jhb171achill

Interesting! Thank you!

They couldn’t have done that as the electrics and gangways were incompatible unless each set had a genny, which is possibly what you suggest that the article implied? Would it not be more likely the ones on the end were empty, ie being conveyed somewhere? If you could narrow it down I could look up the journals....

And it’s great to see interest in this fascinating era increasing!

There are two BCDR locomotives among the Cyril Fry collection in Malahide Model Railway Museum in the old casino building. Naturally it's closed right now due to Covid, but whenever it reopens you'd be able to see them. If you PM me I can give you more details of those.

Very nice indeed, and I wish you well with it.

It wouldn't be a train make-up, as such, as a BR genny van couldn't operate with AC coaches. Just random stuff coupled together; a cattle truck in the middle of such a string of vehicles would have been just as likely a generation earlier!

Probably an old "E" class?

I'll take the No. 30. Bush is indeed best, though so is Jameson's. Don't want to go to Crumlin, if all they have there is Club Lemon instead of Bush, and the bus is named after an Oik.

Looking at that aerial view to confirm any doubts I had, yes, definitely New Ross.

And then you’d 727, still with GNR upholstery, used as a railcar intermediate just into the 80s - the last GNR coach in service, looking well in the modern NIR blue and maroon!

Pity their website is so woefully awful - I’ve never been able to open it on any one of FOUR devices....

As you say, a small layout for “0” is very adequate. I was literally just sitting doodling a potential small layout based on Fintona - all that would be needed is one steam locomotive and half a dozen trucks. Add a small turntable and a small railbus replaces the horse....

The Hattons ones advertised so far are very like several GSWR designs, and would fit in well on an Irish layout based anywhere south of the Dublin - Galway line, plus, of course, the Limerick-Sligo route. Can't see Hornby's offerings, as their website is so slow to open as to be useless!

Ah! A breath of steam air! Me too....... Some of the young'uns here will be appalled at the likes of you and I seeing an 071 or an 80 class as "too modern to be of interest"!

Top one could be anywhere, really - possibly Broadstone or Athlone? It's a MGWR 0.6.0 in GSR days (1925-45). Second one is on the DSER somewhere - could it be New Ross? Third one - I SHOULD know that, given so many clues in the pic - but I've no idea. I think the third wagon is a DSER one. The high fencing behind looks pretty new. Wagons suggest date about 1930.

TRAMS!!!! (Maybe an old Howth tram?) Buses - the single deckers used by the UTA and CIE in the 1950s and 60s, of several types, would be a winner, I feel.

A train set - steam locomotive + wooden bogie + laminate + 6-wheel third + tin van, now there’s a thought! I do realise, before the IRM guys are imbibing their smelling salts, that we’ve a very long way to go before such a thing is commercially viable, but who can say never?

.........we'd have steam-powered Luas's, and the beautiful smell of turf smoke hanging over the salubrious settings of D4, D6 and D18!

Ye have me drooling uncontrollably now......... wouldn't be without precedent though (the smoke OR the drooling!). This time last year I was in the midst of sorting out the Fry models for the Malahide Museum (20 mins walk from where I'm sitting now), and your comment prompts me to recall that Cyril Fry invented the idea of dropping a drip of oil into the chimney of a model loco, with smoke drifting out as a result. he sold the idea to Hornby and got a decent little sum for it, and the rest is history...... Very true indeed - but it makes me think of one final point - even NOW there is virtually nothing available to authentically run behind "A" class locos in silver or green or 121s in grey! When these were bumbling about the network in those liveries, there was nothing at all in black'n'tan, and almost all trains had at least some older wooden coaches including six-wheelers. Without exception, ALL passenger trains in those times needed a tin van for a passenger train, unless it was to be run run without either heat or light. Yet, these are commercially successful. The moral of THIS story may well be that once people have these on their layouts, a commercially viable market for tin vans, laminates and Park Royals will manifest itself. Let's hope so. We do, of course, in the meantime, have the Silverfox models to fill the gaps with, some of which are available in green.

Fair enough - makes sense!

The strict commercial aspect must, of course, be the final - if not ONLY - arbiter. I think we all here appreciate the efforts of IRM to develop the Irish model market in general. And clearly it's working. Your comments on re-gauging models to 21mm gauge are interesting - I hadn't thought about that. One question, though - suppose you DID decide to try the market - let's say, with something like a C2 or a J26 - both inside cylindered. Would it be feasible, practical or economically helpful to provide as an option a body only, with the customary high detail, to assist those who might wish to make their own "broad gauge" chassis? This, of course, in addition to the full RTR 00 gauge model.

Two other points: Firstly, some of us have RPSI Cravens with nothing authentic to haul them other than diesels B141 and B134. Any steam model could be operated as “preserved” even if there isn’t one of the class in real life. Secondly, there was a time when an Irish diesel model might not have sold that well, now they sell out. There was a time when the only viable Irish model would have been something orange and black. Yet now we have a HUGE interest in thd black’n’tan era of 1963-76. There is much evidence also of a rapidly growing interest in the grey’n’green era now, too; and this required “A” class locos and steam (as well as the B101 and “C”, but that’s another story. The “Woolwich” was introduced as part of a “train set”, at a time when there was absolutely nothing to run with it, bar non-authentic LMS coaches in a CIE-ish livery, and before many modellers even had the knowledge levels prevalent now. Now, there are Worsley & SSM kits for carriages. The market is crying out for high-end RTR laminates, Bredins or Park Royals, and most obviously of all, tin vans - a run of which by JM design having sold out despite their inclusion in virtually EVERY passenger train over a fifteen year period from about 1957 to ‘72. Then we’ve the wagons. Provincial Leslie has spoiled us, and talk is of several manufacturers offering more. All told, I do think we’re certainly ready for RTR steam.

Agreed!

Yes, exactly. They would have operated alongside the A, C and B101. All green stock, or silver. Blackntan appeared almost two years after the last K1 was scrapped.

Personally, as many here would know, I would have a list of steam engines I'd like that would almost fit around trump's waist - but practicalities must hold sway. The ideal locomotive to do is one that was - (a) long lived, and can thus be possibly provided in several liveries, although some GSR types entered traffic in grey and were still that way when withdrawn! Included in the "long-lived" category would be engines which even if not that OLD, wereto be seen at the very end of steam, such as a J15 on CIE, but also an NCC "Jeep" for NIR. (b) operated over as wide an area as possible, e.g. a J15 or J18 (c) was used on as many types of traffic as possible - e.g. a mixed traffic type. (d) was reasonably well-known, like a "Bandon Tank". (e) "celebrity" status, such as an 800 or apreserved engine - the latter being usable in a modern setting too, e.g. any RPSI loco I stand to be corrected, but I understand that a variety of liveries assists in selling models, or in some way makes production more economically worthwhile, so I've suggested a few below. A manufacturer will never get it all right, but strictly adhering to as many as possible of the above criteria, it would seem that a reasonable selection of potential projects would be: - Yes, "Maedb". Limited run? GSR green, CIE green, and for 802, the experimental lighter shade of 1952. - A Midland J26 tank. Seen in Tramore (box cab add-on?), "Wisht Caaark" and Kerry, Tralee and environs as well as the MGWR. Shunting and branch line. MGWR lined green, MGWR lined black GSR / CIE grey. - Some sort of GSWR 4.4.0. GSWR lined black, GSR / CIE grey. Also the solitary green one, of a 60 class (I think?) - NCC "Jeep" with LMS lining and NCC lettering; UTA rounded, UTA crest and NIR logo - A J15's been done, otherwise it would be top of the list. Since it as good as sold out, surely that amplifies the case for RTR steam? Also the RPSI's 171, 85 or 461.