jhb171achill

Went to Belfast today. Up in a DD, back to Drogheda on an ICR, and onwards locally in a 28 class. A pleasant day, visiting a friend in Belfast, and four observations. 1. Great to be able to get a meal at a table and in first class; there really ought to be equivalents on IR. 2. DDs are vastly superior to Mk 4s in comfort. 3. If I could turn back the clock in a Time Machine, my second choice would be to take a train from Broadstone to Achill. My FIRST would be to seek out the future parents of “skem”, whose unsightly graffiti stretches from Connolly to Belfast, and have them both neutered. 4. I did my last leg in a 29 class. It was spotlessly clean inside, had clean windows inside and out, no graffiti, no Lino patches on the floor, clean upholstery, and the seats seemed comfortable. First time for everything! So, question, have some of these been internally refurbished in recent times?

Correct - Fry didn’t model a “big boy”. Changeover from EdN to white “snails” and numerals was mid to late 1950s, often coinciding with the change from dark to lighter mid-grey. And yes, as far as possible Fry’s liveries were 100% accurate in all respects. Out of whim, though, he painted two GSR locos in 800 class green - even though these were grey all their lives! Even with Fry, “Rule 1” applied!

It’s certainly those dimensions! But like EVERY goods vehicle in Cultra, and almost every preserved one anywhere in this island, the livery is catastrophically (and inexcusably, for a museum) wrong! This thing is the wrong grey, wrong style of lettering, even wrong colour lettering; as is the guards van beside it. But at least the dimensions haven’t altered!

Unfortunately, during a huge clear-out of Inchicore Works in the early 1960s, thousands of diagrams of coaches, wagons and steam locomotives, many going back to earliest times, were all destroyed. We are actually lucky to have what we have!

Yes, exactly. A VERY occasional snail logo too; I saw just ONE in the 1970-6 period (at Ballina). In 1970/1, a very occasional brown one but obviously these increased in proportion. By 1976, two thirds were brown, but at the very end of loose-coupled goods, a good 20% were still grey.

I haven't got exact dates, but parcels activities were still carrying newspapers at the very least into the 1990s, as I saw these in a Mk 2 (or 3) guard's compartment on the Waterford line during the RPSI's May Tour one time about 1994/5, I think. As for NIR, I think the early 1980s.

Sadly, I think Tara is history….

Superb weaterhing. You've absolutely nailed how they looked in their later days!

The GNR did too, but I don’t have the details.

Often thought a G scale model of one of those would be a great project!

Who owns the non-ITG stuff?

Possibly a full brake, but very definitely never passenger-carrying six-wheelers. If there was a six wheel van on the Cork line much after 1935 (pre-800!) it was at one end of the train carrying mailbags.

I presume these are container flats of some sort?

Worth a reminder to perhaps our younger colleagues here, used to seeing modern goods trains which comprise a dozen identical vehicles and nothing else. Apart from the fact that a traditional goods train of four-wheeled loose-coupled vehicles could have 34 wagons of 32 different types, it’s worth pointing out that ALL of them had a brake van. Running a train of older wagons either no brake van on the end is as ridiculously inaccurate as Stephenson’s Rocket hauling an ICR, or a Tara Mines train happily running round the layout with no locomotive. Thankfully, we’ve had JM Design and Provincial Wagons to bridge this absolutely ESSENTIAL gap. Apart from the fact that it does us all a common good to support these small manufacturers, we actually need these things for any credibility on any layout. (Mind you, “Rule 1” applies if you prefer a train of British Rail Mk 1s hauled by a Javanese 3’6” gauge B50 class 2.4.0 in NIR silver and blue; a Japanese bullet train hauled by a Listowel monorail engine, a Sligo Leitrim 0.6.4T double-heading a Darjeeling “B” on the Enterprise, or WORSE, a train of CIE “H” vans and Bullieds with no guard’s van….)

Which, if that turns out to be true, will mean it's not ready for the Ryder Cup time, so no chance of the JP Express to Adare!

In Mallorca in 1993 I saw a metre-gauge "G", owned by a private company that hda a contract to relay track on the Palma-Inca line. It was to all intents and purposes an EXCAT copy of a G61X type, bar being (a) P W yellow and (b) metre gauge, and (c) centre coupling. Its build date was 1983, according to its diamond-shaped Deutz plate. A friend from AAFB, the Mallorcan preservation / railway historical society, told me that spares for these were still very readily available (well, in 1993 anyway). Exact same engine, apparently, as G611-7.

Absolutely. Even when the last steam survivors were banished from Inchicore and sent to Broadstone, just about anything could turn up on the Dun Laoghaire Pier mail shuttle. It could be a filthy lethargic Crossley “C”, an elderly 1897-built J15, or a blue 4.4.0 barely fifteen years old.

A packed-solid train on its way to the Invisible People’s Convention”….

Not my place to question marketing strategies of a (thankfully) successful company, but that would seem a good idea. The Irish market is minuscule. Many of what would seem perfectly logical models for IRM to produce are, on analysis, almost certainly hopelessly non-commercially viable. So any extra exposure has to be good. From 1984 to covid, I worked on all but 3 of the annual RPSI May tours. The number of people each year from the 32 counties was almost never more than three quarters if one coach. The rest were almost all English. Not “British”; but specifically English. IRRS London meetings have many ex-pats; but also many folks from Starmerland who just have a superb interest in Irish railways. Its’s reasonable, therefore, to assume a significant interest in (domestic) Britain for Irish railways. So, a spotlight on IRM itself should be a good idea?

Superb, as are the scenic details. I love the oul ruined cottage!

Having used several of your images in books, Ernie, after seeking permission from your good self of course, I must express my great appreciation and full support for your stance. I hope others will respect your rights as copyright owner.

PO wagons tended to be confined to one specific route, so they’re not really flexible. I’m unaware of any on the NCC. I think the Courtaulds ones were UTA-owned, not PO. This rules out Jeeps, Moguls or the two Jintys in terms of hauling anything PO. The BCDR had the Dundrum PO coal wagons. Some of these ended up on the DNGR, but of course by that stage they were no longer owned by the East Downshire company. In terms of era, to such extent we had PO wagons, you’re really looking at the 1900-20 period mostly. They’re not really a “modern” thing. They give colour, of course, to a model goods train. But prototypically, until the 1970s, any sort of goods stock which wasn’t grey was a rarity on all lines.

Yes - the old traditional wooden-bodied open wagons, very few as they were in the first place, were very long gone.