proper notes, though I'm one to talk regarding my own stuff.......! Here's another from the Union of Brexit Republics......this one is 1930s. I have an idea they were over there about 1937, but again, no confirmation. For modellers interested in British private owner wagons, this place would be heaven......

Wow!! SUPERBLY realistic - and that’s some collection of engines!

From Senior's stuff........ When? Not sure - probably about 1942. Where? No idea. Somewhere in the southern half of Brexitstan.

“I’m telling’ ye. That door won’t open - it’s jammed. Them oul vans are useless. We’ll have to load it through the carriage.” ”Just as well there’s no wagon of manure today…..”

The whole idea of how to take effective pics of layouts is beginning to interest me. I took that one in genuine dusk light, with the lights off in the room. I’m studying the way layouts are portrayed in the “comics”; what sort of lighting, angles and so on that people use. Much to learn, as I await the track for the rest of the layout… Tried to load a 28 second video clip, but it won't play ball. Any way of doing this without putting it all up on youtube? IMG_9355.MOV IMG_9357.MOV IMG_9356.MOV

That's like the "free-to-free" traffic from Dublin to Donegal back in the day - crawling non-stop through Enniskillen and Omagh.

Proper buffers and couplings instead of the tram things they have on ICRs.......

Ah, but it's a diesel....... whereas that sectioned yoke is the business!

What's that sectioned 2.4.0? Nice looking beast.

Might get out the "proper" camera and dust it down - thirty years ago, photography was a separate hobby of mine, but just about every picture I've taken in the last ten years has been with a mobile phone! This includes all of the above......

The whole idea of how to take effective pics of layouts is beginning to interest me. I took that one in genuine dusk light, with the lights off in the room. I’m studying the way layouts are portrayed in the “comics”; what sort of lighting, angles and so on that people use. Much to learn, as I await the track for the rest of the layout…

Which is exactly why the guard has it in the Guard's van. He will put his packet of egg sandwiches in greaseproof paper on top of it, so those white-hatted busybodies won't go near it.

It’s thirty years before the Northern Bank robbery, of course……

“What have you got in that package?” “Never you mind. Don’t tell yer man a THING”……

Finally, a lonely J15 has been shoved into the former loco road following a leaking boiler tube…. Tomorrow the Castletown pilot engine will be summoned to rescue it.

109 takes water before taking the early morning train…. While, five years later, B165 prepares to depart with the same service. I’ll see what I can do! Doesn’t seem to want to download here….

B165 shunts incoming wagons of coal, then disappears light engine back to Castletown West. And leaving light engine….

Doings at Dugort Harbour….. experimenting with images as much as shunting…. There’s the panoramic, as in the first pic. Hard to do this at ground level due to lack of depth-of-field. The third pic is tinted to look like an old colour slide from the mid-60s.

“Look, I don’t CARE if your brother is still in O’Donoghue’s. And I don’t CARE if you write to Lemass. I can’t hold the train!….”

Good to see the track still there........ it was, of course, double track until (I think) 1928. I was over it myself many a time.

Wow - spectacular as always! Absolutely one of my favourite layouts....

Can it be Friday more often, please? Superb photos, superb angles, very well composed, and amazing scenery. That's the sort of layout I like, where you can lose yourself in the entire scenery and background...... excellent stuff.