jhb171achill

Irish "follies" tended to be a lot smaller, and often just small structures in the grounds of the "Big Houses".

Not really - it's more Tudor (English) than Norman / Irish, architecturally. I had though of some sort of old tumbledown "11th century ruin" in a corner on an extension of mine - but the pic of Dunamase above (a lovely place) - shows that not a window is even necessary!

Very important to "buy Irish" in these times especially...

Interesting to see the rare "set of points" logo - exceptionally few wagons ever carried them! I only ever saw them on these wagons and a low-sided PW wagon of some sort. The vast majority didn't have them, so a nice little addition to a rake. The ferts never had them, of course.....they were just gradually repainted plain brown. Another nice touch is the one with the "hand-written" stuff on it, and the one with the "dirty weathered" logo, like on one of the IRM ferts, if I'm not mistaken. Completes the realism!

Very keenly priced - but is that stuff any good made in that way?

Red chimney and black dome - shouldn't it be the other way round! Sorry - I'll get me coat........

For what’s it worth the one I recall wasn’t an a/c one.... it had ordinary windows.

That would be a credit to anyone - suberb build. The subtle rust looks very real too. The design is such that little would be visible in the cab anyway, though I’ve no doubt you’d do a TOP class job on that too!

I'd say so. Looks like it all right.

The one I was in was definitely later - on further thought, possibly about 1998. It had not been in use much - I only saw it a few times. For good measure for about a week it was hauled by a sole 141 from IE to replace a (regularly sick) 111; possibly the Dundalk pilot engine - with a load of nine bogies PACKED with commuters! It was a brake 1st with a pretty big brake compartment; that's all I know.

I’m no expert on NIR stock - a bit modern for me - but on the last fling of those things, the 08:00 Portadown - Belfast (Maysfields Cattle Sidings), which I believe was the last REGULAR use of the 111/071 class anywhere, there was a side corridor brake 1st (used as a standard), which I would guess I was last in about 2000/1/2?

Absolutely classic stuff, Ernie - you've obviously been carefully browsing a certain "massive photo archive", given the great levels of realism!

So, you'd need two packs of those to make one bogie vehicle and one four-wheeler.

I'm assuming yer man in the wedding is a railway enthusiast - anyone know? Does it have...... ... (No, better not.)

We're OK with many CIE models now for good stock - but the NCC & UTA have always been neglected! Like CIE or the GNR, British parallels are few and far between. Most open wagons are fine - if not perfect - but cattle trucks and goods vans are different - and brake vans are totally different. Scratch building for "0" gauge, I suspect, is really the only option for much goods stock. But a shunting layout won't need much of it - half a dozen or 8 wagons, one brake van, and a "Jinty"?

The GNR ones had quite different panelling styles - I often thought, though, that a number of GNR (England) coaches could either be "kitbashed" into GNR(I) "2ft-rule" types, or as bogies. If Hattons also decide to release the chassis of these things as a separate item, scratchbuilding of other Irish types would be made a great deal easier. The NCC, MGWR, BCDR, GNR, GSWR, WLWR and DSER all had their own very distinctive styles. And then you get to West Cork....the Hattons "genesis" isn't hugely unlike one or two of theirs. There's a Roxey 48ft third that is half-ways close to one MGWR bogie - might get one some day! But that's a different issue. For the "genesis" thing, it resembles GSWR types best. Naturally, SSM kits provide ACTUAL GSWR types.

If the "C" class were as successful as these GSWR tank engines, they'd still be in traffic, Crossley engines an'all! Imagine - today - a "Raccoon"-liveried "C" on the Nenagh branch with a two-coach Mk. 3 push-pull...........or one on the Junction shuttle or the Ballina branch........ on Cobh locals painted silver again, like a 2600? No. 42 is a beauty! And SLNC Coach. No. 4 was always a favourite of mine, although my one and only jaunt on the SLNCR was in Railcar "B", and a few days before I was born!!!!!!!!!!!

Any thoughts on whether the new lock-down Covid rules might impact deliveries this time - or is it done'n'dusted?

That is just SUPERB! A real treat to see it in motion!

Those had curved sides.......any flat-sided BCDR stock was all 6-wheel, and all dating from 1880-1885. The two you refer to were actually built with a distinctly LMS-style side profile! .....and as you say, gone by '64. The first four behind the loco are BNCR, and the rear four - well, hard to tell, but the one next to the BNCR ones appears to have an NCC-like roof profile....possibly ex-GN, though. Too far away to tell for certain.

Yes, it certainly looks like her, but in 1956 she was supervising the “housekeeping” staff in the GNR hotel in Bundoran, so it’s possible but unlikely....

If he had flat-sided six-wheelers, they wouldn't have been BNCR but older ex-BCDR. However, I think that the last of these were scrapped about 1953/4. It's more likely he was in carriages like the above - old BNCR bogies. By 1963 there were VERY few of these in traffic, and the above pic (and your dad's rcollections) are of interest in that it would have been exceptionally rare to see these things on the GNR at all, let alone this late. I would doubt very much, given the changes in '63, '64 and '65, that BNCR stock was ever to be seen again on the GNR!

“Horizontal sides”?

This is a typical type of branch or local train, and while I believe this pic dates from 1937, it would be same on some lines and even with a “C” class up front, until as late as 1963. (Once a diesel appeared, of course, a “tin van” HAD to be added for heat). All three vehicles here are ex-GSWR. The first is an open 3rd or possibly composite of 1900-1905 vintage, very much from the family of 836 at Downpatrick. Significantly, the two six-wheelers are VERY much like the GSWR style of the Hattons ones. One is an all-third, the other a full brake. (Photo: copyright P Dillon Collection).

I’ve no idea about the “tank-tainers”, Robert.....just the ordinary ones. Yes, you’d get white and dark blue at one stage on roofs, both weathered of course, but not grey painted. Originally all blue, then white gradually replacing them, thus a mixture of the two as you suggest.