jhb171achill

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.

Interesting - must check that out!

Yes, I think 90 was painted black about 1958, also the “big” engine - I think it was the only one of those in black. Yes, the grey was indeed bland, more so when filthy. The numbers were a dark cream / pale yellow, rather than bright yellow as they appear in some colour slide renditions. Flying snails on tenders were pale green, never yellow - but with no tender locos in West Cork you don’t have to worry about that! I saw recently someone was 3D-printing a J30.... A RTR J18 would be a very useful yoke to have, so would a J26, the MGWR tank engine type seen as far away from the Midland as Fenit, Tramore......AND West Cork!

It’s not always easy, Tobin. Prior to mid-50s, all grey. 1956-ish to 1963, most were covered in layers of filth, coal dust and rust to the extent you could barely tell in real life, never mind a photo, never mind a black and white photo! Those repainted black soon acquired the same layer of dirt. In these times CIE had dispensed with many cleaners, as the steam railway was not seen by young lads as a viable career choice. I had a list (from Bob Clements) some years ago of what classes had at least some black members, but I’ve been unable to locate it. From memory, but not complete, some notable classes which included at least one black example were J18, C2, G2, 400 and “Woolwich”, though most of the latter two were green by the end.

Ah, a RTR Bandon Tank, “Merlin” or 800!! - now THAT would be nice. And you could have one in lined green - a nice change from the universal filthy plain grey used on everything else in West Cork after 1925! On the livery subject, youve the several unique unlined versions of the green livery for older coaches that were the result of “local” one-off jobs too. You mentioned wagons - many of the older types in west Cork were an older, darker shade, almost as dark as locomotives..... The railcars - one at least had stripes on the front part of the cab roof, although these were, of course, switched and swopped with the main line. You mention the roofs - darker than wagons or locos - either an extremely dark grey (almost black) or black in most cases. Then you’ve the famous tale about the stations, which I’m sure you’re well aware of - the old CIE trick of spending a fortune painting them to artificially rack up the cost of maintaining the line - in order to justify closing it! Some stations were subjected to this, getting a very bright MGWR-esque red and cream paint scheme not long before closure.... Anyway, whatever way you go, the very best of luck, and you know you’ve a good crowd on here to assist if you need it. As you say, you’ve loads of time. I’ve been at it - on and off - for decades and I hope I’m not done yet....