jhb171achill

On the main lines nowadays the only steam locomotives which are feasible to opetare are those which can do all of the following: 1. Haul a train with sufficient seats to pay the colossal cost of the operation, between IE charges, crews and coal. That instantly rules out several RPSI mainline locois, never mind shunters. 2. Haul a train at a sufficient line speed to fit into a timetable slot. This also rules out many RPSI locos which are bigger and faster than shunters. 3. Have sufficient coal and water capacity to travel longer distances than any shunter 9or 90) were built for. Gone are the days when many rural lines here had only one or two trains - or none - on a Sunday, and perhaps only 3 or 4 each way on a weekday. The railways are (happily) getting busier by the day, and with the population predicted toi go on rising for the next 20-30 years at least, this one ain't gonna get easier, Consequently, the emphasis will increasingly be on reliable larger locos which can keep time. Downpatrick os the place for 5'3" gauge steam long term. There really is no other likelihood of that anywhere. Plus, technically it's "main line"; the line from Downpatrick out as far as where the Inch Abbey line diverges to the right, plus North Junction to the southern limit of the line, is part of the former BCDR main line from Belfast to Newcastle! No. 90 will return to traffic as soon as finance and manpower allows there, and there are always the two Sugar Co. locos. The RPSI's two no. 3s have both worked there in the past - in fact the Guinness loco was the first steam loco to operate there in preserved days. Bottom line: 3BG, LPHC3, CSET3, 1 & 90 will not be able to operate tours on the NIR / IE systems again.

Ah - thanks for that (and apologies, Gareth, if you're reading....!)

Good to meet so many familiar faces last week. A few pics from Brookhall, and Alan’s outstandingly good BCDR models! IMG_0531.mov

Easter running today - oil tank transfer. IMG_0554.mov IMG_0552.mov IMG_0553.mov IMG_0551.mov IMG_0550.mov

And the translation reads…… ”Numma eighteen on menu extra flied lice and chips” (I’ll show meself out…..)

I couldn't resist it - I told him too!

That's racist, Ted.

I like the 31s too, or indeed anything in the "BR Blue" era! I witnessed the start of this in a family holiday to North Wales at a time when steam had just ended on that line, and what went past all day was 101 class railcars (THEY call them "DMU"s), class 47s on long-distance expresses to Holyhead - often loading to about 12 bogies, as far as I remember - loose-coupled goods trains and class 24 or 25s...something like that.... most trains were a mix of blue/egrey and maroon carriages..... and I had better hearing and less years on the clock. Senior went over to Brexitland about once a year on Permanent Way Institution jaunts, and took a few pics in various parts of Britain; thus:

Correct on all points; as early as the early 1950s they had 1920s GSWR bopgie compo on the line, usully with an elderly MGWR 6-wheel brake 3rd. But as you say in the early 60s a traditional rake of three six-wheelers reappeared for a while, as above, before 2111 appearing for the final steam fling. While I don't have the number, in the very last few years a modern silver "tin van" was also to be seen attached to 2111. 610 was a regular on the line in its last few years.

Absolute utter mess, presided over by the NTA - who, if murmerings from those in the know are to be believed, are as anti-rail as the 19450s UTA. UTA / NTA. One also hears that the car parking and provate bus lobby don't want any railways anywhere near any airport; an unfortunate relation to the idea of Dublin Port wanting all trains well away from the place. Can we EVER get ANYTHING right? In China, this would be built in a week, with CPOs slapped on every carpark in the way.

Looks very like it!

Lovely old flat-sided Belfast & Northern Counties six-wheeler in the middle there!

Looks superb. This should be a very interesting project. Within which period are you setting it, or will it be a bit of everything?

When my attic was planned out, I deliberately included a fiddle yard which all my total stock would occupy an hour two thirds of. Now it holds about half of what I have…..!

Correct. The railways were actually finding it hard to recruit cleaners by then.

Sad to see; and sad to say, THAT one WOULD be better put out of its misery. We can’t hang onto everything.

Ah - should have explained - that’s a pic that Senior took somewhere else. It’s my own memories that were of green 47s, on the North Wales line.

In all reality, that loco is a mess. Two have survived in better order - and, with a much better secure future. Both are owned by the ITG; one is operational at Downpatrock (in green livery) and another is in the later stages of restoration at the ITG's other case at Carrick-on-Suir. Any bogie swop with that yoke above will be for the benefit of one or other of those, which will both see good use on the DCDR. I'm afraid I would scrap the one above unless someone (yes, that famous "someone" again!) could be found to give it a lick of paint and stick it on a plinth somewhere.............(West Cork?)

Very nice jobs indeed! The UTA roundels look to be the right size too - many iterations of these transfers in the past are clearly far too big. You mention the lining - this could be a challenge as some UTA models end up with what looks like yellow and red lining, or even white. I think this is because these are readily available, though I'm not sure. The correct UTA colour is a beige-straw-like colour and red, rather than yellow; the yellow and red lining was created in the 1990s specifically for RPSI Whitehead Mk 2s, with the deliberate aim of looking vaguely UTA-ish, but not actual UTA! (I know, myself and the then RPSI carriage officer had a hand in it!)

This is looking like a very nice little set-up!

Not just a "belief"; it's fact! The CDR never painted domes black on red locomotives. Like many another livery faux-pas, this is a product of a lack of accurate research at Whitehead; we've TWO of these things with black domes now.....! Mind you, not just the domes, but often the tops of the water tanks, the cab front and rear, and most of the boiler ended up caked with so much soot and general gunk that it might as well have been painted black - same with bright blue GNR locos. I'd say if someone painted 171's or 85's dome black, there would be war...... Many CIE green or grey engines, similarly, ended their days so filthy that they could have been painted lime green, tartan and flourescent pink for all anyone could see..... Rant over; to Ernie's latest pictures - absolutely SUPERB stuff. That's standard GNR 3rd class material of the day. The C&L coach 1L has what was then standard CIE 3rd / 2nd class.

True, indeed. Maybe we should be scanning what British chassis might suit something Irish...........

As 00 Works showed with their CBSCR 0.6.0ST, obscurity is quite possible! There can be few prototypes more obscure than these, but it sold out I believe. As for the first IRM one, and the foregoing being the case, it could be absolutely anything under the sun. Availability and suitability of the internal gubbins may have a big say in determining what it will be.

Not even that - his “model” is a bluish grey colour!

Achill bogie please!