jhb171achill

It’s further back in this thread, MM.

Don't worry, MM, were all entitled to our opinions! As one who became involved with it (long after the planning aspect was done, dusted and cast in stone, I agree with comments made by many. Visitor reactions have been mixed, but as I say it opened far, far too quickly, and much has yet to be done. The cabinets are not to my liking either, but it is what it is and the challenge is to make the best of it. My role going forward is to try to enhance the historical side of it. I’m working on this at home, along with those who will have the purse strings and those who will be operating it. If they accept what I want them to, the stuff stuck on the walls will be very much enhanced. I’ve a guide book completed and I’m working on further descriptions on all of the display case captions. Mr & Mrs Public currently see a model and beside it the caption says “C D R Railcar No. 10”. That means nothing to them. All the captions need to re-done, in this case, for example to say it was built in 1932, withdrawn after 17 years in Donegal, and is now in Cultra. Also, where the CVR went, where the thing ran. With “internment” continuing, I have a years’ work ahead, I dare say. I’m doing stuff for nearby Newbridge House too, on behalf of the same management.

This one, Irishrailwayman.

Something like that - not exactly sure what was in them!

The wages of the staff are paid by Shannon Heritage, whose brief is to operate what they've been given. It is, as I've mentioned elsewhere, very much still a work in progress. Most of the "Castle" models will eventually be on public display, with some in Malahide and others in several other locations, with whom arrangements are currently being explored. A very good alternative to just stuffing them in boxes in Malahide's attic!

It seems to have had some sort of beige-y buff colour then - again, not authentic at all, but painted up for an Inchicore Open Day - admittedly be CIE! So you might argue it was a "real" livery in that sense only - but again, no more like anything either it or anything else ever carried before.

Good stuff, DSERetc..... must consult that book indeed, have it somewhere!

Correct. 184, at the 1996 open day, was painted like a fairground attraction. Looked quite nice, but historically about as accurate as painting it in NIR blue and silver with a translink logo on it.................

Must have been the Brazen Head....Dublin's oldest......

Senior learned Latin in school in Dublin - but that was in the 1930s! I've never heard of anyone north or south learning Greek...... maybe posh places like Belfast "Inst" or the King's Hospital, Blackrock College or Portora! Such a thing would never have been much use in ordering a pint of Guinness down the road here (back in the day when we had pubs....remember pubs?) "Ipsum Flotsam Bignum Bognum Jetsam Guinness, please"

Grain wagon, Rock St., Tralee; ex-GNR goods van built 1954 for Drogheda cement traffic, also at Rock St. You can clearly see the “N” of “G N” on its side, showing through the CIE brown paint, and CIE grey paint under that. Both 1976. And reservation labels 85 years apart.

Yes, I believe it is Thurles - not long after, this relic appeared in Inchicore. And yes, it was a remarkable survivor in its lettering and livery, as well as the more obvious fact that it even existed at all. From recollection, it was built as a passenger brake in - I think - 1878, though the panelling style suggests a decade earlier. It remained in what looked like black, but was in fact a VERY weather-worn old GSWR crimson lake. I've seen a colour picture of it, and it looks a nondescript dirty black at first glance. The old paint was, of course, perished as well as worn by then. It was tragically scrapped shortly afterwards; yet again, when i see a beast like that, I think "Downpatrick"!. You can see where someone has tried to clean over the letters "G" and "W" "R", either side of the central door - maybe the "S" was less visible. So it hadn't seen a paintbrush in at least 35 years, and probably a lot longer. The only modernisations seem to be vac brakes and blocked-in "birdcage".

PRICELESS stuff, Ernie, well done! Observations: 1. GNR Dundalk - what is that grounded body on the right? A former Drover's Van, perhaps? I recall one of those in someone's back garden in a house in Lisburn in the 1960s, but it had its original planking. 2. Strabane, 1958. What is that bogie van on the left? I don't think it's one of the two grain vans that went to Whitehead 9or is it?) but it is certainly similar. What is it, what was it used for, and what is it doing in Strabane? 3. West Clare, Ennis. I had forgotten there was an awning on the up platform! On the down side, the girder on the WCR side is still extant, and would be for many more years - but has anyone ever seen a pic of the roof that at one time it supported - I have no recollection of any such picture. I presume the WCR built it? Does anyone know? 4. 406 at Cork - above. Clearly just after getting her green paint. Must have looked absolutely magnificent.

Yes, that was absolutely the norm - I think I referred to that in a recent post too, when my father had been involved (unofficially) in just such an operation. Crossing keepers and station staff would be advised that a goods train might be running a certain amount of time late, and it would be because they had stopped along the way at a point identified previously. The SLNCR was a truly fascinating railway indeed. In the mid 1990s - I may have mentioned this somewhere before - there was funding available to restore a 2km stretch near Belcoo, and it came very very near to fruition - more so than any other "didn't happen" potential scheme I had ever heard of. If anyone is interested in the details, ping me.

Re No. 90 in Fermoy & Mallow, and Inchicore Open Day, 1996. Only seeing this now, Midland Man. No, that Isle of Man type light green was totally fictitious, probably copied from the equally “bright” light green colour then in No. 36 in Cork. The correct (and verified) GSWR green was the very dark olive shade now seen on Downpatrick’s GSWR No. 90. The livery on 90 has been verified from original samples seen on an Inchicore-made model held in the Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ offices in London. Downpatrick also have the correct dark brownish-maroon on coach 836, and presumably eventually 69 and 1097 too.

Tis indeed a shame the “castle” layout ended up homeless. At least the models have survived! As others have mentioned, no single issue led to the current position. Money, location and local politics all played their part. Most recently, of course, a new museum gets designed before proper consideration is given to the space required for what ought to be in it!!!

Narrow gauge locomotives, c.1938. In the first picture, it’s an extremely dull day, so it’s mite like a silhouette. But an interesting one. One of the Cavan & Leitrim 4.4.0Ts is going to Inchicore for a heavy repair, and is seen here being loaded onto a transporter wagon at Dromod. A rare shot. In the other, 9C is out and about on its home turf in Wisht Clare. I haven’t Senior’s notes to hand (he did record date and location) but I think it’s Milltown Malbay. He did several trips over the line in the 1930s and early 40s, on one of which he only went as far as Milltown, where the down train crossed an up working. This return train could have been passenger or goods, as he went back in the cab. NOTE: @irishrail201 FAO C & L folks who read here, PM me about this C & L pic.

July 1947, again, and we learn that the IRRS has just published its first journal (a copy of which is beside me, as it happens!). And a snapshot of the Cavan & Leitrim @irishrail201 in 1947.

July 1947, and CIE, still a private company, is but two and a half years old. In these times most main lines had only two or three through trains per day. The writer of the following article would barely understand what Westland Row or Amiens St are like now, with DARTs included less than forty years after the article was written. An interesting insight, again, into the past. Note the train: the coach on the left is a GSWR open third of 1899-1910 era, possibly Downpatrick’s 836 or sister 837. It is still in GSR maroon. Behind it is a main line DSER coach in CIE green. The picture appears to be at Westland Row.

SUPERB stuff, Irishrailwayman. The clerestorey roofed-CIE (green) coaches - what are they?

Correct, and I recall seeing a pile of oul non-corridor coaches there some years earlier, and a whole lot of redundant MEDs some years afterwards! Seems Antrim goods yard was a rolling stock dump for a long time.....

I have been in touch today with an old friend, who would know chapter and verse on these beasts. This from him: "......................the photo of 111 is in Antrim GN yard. That is the exact spot where that car was cut up by Hamills. The building behind is the bus garage and the area is now part of the bus depot......."

Nobody worried about things like that in those days! Even in my time exploring in the 1970s, you could go in and out of most places except Inchicore Works, although if you knew someone in there, it was do-able under certain circumstamces. I was there in 1972 or 3, because my father called in to see someone, so I was just let loose to wander. Didn't have a camera that day, though! I remember seeing two "G" class sitting on a siding and any amount of black'n'tan stuff.....and K801.

I've the captions in the wrong order - I'll correct them now! There! Regarding the footbridge, I think it's a good bit forward of that - and he didn't have a telephoto (few if any did then, of course...).

Another visit to Donegal. These are from 1947, probably, though the loco one could possibly be late ‘30s. 1. Strabane. 3’ left, 5’3” right. 2. Senior is back up on a carriage roof - some like climbing telegraph or signal posts - Stranorlar. I’m not sure what’s going on here.... 3. Symphony in red: “Lydia” awaits her next duty. 4. This one is about 1939 - a big view at Strsnorlar, with a very heavy westbound train.