jhb171achill

That colour is 100% authentic. Even Cyril Fry's model in Malahide (unusually, but not uniquely) has a shade which is way, way too light. An OUTSTANDINGLY excellent model in all respects.

£115 sterling for a Hattons six-wheeled passenger brake - thus about €150 maybe, plus brexit / customs / postal charges..... and these things were about £40-odd new. I know there's some validity (perhaps less than many think) in the idea that if someone's prepared to pay a certain price for something, in a free world, why not. Go for it, and if you don't want to, toddle off. But there is also the wise old adage that "fools and their money are easily parted". Despite missing the black and tan one, due to a mistake by Hattons in my order originally, I will not be answering that ad. Aha! The elusive 217 class. Must confess the introduction of such a class passed unnoticed by me, as did a "yellow livery"............ But £46 is a much better price than the stuff mentioned above.

The IOM one isn’t the Donegal one, unless they got a 2nd one which they never used. The St John’s one in the IOM was there from about 1905 I think.

This is scheduled as an NIR railcar. What happened? (Or do we even want to know!)

On the entire Isle of Man Railway there was only ever a single turntable, at St. Johns. From 1873 when the first stretch of the railway opened, to the present, the IOMR does not turn locomotives. With the exception of a very small number of occasions, they always worked chimney first out of Douglas and bunker first towards Douglas. The turntable was installed for one reason only - turning carriages periodically to ensure even weathering of the paintwork on both sides, particularly on the very exposed coastal section of the Manx Northern line mid-way between St Johns and Ramsey. Since 1968, only the Port Erin line operates, so both the northern line, St Johns station and that turntable have all gone.

The carriages above - yes, a perfect illustration of weathering. the forst one is in the 1955 green, and the other three are in the older 1945-55 green, but in the "local" Cork version of simpler or absent loining.

Ugh

Given the standard of your work it will look amazing!

....leading some to think that silver stuff had grey or black roofs; not so! A bit like domes on steam engines that were any colour other than black, which were always body colour. but the grime made them LOOK dark grey or black. That colour pic of 402 is about as clean as you'd ever have seen one!

Everything silver got utterly filthy, and quickly. In an environment still surrounded by many steam engines, hot oil, coal smoke, coal dust and steam (and leaking oil on Crossleys) it was inevitable.

Yes, as you suspect, the diesel era put paid to all of that. As you say, certain locos were in steam days very much associated with certain lines, although classes like J15s could end up all over the place. In diesel days, Inchicore was Planet Central. Even the G611's got about - all but one of the seven were to be found in Loughrea from time to time (the missing one, G614, probably DID go there too, but I haven't seen a pic of it). E's were probably more static, though, as all here will know, while they're primarily associated with dublin, they did turn up at other places, sometimes (like Fenit, Shelton Abbey at al) not where you'd expect to have found them. (I personally saw them in Cork and Limerick - the latter, I think, E425 in the mid-70s).

That is a very exceptionally rare beast indeed. I wonder was it the only one they had? Is it the same one seen at Fenit? I am unaware of a solitary example, anywhere else in Ireland, at any time, of a wagon even remotely similar. And I have been intently poring over every photo I can get my hands on for almost sixty years by now. In this pic it has "G S W R" on it, rather than Fenit Pier markings, so obviously it was taken into GSW stock. I suspect that most of the time it simply shuttled coal between Fenit and Tralee, which doubtless will be why we never see or hear much of it. An excellent find. Note the rust on the ironwork of the right-hand wagon, appearing so much darker, and faded grey paintwork on the timber bits. GSWR wagons were painted a very much darker shade of grey (I have a sample) than this photo would suggest; as seen on the bogie, and the four-wheeler on the left, of course!

Wonder what that tank loco is............

Wow! Very many thanks for that - I’ll email you this evening.

The only difference in the original DART livery was lining and logo. Both shades of green have always been the same. Dublin buses were the same green(s) in the early 1980s.

Yes, you have. Only full brakes, though, or mail vehicles. The 800 class would never have pulled passenger-carrying six-wheelers, as these were gone from main line expresses by 1939.

Will do next week!

Didn’t know that! But it certainly looks the part!

And me!

Hope you're recovered OK!

Brings back memories. My introduction to model railways was the 160 foot circuit in the attic of our stable, on Senior’s 1930s tinplate layout. I was about 11. Big clockwork engines rattling round a barn with un-insulated track on wooden boards, and clattering coaches clicketty-clacking behind them….. to do one full circuit, you’d wind the loco fully, and it would just about coast to a halt at the right spot. Heavy trains, as in real life, had to be double-headed. The best option was an old 0.4.0 tender loco which was an absolute flying machine and could haul pretty much anything you put behind it….

The stuff you meet on the roads these days….. where’s the traffic gardaí, I’m wondering?

Big time, yes! Great to see this and one of the 071s at Ballina, like a throwback to the 1990s.... Now we await an ICR set in 1950s dark green with flying snails! Or one of the new Dart Pluses in GSR Drumm Train livery........???

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