jhb171achill

With so many excellent new wagons on the market in recent times courtesy of "Provincial" Leslie, CK Enda, and of course IRM, I've had to make up an excuse for grain traffic appearing in an outpost as remote as Dugort Harbour, which in concept is meant to be in the utter back of beyond down the Beara Peninsula (on the Kerry side, of course; can't have too many Corkmen about, can we!)..... As some here will know, this started as a shunting layout - which is the scenic bit now as it was delivered that way. A house move meant that an attic was now free, so an extension of the layout was possible. Thus, the concept expanded into something like a long straggling branch like Cahirciveen, with a short, almost seperately worked local extension (think Valentia, Westport Quay or Skib - baltimore). That's up'n'running now, so the layout has the original "extension", leading up to "town" - the main station (Castletown West) and then onwards to a fiddle yard. That bit has no scenery, yet. I'm gradually mastering brass kit constructioin, and scenery will have to follow for the rest. Now, the ideal thing would be to have a private siding for a grain mill and / or a textile factory or something else, to justify a line like this having not just heavy goods traffic, but with specific wagons types like grain vans - a type of wagon not seen everywhere by any means, therefore needing "justification". I wondered for some time how I would fit in a siding, inspired by many posts here about small layouts, industrial sidings, types of traffic, models of mill sidings like Mol_PB's one, etc etc etc. And then the solution hit me as obvious. The goods train comes into C West, where grain vans and H vans for the textile factory are detached, and a separate local run (justification for a pilot engine / shunter at C West) runs these wagons up the line to these two industrial sidings - in reality, BACK to the fiddle yard! It means the operations within the C West station area will now be appropriate to what real life would have been had such a place existed....... Photos to follow.

"....We are gathered here today to witness the happy union of my daughter, Alternator, and our new son-in-law, Punctured spare wheel!....."

Interesting!!

I must have a look. I’ve seen a pic somewhere comparatively recently, when I was researching liveries for these things, but can’t remember where….. In real life, the only ones I ever saw were all grey.

“Britannia Waives the Rules” an’ all that…..!

The GSWR, GSR & CIE used both spellings of Valen&ia at different times, sometimes more or less concurrently! On my layout, when I get round to station nameboards, I was thinking of having “CASTLETOWN WEST” on one platform, and “CASTLETOWNWEST” on the other….. there are several precedents. The GSR and CIE had Irish language experts crying into their smelling salts with their several versions of Bray…..

Haven’t seen a colour one, but eyewitnesses say that when new the red was “British letter box red”. It degenerated darker through the same dirt of encroaching rust as Barry Carse’s pic of a dingy-looking grey one which I posted a while back. At least one survived to get CIE (actual) brown - but obviously that would have been after 1970 or so.

He being the man who sent the black’n’tans here……!

Likewise, I always appreciate the communication channels here from IRM. To those of us (virtually 100%) who are NOT in the business of making Irish models for sale, either in RTR or kit form or whatever, it provides a good insight into the difficulties faced by what inevitably, when we think of it, is a tiny, tiny, tiny market within a very much minority niche of a minority hobby. I think I can say on behalf o all of us on this forum we are very grateful for what we have and we look forward to future issues, whatever and whenever they may be.

Something seriously wrong with their safety administration. That's sufficiently serious for the whole EU to find oput what happened in detail.

Put me down for a couple, Enda - those look amazing! I'll PM you now....

Tis true; I may not be quite the Provincial age, but I’m on the road - and I clearly remember things back to about 1960….. STEAM things, principally…..

Courtesy of Barry Carse…. Whatever the rustproofing had been in GSR times, it’s had its day by this stage (early 70s)….

And I’m the other way round! No interest in Hunslets but despite the fact that an 800 would never have gone anywhere near a 1955-65 remote west Kerry branch line (which is the basis of my layout), and that an ICR is way, way out of that time zone - they’re the ones I’d be going for! Of course, an AEC railcar and a few “C” class would have me fumbling for my wallet and seeking coins behind settee cushions in pretty short order!

I think this one has been converted to a four wheeler from a six wheeler - look at the cut-out in the footboard. Can't make out the number or I'd look it up.

IRRSuavem striketh backeth

Now just look at this. The GNR dioesel still in navy blue, a green Park Royal, a silver laminate and a green ex-GSWR wooden-bodied bogie, probably dating fropm about 1915............... exactly the variety totally absent today!

Oho; mention of “C”s - if there’s ever a chance of such things, I’m in for maybe half a dozen! (Silver’n’filth, green and black!) But meantime I’ve two Silverfox ones….. they do the job!

I was only ever in one in traffic on two occasions. The two I was in were open plan. From what I remember, they had wooden slats on the floor, and the seat for the guard anther handbrake column were to one side in the middle of the vehicle. The interior was painted a very pale grey with cream ceiling. In one case I was on a Limerick-Ballina train. There were two laminates, a van, and another coach tacked onto the back, so you had to walk through the tin van to get from one end of the train to the other. I don’t remember where I encountered the other, but it was probably either a Cobh train or a Limerick - Waterford set. And of course in both cases a black’n’tan 141 up front!

This is true; the long-wheelbase ones commonly used in Britain were entirely unknown on any Irish line (as were long-wheelbase horse boxes). This is why repainted LMS cattle wagons just won’t do! As always, the waggonage of Provincial Leslie are in cattle terms, literally the only show in town.

You’re very welcome here, Mac.

The GNR to the north and the MGWR / WLWR / GSWR / GSR / CIE to the south were always wary of SLNC wagons in their territory, as maintenance standards could be somewhat "tired"! Senior recalled watching Sligo Leitrim cattle wagons being shunted one warm summer evening in Enniskillen in the mid-1950s. All of a sudden, the coupling broke between the (GNR) loco and a Sligo van. The entire front buffer beam came off the wagon! True, but the vast majority of the wagons on the "shipper" were likely not SLNC vehicles..... GSR / CIE & GNR mostly.

It does, actually - though I wouldn’t be sure. Could be a mix of rust and grime. I think the stencil says 60…..

Barry Carse offers the following (his copyright). It seems clear that none in light green days, or in grey days, (1963 to the end_, ever carried either a snail or roundel. Just the number. In grey days, as grey was the wagon livery, the ends were grey too. I am not sure if this applied to the roofs too. However, probably uniquely, and as a throwback to the days when horse boxes were seen as "coaching stock", their chassis remained black. This is the only example I'm aware of with a black chassis on a grey wagon, but it is seen quite clearly in Barry's photo. Barry and I had recently been discussing grain wagons too, and these are currently topical, so i include two he sent me of these too...

The grey one behind the green “A” is indeed grey. I have seen other pics which suggest at least some were grey (ends included, as per wagon livery). I have no idea how long ago that started.