jhb171achill

Senior learned Latin in school in Dublin - but that was in the 1930s! I've never heard of anyone north or south learning Greek...... maybe posh places like Belfast "Inst" or the King's Hospital, Blackrock College or Portora! Such a thing would never have been much use in ordering a pint of Guinness down the road here (back in the day when we had pubs....remember pubs?) "Ipsum Flotsam Bignum Bognum Jetsam Guinness, please"

Grain wagon, Rock St., Tralee; ex-GNR goods van built 1954 for Drogheda cement traffic, also at Rock St. You can clearly see the “N” of “G N” on its side, showing through the CIE brown paint, and CIE grey paint under that. Both 1976. And reservation labels 85 years apart.

Yes, I believe it is Thurles - not long after, this relic appeared in Inchicore. And yes, it was a remarkable survivor in its lettering and livery, as well as the more obvious fact that it even existed at all. From recollection, it was built as a passenger brake in - I think - 1878, though the panelling style suggests a decade earlier. It remained in what looked like black, but was in fact a VERY weather-worn old GSWR crimson lake. I've seen a colour picture of it, and it looks a nondescript dirty black at first glance. The old paint was, of course, perished as well as worn by then. It was tragically scrapped shortly afterwards; yet again, when i see a beast like that, I think "Downpatrick"!. You can see where someone has tried to clean over the letters "G" and "W" "R", either side of the central door - maybe the "S" was less visible. So it hadn't seen a paintbrush in at least 35 years, and probably a lot longer. The only modernisations seem to be vac brakes and blocked-in "birdcage".

PRICELESS stuff, Ernie, well done! Observations: 1. GNR Dundalk - what is that grounded body on the right? A former Drover's Van, perhaps? I recall one of those in someone's back garden in a house in Lisburn in the 1960s, but it had its original planking. 2. Strabane, 1958. What is that bogie van on the left? I don't think it's one of the two grain vans that went to Whitehead 9or is it?) but it is certainly similar. What is it, what was it used for, and what is it doing in Strabane? 3. West Clare, Ennis. I had forgotten there was an awning on the up platform! On the down side, the girder on the WCR side is still extant, and would be for many more years - but has anyone ever seen a pic of the roof that at one time it supported - I have no recollection of any such picture. I presume the WCR built it? Does anyone know? 4. 406 at Cork - above. Clearly just after getting her green paint. Must have looked absolutely magnificent.

Yes, that was absolutely the norm - I think I referred to that in a recent post too, when my father had been involved (unofficially) in just such an operation. Crossing keepers and station staff would be advised that a goods train might be running a certain amount of time late, and it would be because they had stopped along the way at a point identified previously. The SLNCR was a truly fascinating railway indeed. In the mid 1990s - I may have mentioned this somewhere before - there was funding available to restore a 2km stretch near Belcoo, and it came very very near to fruition - more so than any other "didn't happen" potential scheme I had ever heard of. If anyone is interested in the details, ping me.

Re No. 90 in Fermoy & Mallow, and Inchicore Open Day, 1996. Only seeing this now, Midland Man. No, that Isle of Man type light green was totally fictitious, probably copied from the equally “bright” light green colour then in No. 36 in Cork. The correct (and verified) GSWR green was the very dark olive shade now seen on Downpatrick’s GSWR No. 90. The livery on 90 has been verified from original samples seen on an Inchicore-made model held in the Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ offices in London. Downpatrick also have the correct dark brownish-maroon on coach 836, and presumably eventually 69 and 1097 too.

Tis indeed a shame the “castle” layout ended up homeless. At least the models have survived! As others have mentioned, no single issue led to the current position. Money, location and local politics all played their part. Most recently, of course, a new museum gets designed before proper consideration is given to the space required for what ought to be in it!!!

Narrow gauge locomotives, c.1938. In the first picture, it’s an extremely dull day, so it’s mite like a silhouette. But an interesting one. One of the Cavan & Leitrim 4.4.0Ts is going to Inchicore for a heavy repair, and is seen here being loaded onto a transporter wagon at Dromod. A rare shot. In the other, 9C is out and about on its home turf in Wisht Clare. I haven’t Senior’s notes to hand (he did record date and location) but I think it’s Milltown Malbay. He did several trips over the line in the 1930s and early 40s, on one of which he only went as far as Milltown, where the down train crossed an up working. This return train could have been passenger or goods, as he went back in the cab. NOTE: @irishrail201 FAO C & L folks who read here, PM me about this C & L pic.

July 1947, again, and we learn that the IRRS has just published its first journal (a copy of which is beside me, as it happens!). And a snapshot of the Cavan & Leitrim @irishrail201 in 1947.

July 1947, and CIE, still a private company, is but two and a half years old. In these times most main lines had only two or three through trains per day. The writer of the following article would barely understand what Westland Row or Amiens St are like now, with DARTs included less than forty years after the article was written. An interesting insight, again, into the past. Note the train: the coach on the left is a GSWR open third of 1899-1910 era, possibly Downpatrick’s 836 or sister 837. It is still in GSR maroon. Behind it is a main line DSER coach in CIE green. The picture appears to be at Westland Row.

SUPERB stuff, Irishrailwayman. The clerestorey roofed-CIE (green) coaches - what are they?

Correct, and I recall seeing a pile of oul non-corridor coaches there some years earlier, and a whole lot of redundant MEDs some years afterwards! Seems Antrim goods yard was a rolling stock dump for a long time.....

I have been in touch today with an old friend, who would know chapter and verse on these beasts. This from him: "......................the photo of 111 is in Antrim GN yard. That is the exact spot where that car was cut up by Hamills. The building behind is the bus garage and the area is now part of the bus depot......."

Nobody worried about things like that in those days! Even in my time exploring in the 1970s, you could go in and out of most places except Inchicore Works, although if you knew someone in there, it was do-able under certain circumstamces. I was there in 1972 or 3, because my father called in to see someone, so I was just let loose to wander. Didn't have a camera that day, though! I remember seeing two "G" class sitting on a siding and any amount of black'n'tan stuff.....and K801.

I've the captions in the wrong order - I'll correct them now! There! Regarding the footbridge, I think it's a good bit forward of that - and he didn't have a telephoto (few if any did then, of course...).

Another visit to Donegal. These are from 1947, probably, though the loco one could possibly be late ‘30s. 1. Strabane. 3’ left, 5’3” right. 2. Senior is back up on a carriage roof - some like climbing telegraph or signal posts - Stranorlar. I’m not sure what’s going on here.... 3. Symphony in red: “Lydia” awaits her next duty. 4. This one is about 1939 - a big view at Strsnorlar, with a very heavy westbound train.

I have to say, the modern NIR railcars are very comfortable indeed, and certainly rival in terms of comfort the AEC cars, which I would say are the most comfortable railcars ever to run in Ireland. And the NIR ones are WAAY quieter - AECs were noisy when accelerating....

35077 is the only thing I can make out - wagon number....

I posted some random pages out of the 1935 GSR "Appendix" earlier....within these hallowed pages it is "Rocksavage" - yes, the railwaymen DID call it that. I do too, when I must; it just sounds odd!

Found this from 1985...... Can’t remember where it was! Few markings.... even in CIE days, with endless door-swopping, some ended up with no logo. After 1987, when IE took over, normal goods stock including these lost their “broken wheel” logos by degrees. IE never applied either the “set of points” nor the “three pin plug” logos to any normal goods stock, so these yokes ended their days with no logos.

It's a generational thing, MM. Many will see anything in the steam era as uninteresting, others are interested in operational realism, but not scenery. Others again see the scenery as being - if anything - more important than what runs through it. Some seek absolute rivet-counting strct historical accuracy, others want as many trains running at any one time as possible. It's a bit like N gauge versus 00 or 0 - while space constraints are usually the key to deciding this, some have preferences for any of the three. There will come a day when 201s and ICRs are keenly sought after as models, even long after they are withdrawn. I remember seeing an article somewhere, years ago, about how there's some sort of psychological connection with many people to an era that their parents would have known better than they did - hence my father's interest in things 1900-1925 (he was born in 1918) and mine in things fifties; but my very earliest railway recollections are about 1960. The point is, nobody is right or wrong here. It's just opinion. Personally, as you'll have gathered, history is my thing, but I have every respect for other who prefer the modern scene - and as you've seen here, there are many very outstanding layouts to be seen from the 1980-to-date period.

Not every grey tender ended up with a “snail”, MM - some didn’t have anything, including the last two engines ever painted grey as late as 1962. Most did, though.

For those like me who have descended into the parallel reality of incurable nerdism, documents such as these provide a fascinating insight into how the railway actually functioned in the past. What follows is just a tiny sample of the sort of information contained therein.

Sometimes a withdrawal date and an actual scrapping date can be years apart - witness B114 and the line of B101s at Inchicore during the 1970s and 80s, and G601, which spent double the amount of time it was in traffic, withdrawn but sitting upended at the end of the scrap line in Inchicore! The SLNCR by 1957 had all sorts of tumbledown antiques stuffed in sidings at Manorhamilton.....

I had always thought for me personally, nothing after 1965 or so. But in all reality, some of the stuff on the market now is causing a major rethink. The ferts especially, but other stuff too.