jhb171achill

Fair play to them!

Which disproves that PW Inspector's idea that none of them ever went there bar the lifting train! They were very rare, though, as you say!

Correct - the article is riddled with errors. The CDRJC did not, as you say, have anything to do with this line - they had nothing to do with ANYTHING 5'3", even though the original Finn Valley line had started off 5'3". The station was indeed on the "Derry Road", but it was not a commuter line - it was a major secondary main line all the way to Porteedown. It was operated by the GNR until October 1958, when it became part of the UTA operationally, though the very short stretch in between Strabane and Derry which lay in Co. Donegal was owned by CIE, hence the sometimes-quoted quiz question - "what CIE railway station never had any CIE-operated trains?". The UTA were in charge, of course, when the vehemently anti-railway Stormont government closed the Warrenpoint and Portadown - Derry lines in full. For Derry Road modellers, by this stage, only in the last few years, NCC "W" class 2.6.0s had started working the goods in, and AEC / BUT railcars handled most of the passenger trains, aided and abetted by a GNR 0.6.0 on the Portadown - Dungannon local, and a couple of very filthy "S" class 4.4.0s. 171 was one of them, can't recall the other without looking it up. According to the former PW Inspector who knew the line well, Wm. Thompson, a friend of my father's, "Jeeps" never appeared on that line, even in UTA days, until after the line shut - one hauled the lifting train for a while! A curious thing just now. I went into the page to correct it, and posted the edit. Within minutes I get a message (to which I cannot reply) saying that the edit constituted vandalism of a site and I would be banned if I did it again etc etc. This appeared to come from some sort of moderator (?) or original poster (?), whose own personal page was covered in all sorts of loyalist regalia! I've just corrected it again, using my actual ID on wiki, rather than anonymously. Does anyone know how this thing works? I have often both posted, occasionally corrected, and referred to posts of wiki, as it's supposed to be a source of info, into which anyone can log on to add, subtract or correct information if they are in a position to do so...... if someone posts that the "Derry Road" was part of the CDRJC, and it's impossible for anyone else to correct it, then what's the point of Wikipedia?

Alan is a mine of information for locomotive drawings.

Hunslets. I remember their unique “whistling” sound, sounded very strange among CIE GMs and AEC and MED railcars! 1. Carrickfergus, 1985 2. Belfast Uncentral, c.1976 3. 1970, taken from an official photo. 4. Derry fertiliser at Lisburn, date uncertain but probably c.1985.

Is that still about? Heard about it years ago..... where is it?

Marks Models, Dublin.

The 2.2.2s were VERY early on. They were green. carriages in those days were little 4-wheelers with small windows. You're looking at when the line from Dublin to Athlone first opened, and on into the 1850s.

Yes, she was the last! I think she got her first coat of grey paint in the mid-1930s. I have the date somewhere - Bob Clements gave it to me years ago.

Yes, the "bunchlo" font is by far the nearest I've been able to find, anyway. I'd be inclined to put the English-language version in bold, though.

NCC narrow-gauge time, and NIR about 1972. GVS pic 1974.

I wonder if that girder IS at Carrickfergus, but destined for Derry Central? All I have is a note which says "D Cent"...... or, were there any stations on the "D Cent" with such sheds? I would defer to superior knowledge! If Ciarán Cooney is about, he's a good man for identifying stations!

I posted a long post on midlandman's post the other day regarding MGWR liveries. PM me if there's anything specific you're interested in. Regarding the blue locomotive livery, this was both short-lived and also only confined to a few locomotives, mainly those 4.4.0s which operated on the Broadstone-Galway main line. The various 0.6.0 goods engines would have remained green before, during and after the few "blue" years (mid 1910s) and afterwards. It is unlikely that any of the "G2" 2.4.0s were ever blue either. Only a small minority of coaching stock was blue & white. Locos were green, coaches brown, as explained in detail on midlandman's question. After 1918 there was new livery. Black locomotives and very deep maroon coaches; mind you, many remained in the older livery after the GSR takeover in 1925, when locos all turned grey and carriages dark "crimson lake".

Tomorrow's lot are more modern - NIR in the maroon'n'grey era.....

Ballyclare Junction it is. Not sure WHICH 0.6.0, no mention of it in his list. Some he quoted dates and everything else not obvious - others, the notes appear not to have survived. The pic from the footplate - yes, you've got it. From the cab of a "Jeep"; on a spoil train about 1968/9. The most unusual "spoil train" photo I've ever seen. This particular one was taken by someone else - not sure who.

QUIZ QUESTION; the answer to which might surprise someone! What and where is this?

The late Bob Clements told me that he would give me a “stick” with MGWR paint on it. He was in Broadstone one time and while they were only painting engines black at the very end, he found a tin of loco green. He went off and found what he described as a “bit of a stick”, and came back and gave the paint a good stirring, wrapped the stick in newspaper and took it home. I promised to call with him to collect it. Several weeks passed and I had this in the back of my mind. Then one morning a friend rang me to say that he had passed away. I learned a sharp lesson that day. When someone of that stature offers information to you, you stop EVERYTHING and go. Now. RIGHT now. I’d love to have that stick! But I never saw it, after all.

Can’t wait to see that, David!

Back to the Derry Central, and other things NCC. The winter of 1947 had the heaviest snow ever seen in Ireland. One of the worst affected areas was the NCC. And they built an almost totally unknown thing in Ireland, a full size snowplough. Again, this is a copy of a truly dreadful print, but I have negative and it’s much better. The other pictures are the dual gauge track at Larne Harbour, and a crane. Regarding the crane, I don’t know what’s happening other than its on the Derry Central, it’s sometime between 1944 and 1947, and there’s a Civil Engineer’s possession. I suspect it might be a bridge replacement. Answers welcome on the back of a €100 note.

Just as well nobody knows about the 146,000 toilet rolls, 32,400 hand sanitisers, and 115,670 cement bubble packs I got from a man I know this afternoon. If anyone wants to swop them for four bars of fruit'n'nut chocolate and a freshly poured pint of Guinness, I'm open to offers.

That, as always, is WAY beyond superb! I thought I was looking at REAL weeds, the scenery is so realistic.

The entire Bretland yoke and all related gubbins were plain grey, as were all goods and cattle vehicles. There is some evidence that at some stage anyway, brake vans were green, of what shade I don't know, but probably a mid-leaf-green. Photos do not show a particulary light or dark colour. PW stock was grey, of course - the all-yellow for maintenance gear didn't really appear until the late 1980s, apart from things like tamping and lining machines which were yellow from the 1960s. jhb171Senior managed to get hold of the first ever tamping and lining machine that the GNR had, and he trialled it somewhere between Ballybay and Inniskeen on the Irish North, but then it had to go back to the Eastern DistricT It was grey too... But back to the MGWR. The"E" class, later J26, were built for the following lines: Kingscourt, Athboy, Killeshandra-Crossdoney, Manulla - Killala, Achill and Clifden. They would not really have hauled trains through Moate, although they must have passed through en route to the west on their way to and from Broadstone for maintenance. I think they might have been used on the Cavan branch for a time, but I would have to check that. They were always branch line engines. After the amalgamation, of course, several went south. Three were on the Waterford & Tramore, one of these (560) later going to cork and then Tralee. It lasted there, working the Fenit branch, until the end of steam. What would have gone through Moate would have been the big 4.4.0s and various types of 0.6.0s, most notably the cattle engines and J18s. The "G2" 2.4.0s would have been regulars too, and just after the GSR took over, of course the great "Woolwich" 2.6.0s. You can get the Bachmann ones. If you're a dab hand with brass, a G2 kit is available. Liveries as follows. Up to 1903: all locomotives, goods included - a shade of green barely darker than current Isle of Man, or not unlike the LNER in England. Frames brown, lined red, green parts of loco lined in black and white. On tenders, "M G \\ W R" (\\ denoting the MGWR crest). Lettering shaded gold. Carriages a mid brown, gold lining, gold letters, numerals & crest. The brown, of which a sample may be seen on one of the stabled unrestored coaches at Downpatrick, was not unlike the brown used on CIE wagons from 1970, but not as reddish as modern wagon brown. Wagons a very dark grey, but appear to have been painted in a lighter shade gradually after (at a wild guess) about 1910. Goods brake vans mid=green, unlined. Lettering cream on all wagons and vans. 1903 - 1918: Same for most - but - they started painting SOME 4.4.0s and SOME carriages in a new blue livery in 1903. It did not wear well, and by 1908 or so they had reverted to the previous liveries described above. This new livery had its origin in the "Tourist Express" destined for Galway, for Clifden; locomotives were "royal blue". This appears to have a been a shade slightly darker than the blue on a British flag; if you visit the Model Railway Museum in Malahide you'll see it on one of the models of a 4.4.0. I believe that's actual paint. Lining was red and gold, though I once read it was black and white; I think the red and gold is correct. Carriages were the same blue on the ends and lower sides, with upper panels white or off-white; a most impractical colour for anything to be hauled by a steam engine. It seems that in both brown and blue /white liveries, carriage roofs were painted in white lead - again, nonsensically impractical; result - roofs were in fact a grey colour due to coal smoke VERY soon. Lining on the carriages was again gold. After 1908/10, lining on the coaches, now reverting to brown if they had ever strayed from it, becomes light yellow instead of gold; details otherwise the same. Locomotives were green still, with blue ones reverting to green, but perhaps about 1915 (date unknown) they start painting them black, lined in red. After 1918 this became the standard livery for all non-passenger engines. However it is clear that a great many still retained the lined green well after the GSR takeover, as one "J18", "Luna", was recorded by Clements still in green into the early 1930s; in fact, she was the last Midland engine not to be sheep-dipped in grey paint. After 1918, a new standard carriage livery was introduced of a very dark maroon, possibly not unlike the almost black dark brownish-maroon GSWR carriage livery. I would model this by looking at LMS maroon and going several shades between that and dark brown. Bob Clements described it to me, but I never saw a sample. Hope that helps! I mentioned stations the other day - wooden paintwork red and a stoney-cream-beige colour.

That last one shows it up perfectly, Ernie! The last time I ever saw a 121 in traffic was during the last beet season some years ago. I knew from the distance as a 141 was leading, but I could see the tall cab behind on the second loco, which was 134! A very pleasant surprise that day, as I had been expecting a 071 or a pair of 141s. I think she and 124, the last of these beasts, did little regular work after that and were withdrawn a short time later.

I think its the angle of the photo. However, in real life, the cabs of the 121s were actually notably higher than the 141 / 181 classes.

Livery note: on both the locos (122 & 010) in the top pic, you can see how the "broken wheel" part of the CIE "roundel" could get faded to a nondescript tannish colour, from the original "proper" tan as seen on B121. These, like the "flying snails" before them, were not painted on, thus liable in theory at least to different shades of paint, they were all the same transfers. I suspect that brushing or power washing accelerated their fading more so than the tan/orange paint round them. They were the same as on the Dublin buses at the start of the "desert sand" era (though the buses alone got some with red, white or navy blue "broken wheels" before being repainted in "DART" green.