jhb171achill

Seems to be a mixed bag, no matter what the official rules are, which suggests that some, at least, of the checks are done on a "spot-check" basis. I haven't bought much myself, but Daughter-the-Middle buys stuff from there in the course of her business maybe once every week or 10 days. Sometimes she gets stung, sometimes not!

Indeed! I think, though, they're a bit of a specialist market. Some people are happy enough to file away at their kits and as some on here have showed, extremely satisfactory results can come from them.

As always, it looks superb. To your comment, "....In addition, the Tyrconnel six wheelers are quite heavy and though my G2 2-4-0 will pull three of them...." - that is perfectly appropriate, as it happens. The most lightly-loaded passenger workings on the Midland - the Killeshandra, Ballina-Killala and (latterly) Clifden, Edenderry and Kingscourt trains were typically a six-wheel third, a six-wheel 1sts / 2nd compo and either a full brake or brake third. So for your proposed operational model, three are just right! Also, you're obviously (and correctly, of course) using MGWR style kits - exactly the sort of thing I'd love to see in 00. Necessary for a 530-class, of course, as the first time they'd have seen a GSWR design coach would have been when they were in plain grey! Nowhere near as photogenic........ The only kits produced in 00 scale seem to be GSWR types, and the forthcoming RTR six-wheelers are also close to one of the GSWR designs. Really superb stuff as always!

Indeed; we may hope! There are three possible liveries for West Cork, if you're looking at the late steam / diesel era (the "grey'n'green" period). 1 The above older lined green. 2 SOME older spare stock were painted that dark green with NO lining; a locally done but unofficial version which seems to have been born of convenience by whatever painted they had in CIE in Cork. There were carriages (all ancient six-wheelers, but not of a design remotely like the Hattons ones) with plain green with TWO flying snails (no lining) and at least one with neither lining OR snails. 3 Most commonly, of course, by then - the lighter mid-green with one pale green line along the waistline only. And, of course, either dirty silver or green "C" class locos, and dark grey steam engines. The necessary AEC railcars would initially have been the darker green above, later the lighter shade. Naturally, all wagons and brake vans grey.

Looks interesting (even if the "flying snail" is in the wrong place!). Gives an idea of what an Irish one would look like, though in reality, it's the 1955-63 lighter green that would be more appropriate for the early diesel period, more so than this earlier one.

Seems to be the same with six-wheel carriages. Hattons announce they're launching them - then hey presto! Hornby are offering one! I'd be ordering from Hattons quite simply because when I emailed them with enquiries they answered very promptly. As an aside, I am astonished by the number of small model industries or operators who just won't answer emails! In days like these, you'd think they'd WANT business! Seems to happen both here and on the Isle of Brexit!

Wow! One of THOSE going over Owencarrow viaduct! Only last night I was wondering what might have happened had the CDR survived, with the three "F" class diesels, four West Clare railcars, three new trailer coaches, and the rebuilt C & L coach No. 1L all kicking about. You'd probably have had steam until maybe 1965, and then the three "F"s (no, not Isaac Butt's ones) would manage all the goods, with steam as spare. Donegal railcars 15, 18, 19 and 20, and the four Clare ones would have kept the passenger side going potentially into the 1980s. And maybe 1965 would have seen the CDR take over the closed GNR line into Derry! So, Derry - Killybegs and Strabane to Letterkenny-hi by railcars in the 1960s and 70s....there's a layout idea which actually began to inspire a long defunct 009 layout when I was in my 20s....... Had it survived today, it would have Luas-type things on it, or slimmed down 2600s, and goods would be a memory. But at least there would be three preserved Class 5 tank engines, and hopefully half a dozen of the old coaches. The Kiwi loco above would need "Iarnród Donegal Hi!" on its sides, hi.

Good thinking! I think that much of the NCC's records were lost when York Road station was bombed in the wartime, as Harold Houston said that much didn't survive, but at the very least there might be something about design. Being a different gauge though, and thus a different width, most wagon design and building was done locally, not in Derby. The exception was a hunderd or so wagons brought over from Britain after the war. I cannot be certain, but it may be that it was just bodies put on local underframes; it would seem odd to go to the bother of re-gauging British wagons here.

Superbly detailed work! Well done....

BCDR wagons were a thing apart; the designs were very specific to that system, and quite unlike those on any other system. Des Coakham's book is the best source on these. The IRRS may be able to assist with unpublished illustrations.

Black, always. In LMS times I think it was both plain black and also steam-loco-style lining. All of the few diesel shunters the NCC had were lined or plain black, carried on in UTA times. The several which started life on the BCDR were initially the very dark green of their steam locos (somewhat darker, even, than UTA green), but once the UTA got them they were black.

Looking forward to this! Saw a pic of one among the IRRS website (I think) or possibly Jim O'Dea's stuff which shows one of the few that ended up with CIE painted in black and tan! Short-lived, I daresay, as CIE didn't hang onto much ex-GN stuff for very long........

Noel, they've served you well, and they look great weathered.

I noticed a while back that Shapeways offers several Irish models. Has anyone any experience of them, in particular coaches? Gut feeling suggests to me that they're pretty crude, but maybe someone here has first hand knowledge?

Eagerly awaited, Bumble Bee, by many here! It's a huge topic.

Probably every single book ever published about Irish railways? Hundreds............ plus the railways of South Africa, India, Indonesia, Malta, Cyprus, Mallorca, the Isle of Man................and some non-railway stuff.

These railcars, like the AECs, were delivered in the dark green then the norm. On the West Clare, they never had any lining at all, let alone "flying snails". However, several (not all) were repainted the lighter green; this photo admirably shows the two shades, albeit in a heavily weathered state, The reason it's a light green cab and a dark green passenger portion is that towards the end, one of the four power cars was usually out of use. I have a note somewhere of which one it was, but not to hand. As a result, the four passenger portions got swopped about at times. Another anomaly appears to be that some power units had green roofs, some black. Yes, and comparing it with the "H" van, you can see the older one has a green flying snail on it. CIE used eau-de-nil for numbers and "snails" at FIRST, but used white from the early 50s onwards. Anyone modelling late 1940s or very early 50s would therefore have some vans still with a white "G S" on them with white number, or a "new" CIE logo and number in light green. There were still a couple of VERY shabby goods vehicles with light green snails in West Cork at the time of closure.

Shades of Monty Python....... "I doff my hat in your general direction"! (I'll get me coat....) That is absolutely brilliant. It's got me discussing an 00 gauge one with various folks here............. How did you do the crest?

I'd say the weathering will dumb it down a bit. many Silverfox models in that livery DO seem a tad bright, and in reality the colour on the locomotive is closest to reality. The LVs and HVs tended to look duller than everything else, as they seemed not be cleaned as much - certainly by 1970 many were looking much more weathered than their accompanying passenger-carrying stock. Someone asked me the difference; the "LV" or "Luggage Van" carried guard plus luggage space and did not have a generator in it. A "Heating Van" had the boiler in it too, but not so much luggage space; obviously, these carried a guard as well. It was common to see one of each on many trains. Obviously there had to be at least one or the other, as the guard and handbrake were needed on all trains. The six-wheeled version, which being introduced in 1964/5 were only ever black'n'tan and never ran with steam, allowed guard + generator + space for parcels / luggage. They were main line vans, rarely if ever seen on branches. All three were to be seen on the main lines, with just the four wheel types on lesser lines, until 1969 when the "Dutch" vans started to appear; while by 1972 they plus the "BR" vans had displaced 4 and 6 wheelers from main routes. I am not sure when I last saw a six-wheeler in traffic - they were only in operation maybe 10 years - but there were still four wheelers about the place on the Rosslare - Limerick line, and Limerick - Ballina, until 1975/6 anyway. I think the 4-wheeled types were in use on Dublin outer suburban services until not quite 1980. I travelled in a 4-wheel LV chatting to the guard between, I think, Limerick and Athenry about 1975. It was like travelling in a Quality Street tin, with marbles in it, and no springs, bouncing down an aluminium fire escape, on a helter skelter, in an echo chamber, with the sound turned up. I dread to think what one of the mail van versions must have been like for a postal worker on the Sligo line at that time!

Built in either Inchicore (I think) or possibly Limerick.

That was a one-off experimental wagon which only ran - I THINK - in the last couple of seasons.

Doesn't that just look the business! Very like the set I travelled in over the line in 1975.... I do remember the "tin van" (LV) was down a bit on the springs on one side, giving it a somewhat lop-sided appearance. Today, that would result in a six-month bus substitution, but back then they just got on with it! The carriage I was in was an aging but spotlessly clean laminate.

Superb!!!!!!

Question: It's pretty obvious to anyone here that my personal interests go back to pre-1970, and the late steam era in particular, so this might seem like a silly question, as "modern image" is not at all my area of expertise; Why is it that in Ireland we have to have tiny little goods trains of only 18 wagons? I know they did tests with more, but decades ago they were well able to operate trains of twice that length and weight. So it can't be weight, it's can't be station size, it certainly isn't lack of power from a 201 or 071? Other countries seem to be able to operate interminably long goods trains............. I see the Taras passing my window daily. Three laden trips to Dublin port. Great for us enthusiasts, but with as little as 6 or 8 wagons, and usually 10, 11 or 12. An 071 should be able to lift almost all in one go, I would have thought? I hope there's a practical reason; I would hate to think that some anti-rail jobsworth has decreed that it's "unsafe", or that operating anything longer contravenes section 34.860/2a of some obscure and restrictive set of rules that don't seem to bother any other EU country!

In a livery as old as that, who actually owns it now? Is it routine for container companies to repaint containers they buy second hand or inherit?