jhb171achill

Superb - eagerly awaited! Good to see the authentic "stencil" form of the "flying snail". This was used from the mid-fifties onwards until replaced by the "roundel" in 1963.

Megabucks. This is house-selling time. Forgot the AEC railcars! Essential - also tin vans, even more so.

Good to know!! (That’s the RTR B101, “Maedb”, “Achill Bogie”, D14, D17, J18, Midland “Cattle engine”, UTA Jeep”, NIR 70 & 80 classes, and a range of DSER, MGWR, BCDR and Wisht Caaark six-wheelers sorted for next Christmas, then......)

106 failed just after that IRRS trip. She was detailed to do some other duty the following day but didn't turn a wheel in traffic again. Great pity! I think I remember hearing at the time that there was an opinion among the ITG people, or Inchicore, or both, that 103 would make a better long-term project, but it's that long ago now! ONE story doing the rounds in the mid-70s was that CIE had considered, or were considering, a "transplant"-like programme to put GM engines in them instead of buying the new 071s. THAT would have been interesting.

The Corrs did an early music video inside the RPSI’s ex-GNR Directors Saloon No. 50, at Whitehead.

Ah, OK, thanks!

There was one - was it the "Blue Max"? which featured a low-flying aircraft going under a viaduct on the now-closed Mallow - Waterford line?

WOW!! Was considering that myself, with an opportunity presented by a recent house move, but went for the attic instead, due to prior claims on garden space by the Dept. of Domestic Matters following a prior, and successful application to the DoDM by Mr. Dog to have use of the space...... Looks amazing - what size is it?

It's a tie! GNR & MGWR! When I were a mere nipper, back in the day, I had a summer job on the Festiniog Railway on a track gang - I think it was 1975 or 6. There were two somewhat arrogant cockney types in amongst the gang of us, which had a crazy guy from Glasgow, me, someone else from Belfast who I never heard from again, and people from both Wales and all over the rest of England. On hearing where myself, the Scotsman and the Belfast fella were from, they proceeded to run down Irish railways, insisting that if it was British it was best, or if it was English it was best. (They were beginning to irritate the whole lot of the rest of us). One of them insisted that the LMS, or was it the GWR, was the "best railway there ever was", after wittering on about it for ages; by this stage I had had enough and broke my silence to just say "Nonsense, it's not!". Yer man, who was in northern terminology a bit of a "buck eejit", says in his cockney accent "Oh! So what is?", followed by, in a sarcastic tone, "I suppose you'd say the Tralee and Dingle!". Instantly, I retorted "That's one of them, yes"....and walked off. For the first time that evening, he was silenced...................

The "Quiet Man" was filmed (as far as the railway scenes were concerned) in Ballyglunin station in. eastern Co. Galway, between Athenry and Tuam. The train was the regular Sligo - Limerick set, and some of the "extras" in the cab are the actual CIE locomotive crew. The loco is an ex-GSWR 4.4.0, then common on this line along with J15s and all sorts of other relics, and the carriages are ex-GSWR six-wheelers as was also the norm. This in itself is of interest, with the possibility of a JM Design 4.4.0 and the carriages available in kit form from Studio Scale Models and also Worsley. Even more so, the forthcoming Hattons "Genesis" project for RTR 6-wheelers bear more than a passing resemblance to these 1880s-era GSWR vehicles. The black and white one was filmed on the Dublin (Harcourt Street) to Bray line in 1959, some months after the line closed, and featured regular CIE stock and a silver "C" class diesel from Bray. It was filmed in and around Carrickmines station. The "First Great Train Robbery" used the RPSI's two J15s, 184 & 186. While the latter had already clocked up big mileages in RPSI terms by that stage, 184 hadn't turned a wheel and was in very ropey order indeed. the film company paid for its restoration and the repaint of both into a fictitious livery, which they would carry for some time afterwards. The coaches used were built on the chassis of scrapped CIE "tin vans", laid aside after the deliveries of the "Dutch" and "BR" genny vans 1969-72. As mentioned elsewhere, they were shoved into a siding at bray afterwards until scrapped. Only one of these had an actual interior! I'm aware of the West Clare one, but can't remember the details. Yes, one locomotive was still there and serviceable, and would certainly have been scrapped otherwise, as the three "F" class diesels had already been delivered, as had all four railcars.

For a "big birthday", now over a DECADE ago (!), I decided to have a little "Happy Birthday to me!" time, and got one of the then-just-released SSM kits of 800. Having had this built for me, it has a pride of place in my collection. With my own interests in things Midland, and the Achill branch in particular - a beastie like this would be very much alongside it! Absolutely superb work all round, and it'll look great in Midland livery too.

Looks like it - though it’s certainly one of the stations on the South Wexford line, I think.

They were used in the late 1940s, and just about into the early 1950s. All were withdrawn stock, all 6-wheelers, and being withdrawn were all still in (by now) very badly faded GSR maroon - faded to a dirty brownish pink colour; but this was liberally punctuated with unpainted boarded up windows, unpainted planks nailed across wobbly bits, and so on. Some had several old doors in a row used as side panelling where perhaps the original side was unstable or rotten. Basically, they looked like as bad a mess as you can possibly make them! Naturally they needed brakes, so an old GSR brake van (like Provincial Leslie's GSWR van) was needed. The load.......All Bran?

Indeed - Anthony, yes (RIP). A great guy, always very exceptionally helpful and knowledgable.

That CD contains the very information in the book I mentioned. It was largely done (and in highly painstaking and accurate detail) by IRRS member Richard McLachlan. It is a fantastic resource, especially for a carriage nerd like me.

I may have some tickets, but there seem to be loads of these available........any use?

The gombeen men are alive and well! Thank you, FF.............

That was a damp cold day - last ever passenger run of a B101. It was the only run I ever had in the cab of a 101.... there seemed to be more people crammed into the cab than in the train!

Interesting to note that in the silver and that particular version of the green livery, they had no red buffer beams. That was as far as I know unique among steam OR diesel until modern times.

Very long, though! Yes - Norman Johnston’s little book about the line had one. I could post it here except my stuff is in storage right now. If I remember I’ll post a copy of it here in a few weeks.

Looks like the “unboxing vid” will need to be a boxed set!

Mr Bracken, aka Wrenneire, will be able to help.

Indeed - here’s hoping!

My own comments are based on what has come from the "horse's mouth", so to speak, and thus I cannot comment further. Suffice to say, I was party to the contents of certain discussions from "within". While I personally may well fir into the mound of "yearning" for the railway of the past, this applies only to my enthusiast leanings. Obviously, modernisation is essential. Given the latest figures on our economy, it is clear that with government commitment - IF there was sufficient commitment - they might find funding for at least some of the various schemes that have been proposed in recent years by people in the haulage world, as opposed to the certainly impractical ideas of many others. Jim Meade is a good, professional, practical railwayman, but has to work within the constraints he has from above.