jhb171achill

The “snail” on the diesel is the wrong way round. As far as steam tenders were concerned, even towards the end of steam many tenders had no logo. It’s not that they hadn’t been painted since GSR days, it’s just that they didn’t always apply them. As mentioned by others, the standard snail had wings at the top on the left, lower on the right. If you look at my avatar thing, which is a photo of an actual one on a board painted with CIE green paint in Inchicore, that’s the standard transfer. This was used on absolutely all applications this way round, including all diesels and any carriages that had it - with just two exceptions. One was the offside of a tender, and the other the driver’s side of a bus, or a road lorry. Buses and loco tenders travelled in one direction only (we’ll ignore tender-first running!), so they always had to look as if the upper “wing” was leading. Thus, these alone had a reversed “snail” on the offside. This would be as on the green diesel in your pic. However, all diesels, carriages, wagons had the standard type, as per avatar, on both sides. Apart from the colour you rightly mention above - no “snail” was ever white on anything other than wagons - it’s the wrong shape anyway, with the “wings” a bit too long, and the cab number should be pale yellow too. That said, I always thought that for “N” gauge, they were a nice little loco, albeit of across-the-pond provenance. A dose of heavy weathering will dumb down the white and make the thing look more realistic anyway. It need hardly be added that yellow “flying snails” on absolutely anything but grey 121s and the grey and yellow touring buses, were never used. Thus, no yellow tender versions. On steam engines without exception, pale green “flying snails” but pale yellow cabside numbers.

Very true indeed! Question now is, where in the museum to display the thing! The room it’s in contains much that’s nothing to do with Fry, his railway or the old “castle” railway. There are old bedsteads out of the castle, for example, a few bits of furniture, several old sinks and all sorts of stuff. So the that that it was NEAR some “Fry” stuff didn’t necessarily mean that it had anything to do with it. So there ye go. Tis on the list. Must poke about in the IRRS to see what I can find out about it.

WOW!! Just enlarged it. It’s off the anemometer gubbins from Quilty on the West Clare! It must be the thing they recorded wind speed with to determine whether to cancel trains or not! You can make out “West Clare Railway” and “anemometer” on the dymo label. Do you know, I stared at that thing yesterday and this morning, wondering what it was, and I didn’t even NOTICE the dymo label!! I was a bit more interested in a T & D locomotive bell beside it (just out of the picture....)! Gawd bless your eyesight....

I have to say, Wayside, I regret not having any knowledge of the more complex aspects or wiring, especially DCC, but there are many who have in the middle clubs and on here. I fully understand you’re not near them as such, though, so I get where you’re coming from. Don’t worry about the opening remarks - I was just curious as to what the analogy was! as my knowledge of computer games matches my knowledge of DCC wiring - nil! Keep up the good work.....!

“Fry-esqe”..... Dunno where you got the bigoted boy racers, but please be assured that what it means is a very great compliment to your amazing work shown in your posts! Cyril Fry was a famous modeller who between the 1930s and 1960s made an enormous and vastly complicated 0 gauge layout in his loft in Churchtown. His modelling and innovations were exceptionally impressive - as is yours! His models may be seen displayed in the new Malahide Museum, opened a few weeks ago. “Fry-esque” simply suggests that your own plans and layout are very much of the scale and complexity of Mr Fry......which, obviously, is a very good thing. You'll see a few pics of some of Fry’s models posted here and there on this website. Worth a visit. Meanwhile, keep up the good work.

Looking at the original, I suspect it is printed to actual scale size.

I’m wondering if it’s got anything to do with the thing on the floor beside it.... (not the bus stop!)

That’s an excellent book indeed: good value for many times that - well done!

Excuse my ignorance, but what IS this thing? I had thought perhaps it was the gizzards and intestines of a dalek, but second opinions welcome..

Many of the ads on both Fry’s models and the 1990s models built for the castle are hand painted. There are several GNR buses - this caught my eye, in terms of advertisements too..... Capstan - absolutely not! Bushmills - bring it ON!! Scotch..... SCOTCH!!! Waaaaaaaaa. Nooo way....

Time for a bus replacement service. Take yer pick; we all remember the trains in Malahide Castle, but there were loads and loads of amazing road vehicles too.

Tis indeed original, though the background greyish colour did have a distinct greenish tint. This shows..... I must delve among my own stuff, but in all reality I don’t think I took a pic of one ever! Fry made a model of one - I think. I’ll look tomorrow...

Ex-DSER 461 at Whitehead.

Hopefully I’ll put it in one of the cases in the next few days. The Drumm train also has to be included. I’m just awaiting the labels for them.

That is a SERIOUS piece of work, Wayside, and I’m sure I’m not the only one finding myself fascinated by your detailed descriptions and the pics show a truly Fry-esque level of complexity.

For container fans, I found this in a pic today. Date uncertain - 1980s, I think.

A great browse! Thank you for posting.

Any thoughts on a railway application?

I remember a horse-drawn milk float and all delivery carts in the city centre. The was a dairy in Pembroke Lane in D4 before it became a gentrified news, and my aunt used to send me down there with a large half-penny and an empty jug. I would wander in - a child off the streets - no health and safety and food hygiene protective clothing - and I was told to ask anyone I saw to fill the jug. If I didn't carry it back up the lane very carefully, I'd be in big trouble. Then there was a little shop where you could get potatoes out of sacks on the floor, Fry's cream chocolate bars, aluminium buckets, and open boxes of biscuits, as well as milk. As a 6-year-old, I was sent there and given the exact change for a packet of ten cigarettes and a Fry's cream bar by my aunt...... I should add that the cigarettes were for HER! And buses were green, clad in flying snails, with a ticket man reeling out those old paper tickets that looked like gauge 1 scale cheap loo rolls...! And battery-powered bread vans.....will we be going back to that?

If it's any help, I know a few guys who can launder money from when I lived in the north......

Gentlemen Request for information. Among the stuff stored with Cyril Fry’s collection - but which includes also much material that cannot be his (e.g. a pile of mouse-visited 1990s railway magazines) - is a large round headlamp, about nine inches diameter. It is simply listed as “locomotive lamp”. It has a lamp bracket behind it of normal railway provenance, and a flexible cable at the end of which is this. The thinking is that it is off a French, German or maybe Swiss locomotive, but there’s nothing else with it. It is possible that Fry collected it, but there is no proof of such; it may be nothing to do with him whatsoever. Does anyone know where such things might have been common, or can anyone throw any light on it? If required I’ll try to get a pic of the lamp. There are no markings on it or in it.

One of the old visitor books from Churchtown. Railway company personnel crop up now and again..... And some signals from the “castle” layout.

A few more of the “Castle” models. Wagons galore! CIE “H” vans, and cattle wagons of both GNR and CIE provenance.

In the mid or late 1950s, for a very brief period, CIE painted at least two standard “H” vans green to match passenger stock. One was based in Cork, one in Tralee. They were attached to the back of the AEC set doing the Cork-Tralee and Tralee-Cork trains which carried mailbags. This isn’t a “Fry” model, but one of the “Castle” models made by one of the “Castle modellers”; Messrs. Connaughton, Tighe, Magowan, McGlynn and others. For those who knew some of these good folks, there are several models of this era with the initials “A I M” on them. Does anyone know who this was? Maybe one of the Magowans? Any information gratefully received.