jhb171achill

Well done - that's a bargain! I have sourced two books which may be of interest to you; I will message you privately now.

Ballymoney it is, I've just discovered. Paddy - I've a few to put up over the next few days. Two more of the NCC narrow gauge, then we're off to Donegal..........! I found an interesting one of their only horse box. Once the virus restrictions are over I will be on the search for means of getting each of the negatives properly scanned. There are hundreds, though mostly of a family farm in Co. Offaly in the 1910 / 20s, and many of these being glass negatives. These go back to my grandfather's time; like my father, he took very few photos compared to what he COULD have done! I had thought of putting the lot on CDs, but CDs, despite the unrealistic promises of their inventors and initial sellers that they were indestructible - that's utter nonsense. Half the music CDs anyone has, don't work. I will probably put them on memory stick, but old-fashioned good quality paper prints still seem the most durable media. I also have a few dozen colour slides. He bought a colour slide camera about 1961, but with diesels becoming the norm, he lost interest in taking too many railway pictures shortly after he bought it. So almost all of the colour slides are of family holidays and so on, in the 1960s-90s. But he has some nice colour shots. There's a pic of a GNR lifting train near Armagh, as far as I recall, and some UTA steam. Retaining and restoring old photos has become a big issue now. As I am seeing with Fry's stuff, and the excellent work of several other gentlemen now in advancing years who I know, even the top quality colour film in the 1960s could gain bluish tints, and needs even a little treatment nowadays. Sadly, Fry used shockingly poor quality, cheap film, for most of his stuff, and a large number of his colour slides even now are only fit for the bin. Just goes to show the value of getting good quality stuff, no matter what we're buying; stingy or cheesparing financial attitudes to something meant to last is always a fool's game! Same with railway models..... though I digress........ Nothing, Midland Man, however - the NCC narrow gauge is in itself a fascinating subject. The fastest narrow gauge engines in Ireland, the carriages shown above which were the only corridor coaches on the narrow gauge, and among the very few with toilets - and the unique architecture, even, of the Ballymena & Larne; the ore traffic on the Cushendall line, and the later survival of the Ballycastle line (just about) into UTA days - also, a considerable variety of locomotives, many of unique design. Overall, the NCC narrow gauge lines would make a fascinating subject for a layout, but every single wagon, coach, locomotive, station building and even water tower would have to scratchbuilt. I would recommend you look out for the books by Edward Patterson from the 1960s, "The Ballymena Lines" and "The Ballycastle Railway". If you are interested, I am aware that the RPSI has a copy of one of them, but they are rare editions now and they can fetch up to £35 sterling on ebay!

NCC No. 41, freshly painted unlined black, as was the norm in the 1940s for their remaining narrow gauge locomotives. Exact date & location uncertain at this stage, though I may find it in later notes.

Can you imagine a whole train of them going through the Barnesmore Gap behind a 5A on a through Derry - Killybegs train! That’s the sort of thing they’d have been made for!

jhb171Senior was not known for having any interest in things non-steam (though Donegal railcars were of vague interest). Among his "stuff" is but one black'n'white of a 121, obviously taken in a hurry. The first main line passenger duty they became regular on was the "Enterprise", and this unidentified example is seen on this duty, though I am unaware of the location or date. I suspect it's somewhere in the Portadown - Goraghwood section, as he was doing track upgrading work there at that time. Every carriage and van green.......naturally, nothing would be black'n'tan for some 18 months into the 121's time..... The "Indian Summer" of the "Grey'n'Green" era.

Interesting; wouldn't surprise me in the least, either on the part of the UTA or the CDRJC!

I think that for me, ugly as they look (and NO model couplings are exactly things of beauty!), the standard type are necessary, as mine is a shunting layout, and will eventually be an end-to-end one, i.e. shunting at both ends. I was unaware of all the types above and its interesting to hear the experiences of those who have tried them. I saw pictures on a South American website at one stage of a H0 gauge layout on which the sort of couplings used on 009 gauge stuff were applied to everything. Being "daintier" they looked less obtrusive than many other types. I wonder has anyone ever heard of these being used on H0 / 00 gauge? No reason not to.

Actually, if you look at the pics I posted of it at various angles today when I opened it (3pm or so, full daylight) you can see it looks much lighter or darker depending on whether there's direct sunlight on it or not. Such, of course, was the case in real life. Add much workaday gunge and gunk and you can see how assumptions were made of them being black at times. I notice that Cyril Fry's models contain a couple of grey engines; one is substantially darker than the other! Fry's liveries were mostly extremely meticulous, though he had some of his own little quirks, like most modellers - e.g. GSR 4.8.0T in GSR "Maedb" green!

This is what Des Coakham had to say:

It's Dahn Undah! CIE 650..... yes, get the wallet out and spend! It's worth it, despite the (OUCH!) €126 hit by the customs for importing it too..............

Yes - in that one they were internally arranged as a saloon. I have seating diagrams of the NCC "corridors" somewhere - must delve!

Back to Senior’s photos. NCC coach at Ballymoney, c.1947. It could do with a lick of paint - soon, the UTA will take over, paint it green, and 18 months later close the Ballycastle line. Like much secondary NCC stock, the narrow gauge coaches tended to have neither lining nor crests after the mid 1930s.

Can't. I am told there's more scones in the oven. I'll be sleeping on the platform tonight. And there's a pub, and they haven't invented social distancing yet.

Yip, into the time machine again. When I get to Collooney I will get off and change to the Sligo Leitrim railcar. I'll get out of that at your stop, and Celia will have the newly-baked buttered scones; I remember that very well from over 30 years ago! I might go on to Enniskillen then, to see quality GNR steam!

‘Tis a thing of great beauty!

Here we go.....

And in the box there was another box. But - I had to pay €126 in customs charges from Noo Zealand!

I got a box today in the post office.

Got ya, yes. My reasoning was based on 071 onwards being logically the next in the “A” series.

The original “A”s would have become the A001 class, with the new arrivals as the A071 class, same as you’d B101, B113, B121, B141 and B181 class.

I think we're onto a winner there. Flying snail wallpaper, folks, roll up! €450 a roll, or two for €1500! No, indeed!!!! Fry's shade isn't right! He has two engines painted in it, but I think the paint has perished. I got the correct one with the assistance of John Mayne (Mayner) and Roderick Bruce (00 Works)! I think I actually pinged it up on IRM some time ago but I can't find it now, and someone's just texted me looking for it!!!! The 14th Law of Sod!

Now all you need is "flying snail" wallpaper! (There's tonight's nightmare fodder....especially for the missus!)

Is it??? OK! That solves a mystery for me! So, a quiz question for a connection between CIE and Egypt!

Yes, but it says "nil" rather than "Nile" - though I get your point! It translates as "water of nothing", which I always found odd! I would simply call it "pale green"........... Sounds about right, Flange; I was not able to test these as Fry had nothing that late (he died in 1972), although we took a look at one of the Malahide Castle outline Mk 2/3s which looked right for that. Garfield took a note of that one.

B113 in Cultra is painted in a reasonable approximation of the post-1955 diesel loco and coach livery, whereas "Maedb" is standard CIE green. B113 was the darker shade as on Maedb when new, but would have been repainted in the livery she now carries between c.1956 and 1963, after which she became black and tan, then black with yellow ends. Maedb's original colour may well appear in pin-top-sized bits in obscure nooks and crannies, but she is likely to have been sanded down to undercoat before repainting in CIE green. Then she was repainted by CIE again before heading north to repose in state in Cultra.