jhb171achill

No book specifically about them, but a number of books cover CIE’s 1955-63 railway modernisation programme. To get the whole story, we need to go back to the GSR modernisation programme which resulted in the 1933, 1935 and 1937 “Bredins”, and the follow-up series of new CIE coaches in 1951-3. The bulk of what were known as “laminates” were a follow on from these, built 1956-61. The pic appears to be a brand new rake, probably among the last built. Just a short time after that, the Cravens were introduced.... Last of them were withdrawn in the late 1980s.

Fairly new “laminates” in original green livery.

I hope it was Guinness. One must maintain standards, even in the face of adversity.....!

I was thinking the same! Disclaimer: if I have the virus and anyone reads this... ah, it's too late now. Youv'e read it......

Amazing!!!! Superb job as always

Indeed; I stand humbly corrected!!

Looking amazing, Brian! That lot will look amazing behind an "A"......

Are the old MIR ones metal or plastic? Metal, I think??

I heard of at least one occasion last year when a group of "hens" going to Killarney were extremely abusive to other passengers and threatened to assault one.....

Good stuff, hexagon. Yes, several Cravens were indeed upgraded to 1st for a short time. All they did was put antimacassars on the seats and paint a "1" on the doors!

Cream

I can perhaps illustrate it like this, albeit extremely crudely: BTB, you'll see many pics in books of both steam and diesel locomotives (and buses, carriages, railcars and wagons) showing the "flying snail". Dublin trams too, going back to 1941. Some of these also had the bus-style reversed symbol. What is below ticked in green, and on my avatar thingy to the left here, is the "right way round", with the "wings" on the top left, not top right. All diesel locos should have it the other way round from shown on the model. So should absolutely everything else on the railway, bar ONE side of steam loco tenders. No. Diesel locos can go in both directions, thus it doesn't matter which side - it should be the "normal" logo, not this reversed one shown. No diesel loco ever carried one like that.

I was in Galway last night. Bars were noticeably quieter..... get yer masks on. A genny van with a missing wheel plus a bottle of hand sanitiser - bargain for €9,000.

I believe line speed was indeed 70 on the Cork and Belfast lines (though not necessarily the entire routes). I was doing a “rail runabout” that summer, and while I can’t confirm exactly what carriages were on what services, I can confirm that not everything was Mk 2. The mid-morning Cork was an 11, 12 or 13 coach rake of mixed laminates of several types, Cravens and Park Royals. The “Enterprise” was laminates and Park Royals, as CIE didn’t want to risk the better Cravens and Mk2s. (By the way, Mk. 2s were more often than not known as “a/c stock”....) Rosslare-Limerick-Claremorris was PRs & various laminates, as were Cork & Dublin suburbans, and Tralee. At least one afternoon train to Cork was old stock too. It was around then that I travelled in what must have been one of the very last Bredins. I never saw one in traffic again. I travelled in Mk 2 stock to Waterford, Cork and Galway. Sligo was, I THINK, a mixture. I certainly travelled on two trains on this line which were not Mk 2, but (a) one was the up evening mail which wasn’t advertised and (b) I can’t state what stock was on ALL trains on the Sligo line. I travelled on one up Westport and took a pic of another - Cravens & laminates. I remember this in particular, as the ticket checker got into a row with a gentleman of somewhat rural disposition, who insisted on smoking in the (24xx type) dining car. He told him in words unfamiliar to the easily-offended in today’s PC and over-sensitive world, what he would do with him and where he might put his cigarette if he didn’t stop! Our rural friend eventually settled down and went to sleep, dreaming peacefully perhaps after counting his own favourite sheep..... I think he had had a few sips of falling-down lotion..... And yes, the in-seat stuff was almost certainly the Mk 2s. I’m not sure if there were too many non-a/c 1st class carriages in use.

Anyone who has the wherewithal to acquire their own quality 3D printer, first, I salute you. Second, I point out that my word-predictive text idiot phone referred to it as a 3D ”prayer”; I sincerely hope this is not as predictive as the “text”. My third point is that hopefully those who CAN afford one of these gadgets can produce work as fine as that displayed above......

Well, for €200, I’d want five of them. Crazy.

It absolutely was! Personally, I never knew Cyril Fry, though a number of my friends did. My dad knew OF him but never had a single comment on the subject; whereas my grandfather worked with him. My GF died a few years before I was born, so I never had the chance to quiz him on any subject, but my late aunt was a very vivid conduit into his thoughts. Again, “no comment”. I may read my own private interpretation into that, or I may not. However, not withstanding the long preamble, I DID know James Boyd well, after travelling with him to chase steam in India in 1979. James was to many a somewhat testy, if not awkward individual but I got on with him like a house on fire. I found him to be an absolute gentleman, albeit one of a very intelligent, but very dry, sense of humour. I had a huge respect for him. He was a man of great knowledge and commitment to what interested him, and (I may say, quite rightly) didn’t suffer fools. He was a man of depth, intelligence and great integrity. I still maintain contact with his friends. To say that Boyd and Fry weren’t on each other’s Christmas card lists is an understatement of the highest order! James elaborated on this to me one time..... I won’t repeat it here! I am sure if I’d known Fry, I’d have got it from both ends... Knowing several of Cyril Fry’s family as I have been privileged to do so these days, I have just as high an opinion of them. Cyril’s daughter, an exceptionally young eighty-something, is an absolute delight. Reality is this: anyone who lets a shared interest come between them or create resentments is indeed a very sad person. A shared interest should be —— Shared!

Doesn’t seem to. The “spares” bits are in a plastic lunch box which probably originated in the castle. No tools either. However I have a hunch that I know where there might more bits and pieces; I’ll be making a house call in the near future to see.

That is a very fine piece of work indeed!

Aaarrrrggghhh! To oul wans like me, a C19 is a particular type of Indonesia 0.6.0T...... the glorious days before the infernal combustion engine.........!

We’re off till the wilds’o’Donegal, hi! In perusing this timetable this evening, I noticed something which raises a question. CDR timetables of this period contain two pages of the “General Rail Timetable”, five pages of connections via rail and ferry to Britain, six pages of bus services of the CDR and also LLSR, and THIRTY pages of advertisements for all manner of businesses across the county. With two to a page on most pages, that’s about 50 actual ads. Several are their own, as seen below. Among these is one for the refreshment rooms at Letterkenny, Strabane, Stranorlar and Rossnowlagh. Now here’s a thing. Does anyone know what exactly these railway refreshment rooms typically sold? It seems that the railways ran their own, unlike today when such things are franchised out, so who operated the one at Strabane? The CDR or GNR? Or - did they EACH have one? Was the Rossnowlagh one seasonal only? It will also be noted that this timetable takes effect from the first day of closure of most of the Irish North, plus the Ballyshannon branch , yet they’re on the map, as are closed CDR and LLSR lines, marked as such.

Doesn’t seem to. The “spares” bits are in a plastic lunch box which probably originated in the castle. No tools either. However I have a hunch that I know where there might more bits and pieces; I’ll be making a house call in the near future to see.

Sorry I missed you, Noel! I must have been up in the attic when you called...... Very much so. I have found his “spares box” which contains 4 or 5 more loco chassis, plus bits of two tram bogies and other stuff. I am trying to persuade them to get more glass cases to display stuff like this. Look at how he kept his screws, nuts, bolts and other small bits........

And within the Fry-made collection, there are (a) models of Irish stuff, all of which is being displayed, and (b) models of British, mainland European and American items. Just a few of these are currently displayed, but they will hopefully be rotated from time to time.

I’ll be in there at some stage this afternoon if anyone wants a close-up pic of any particular thing, ping me....