jhb171achill

Beautifully sunny here too in Dublin, Leslie!

I wonder if it was as heavily one-sided as it is today!

Today’s visit takes us to the the wild and lonely Tooban Junction for the Case of the Strange Signal; mind you, many of the Lough Swilly’s signals were odd one-offs..... ....and back to the Shelbourne Road tram depot, DUTC, Dublin.

Up the glens..... Senior managed to poke his way through the weeds up as far Rathkenny on the Ballymena, Cushendall & Red Bay Railway about 1940 in the cab of a light engine which went off to find a wagon somewhere. The line was as good as closed but still saw an occasional goods working. He explored the rest by bicycle and Shanks’ Mare....

Another Derry Central from the Catacombs. I think it’s probably a 1944 visit.

I was doing guard this day, so the second two are Noel-esque shots, as the train approaches Tara..... I mean, Downpatrick North Junction. A family affair; Nephew-the-Elder was firing LPHC No. 3. I took the first two on an earlier date.

Found these..... The first few show the hard work that goes on behind the scenes in all weathers, year round. The last two show restoration work which is the less obvious, less glamorous but absolutely necessary work that also has to be done.

It was much the same as it is now, and if it's in Midland days it'll look very colourful, as they painted their stations red and cream......

You're going for MGWR livery? Very nice! The blue was dark, midway between navy blue and "royal" blue.

I love that layout - a little cameo. It absolutely oozes atmosphere. The weathering on the tatty oul hut is very realistic and really adds atmosphere.....

If the colour on the coach is as it looks in your pic, it's pretty close indeed but a little bright, but the "Bredin" green may be seen in reality in Malahide (once it reopens!). Talking which i was talking with the manager of it and the actual castle today and he says that it won't be "for the foreseeable future".

No logos were ever on locomotives, as such, only on SOME tenders. (Thus, no tank engines ever had "flying snails"). The official liveries were grey, with "flying snail" on tender, lined green with same, or (last few years, and a few engines only), black with snail. The snail was always "eau-de-nil" light green, lined gold. If you mean the CIE "broken wheel" logo, no, no steam engines ever got that. However, many tenders in all three colours were also to be seen with no logo or any markings of any kind. However........... very often, tenders were repainted without a "flying snail". The last two steam engines to be actually newly repainted (in grey) were in 1962, just as the "broken wheel" was being invented, but thay had nothing on their tenders. In the grey livery in the '50s, I would hazard a rough guess that maybe a quarter of locos had no flying snail on them at all, whereas with the green livery, just an occasional tender had no snail. I have seen at least two photographs of green tenders that appear to have no lining, though that could be dirt. There was never any livery variant with anything brown, nor red lining on a green background. Grey, green and black did run together but only 1956-62. Prior to that, grey and green only. It is also worth pointing out that according to Bob Clements, "overall, only a few engines were repainted black". Many classes, thus, did not have any black examples; indeed, most of them. Your summary is much more concise than my efforts!

Fantastic stuff, Patrick! Pity about the gawd-awful music, though!

Out of idle curiosity I did a similar search regarding the 400 class (plus 502!), and while this is a very small sample, it seems to follow the above pattern. In order of years.... 1948 502 green, 405 green. Nos. 336 & 342 noted by J Macartney Robbins as "next in line" for green. 1954 409 very dirty grey, but running with a green tender off some other loco (NOT without precedent; I've seen evidence of this elsewhere). 1954 402 grey, also later in 1960. 1955 406 green, but absolutely filthy. 1958 407 grey. 1960 402 grey. 1960 401 either very dirty grey or black. I saw a colour slide some years ago showing two of the species at Inchicore. One was either extremely dirty grey or black. The other was barely discernible green; not just filthy, but badly faded. Now, here's an interesting thing. I had always assumed that engines painted green after 1947 more or less all kept this. But there is clear evidence that many reverted to grey; it is possible that some of the classes mentioned were never green at all. Despite the advance of dieselisation after the AEC cars were introduced, and especially after the A, B101 and C class diesels appeared, and the resultant fact that more and more steam engines were cosmetically very much neglected, repaints were taking place through the 1950s, even as late (in Cork) as 1962, within the closing months of steam. No. 802 "Macha" was twice repainted in the early 1950s - first into an experimental lighter green (the details of which have not survived) and then back again to normal CIE green. But as can be seen from the last 2 posts, some large engines, noted green in the late 1940s or early 50s, went back to being green or, after 1956, black in a few cases. Such is how I am occupying my enforced confinement. Tomorrow I'll do a bit about the liveries of dining car tea bags.......!

Probably best not to open the kegs, though.....

Dublin trams, undated but I believe about 1936-39. In the top picture, the vehicle on the right is a wagon for inspecting overhead wires.

True, though that would have been pre-rebuild, i.e. about 1922. One can only wonder how much (or little!) coal was being scraped out of the bunker once it got as far as Skibbereen..... It seems the Irish ones had slightly bigger bunkers that the British variants, but not that much.....

Can't find the post, but someone was asking the other day about whether "Woolwiches" were grey or green (or black). From 1947, the green began to appear on main line locos and then tank engines used on Dublin suburban services. This included the GSR "Woolwiches". However, something in the back of my mind suggested that I had seen pics of these in grey too in the 1950s, so I had a look at what photos are in the first half-dozen books that came to hand, and they are actually more of a mixture than I thought - in fact, more seem to be grey than green during the 1950s. Of the last three in traffic, they all ended up black (or possibly very very dirty grey). Like most engines at the very end, they were allowed to get into an absolutely deplorably filthy state. I have omitted details from some photos, as it is plain impossible to tell what they are. One green one appears to have a plain green tender, with neither lining or "flying snail". What follows is a small table to give an indication. This is quite simply a list of photos that at various times show SOME (not all) of the class, and the livery noted is what they were in the year to which the relevant photo is dated. It is clear that some became green, but reverted to grey in the 1950s. A similar story is the case with the 400 class, by the way, too. Anything black would have received this livery after 1956 - nothing was black before that. Another thing that shows is that more did NOT have "snails" than HAD them. No. Year photographed Livery Last five in use withdrawal date 372 1947 1960 Green (reported in "Cuisle") Black or grey (No snail) 1960 373 1951 1955 1956 Green Looks to be grey Looks to be grey 376 1961 Black (No snail) 2nd LAST 1961 377 Mid 50s Exceptionally dirty - no livery visible 378 1953 1959 Green Green 380 1953 Grey 382 1954 Grey (No snail) 383 1955 Grey 385 Mid 50s Grey 384 & 385 1960 388 1956 Black LAST 1962 393 1949 Mid 50s Green Grey 395 1954 Grey (No snail) 396 1950 Late 50s Green Green 397 1949 Green

VERY nice job, Dr.!

Very nice! The exact position could vary - what you have looks perfect. If accuracy is preferred, the roof would be a very dark grey, almost black, same as carriages. Ordinary wagons had grey roofs if grey body, and after 1970 brown roofs with brown body. In painting it green, presumably it's representative of the handful of vans used for Tralee - Cork mails, and would be stuck on the back of passenger trains.... nice job indeed.

He took several pics that day, but that was the best. If I ever get around to it I might put them in a book. He was still based in Enniskillen at that stage, tidying up loose ends. Some alterations had to be made at the station to provide a temporary fuel point for UTA buses which were replacing trains, and a survey had to be done of the line as far as Clones to list steel girders and bits and pieces, track and bridges, that could be re-used after lifting. On the day the tram was taken away, there were two locos in Enniskillen. I have a note somewhere (gawd knows where) of which they were. I think the Bundoran railcar had gone to Dundalk, or possibly Derry. The engine was steamed and went light to Fintona, lifted the tram, and towed it to Omagh. I am not sure how he got back - it might have been on a UTA bus! I have no recollection of him telling me of the loco going back, but a few days later he went with the other loco, light, to survey the line to Clones. On arrival, it was coaled and watered and went back. Just outside Clones, just after turning right onto the INW line, they stopped. My father and a track ganger got down and undid the fishplates joining the rails behind the locomotive, to mark the point where lifting gangs were to stop, as the Clones - Cavan line would remain. Then off to Enniskillen, and into history. Nothing traversed that line again until the lifting train.

Stranorlar, 1947. I believe that this was mt father’s “chariot” when he did a track inspection of the Glenties branch. Sadly, the report was unforgiving about the state of the track and the recommendation could only be “rebuild from ballast up or close without delay”. The CDRJC had no money to relay the track so it closed. The second picture was taken from the top deck of the Fintona tram as it was towed away from Fintona station for the last time ever. It would be towed to Omagh, from where it was later towed to Belfast. Senior took this pic through the smoke of a GNR 4.4.0...... October 1957.

A thing like that - perfect. One GNR loco and one “industrial” - something the factory bought 2nd hand from the GSR in 1940!! A dozen goods vans and you’re good to go.....

Just had a long yarn with Roderick, and he’s done a huge amount of research into these locos..... The Irish one will have two different numbers, representing the last two in traffic (withdrawn 1939 & 1940). In Britain, equivalents were primarily shunters but here they’d be suitable also for a fictitious West Cork branch. They’d be ideal for a 1920-40 shunting layout, as it seems the three that the GSR inherited* were used to shunt the Quay lines in Cork, and Albert Quay goods yard. Given that they could have been seen over in Glanmire Road goods yard, and the Penrose Quay sidings, they will have occasionally mixed and mingled with J15s, as already produced by 00 Works. A nice and unusual little model. There weren’t that many saddle tanks in Ireland.... (* The GSR inherited all five but two were withdrawn straight away). Roderick assures me that the different cab design and different external piping will be reflected in the Irish model.

Well, there'll be no need for various livery options anyway - nothing but grey! It would be good to see the wheels grey too.... my two J15s are grey but have black wheels. Filthy weathering will eventually put manners on that, though! Looking at the 00 Works site, the cab on the mock-up isn't remotely like the West Cork loco - presumably the Irish model will have an Inchicore cab....