jhb171achill

Just seeing this - the carriages were the “test train” - a set of long-withdrawn passenger stock kept simply for doing load tests. They were elderly GSWR relics, and were still in the pre-1955 darker green, but so very badly faded that they were by now just a dirty nondescript greeny-dirt colour in appearance!

FIFTEEN YEARS! That long.......... I followed the antics the previous year with Barry Carse - we went down a couple of times. Happy days. A future book will cover this in considerable detail - perhaps!

Hod, remember "Rule 1", which states "it's YOUR layout"! You can run what you want........ Many here will be sticklers for as much accuracy as possible, while others like to just play trains! A past layout of mine had a narrow-gauge (009) line of the MGWR; not a thing like this ever existed! Had the trial of this contraption been successful, it is likely that it would have operated on the Dublin - Cork line, so laminates would indeed be the order of the day. I did a double-take at your model - I didn't realise it was LEGO! Now, that's a SUPERB job if ever I saw one. Incidentally, for anyone interested, I found a large amount of material relating to Bullied's sidekick John Click in the NRM in York when I was over there delving into something else entirely, some years ago. Had it survived into the 1960s, it would have ended up black and hauling Cravens!

And - it's not remotely like ANYTHING that ever ran here, either in design, livery or otherwise overall appearance............... There was a Murphy loco a while back somewhere for well over 400 sterling on fleabay.....

Date will be late 1980s / early 1990s.

Indeed; sadly, sentiments within certain corridors of power have not changed one bit........... At the time the article was written, the same threat was being talked about with regard to the whole MGWR - not just Sligo, but Mayo and Galway included. The DSER south of Gorey, and needless to say the Nenagh branch and LJ - Waterford were also in line. Had any proposals in this type of arena been seriously brought forward, the railway system would have been reduced to Belfast - Dublin - Cork - Cobh / Midleton; Gorey - Howth / Dundalk; the Navan branch only until the mines closed; LJ - Limerick and possibly Ennis; Connolly - Maynooth; and POSSIBLY the Waterford and Kerry roads, though I do not recollect whether they were mentioned or not.

Sadly, very much so. You'll be aware, ttc, of the same sources that I refer to above and previously - 1950s Stormont would be proud of them. They need to get the west properly up and running, and a Dublin Underground. But no - instead they prefer paying the shareholders of foreign private companies to drive big new blue buses all round Dublin.

A few years ago I was advised by a member of the NTA that severe threats to the rail network were possible. Then whatever the perceived problem was, ended up being averted. The harsh reality is that the railway has few friends in high places, as discussed before, and even within the company many at top level (not all) are way less enthusiastic about the future of the system than they should be. One NTA member told me some years ago of being "shocked" at the degree of hostility to spending a red cent on the railway; "it's all about roads", he said.

Excellent photos, Neil, thanks! Re. that box sitting on top of the old station in Cork - "The Dean"; rarely have I seen a piece of "architecture" so utterly hideous, that it actually vandalises the old buildings....... did the architect have something against Cork?

I’ve solved the issue! To “chop” one would be pure vandalism, obviously, hence my request for spares. However, an acknowledged expert in the field simply suggested I maybe look for bits from an old MIR kit - I hadn’t even thought of that....!

Yes, maybe IRM could hire him to do the brexit paperwork in England!

The tender sides and smokebox doors had large white circles painted on them. No tank engines were treated thus as far as I am aware.

Couldn’t agree more on ALL your points.

Well done!!

Would anyone have a spare “hood” / “bonnet” and cab for one of those old MIR 121 class locos?

Hmmmm - you’ve got me thinking!

James Boyd’s photographic collection is in the hands of a private owner in Wales. I’ve been trying to get permission to browse it ever since I became aware of its owner! The owner told me that it was intended to start sorting it “soon”, though that was several years ago!! I remain cautiously hopeful!!

I particularly like the 071 in black’n’tan. If delivered just four years earlier, they’d have had it!

No, not full trains. I’m not sure what happened to their containers, though.

In the early 70s there were trains full of B + I, yes.

Superb!! I had seen some of his work years ago, very well done!

Pretty much all of those shown, so good news!

Years ago, we had a pedigree Persian cat called Louisa in my aunt’s house. Well, she disdainfully tolerated my aunt living there.......

Funny you say that, an IRM guy showed me the test sample today...

Puzzle for “SLNCR Heads”! The layout of the Collooney / Carrignagat / Ballysodare area is shown here. On OLD maps of the area, the unmistakable shape of a railway formation can be seen where I have marked it in red, as a DIRECT curve from the WLWR “Back siding” which ran under the Midland to connect the WLWR station with the SLNCR one. Sprinks’ book does not mention it, nor show it on the diagram, as seen in the illustration shown. This curve appears to be trackless by the 1920s at least. Anyone know if it was ever even completed? Google Earth shows traces of hedge today clearly following a little bit of it but the whole site is largely obliterated.