jhb171achill

The BR van with single white stripe - early 70s to early 90s. Double white stripes - 1990s to early 2000s. For the 1960s (indeed, late 50s to early 70s), the four wheel tin vans are really the only show in town on practically ALL trains. The six-wheel ones were only seen in main lines. I saw them on the Enterprise and on the Cork line. Never saw a 6-wheeled one on the Midland, though I can’t say it didn’t ever happen.

Yes, it would match cravens perfectly. I have one of these but I’ve found it to be very prone to derailment….

Yes - I must do that one with steam, soon!

Fiddling about with images, while trying to keep a mobile phone the scale size of the Titanic from damaging delicate scenery! It’s 1964 again, of course.

Yes, indeed, it looks superbly realistic.

That superelevation looks so realistic - don't remember seeing that modelled before. Superb.

That was precisely the thinking behind it, David. I COULD have jammed it with track. There are actually signs of a lifted siding, and a disconnected turntable road. There’s room for at least two more sidings plus a bay platform line, and a two or possibly even three-road engine shed. But the sort of places it is meant to resemble were in real life laid out in precisely the manner you describe. I think the code 75 track helps too. Lack of trees assists with creating the impression too. I think that artistically, if the trains are the highest things, it helps create this illusion. Thus, buildings will be few (two, in fact, plus signal cabin), and single-storey. In many windswept western and south-western locations in Ireland, trees WOULD be a rarity. Looking forward to the arrival of the next batch of track which is on order now. I often play about with doodling potential track plans for all sorts of imaginary layouts - this has always interested me. I saw pictures in a very old Railway Magazine years ago of some obscure Scottish terminus which closed a long time ago, and exuded the same sort of desolate, “wide-open” atmosphere as the likes of Valentia Harbour, Achill or Burtonport on the Lough Swilly. I can’t remember where it was, but that’s exactly what I’m trying to recreate.

From the diary…. All sorts of shenanigans today, 26th July 1965….. The cattle fair is tomorrow, so the place is full of cattle trucks with B165 shunting, while B141 has the 07:55 to Cork, preparing to go. Terrible bluish tint on these old colour slides….

Superb!!!!

THAT will be good, Noel! Pints long overdue! See you there, looking forward to it.

I was talking to Jim Deegan today (Railtours Ireland) and it is possible (not confirmed yet) that he will do a combined train to Galway & coach to Maam X deal. Outwards on the 09:35 ex-Heuston, and back on the 19:20 ex-Galway. His railway will be open to inspect - it is right next door to the venue. Looks like the launch thing itself will be mid-afternoon, allowing time to explore the Maam Cross railway first, and get a bite to eat before going back to Galway. I will keep things updated here as it develops.

Now, a GSWR 6-wheel bogie ("Rosslare Express").....WOULD be something!

Here's hoping! GSWR bogie second and Midland 6-wheelers on order........

Yes, they did. All brake vans were plain grey up to about 1964, around when the "wasp stripes" on the ducket (with plain black above and below it) were added. Since the "flying snail" was only applied to wagons up to the very end of 1962 / possibly VERY start of '63, it follows that if the van has a "snail", no stripes at all. However, they started putting "roundels" on them JUST before the wasp stripes, so a van with a roundel but no stripes is possible, but short lived - a bit like an "A" class with "IR" "set-of-points" logos over a tippex-less CIE orange & black livery. Throughout the sixties, you'd see a van which hadn't been repainted, running with snail and no stripes, alongside a grey van WITH stripes - and a roundel. It was only in 1970 they started painting wagons and vans brown, so all brown vans had stripes and roundels.

Folks As above; all here are invited. We are hoping to have someone interesting to do the launch but it depends if he's free. Viewing of the Maam Cross preserved railway site will be also possible. Hope to see a few of you folks there.... The venue is Peacocke's Hotel, Maam Cross. Times and further details to follow.

Will do Leslie, and I'm very happy with them! Dugort Harbour will have its first monthly cattle fair next time I'm upstairs, so the place will be choked with your wagons!

Precisely.

That's true too! Many's a time, when I was more involved, I was asked "How come you're not restoring No. 12345? It's rotting away there out in the open!!" When I, or someone else answered, "we haven't the manpower", the clear and loaded hint usually didn't even register!

Colin, that "old guy" was 100% right. Having been involved with railway preservation for fifty years, from the RPSI to the Festiniog and back to Downpatrick until a few years ago, I can echo his statement totally. All of us here are railway enthusiasts, but blunt as it may seem, as a community, we are responsible for at MOST 5% of the financial gain of heritage railway operations. This is a combination of our small numbers, which is unavoidable, but also what seems to many actively involved in preservation to often be a downright miserable, penny-pinching attitude - especially those of us on the island of Ireland! Please don't shoot the messenger!

Wow! That’s some find. Where is it?

Yes. The state of 5T at the moment is certainly a good five years' work and €100,000. There WERE locals interested, but the local parasitic gombeen men amongst the councillors stuck their foot in the door looking fo9r local glory, and when it became clear they wouldn't get any, they shut the doors and wandered off, ensuring that nobody else could get any credit either, thus showing them up. Sad, but typical. The original scheme in Derry closed due to local authority people rather than enthusiasts in charge. If Finntown, Dromod or Downpatrick were run by local authorities, they'd have made an unholy mess of them years ago; thankfully these three have excelltn, but small, groups of knowledgable, interested and dedicated volunteers to run them.

A thing I’m noticing with the pics is the lighting isn’t right. Daylight means a skylight above the layout, and evening means a spotlight which is irretrievably ABOVE it. Different lighting called for when taking pics….. I’ve quite a few of Leslie’s wagons at this stage! Might need more eventually…..

Wagons at Dugort Harbour, 1964. One is showing the new CIE “roundel”; elsewhere the goods stock is still mostly adorned with fading “flying snails”.

I was staying in Dugort one time in 1967, and I took a shortcut across the station at 4.45 a.m., after the gardaí decided to turf the last stragglers out of O’Donoghues. It was sunrise…… red sky in the morning…..

A few views from 1963, as B141 makes its first appearance on the branch on the 10:35 Saturdays Only local train to Castletown West. The following day, the solitary Sunday service at 5.10 p.m. has the same set with a brand new Craven added, and making a rare appearance on the line.