jhb171achill

“I had a first class return from Dublin - which is the first class part?” ”No first class on this line the past ten years - only from the junction….”

As often before, my own contacts from within those areas of governance and railway management whose thoughts would be the final arbiter on anything that happens in the future, suggest that nothing in the following has changed: 1. The Green Party taking a leading role ion anything but Dublin bus lanes and cycleways; no interest in railways. 2. At best apathy, at worst hostility; but in both cases and rather worryingly, a total lack of knowledge about railways, amongst NTA persons. 3. No more chance of Fine Gael ever promoting rail transport than there is of Arlene Foster joining Sinn Fein, Donald Trump uttering an articulate sentence of truth, or Boris Johnston becoming a communist. Little better chance with Fianna Fail. The above is especially the case when it comes to rail freight. So, like before, more taxpayers' money to consultants to produce a weighty volume made of half of a rain forest, which will languish on my own shelf along with all the others, to be sold on ebay in 2035 for €1.16 plus €45 postage.

In terms of where these coaches went to, I am still delving, but a learned and long-standing friend contacted me today having seen these posts, and advises me of certain interesting movements they had. On 10th February 1994, the RPSI's No. 4 hauled one of the Mk 2 vans from York Road, via Antrim and Lisburn, to Belfast Central Services Depot, at the former BCDR Queen's Quay station. he also suggests that a set of Mk 2s also reached Larne Harbour on an MRSI excursion in 1997. So there's a bit more information; at least one of them was hauled, on at least one occasion, by a proper steam engine instead of an infernal combustion machine.....!

Yes, I think it’s the printers not being the best, from a number of comments I’ve seen on a number of sites.

That’s when NIR’s track was beginning to resemble what my father encountered on the Lough Swilly in the upper shot!

2b or not 2b, that’s the question.

I'm only noticing this thread now, and the original queries on it. As suggested in the many answers, the yellow panel came with the darker blue, with the red / orange before that on the light blue. This was never actual RED, as such. What it was in reality, was a "day-glo orange", which like its equivalent on the fronts of many (but not all) IE locos, often looks red in photos when clean and new, but which faded to a more orangey colour in a relatively short space of time. Thus, there was not a distinct "red" and "orange" - as in separate colours at different times; it was the reddish-hued dayglo orange fading, and doing so a great deal quicker than its adjacent blue paintwork did. Yellow was probably used to replace it as it was at least as visible, but a great deal more practical and longer lasting. It had already served the Hunslets well enough in maroon days, and the UTA railcar fronts before that.

Apparently they’re a bit rough. Very crude prints with poor detail, much of which ends up inevitably being rubbed off when cleaning up.

And another

Back poking about in the old photos. Dunno if I posted this before, but here we go, for our Donegal modellers:

When NIR’s two 201s started running, the Mk 2s weren’t yet replaced by the DDs.

Excellent memories - any photos?

I think that IRM are by now past masters at envelope pushing (though not in the same way that Bertie Ahern was...). The "A"s will, no doubt, be a further example!

Ah, that's me Midland six-wheelers then.........

Interesting that the three 111s STILL carry an NIR logo, rather than a Translink one; the NIR markings were officially superseded in 1996, or 25 years ago! Wonder what one of those yokes would look like with a Translink "egg" logo! Even "flying snails" didn't last beyond fifteen years after they were replaced.....

The front fell off..........

Correct. In fact the last time I saw them in use, ever, was a three car set being pushed by Hunslet 101 - I wish I had noted the date, but early 1990s. If I remember correctly, one of the three carriages in use still did not have the white stripes, but the other two did. A driving trailer was leading with the loco propelling. It was on an all-stops from Central (or possibly Bangor) to Portadown. I had not seen a Hunslet in traffic for quite a while at that stage, other than shunting Adelaide. 103 had already succumbed so only 101 and 102 were left - again, while i didn't note it, memory suggests that 101 was considerably less active even by then. She looked pretty shook up that sunny evening, and I believe that she actually expired at Portadown on that very service that evening, never to run again.

That had occurred to me - I have info on this somewhere. I’ll check it out & post details. They weren’t as well travelled as 80 class railcars though - 80s were to be seen on Waterford - Limerick Junction and Limerick - Athenry, among other places!

“A”’s never hauled them, but were in Supertrain livery hauling the CIE set at the same time as the grey & blue ones, and the “tippex” white lines started appearing on IE liveries at the same time NIR were adding them to the NIR livery. I got the impression at the time that NIR took that “white line” idea from IE. CIE Black’n’tan on locomotives was long dead when this NIR livery appeared. I think so, certainly on rugby specials.

Four; the original maroon & blue also.

It's Thursday now.....

One of the orange locos was on the Taras today....saw it last week too.

I've written what I am guessing on a bit of paper. I'll see how it compares with tomorrow's announcement of MGWR six wheelers and RTR steam!

(Had to look that up myself!) Judging by retrospect and bits and pieces of what Senior had had to say in the past, that itself informed by Inchicore and York Road thinking a generation earlier, it seems likely that had no border ever existed, the overall Derry - Killybegs spine might have developed as more of a "through" route. With Henry Forbes simply being a small cog in a big Dublin-centric organisation, the early dieselisation simply would not have happened, but it's reasonable to assume that the mid-1950s modernisation, as on the West Clare, would have done. Branches and anything north of Buncrana or west of Letterkenny (or Stranorlar) would have had no better chance of survival, but on the proviso that either the Derry Road or the INW line had survived, we might still have a line from Pennyburn to Letterkenny, and from Victoria Road to at least Donegal town, operated by diesels. At the least, an influx of Walker railcars and "F" class diesels would have kept it going until the 1975 closures, at which time these - plus the track - would have been in need of replacement. Goods would have been gone by the early 70s. But of course, nothing but speculation. Donegal 2.6.4T in plain grey, anyone? The cherry red would never have existed at all in the above scenario!

Europe to Tasmania in a week, and in the current circumstances - that IS impressive!