jhb171achill

I have to say I’ve always found Hattons to be superb.

So what now? Will this be back? Does this mean that the only goods trains now are the Taras, the timber and the Ballina - Waterford containers? (Yellow things don't count!)

Indeed; there will be enthusiasts (!) saying “Sure who’d want a RTR ICR - there’s nobody alive remembers them….”

Lost on me, DJ, a Mk 4 to me is a 1960s Ford Cortina!

€150!!

Galteemore, I had a look in my "stuff" but was unable to find signalling information. However, being the CDR, I doubt that whatever was there was likely to be "standard"!

I’ll look it up……

There were several stations in rural areas where crossing was done with a siding only - even with passenger trains, as in Inver, Co Donegal, where up trains served the platform then reversed back into a siding to allow a down train to arrive. Once it had proceeded west, the up train moved forward out of the siding and headed towards Donegal.

Ssssshhh! Don’t remind them it’s running, or they’ll find an excuse to close it! Rare daisies on the track, or a need for a Beauparc Greenway, or unsafe carbon emissions from 071s!

It's a B101; I omitted the "B"! As our transatlantic colleagues might say, "my bad"! (But, Leslie, we're chatting with young wans here who don't know what a steam engine is..........) Your points about Provincial Wagons are very true indeed! I've dozens of 'em now..........

I have said this before and I'll say it again. While it's true that Ryan has nothing to do with this suspension as far as may be assumed - I have heard straight from the horse's mouth that within both IE and the NTA there is a vehemently anti-rail attitude; for all we know, this may filter into Dublin Port. If Ryan is indeed behind the stay of execution on the South Wexford, and the enhancements in the Cork suburban area, fair play to him. If he is behind any talk of resurrecting the Foynes line, likewise. However, he was also a government minister who - and I stand to be corrected - made not one peep when a commissioned report on the WRC, absolutely RIDDLED with errors and omissions deliberately designed to make the Tuam reconnection look completely impossible, was published. I'm long enough in the tooth to remember the anti-rail policies of Stormont in the 1960s. There is at least a significant element of this type of attitude in governments in the south now, and has been for years. If Ryan can bang their heads together and actually get serious investment in HEAVY rail brought from opportunist empty rhetoric by gombeen men councillors who know nothing of the related economic issues, then I will vote for the greens....... I hope he does.

An excellent volume of information, which personally I would very highly recommend. As the authors suggest, there is a huge amount of information unavailable elsewhere. An absolute must for any serious railway historian.

Actual wagons still grey at that point......

Good to see you yesterday, Neil! That link doesn't work........

They were that colour when brand new, but a bit like a silver A class or silver tin van, or a steam engine in a light or bright colour, they got so filthy, so quickly and so inevitably that the actual livery they were painted in become lost under a layer of gunk. Pretty soon they were repainted in the standard brown colour; this concept also applied to other vehicles like the Castlemungret yokes. In the very few cases of Irish wagons having a livery other than standard CIE, almost inevitably while they LOOK "private owner", they are fully CIE / IE owned. The "bubbles" were branded "Irish Cement" towards the end, but were always owned by CIE - same with the Taras. Actual fully private owned wagons - we're going back decades, and then not many. I'm sure others will add to the list, but on the BCDR the East Downshire Co. had a few coal wagons, and oil companies had a small number of tankers in the 1950s and 60s.

Back to the 1960s, and a typical train of the early years of the 141s. Remove the black'n'tan coach, and it applies also to green or silver "A"'s, or grey 121s. Of the six coaches, five different types are represented, the second being an old GSWR wooden bogie (IRM will release one next week). The silver "livery" is still represented in a few vehicles - the one here uncharacteristically clean. The very end of the train has another old wooden type. Just one black'n'tan; the rest green or silver. This was where the "grey'n'green" era merges into the "black'n'tan" era - 1963/4/5.

Excellent - so he'd have left the port maybe about 15:50 - or in between the 13:50 and 18:50 scheduled departures! Either two hours late or three early - that, in fact, is actually as close as it gets, so you were lucky! JB

You’ve certainly nailed down the realistic weathering and scenery! Superb job.

Another passed Malahide northbound at 13:00 or so!

I sit in my study within sight of them. Sadly, they almost NEVER run to timetable path. In the early months of this year I made a note of what times they passed Malahide, and in a typical week one or two came along when they were supposed to. It seems that they dance to the tune of the mine, and try to slot in between passenger trains once they get to Drogheda. Northbound empties are just as random. This very day a northbound empties passed here (outside Malahide) at 12:00. It isn’t due until 14:36! One day I heard an 071 at 14:36 and went to the window expecting to see a northbound train - instead, a SOUTHBOUND working went past, at exactly the time a northbound should have. Hypothetically, but in reality almost never; Ex-Tara southbound laden: 09:10 12:15. 18:45 Ex-Dublin Port northbound empty: 13:50 18:50 23:05 That last one, the 23:05 north, is supposed to pass Malahide at 00:18, but it has passed here as early as 21:45 or so, and NEVER later than 23:40 in my time watching.

The siding on the left on the plan, and the one at the bottom, were removed before closure. One thing puzzles me about the picture; you can't see the tram shed.....it should be visible, and it outlasted the track lifting....

I'll fish it out for you, but I'm having trouble posting any pictures on this website last few days. Basically, a couple of sidings. no loco road, no turntable. If anyone else has Norman Johnston's excellent little book on the line, maybe you could post the trackplan as I can't.

Historically, Fintona. the perfect tiny branch terminus - overall roof an'all. Passenger platform only fit for a single vehicle, so a double-ended railcar - if used as a basis for a British prototype, one of those German-built four-wheeled railbuses that BR experimented with in the late 50s / early 60s. One loco and half a dozen wagons for the goods bit. Even Fintona was "rationalised" before it closed; jhbSenior approved the removal of one of its sidings in its final year or two!

I am very familiar with the efforts to recreate the Lagan Navigation Canal in the north - I have been involved in much historical research on their behalf. Despite being almost totally semi-state-funded, and getting the exceptionally rare full support of both the Shinners and Snarlene's lot, this Lagan Navigation Trust (look them up) struggles to get funding from anywhere. Were it not for one particularly charismatic "leader", like MANY fledging railway preservation societies, and who is English (see my earlier points!) with a background in English heritage projects, I doubt if it would have achieved anything at all. Their long-term plans depend 100% on public funding. Will they get it? As for private donations / interested millionaires, there is a better chance of clockwork spaceships being developed. As I implied at the beginning, it's a cultural thing, not assisted by the fact that per square mile, we have one twelfth the population of England.

Absolutely SUBLIME stuff.