jhb171achill

No - I had a look. I’ll post a pic of it tomorrow or the next day.

Ah - so 00 gauge, not 0. Some of the "Castle" models will be going on display in due course at the new place, but obviously the main emphasis at the moment is to get all of Fry's stuff displayed. There is now agreement to make more display cabinets so that his British (mostly LNWR) and mainland European stuff can also be displayed. We'll see what space there is after that! Some of the "Castle" models will be loaned out to other locations for display in the meantime, so that as much as possible may be seen by the public. Among Fry's stuff are a small number of items he owned and operated, but didn't make himself. There is a six-car 1930s express diesel railcar set made by Lionel, but painted by Fry in Union Pacific colours - a beauty! Given that he repainted it, I wonder what its original appearance was like - anyone know? He made a model of a Swedish steam tram loco, a Norwegian sleeping car....I could go on.

I wonder if that is the compound now among the stored Malahide Castle models? There's a rake of matching GNR coaches with them too. There's also a rake of bubbles. And I wonder what became of the rest of those models?

I'd love to know what the two wagons are at the bottom left - a six-wheel carriage truck presumably and some sort of flat........

Folks I am in the process of packing a large number of models into airtight plastic boxes for transport. Has anyone any idea where I might get inexpensive foam sheet - ideally of the sort you see in professional photographer's camera bags to hold lenses and so on, each hole carefully cut to the shape and size of what is going to go into it? I would need enough to pack about 100 x "0" gauge models. Thanks

Patrick, that is absolutely TOP class - superb stuff altogether.

Ha! You’re 100 right, of course; I should have cropped out the brown vans! Shows how extensive the place was....

Over seven years of dealing with tourists in the very same wisht Ciarraí, I never thought I'd say it, as I have always struggled to deal with ANY heavy accents, but I am pleasantly surprised to find that I kin undershtinnd that accent perfectly, boi.

Another of Senior’s: it’s 1945. Where are we?

I don't know for certain, but I suspect before steam ended, as the only pictures I've ever seen of these things after 1960 are in grey. At a very wild guess I would be inclined to say GSR all-grey up to late 1940s, then red with "Ranks", then maybe grey with "Ranks" in the mid to late 1950s - and then grey with the various "snail" variations until the mid 60s, when "roundels" replace the "snails". It is possible that red with "Ranks" and grey with the same were concurrent, or that the grey came before AND after the red. It would be useful if anyone could throw any more light on this. As mentioned earlier, I'm sure I saw a pic of one in post-1970 brown too, and as others have pointed out, the odd badly faded grey wagon with "Ranks" was still to be seen just after 1970.

Good to see you here again, Nelson, and congratulations on finishing your course. I wish you the very best of luck with your job applications.

These wagons appear to have always been owned by the GSR and then CIE. There's an important distinction here. We often hear of references to "private owner wagons"; which are exactly as it says on the tin. But these were exceptionally rare in Ireland. usually, the local railway company simply supplied the relevant rolling stock - but sometimes with the name of the customer on them. This was as much to inform railway staff that the relevant vehicle was not to be used for any other traffic, than to advertise. In answer to Ironroad's question above, I believe that CIE-branded ones were "mixed up" with "Ranks" ones; I am fairly certain I have seen photographic evidence of this. But because Ranks didn't own them - the railway did - at times they just got the railway livery. I was interested to see variations on the location of the "snail" on the artwork John has produced above, so a train could have a mixture of red Ranks, grey Ranks, and grey snail-variations in the same train (so we each buy one of each!). Now, I also believe I've seen a pic of one in post-1970 CIE brown livery; any confirmation of this would be of interest. But it would have been short-lived, as I think these wagons were done with by 1975 or so. Naturally, a brown wagon would only have a "roundel", as the "snails" were replaced almost ten years before anything was ever painted brown. Oh - an addendum: the "curse of the black chassis" can be lifted with the RED variation of these things: obviously, all grey means grey chassis also, if one wants accuracy, but the red ones had black chassis - or most anyway; I have no evidence of any being turned out all-red (which would look somewhat odd anyway!).

Yes, it hadn't worked much since the 1960s, in fact. I think its last very short lived fling was about 1972. Someone here will confirm exact details, I'm sure!

And then you'd have Porteeeedown. Platform 1 - Green. Platform 2 - Orange. Platform 3 - Red, white and blue. Platform 4 - Green, white and orange. Lucky there isn't a platform 5 (for Dungannon and Armagh in the future)....

Had a look in Senior’s stuff - nothing suitable for above.

Very interesting train make-up indeed! Old wagon, albeit presumably fitted (why?), GSWR brake, Bredin GSR coach - and look what's on the end - looks GNR! Presumably 1959-62?

The horsebox on the left is a GSWR one, and the carriage is, very definitely an MGWR standard 3rd. The "L"-shaped door handles were indeed a Midland feature - as "Midland" as the "flyaway" cab! Unusually, the door vents have been covered up / removed' otherwise the panelling is almost all original. It is in the "secondary stock" unlined plain green.

In the times these things ran, there was rarely an entire rake of anything at all! Several of these would be in a goods train going to wherever they were being loaded or unloaded, but not for this type of wagon would you get a whole rake - thus - an ideal buy to mix in with other stuff.

Can you imagine NIR having to change the signage in Derry & Newry to green, and Lisburn and Carrickfergus to orange!!!

This is an old British Railways sign - judging by the dark blue background I think that was North Eastern Region? So, folks, no gricing today.....!

I’ll have a look in Senior’s photos. He was up there once as far as Rathkenny, I think. Part way up anyway. I’m pretty sure he didn’t photo it as he was in the cab but who knows!

Yes, like anything there were variations, though not as many as one might think - really, the main differences were varying levels of wear and tear, thus weathering. Livery wise there were but five variations: 1. Any built before approx 1954/5 - all grey with eau-de-nil painted flying snail & number. 2. Repaints of the above and new-builds between approximately 1954 and 1958 - all grey with white painted FS & No. 3. From 1958/8 onwards, white FS & numbers, but the FS is now STENCILLED. A lighter grey appearing from about 1960/1. 4. After 1963, lighter grey with CIE "roundel", which was initially all white, but by the late 60s, White let's surrounded by a tan "broken wheel". 5. After approx. 1970 all brown with all white "roundel" and number. In all cases, whether grey or brown, the wain was entirely painted this colour. Newly painted brown wagons stood out with their brown roofs, but exhaust from locos and weathering often toned these down to LOOK mid-greyish. Many wagons - I would guess up to a quarter - remained grey to the end (mid-70s), some even still with stencilled "snails". In modelling variations, a pair of wooden planked doors on one would be a suitable structural difference - maybe just one wooden door! From close inspection the type of panelling they had looked and felt to me like some sort of very heavy duty marine ply. Towards the end, from memory most had the brake wheel.

GSR vans were a different animal. The internally-framed ones had horizontal planking on the outside, and were possibly somewhat smaller, from memory - slightly shorter wheelbase, I think? The GSR's forerunners to the "H" vans had a similar frame but horizontal planking. Many were still about until the early 60s. The actual "H" vans starts appearing in the 1950s and as others have noted, thousands were built until the early to mid 1960s. But not to be confused with the GSR types. Some older (and lower, shorter or both) vans of ex-GSWR or Midland origin were still to be seen in the late 1950s. The brake wheels appeared in the 1960s. Yes, they'd get patched from time to time. I saw one in Kilkenny goods yard with planked doors, doubtless off an old GSR van. Come to think of it, I've a notion that wasn't a one-off.

I think “typical” is the least appropriate word I’ve ever heard to describe Limerick Junction!