jhb171achill

Missed that one so far - must look! But that will be one of the last Belfast & Northern Counties ones. I think the older of those two could be doctored. The actual GWR one is too long, though if a good half of the balcony end could be chopped off, we're in with a chance. But the side and end detail (not to mention the two wagon doors) would require so much alteration that I'd say a scratch build might be easier - and even quicker. I just had this notion about one of these things being "stranded" down in the fictitious world of Dugort Harbour and lasting to the 1960s....!

Looks amazing, George, just what I would have been at had it not been for Murphy bringing out 141s, and SSM doing an 800 kit! I sold my entire 009 collection to fund that...... an Dugort Harbour followed. Your layout shows just how much you can get in a small space with 009 (or N, I suppose). Good to see this developing - the station building is superb and the whole thing looks very realistic. Your carriage liveries have the final days of well-kept and cared for OBB narrow gauge (1990s!) to a T. Brings back footplate memories of 0.6.2Ts on the Grunberg line in 1979! But the other lines were all diesel or electric then, with Gmund mixed steam and diesel.

Good thinking, folks! A bit of tinkering could make a good approximation out of one of those - thanks.

Saw this in a picture taken at Rosslare some time between 1910 and probably at latest 1915 or 1920. I was aware of this type of van, but rarely do decent pictures of them turn up. They were much less common here than in Brexitstan, but a few lines had them - a combined goods van and brake van, known just as brake vans here, but in Britain they also called them, I believe, "road vans". I seem to recall seeing a kit somewhere, some time, of a model of a British equivalent of one of these, but I have no idea where - does anyone have any idea? They are slightly longer in wheelbase than a conventional van of that era, but certainly could not be described as "long wheelbase", like, for example a British Railways standard brake van, or a Great Western "Toad" with its distinctive wide balcony. In terms of combined guards' and goods vans there was, of course, the famous No. 5 (5J to the GSR) on the Courtmac branch in Wishht Caark, boy, but that thing was actually short wheelbase and was only a 7 ton van. The Sligo Leitrim, with its myriad of the non-standard, had some sort of equivalent, but it looked nothing remotely like this design. I have an idea the GNR had vans of this nature a very long time ago. The BNCR had short-to-standard wheelbase vans of this type too, but again a different design entirely. At least a few made it into the 1950s. I think there was at least one knocking about the Derry Central area until that all closed. As far as the GSR was concerned, it is almost certain that these had disappeared before 1930, so unsuitable for CIE days - but it would be interesting to have a model of one, or something close, if anyone knows of a suitable kit.

WOOO HOOO!!!! Well said!

Correct - I think it was a half-inch difference or thereabouts.

It's possible, but there was actually a half-inch gauge difference! Do-able, though.

It was considered but never happened.

I'd say the exhibitors will need most of those.

Tis this very week I'm considering, David! But as always, writing matters, and the continued indoctrination of a 2 1/2 year old grandson into the ways of things on rails, occupy much time these days, as do the walking habits of the two four-legged family members - not as easy as that sounds, as one is geriatric and the other adolescent......! But; hopefully; I will darken the doors of the station at Grosvenor Road Goods Yard as soon as convenient, having previously travelled to Belfast (Great Victoria Street), then Maysfields Cattle Sidings (1976-2024)...... and of course, as always, you're spot on with your recollections! Hope you are keeping well.

One vague possibility might be to park in the public car park opposite Malahide station and get the 102 bus to Sutton from there?

Does anyone have an up-to-date list of which services are De Deitrichs, which are ICRs, and which are NIR railcars? Presumably none are 29s?

Certainly IS food for thought. And to add to variety, the Woolwiches were about the only class within which all three CIE livery variations could be found - the green, grey and black. 1. GSR / CIE all-grey, with numberplate 2. CIE all-grey with painted number (variants with or without flying snails on tenders). One or two anyway retained grey to the end. 3. Lined green - certain examples only, they weren't all green. 4. Plain black - only a few examples. 5. Lined black - carried by a single one for no more than about 18 months, for the Rosslare Express. And the period of their operation spans brand-new GSR days in 1925, to the very early 1960s. A good stretch by any standard. But overall, yes, there is much to be said for a new IRM-standard model of one of those. Trouble for me is, I've three Bachmann ones.....!

Parking an issue and no public transport... creative thinking necessary here! I will have a car containing self, another family member and a toddler* in a buggy too....... (* Yes, he is being suitably brainwashed already. He was at the Model Engineers at Marlay Park yesterday, and at 2 1/2 is aware of the difference between the Enterprise, a Dart, and a 29....)

Scary thing is how "distressed" and realistic many of these awful things look. Nice for a wall in a pub, but it's not good to see people being misled and scammed, thinking they have a genuine antique when it isn't. The several variations of this once-standard GSWR sign are now so plentiful that it takes a very skilled eye indeed to tell what IS genuine and what isn't. No doubt this one relates to the historic Lissue & Bloemfontein Railway.

That one's an 0.4.0...........

Utterly ghastly. Should be removed and arrangements made to make access by these brain-dead morons impossible. Great to see the place finally open, though. I plan to make a flying visit some day soon. A few familiar faces on the platform - at least three I know....

Thought-provoking.... Yes, an RPSI prototype would be good, but you raise the very valid point about there being next to nothing suitable to run behind not just these, but any Irish steam loco of any gauge. This, surely, is a gap in the market which needs to be plugged. There are SSM and Worsley kits available for a good range of GNR, NCC, GSR & CIE prototypes, not to mention GSWR 6-wheelers, but brass kits aren't for everyone. The Hattons Genesis 6-wheelers are only suitable for GSR / CIE prototypes like the 00 Works J15s. However, a number of RTR coaches of (British) LMS origin are suitable for the NCC, whose designs from the 1930s onwards closely followed LMS practice on the Adjacent Island. Both main line and suburban types, dating back to several (English) Midland designs, are suitable. With Cravens and Mk 2s available, both in RPSI livery variants, something that can fit with NCC stock and RPSI stock - seems a "Jeep" might be a logical one there. But whatever it is, I want one! And by Irish standards, 18 is a large class. Five livery variants - NCC, UTA old roundel, UTA new crest, and (four locos only) the NIR symbol. Plus, all too briefly, no. 5 in the early 50s carried a temporary apple green livery, very much akin to Ailsa-era Isle of Man green. It dodn't wear well so only lasted months before UTA standard livery replaced it. And just for the craic, one in lined CIE green......................................................................................

Thanks, Colin - if you hear of anything please do let me know! Apparently they've a waiting list. It's just a pity as I had ordered this from them long before they had even made public that they were doing the series at all! And they even rang me up to tell me that they were closing down, literally the day before they went public with it, and I confirmed that particular one with them at that point!

ttc; you've just given me an idea! A plain grey one with a 4xxA series number, and "PERMANENT WAY" stencilled on the side!

Got to the bottom of the pricing and delivery issues with my order. Paid for them today. Hattons, though, appear to have made a hames of my order before transferring it to Rails of S............ so I'm missing the all-important black'n'tan full brake. This is important, because of course a BnT full van never ran with the green six-wheelers! Separate issues. The few BnT ones which survived to get that livery were tagged onto the back of "modern" trains of laminates, Park Royals and eventually (for a short time) including Cravens. By the time those few received the BnT livery, all of the (green) passenger-carrying six-wheelers were finally withdrawn..... so I have a dark green full brake and a light green one to go with them, but I need a BnT one to go with mid-60s BnT bogies!

Excellent.... It is my understanding that currently the entire service is worked by one driver, and that's two return trips a day. If this is correct - and even if it isn't, it could be - that suggests that with only one more driver, four traina day would be feasible. But why stop at Limerick - why not include the Galway service? Surely, there is increased potential for a service like this - especially with students in mind if that is the case - if it were to operate Waterford - Limerick - Galway? Four operations a day each way over that while route, plus several others as at present Limerick - Galway, should surely be achieveable and also desirable. I feel that this would provide a major boost over this whole route, at comparatively very little outlay other than the restoration of a crossing point at Cahir. And put ICRs on it, not those god-awful tin cans with pixie seats and yellow poles that they do use. Hopefully the advent of the Dart+ and new Enterprise trains might somehow result, as a by-product, in a few spare ICRs.

The top one is Dublin United Tramways - very rare! Only made between 1941 & 1945, then when it became the overall CIE logo, the writing disappeared.

Thank you, Fowler, that explains that bit! Anyone know what gets added on here if posted to Dublin?

Folks, can I ask a few questions, as I’m not getting any joy from Rails of S. I ordered one of everything, including the black’n’tan full brake but excluding the set of 4. Rails sent me invoices for the lot - but included the set of 4, but did not include the BnT one, which I particularly wanted. So I am mightily displeased. I’d be interested to know if anyone else had their orders messed up. But more particularly they want £34.95 per vehicle, which is €42. Not a huge bill for a vehicle of this type, but I’m sure I saw comments on here to the effect that people were paying €29 something (or maybe £29). Can anyone comment on this? An example of one of each results in a total bill of over £500 sterling. It’s not a small amount.