jhb171achill

V E R Y well deserved, congratulations. That water tower is pure Midland Magic.

interesting! So, the following locations for them, one each: NCC - York Road WLWR - Limerick (to GSWR) GSWR - Inchicore GSWR - Cork MGWR - Broadstone DWWR/DSER - Grand Canal St GNR - Dundalk (I wonder if the GNR has had more earlier due to pre-1876 amalgamations?) None on narrow gauge, but I wonder about West Cork. There was some sort of a thing at Albert Quay but I’m not sure if it was steam.

Indeed! I found that out some years ago when I narrowly missed some railway artefacts that i wanted!

Fair comment; consider Magowan included. It's probably best to say "Tighe and others", or just state "non-Fry".... there are also a number of off-the-shelf "bought" models in there, whose provenance is uncertain. Some of the old "0" gauge Hornby stuff were, according to Fry's daughter, "definitely" not in their house, and there's even some 00 gauge 1960s stuff. In hours, I'm off to Tenerfire - when i come back, meetings will take place about what on earth is to happen to all of the non-Fry stuff, including Magowans.

That's not a bad price at all......! Well done....

The grass isn't too bad, but a bit overscale.

It's entirely the wrong gauge, and hasn't got enough rivets......

Very much so, and in theory still would. Once the RPSI has finally vacated the loco shed, and the fact that it's now on a greenway, and has the turntable, there's certainly still potential there to re-use the listed loco shed. Of course, maybe CIE have other uses for it, like watching it fall down..... the whole Galway side of the station has been preserved in aspic for years - a perfect use for it.

Wow! I never knew about it blowing up then! (CIE grey, yes...)

As an aside, KMCE, I love your trackwork and ground cover - so very realistic. I notice that, bizarrely, the whole train has had LINING added! (Vital in times of war!)

I would agree, brianmcs, that we need a transport museum like Cultra, but within an hour's drive of Dublin or less. Some larger items of 12" = 1ft scale could be centre stage; all preservation groups have sidings full of stuff that will NEVER run again. I am sure that many of these bodies could provide stuff on permanent loan. One of the aspects of such a development might, indeed, contain a reconstructed "castle" (or, indeed, replica Fry) layout. Then the "castle" models could get an outing again!

Woohoo! Finally found it, by using the word "Stockholm" in my searches. I had incorrectly assumed thin thing was possibly Belgian or Dutch..... another mystery solved. "........Halmstad - Nassjo Rly (HNJ) tram loco, Nassjo, Sat 6 September 2014. 0-2-2VBT built in Stockholm by Atlas (18 / 1888). SJ 1277 is in the background......"

Fair play to you, gentlemen! Many thanks! An interesting looking beast - any ideas about its history? Tried googling "HNJ" and "HNJ tram", etc., etc.... but couldn't get a thing. I'd like to at least be able to say where in Sweden it operated, or when..... It occurred to me at one stage that it might be one of the ones at Mariatzell in Austria - but that museum wouldn't have been open in Fry's time!

I might be up north that day. Do we have a list yet, or an indication of what layouts might be there?

To answer your questions, DART8118: Firstly, Fry's actual models. When Cyril Fry died, he stipulated that none of his models were ever to run again, ever, anywhere. Many people think that what they saw in Malahide Castle was actually Fry's own models, but not one of them ever did run anywhere but his attic, as this was his instruction. In Malahide castle, they called it the "Fry Model Railway", and while they never claimed them to be Fry's actual models, an urban myth grew up that they were. As far as I can see, the Castle made no attempt to contradict this. The models which actually ran in the Castle were made by several different modellers, most notably the late Tommy Tighe of Inchicore Works, but there were also items made by Des McGlynn, who some of us will know, and a man called Harry Connaughton (who, personally, I didn't know). All there were in their own right great stuff, and they remain in storage pending a meeting quite soon, when we will explore various options as to their possible future. With the new layout being of 00 gauge, as necessitated by constraints of space, none of the Castle models could run. A selection of these will, however, operate on the ceiling track from time to time. I have yet to go through these to select suitable ones. I'm, busy all this month so it will have to wait until March. Fry's actual models were displayed in cases in Malahide Castle, or at least a lot of them. What you are now seeing in the new place is ALL his Irish models, bar about three coaches which are exact duplicates of ones already on display; he made more than one example of a small number of pieces; the Drumm train and the Lartigue stuff (6 pieces). The Drumm (2-car) train will be squeezed in somehow when I'm back in the place in March. The Lartigue stuff will follow. It has yet to be conserved. The actual Fry layout was taken to pieces 40 years ago, as (obviously) was the Castle layout. These remain in storage, in part. I have yet to see them, but it is my understanding that what's left of the castle one is a jumble of bits in boxes, probably not complete, while I doubt if the story about the Fry layout is any different. A large amount, however, of scenic items have been packed away in boxes. I would like to arrange that some of this might be displayed, at least as occasional temporary displays, but that depends on a number of matters yet to be decided upon by Shannon Heritage (who run the thing) and Fingal Council (who own it). As for track and signalling, yes, that is also something that I would like to see displays of. The "modellers craft" that you mention - I presume you mean the Tighe / Connaughton / McGlynn items? If so, some of these will be used on the overhead track. There just isn't room for an actual display of them, and in any event it might take away from the Fry stuff itself, as the museum is meant to be dedicated to Fry, not the castle layout. That is an important distinction to make. If you mean other modellers, or the actual history of railway modelling in general, no, because this is well outside the remit of the new place; it is specifically dedicated to Fry himself, and his own stuff. Also remaining in storage for now is Fry's NON-Irish stuff. This consists mostly of stuff from Brexitland, in particular of LNWR origin. He made some beautiful LNWR locos and coaches. He also has items representing the LNER, and a few other British items including trams and an industrial electric loco from Jacobs in Liverpool - that's a little beauty. Other items in the non-Irish collection include a Union Pacific 5 coach diesel train, and French, German, Dutch and other mainland European stuff. Fry's whole ethos was to have an "International" railway and tramway. Thus, I put a few items of his continental stuff in one cabinet - there's a Norwegian sleeping car, two French "Orient Express" coaches, a French express passenger loco (a beauty), a Swiss electric loco and a steam tram locomotive which looks to me to be Dutch or Belgian, but it is the one item whose provenance I have been unable to trace. If anyone here can help, I would be very grateful. I will post a pic of it below. To cover the "International" bit of it, what I plan to do is make up several sets of British and continental items, which they can rotate in a display case maybe every month. I have also proposed several other measures to allow display of Fry's non-Irish items, including scenery, track and signalling (if suitable for display!) from time to time. I will keep you posted here as things develop. This is a new project and a unique one. There is nothing else like it in Ireland, and few such places elsewhere. From readers here - the modelling fraternity, any suggestions and observations will be welcome and will be taken into account where possible. It won't always be possible, of course, but we'll see how it goes. So - what is this?

Correct.

I’m not sure of the exact dates of the GSWR species.,

Given the typical "joined up thinking" in transport policy, I'd guess that it will deliberately be made just about adequate enough to carry a half-full wheelbarrow of feathers......

Absolutely superb! So much going on in this layout.......

And proper order. It's been said here over and over again, but we owe you folks a great deal - keep up the excellent work.

The GSWR had similar cranes, as far as I recall one being in Cork and one in Inchicore. The WLWR had theirs at Limerick and of course the Midland had one at Broadstone. All were fairly standard Cowans Sheldon products as far as I am aware. As Mayner says, two ex-British Rail ones of 1960s origin were bought by CIE in the 1980s - I saw one in steam at the 1996 Inchicore open day, which I am almost certain is the last time one was steamed. I believe one was by then already withdrawn and the other was not long afterwards. For the modeller, the two BR ones were yellow. Previously, the GSWR one(s) would be black, with grey in GSR and CIE times. The DSER's Grand Canal St one, the Midland one and the GNR one - all grey. No black bits, no dayglow jackets, no yellow stripes or hard hats! NIR painted the NCC one maroon in the 1970s - it's at Downpatrick now. The UTA painted the GNR one (now at Whitehead) red, though it had been grey most of its life. CIE's were all always grey, until they got the two Brexit ones, which were yellow. In answer to another question, none are in use; the 1996 outing for display purposes at Inchicore was the last as far as I am aware. Any photos of any steam cranes after about 1950 show them with a very heavy amount of rust-wash weathering necessary!

True, I'm aware of that indeed, Railer. Before commenting further, it must be said that without the likes of yourself there would be no genny vans at all anywhere, still less any steam locomotives to haul them! I was on the (first or second?) Railtours Emerald Isle Express, and the thing had to be seriously nursed. I believe it died totally just as we finished the trip. As long as it exists, of course, the possibility of it being restored is available. The Downpatrick one, 3189, has good generators in it, but the bodywork is a sieve. That thing needs a total body rebuild - it's long beyond restoration.... same as 3185. But at least the DCDR one isn't required to operate in a moving train.

Just seen it!

Yes. The two Dutch vans will be dark green to match the Whitehead set - or that was the plan last time there was any discussion about it. The maroon BR van will stay maroon, in case of operation at any stage with the older heritage coaches. The other BR van, as I understand, will be blue or else blue and cream. Two points I might make about the RPSI livery for the Dublin set, as occasionally they have been commented upon.... Firstly, it's cream on it rather than white, secondly it is not GNR livery as is occasionally assumed. The GNR livery used a very much darker blue, and did not have a blue line above window level.

What an absolutely magnificent work of art! Exhibition standard stuff, with bells an'whistles on!