jhb171achill

WOW! Looking forward to seeing this develop!

That is a STUNNING picture. All too often there's little to be seen in BnM photos than turf and tin sheds!

Even with tank engines, crews always preferred chimney-first working. There was no real reason beyond that other than the fact that (fairly obviously!) the weather more often than not is unfavourable to tender-first operation! A former driver, long gone to his reward, told me once of a journey from Sligo to Ennis with empty cattle vans for a fair the following day. For some reason (which escapes me) they had to work tender first and it was rainy and windy. By Tubbercurry he (firing) and his driver were drenched to the skin and shivering with the cold. And they still had to get to Ennis! He was an exceptionally unhappy bunny. Upon dropping the trucks in Ennis, he still had to go light engine to Limerick Junction and bunk overnight - in wet clothes. Into a very spartan bed, and home to Tuam shed in damp clothes in the brake van of the Limerick / Sligo goods the next day. We can look back at this stuff, but ordeals like that - and by any standards, even in austere 1940 or 41, when this happened - it WAS an ordeal. Thank gawd for trade unions and hard-won modern workers rights…. Senior got as far as Killeshandra only once. Time was ticking on and it was a nice enough day. They had a G2 class 2.4.0. Despite a short and leisurely trip back to Cavan, the crew insisted on turning the loco.

Gawd be with the days when it was steam - one of my earliest memories being in a train of GNR coaches behind 207, probably. That’s 207 the Vs class 4.4.0, not the modern thing! For some reason I do remember it sat at Portadown for quite a while. The journey in the other direction was an ex-GNR AEC railcar set with a flickery light above my seat….

Correct.

I think the VERY last two in use (in Limerick - Waterford) were retired in 1994, though of course most were long gone by then. Comparatively very few survived long enough to get the waistline stripe. I wonder how many were actually still in traffic after this was introduced in late ‘87 - can’t have been many.

Yes, they would. By that stage few if any would still be green - most if not all in black’n’tan. They were still about in ‘77 too, and some weren’t far off making it to ‘87! Park Royals of all varieties had a thirty year span 1955-86 in main service, but in addition a small number, chiefly used in late days (when they got the mid-body stripe) formed the Limerick to Rosslare set until the early 1990s. So a handful of them had an almost 40-year life. Plus, in later years, main line and suburban types were indiscriminately mixed on all services. The green livery only 1955-62. 1962-mid/late 70s, increasingly black’n’tan, with green becoming fewer each year. After approx 1967/8, no more in green.

So ICR from Dublin and 3k from Belfast, plus their returns - 3rd train each way?

They really should make this clear. There is a massive difference in service standards between an NIR railcar without even a tea trolley, like I was on last week, and a De Deitrich with a trolley, cooked food and first class. Other railway administrations distinguish such things in timetables and advertising. And woe betide us if there isn't a free ICR and they put a 29 class thing on it - tatty interiors without even decent seats! If I can get info, I'll post it here; I will be attempting to find out so that I can avoid the railcars. It is likely I'll be using this service from time to time in the coming year.

Is there an easy or obvious way of telling which services are which; DDs, ICRs, or NIR railcars? Is that what the asterisks are?

They simply advertised the departure times. The train will have arrived a good bit earlier and / or the wagons will have been left there there previous day and loaded before the train arrives, when it will simply shunt them onto the back.

They're about to practice their Irish dancing. That's what the boards are for. They have their tap shoes on. Session in O'Donoghues in Dugort village tonight....

There are now fourteen six-wheelers on the layout - nine Genesis, four SSM - plus this. This was a sample DSER third made by the late Ken McElhinney (RIP). Absolutely superb. It’s in GSR maroon, as yet without markings or glazing. I’ll get in finished but probably repaint it green. It’s a beautiful model and runs very freely. Ken designed his own chassis.

Amongst the very many “urban legends” of railways, is the tale that such-and-such a railway livery had 101 variations. We hear this in particular of GNR loco blue and CIE green. The reality is they were all painted the same way to start with but weathered differently due to a number of factors. The two six-wheelers on the left are SSM kits, expertly built and painted by Eoin Murray, and equally expertly weathered by Chris Dempsey. Both were painted the exact colour of the new Genesis one on the middle right, same also as the repainted one on the right which I did. But this shows up perfectly how varying weathering makes things look as if they’re actually a different colour. Here, top pic, an excursion set at Dugort Harbour awaits its evening return to Tralee with a happy band of summer Sunday excursionists in 1959. In the other pics, the extra bogie has gone back to Tralee and the three coach branch set for the coming week has three vehicles in varying states of weathering.

Summer ‘59…… ”Typical. You can smell the new paint off those two, but they only come in here on Regatta Sunday. We’re left with those other two tatty oul things during the week…. lights don’t even work in the far one….” ”They’re leaving the big one on the right here, though, according to Dan” ”Bout time…. how’s your aunt doing now?”

If, as I'm guessing, your proposed layout is in BCDR land, you've every good excuse to imagine that at least part of it survived into the NIR era! Had the UTA not been so bloody-mindedly anti-railway, at the very least Belfast - Newcastle might have survived.... certainly Comber would have done.

Apparently it’s largely complete inside, though a few components missing. But the only place it could operate today would be Downpatrick. I’m tempted! Was looking at the EXQUISITE IRM sample ICR at the show. Now I know I can run one - Skaledale to the rescue!

Biggest obvious difference is the tenders - easily dealt with. I have detailed livery info somewhere for WLWR maroon livery…. though it would have been gone not long after 1900, when the GSWR’s lined black took over for a decade and a bit before they became all-grey for the rest of their lives. I’d be strongly tempted to get a British one and paint it grey….

I wasn’t entirely convinced those tracks were narrow gauge in the background, but very possible; and Ciarán’s knowledge of locations is absolutely encyclopaedic!

That is some MIGHTY joinery work!

Agreed! Through services during the middle of the day but commuter-orientated ones earlier.

I'll need an 00 scale Tardis too!

The scenic detail on this is absolutely amazing. Superb stuff, and a great guide to how to do it.

Correct. Once the 111s were delivered in 1980, Hunslets only occasionally appeared on the Enterprise for a time, then not at all. I'm going to have to find an excuse for an ICR and a 1970s NIR diesel to appear on a 1950s layout set in West Kerry!

Any idea where that picture was taken?