jhb171achill

Here we go: Nice TYPICAL rural Irish 1970s train too. Two laminates - of different types - (three on some lines e.g. Limerick - Waterford) and a hot water bottle. GSR enamel bilingual sign (on BOTH platforms) too. Wonder what happened them - could they have ended up in a bar in Noo Yawk?

Re. the GSWR bolster: Check out (online) the Father Browne collection - there's a pic of it at 11.90.25, though how to isolate that one out of 75000 images is beyond me!

What size is it? Hard to tell from original photo in which it looked too small to be a level crossing lamp. With the red lenses, which weren't visible in the first pic, that definitely tends to tie it to some sort of "open / shut" access idea - a level crossing being obvious if it IS railway related. Is it big enough, though?

Had a yarn with Barry - those pics shown above that we had in the book are actually his best ones of that shed, he says - actually, I think they're adequate for the model?

Wonder where that large pic of a 111 went to! Very "officey" looking - reminds me of my former employment life.......good riddance!

These wagons were indeed uncommon in Ireland, as were all bogie wagons of any sort prior to the 1970s. The few bogie flats we DID have - I have seen a pic of a MGWR one somewhere, though it could be a relic of the Bretland train. I don't know what the Midland used it for, and I don't know if there were more than one. The GSWR had some sort of bogie flat too - again, I'm unaware of any details but I saw a pic of a bogie once! The GNR had the bogie Guinness vans - again, very few in number and confined to one specific traffic. There were at least two cariations of the design. The closest I can see to anything that ran here is this, but it's VERY much a "two-foot-rule" job. Paint it grey and put "G N" or "G S" on it, or a tiny "flying snail", and you're good to go: https://www.dapol.co.uk/shop/oo-gauge/wagons-OO-Gauge/OO-Gauge-Bogie-Bolster-E This Bachmann one is NOT even remotely close to anything Irish: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1157802238?iid=203210768422 Now, there's a difference between wagons WITH bolsters and those without! The Dapol one above has them attached, but something tells me they look entirely wrong for Ireland. Without any clear knowledge of any regular sort of use for a beast like this, it's impossible to know whether the few bogie flats had them at all, or were even suitable to fit them to. If we look at the GNR grain bogie currently under restoration at Whitehead, we can see the short-wheelbase bogies which were similar to what I saw under the Midland one which lurks in my past memory. Also, they were short body length - something between 30ft and 40ft, I guess. Among Cyril Fry's models there is a bogie flat also, I think of GNR origin. The bolsters are very much smaller than in the Dapol model. With the museum closed at the moment, I'm not sure when I'll next be in. I do have a few bits of work to do there, but they are not urgent nor in the public eye, so I don't know when that will be, but I will post pics of this model when I can. The County Donegal Railways had one at least, as well. Really, in all reality, in modelling goods trains pre-1970 anywhere in Ireland, broad or narrow gauge, and going WAY back, one can take it as a rule of thumb that roughly half of all non-passenger stock are four wheeled goods vans of all sorts of types. Of the remainder, it may safely be assumed something over half of them in cattle trucks, and the rest open wagons. In the last 15 years or so of loose-coupled goods trains, the cattle wagons began to vanish like snow off a ditch, and were seen on fewer and fewer lines, so a 1960s goods train will be mostly vans - possibly 65% - and opens. As will be appreciated, tank wagons were also very few and far between, and entirely absent from many (or most!) routes.

Found it; this from the P Dillon collection: (Seven four-wheelers was the maximum allowed load).

Yes - in all reality, a 1960s CIE passenger train without one is as unrealistic as one without a locomotive - or a goods train without a brake van. I've 4 but I need another 4......

Yip - at THAT time there was that one, another in West Cork, and another in Tralee, from what I can gather. It’s more than possible they weren’t the only ones. Once the standard CIE 20T and 30T ones multiplied in number, CIE withdrew all non standard ones (most of which were either too small, or clapped out anyway) as quickly as they could. A handful of GNR vans went into CIE use but only for 2 or 3 years - I’m only aware of 1 or 2 even being repainted with a “flying snail” - but Leslie has a model of that TOO!

Yes - they got very scruffy in that livery. It was too light to be remotely practical - and when the 121s were new they were still surrounded by steam engines when on shed.... As our good American friends might say, “go figure”! La Grange, Illinois, had almost totally done away with all steam when the 121s were being painted pale grey and yellow!

Note the rolling stock. In the first pic, the second wagon is an old GSWR low-roofed “soft-top” of 1890s origin. A handful of these were still to be seen up to just about into the 1960s. In the above (colour) pic, looks like a GNR coach now in CIE green. In the final pic, we’ve one of Leslie’s GSWR guards vans. At least one of these appears to have been use well into the 1960s.

Leave it with me - I'll post here when I get something. With the lockdown I can't nip round to his house right now, but I'm on the phone every few days.

I will ask Barry if he has other views of this shed if you like?

Lovely little item, and superb weathering on both it and the loco and tanker!

Excellent idea for a small-space layout, or shunting layout. One "G" and half a dozen goods vans and a brake van, and ye're away! For anyone interested, check J P O'Dea's pics of the line under the nli.ie website. I think I've posted one here somewhere before - can't recall if it was Fry's or jhb171Senior's...

Anthony isn't, evidently - pity, as his work is absolutely outstandingly good, as many here will have seen.

Indeed, John - you alluded to this matter of radius. It would have to be accepted by a modeller who is tight for space, that the minimum radius would have to be slightly larger. A agree with all points raised above - it seems fair to say that there seems to be a broad consensus that for people starting out its an option, but not to convert. I have ten Murphy diesels and two Silverfox. I know the former are easy to convert - not sure about the SF ones - anyone know? Rolling stock - I've quite a mixture, and while I know for a fact that some are convertible, that's by no means any guarantee that the rest (majority) of them are. So as far as I would be concerned, personally, things stay as they are - albeit there is absolutely no doubt that 21mm looks WAAY better. The point made above about someone maybe making a fuss about a missing bolt on a Murphy loco, while it's running on unrealistically "narrow gauge" track not raising anyone's eyebrow - is a very valid one indeed. Regarding Brazil, I have a sometime interest in the railways of there, plus Argentina and the very fascinating Paraguayan system. It had occurred to me at times to toy with the idea of a generic Brazilian or South American shunting layout, either broad gauge or metre (I like the erstwhile Mogiana Railway). From my observations in a number of locations in all three countries, the only difference I see is that sleepers tend to be more closely spaced - certainly, it looks that way on the ground. I did a thorough exploration of two stations in Argentina the last time I was there, and that's what it looked like. Having said that, the commercial success of selling broad gauge track to those markets, or Oz, or India, would depend on RTR stuff in those countries to run on it! As others note above, THEY tend to use H0 track too, and for India, with a 5'6" gauge, that looks even LESS realistic. I considered buying a static model handmade BBCIR 4.6.0 one time, but though built to 00 scale, it just looked plain ridiculous "narrow-gauged" to American H0 track. I know for a fact that many modellers in Brazil (OK, both of them!) tend to favour the metre gauge lines there (including the Mogiana system), because there is one Brazilian manufacturer who do RTR stuff, and at least two of their models are as close as makes little difference to 3'6" gauge locos running in South Africa (34 class), Indonesia (CC201) and metre-gauge India. Interesting thread!

Makes me start wondering what a 5’3” gauge “Black 5” would look like! Dare I suggest, quite elegant!

Regarding the "Sutton & Baldoyle" station nameboard, I was told some years ago that one is in private ownership somewhere....... One number and nameplate off the DNGR No. 6 was acquired by Cyril Fry, and now adorns the wall of the Malahide Model Railway museum, along with other things of beauty that he also acquired!

Not railway, too small. Probably an old wall lamp of some sort from outside a house? Senior had one in a shed years and years ago and it wasn't a million miles unlike that yoke. That's what HE thought about that one, anyway.

I certainly would, as the extra realism is a real enhancement. Now, everything I personally own is 00 gauge, but almost all is convertible to 21mm. Thus, if 21mm RTR track was available, I could be persuaded to change - cost permitting. If I was starting out, however, I would not think twice about it. Dare we dream that IRM is pondering the issue over a bowl of soup?

Jim Smellie, of Caley Coaches in Scotland, mentioned to me that he has ten sets of etches which he is open to offers for. Jim says "You might not know but a lot of my artwork was done by Alistair Wright who is notorious for filling up wee corners on tools with all sorts of bits and pieces. One such is described as “Irish W irons” per photos. If you or anyone you know can use these I am open of offers on 10 sets as shown...." Contact Jim directly at jim@caley.com.

No, totally new book.

Outstandingly superb!

You beat me to it, Seagoe! The publisher will post it directly, which beats the small inconvenience of normal retailers possibly being close down or otherwise short-staffed......