jhb171achill

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.

The full Lartigue train on its section of trestle track, as it will displayed once I find space for it. Now, in the immortal words of the Amurrikan tourist: “I gotta question for you”: Does anyone know if this set had previously been mounted on this small section of track when on display in the castle? One of my learned colleagues in the Record Society told me that he thought that this whole train was actually operational on Fry’s attic railway. Is anyone here able to confirm or deny this?

Very much so, Brian. His attention to detail, given the equipment available at the time, was exceptional. For my own personal interests, detsiled examination of livery details has yielded much important information too; looking close up at the lining he did - all by hand - and the extremely intricate shaded numerals and lettering on things, is quite remarkable. He had unparalleled access to drawings, as he worked in Inchicore when my grandfather was there in the loco drawing office, so they knew each other. Without boring everyone with the details, he almost certainly got several of his mounted crests, plus at the very least the Drumm trains and Bredin coach drawings, ftom my grandfather, and he knew many other prominent modellers of the day like the late Sam Carse and Drew Donaldson. He’s bound to have known Bob Clements too, as his daughter is aware of the name. He built two models for Drew which got some reason remained in his collection and are now on show. They are a 500 class and the eight-coupled shunted No. 900. Drew famously detested the GSR grey livery and insisted that whether they ever carried it or not, all his models bar a few had to be in lines CIE green. And thus it was, bar a very few. One (now in Cultra) is in MGWR green and a couple are in the GSR lined green, which real life was ONLY used on the three 800 class. Naturally he knew many of the “old guard” in the IRRS like the Murrays and so on. He also knew James Boyd, the famous railway authorities. Boyd refers to a chance encounter between the two at Skibbereen in his last book... best to read that one yourself! In terms of drawings, once the Drumm train goes on display, the eagle-eyed will see that the cab ends are different from real life. This is not due to an inaccuracy in his modelling, nor an incorrect anything; it is due to the fact that the train AS BUILT differed from the drawings my grandfather had done - and Fry built his model off-plan!! Other than that, to answer your initial question, as far as I can see (and I stand to be corrected) the dimensions and details of the models are spot on. Naturally, being me, I can’t help highlighting - purely for the information of modellers who may someday want to know - the very few livery variations. GNR “S” class 4.4.0 No. 170 is too dark a blue, and several slight errors on a couple of the Dublin trams have been identified by a gentleman who assisted me very greatly with tram info, as he is an absolute “go-to” authority on Dublin trams. His GSR loco liveries have a couple of variations too from the real thing. But this is really serious rivet-counting stuff - overall a truly magnificent collection, now available for many future generations to enjoy and be educated by - which is precisely what Fry wanted.

The Midland tank engine was "weathered" for the Castle layout, as were some other items. A decent repaint would actually make a nice job of it! As far as I can see, the L & B thing was only ever meant as a static exhibit. The loco appears to be attached to the track, and it would seem the whole train was just intended as a static display.