jhb171achill

I think etched overlays are a very good option, and certainly a great deal easier than scratchbuilding. Repaints (and I've a few) can indeed look convincing enough, especially with footboards added. (GSWR platforms were traditionally much lower, as were some on the DWWR). And yes, mix and match with Park Royals and Genesis 6-wheelers, especially the full brake vans, and a tin van or two as well; and among wooden stock both heights of roofs. On my layout, I have prototypically no more than one or two of any type of coach, so all trains are a mix of whatever's about!

Goods vans and cattle trucks made up the vast, overwhelming majority of goods stock on all lines on this island. there were no massive opencast coal mines to have hourly merry-go-round trains leaving from, no huge iron ore mines, no huge petroleum transport by rail, not even the milk tankers of Devon stuck onto avery goods train. So goods vans and more. Leslie offered two variants of GNR goods vans, but these were more than similar to some GSWR and MGWR types. Like carriages and wagons, repainted British types just don't begin to cut it, especially with the dreaded grey or white roofs and black underframes. With the "H" vans now established, both by IRM and Provincial, and cattle trucks from the latter too, those two types re well covered. Once the CIE "H"s were being churned out of Inchicore, pre-CIE types disappeared rapidly. I've seen a picture of a MGWR cattle van somewhere in the early 60s, but these by then would have been very rare indeed. If there's one thing missing currently, it's the "soft-top" (convertible van), which looked like any other goods van except that it had a central part of the roof open and covered with a tarpaulin. With the tarp on, it was a goods van. With it off (for ventilation) it could be used for cattle. As for open wagons, they are the one thing where many British prototypes CAN be used. The British ones and our ones (main companies; not all!) were all standard types of designs. The West Cork system were non-standard (as with most things!), but above all the BCDR and NCC wagons were very different indeed, and require scratchbuilding. DSER ones were their own design too. But for CIE, a repainted LMS four wheeled open will suffice as a MGWR, GSWR, GNR GSR or early CIE design. As for majority, the GSWR was of course the largest constituent company in the GSR and later CIE, therefore vehicles from that stable - be they coaches, wagons or locos - were more numerous than others. I saw a GSWR open in North Wall in the 1970s, by then with a CIE roundel on it.

The IRRS publish one. I think it's also available to non-members, and might be available from one of their stands at a show. The "go-to" man is Richard McLachlan, a good colleage of Leslie of Provincial Wagons. The sort of things you're looking at are the likes of the RPSI's 1142, and Downpatrick's 836. While the former is locked up in Inchicore, the latter is to be seen in the DCDR museum. In each, you've an example of both the high-roofed and low-roofed profiles. At Downpatrick also, there is a GSWR six-wheeler under restoration. In its restored guise, it's actuall been rebuilt as a brake saloon forst, though in real life it was a full brake (No. 69) - one of the very last few to survive.

I saw them.............

Utterly crazy stuff indeed!

The "good news", of course, is that these coaches are perfect for any layout based upon the NCC or UTA. And this raises two another issues I've commented on before. Both of these refer to yawning gaps in the Irish model world, which hopefully might be addressed in future by either IRM or possibly a kit maker of the excellent quality of Provincial Wagons. 1. Coaches for the GSR / CIE era. With the exception of the Bredins and a handful of later CIE imitations, throughout the 1925-1955 period the coaching stock throughout the (Irish!) world south of Sligo, Cavan and Kingscourt was a mixture of (as previously stated) a bewildering array of pre-GSR types. While no model manufacturer, niche or mainstream, could ever be expected to produce all but a tiny handful of the various yokes rattling about the place, it would seem to be (at this stage, anyway) a glaring omission not to have at least a few of the more common types in model form. We have the Bachmann Woolwichs, and we have the 00 Works J15s, so the motive power is there already - and has been for some time - for both main and branch lines. JM Design has produced some absolutely beautiful GSWR & MGWR kits in the past, and I know of several folks who have kitbashed or amended various British prototypes to look like a generic Irish steam loco of GSR area. So, we have motive power for both main and branch lines. But there's nothing for any of them to haul! Which, of course, is behind this current thread. And with British design so dissimilar to that here in most cases, if a degree of accuracy is required, there's nothing much suitable to repaint. In recent times, the Hattons Genesis six-wheelers, being CO-INCIDENTALLY similar to some GSWR designs, have bridged the gap for branch and secondary lines, though on the latter they'd have been mixed in with bogie stock too. However, what is lacking on the main line is seconds, firsts and composites; all three variant being possible from two basic body shapes, of the more common GSWR types. While Midland and DSER types were in there too, it is perhaps unsurprisingly the GSWR bogies which lasted longest, surviving into the "black'n'tan" era and seeing service in the Dublin and Cork suburban areas well into the early 1970s; even appearing in photos alongside brand-new "Supertrain"-liveried Mk 2s. This type of thing seems an absolutely obvious choice for a model. I have even spoken to several kit makers about producing a run of them, and the GSWR design book has adequate examples. If we even had one or two variants of GSWR designs, a re-run of the six-wheeled full brake of Hattons, and a model of the Bredin coaches, we have the perfect set for the 1930s and 40s in GSR maroon, dark green for the fifties - and with new IRM lighter green Park Royals (prototypically) added in - the green trains of the late fifties to mid sixties. Plus, given the long lives many of these had, the very same variants in black'n'tan. 2. Northern modelling. Like CIE, the UTA inherited a selection of coaching stock of different origins too. It was not anything like as varied as the GSR, due to smaller geographical area meaning less stock to begin with; fewer constituent companies (only two at first, a third later); and the fact that the LMS had initiated a greater degree of standardisation than Inchicore during their ownership of the erstwhile Belfast & Northern Counties. But by the 1950s, there were BCDR designs to be seen, albeit in very low numbers as most were scrapped following the BCDR pogrom in 1950. There were ex-BNCR types, with their high roofs and flat sides - like the Midland Great Western, so completely different to anything else in Ireland, let alone Britain, that nothing short of scratchbuilding is of any service in recreating them. And, of course, MR / LMS NCC types, as seen in these pics above. Add to that the unique feature of actual British stock being brought over here too following German bombing in the war. This meant that the NCC had coaches of almost exactly the same designs and side and roof profiles - but the re-gauged ones from Britain were both narrower in width, and lower in height, and (as I well recall in seeing them) noticeably so. The only "UTA" loco so far has been 00 Works' fast-selling GNR 4.4.0 and 0.6.0, the versions in UTA livery. We must discount the "Jinty" as these were Belfast dock shunters, never regularly in traffic doing anything at all on the main line; plus short lived, plus only two of them. But again, repaints and alterations of various RTR British locos have been turned into very creditable versions of Jeeps, or "Mogul" 2.6.0s. Just as a few years ago, we saw a growing interest in the pre-1960 CIE scene, unless I'm wrong I suspect a growing interest in the pre-1970 UTA scene. I hope that I am correct in this. Either way, here we have it: for the south, adequate steam locos so far, and let's hope for more - but too few carriage options. North, and it's the other way round! We have numerous LMS coaches which just need a repaint, plus the likes of Worsley Works GNR etches, or the Silverfox K15s. On Dugort Harbour, I try to stick to the authientic, though I know this isn't necessarily for everyone. I have Hattons six-wheelers, a silver and a green tin van, and a green Park Royal for the branch, but as of yet, for the green era, the main line is what i hope will just be temporary repaints of Ratio and Hornby things. I await more IRM Park Royals, and I have a gentleman currently doing a few SSM Bredins for me. In the B'n'T era, of course, we have IRM Park Royals, Murphy Cravens, and one or two Silverfox CIE types.

They all, or almost all, had shaded numerals when first repainted from black'n'tan in the early 70s. When the background was orange, as on 141s, the shading was black. When the background was black, as on an "A", the shading was orange. It seems that the shaded end numbers lasted only a very short time on "A"s and "C"s, from memory, possibly only some ever having had them at all, and I never saw them at all on a 101. On the 121, 141 & 181 classes they did seem to last a bit longer, which leads me to think that while most probably had them replaced with plain numbers at first repaint, it's possible that others got a second painting of shaded numerals. By degrees, of course, all lost them. The other possibility is that with the GMs being almost constantly in traffic, they mightn't have had time to repaint them as often, leading to the shaded version lasting a bit longer on these. ....or a very rough approximation thereof!

Grandson-minding duties complete; so here we are again. Window spacings and shapes on LMS types were completely different from GSWR. The narrower panes sere wider on GSWR types usually, and the wider windows spaced differently. Now; given the sheer variety of types on all railways, I would not get carried away by that. However, LMS roof profiles and side profiles were worlds apart from GSWR. Coach sides for the latter were straight from cantrail down to well below waistline, then curved in. Roof curvature was more even on post 1915-ish examples, or older ones were flat-roofed. By the time the LMS came to Ireland, older coaches on the NCC were all of older BNCR design, whole planets away from either LMS or GSWR in design. Past comments, as far as I am concerned anyway, relate to the LMS designs which were in CIE livery to go with Bachmann "Woolwich" locos. In the absence of anything else, they'd do - but in the same way that a "Flying Scotsman" in CIE green might be seen as a "Maedb", or a random British 0.6.0 tank loco be passed off as Irish by painting it grey, or painting it black with "G N R" on the side. Two foot rule; fine. Looks like real thing: only on the way home from Gibneys, when half-scuttered! Not, of course, that I would be aware of that, and I wasn't even there when I didn't do it.....

Got mine today! Quite simply, exquisite. Best yet, and when referring to IRM that takes some doing!

This just keeps getting better!

In answer to a number of points raised above; In relation to design, in 00 scale if you paint many types of British prototypes in green, and do it well, as WestCork did above, you'll get a perfectly reasonable pre-1960 CIE coach. The CIE stock at the time was composed of a very varied mixture, as follows. SIX WHEELERS Former MGWR types predominated in the passenger-carrying ones, though many ex-GSWR examples were also in use. In West Cork, one or two ex-Bandon ones were still about but not used much if at all latterly. DSER types had disappeared from traffic, as had ex W & L types, by the early to mid-50s; Inchicore always seemed keen to divest the world of much that was DSER rolling stock related! On the other hand, as far as six-wheeled passenger brakes were concerned, former MGWR ones were rare by the mid-50s; GSWR types dominated. So to go to the modelling world, while MGWR passenger types oytnumbers ex-GSW ones, the Hattons Genesis stuff are fine, as although built to the British loading gauge, they are by coincidence very GSWR-esque in design. BOGIES MUCH bigger story. In the late 50s, one might summarise in saying that GSWR types dominated the wooden carriage world, with a few MGWR, an EXTREMELY few DSER, and after 1858 a few GNR types thrown in, that's not the half of it, and this is where the stories referred to above come in. The two biggest companies within the CIE umbrella, the GSWR & MGWR, each had a bewildering array of designs, many being one-offs! A very large number of carriages were of batches of three, or six or ten; our younger enthusiasts today will struggle to understand just how UN-standard things were back then, and why a photo of a typical train rarely has two vehicles the same in it! The GSWR, for example, had two distinct roof profiles. The MGWR had three, complicated by the fact that both Broadstone and later Inchicore often rebuilt them in a slightly different format. Internally, as stated, many were one-offs, and others were perhaps one of a pair the same. DSER stock had two roof types, from memory. As for the peropheral lines like the CBSCR, there were all sorts of old relics, the unusual aspects there being things like short wheelbase bogies, non-standard carriage lengths, unusual roof profiles in at least one case I can think of, and external matchboard panelling, LLSR-style. So, amongst bogies, we have non-standard lengths, non-standard internal layouts, non-standard panelling, non-standard roof profiles, and gawwwd knows what else. But wait! dear reader. There's more. After 1925, anything the GSR built tended to follow Inchicore practice of the 1918-25 period. But into the 1930s and the GSR develops their own style through the steel-panelled "Bredins", of which several varieties, some initially non-corridor, existed. In 1951/3, CIE put out a series of steel-sides, largely based on Bredins but not the same exactly. Between 1955 and 1960, the Park Royals (several variations) and the laminates (MANY variations) appear. Phew! No, we're not done. An influx in October 1958 of ex-GNR stock - again, many many types, some timber panelled but most more modern, start appearing in places like Loughrea and Bantry on occasion, and become commpnplace on the DSER section. Add to that, some are brown and some are navy blue and cream. Now, you can have a train on DSER with a dark green coach, a light green coach, a silver coach, a brown coach, a newly black'n'tan coach after 1962 and a navy/cream coach! So many designs, so many possibilities. Thus, within this fog of diversity, just about anything repainted will look the prt. Mr. Grandson awaits my attentions right now; i will contionue this later.

To me, religious zealot that I am, lent means going out on the soup three nights a week instead of four.

A GNR suburban tank engine would indeed be a nice little yoke to have. Could be used in a branch setting too, though these particular ones were suburban locos. Interesting to look at Leslie's list above; now here's a thought to provoke...... Leslie has mentioned SIX locos. So, question: what existing coaches could run with any of them? More IRM carriages needed!

Nope - as colleagues in the same business they were, however, on different levels……..!

The 150th birthday of Downpatrick's No. 90 is this year, and between now and 20 years from now, almost every year is the 150th of something on the railway. And this VERY day, it's the TWO hundredth anniversary of 6th March 1825.

Yes. I've said this numerous times before. While many berated the Greens in the last government, I was fully supportive of their utterances on public transport, and I presume that a lot of the effort towards reopening this line may have been as a result of representations made by the much-maligned Eamonn Ryan. If so, good for him. Equally, I fully support any railway reopening. However - with precisely zero even vague talk, let alone "boots on the ground", or anything beyond wild opinions, as to WHAT will travel over this line, from and to where, and on behalf of whom; it is very tempting indeed to see this while thing as a complete white elephant, to have a ribbon cut across it by a local gombeen TD, and whoever Leinster House sends down in a limo and a raincoat to make a speech and shake hands. And then it goes silent. A month before the following few general elections, one of those yellow things takes a scoot down it and back, and it grows back into nature. Yet, yet again, I sincerely hope I am proven catastrophically wrong, and soon, but so far there is not a whisper of anything definite to contradict this view, let alone evidence. It is overall a somewhat bizarre situation. Meantime, because of previous inaction in bringing services back to Navan, there seems to be a blank-out clause in government, so that no matter what, nothing can be done here; it would constitute a climb-down for FFG. Reality is, passenger services to Navan, and reopening the Athenry to Claremorris line, would appear to have very definite and tangible arguments in their favour. We will see.

Never even heard of such a thing! Didn't know they had any wagons, and anything of that type would certainly be completely unique for Ireland. The whole thing looks a bit flimsy. Are we sure that's for the Fenit company, or something else which coincidentally has the same initials? Wasn't aware of the station building either = good catch!

In the 1930s it was the Turf Development Board, which pre-dated bnM. I believe the Dept. of the Taoiseach archives within the National Archives contains detail of that era. But your absolute go-to, who may watch this page, is the BnM expert, Sean Cain.

That’s the thing - space! Ive passed the point where all can sit in sidings. What I do now - and its light years short of perfect - is put a pile of 1950s stock on for one operating session, 60s for another.

I copied it as you said and it works. Many thanks! I know a guy who is building a live steam one so I will pass this on to him.

Maybe a few of us might detour to a local hostelry when all the buns are eaten..... Very true..... the Cultra livery, of course, follows the well-established Irish preservation tradition of getting liveries wrong on just about everything but ITG diesels (G611 excepted) and the RPSI's GNR locos, No. 4, and (belatedly) 186! Incidentally - how on a keyboard have you managed to get the dots above the "d" and the "b" on "Maedb"? Nice touch, and correct; didn't know it was possible.

My involvement is simply that I'm involved with the museum, and do all the historical / model arrangement side of it. Another regular on here is involved in the maintenance and servicing and trouble-shooting of the operational 00 scale layout. The new model on Monday night will be seen running on it too, all being well, so he'll be in attandance too. Mind you, as far as liveries are concerned, I've a very wide data base of what went with what! On an unrelated note, that pic above shows Ballyfermot when it was as Senior remembered it - rurality beyond inchicore! he was there the day they rolled 800 out for that photo. It was in works grey, not yet painted green, and not yet fitted with either nameplates nor its GSR crest on the tender. It was standard practive to photo locos when new in shades of grey and white, as this showed detail up best in photos, which of course were all in B&W. Inside, the painters awaited with the new green paint for the very first locos of either gauge to emerge with anything other than all-over grey for over 20 years. It must have been some sight. The reason that 800 had no nameplate for its official photos above was that they had planned an English language one, thus "Maeve", and written in roman characters. Someone decided that instead it should have Gaelic script, and the Irish spelling; and thus it was. But on photo day, the new ones weren't ready yet. Now, back to the event on Monday night!

Many reach for their smelling salts at the sight of this, but I think it actually looks well. So, we’re looking now at a Jeep with a choice of Donegal red, GNR blue, CIE green, or WLWR maroon….

Aaaarrrghhghgh! Not the TANK! I give in. The new model will be a (damn keyboard broke there...) So have I!

Amazon have just dropped the rotten eggs off, but I’ve redirected them to the Oval Office…….