jhb171achill

This is an interesting topic. Depending on whether we model, say, 1955-60, 1965-70, 1980 or whenever, the vehicles are extremely different. Someone with suitable knowledge might put together a brief guide to what types of vehicles were to be seen in each decade.....? Same with UTA lorries...

Never, ever, ever, ever was a truer word uttered!!!! Have we a single member here who can say "not guilty"? I doubt it - certainly not me!

Work proceeds chez Baseboard Dave, in the Badlands of Edenderry...... Left to right: Outer loop, where wagons awaiting unloading will be placed. Middle line: run-round. Right hand track on loops: platform road. At the end closest to us will be a short double-sided platform, as was the case at Westport Quay. At Dugort Harbour, there will be some sort of local grain merchant whose stuff will be loaded and unloaded here. You can probably make out my scribblings on the boards showing where the main platform will be. With little passenger traffic (a la Valentia Harbour), parcels and mail will be unloaded here, as there will be a mail depot nearby. This seems odd for a remote rural location, but the idea is that the "big town" isn't far away (a la Westport) and the sorting office is closer to here than "town"; i.e. on its outskirts. The real reason is that it gives me an excuse to have a truly random collection of mail vans arriving - this is 1960, and alongside brand-new "laminate" type designs, there are Bredin mail vans, "tin vans", and brake passenger coaches ranging from ancient GSWR 1880s six-wheelers to heavy GSWR bogie vans. The station building will be of the same sort of cheap'n'nasty design as those on the Valentia line, or parts of West Cork or the West Clare. This will look appropriate, though again there's a practical reason - fitting it into as small a space as possible. Given the angle of photography, the run-round loop looks a good bit shorter than it actually is. In the distance, as the line disappears, can be seen a stream which will go under the railway in a small culvert. On the right is a long goods bank. At this end of it will be a small oil store, as the local fishing fleet have long abandoned rowing boats - it IS 1960, after all. The curved siding beyond it leads to a loco servicing site. The shed has long succumbed, but an overgrown inspection pit and still-operable water column remain; this will see visits from Roderick's 00 Works J15s, and the SSM one I have. To the extreme right will be a long gods bank with small corrugated goods shed. I have been saving a certain dimension of matchstick for a while, which will form the basis for one of those 1960s/70s wooden ramps seen on goods platforms, where lorries could back up to tip beet into wagons. At beet time, the place will be a bit like Timoleague, with specials of open wagons appearing. I wanted a turntable down the loco road, but those available from proprietary sources are (a) not that cheap, and (b) far too big. What would be turned here would be a GM 121 or a J15, not a Chinese "QJ", an Indonesian D52, or the Union Pacific's "Big Boy"! So, after also considering an overgrown pit adjacent to it, which might indicate the site of a former disconnected one, I decided to keep it simple and put a pile of old sleepers or something in long grass beside it! At present, operation will be confined to trains entering and leaving from a fiddle yard. The layout is thus designed to combine: 1. Interest in shunting operations 2. Realistic operation given the sort of outlying location portrayed 2. The possibility of future expansion beyond the fiddle yard (which is out of sight to the right) 3. Realism of scenery and surrounds - a central and essential part of which is a feeling of space. the surrounding scenery, rather than being packed with stuff, will be fields with a few sheep in them, and maybe a gable wall of an old famine ruin or something. The line will cross the small stream, with the ground sloping gently but unevenly to it on both sides. The plan is not one level patch of ground - the idea is an area of rocky fields. Beyond the stream, the land will rise and at the far end of the curve a short rock cutting will lead to a bridge, under which the line will disappear into the fiddle yard. Future long-term plans will be an extension, which will end in a terminus based on a country town terminus. The whole line will then take on the persona of a self-contained line a bit like a mini-West Cork system, or the Tramore line. Planning applications for this have been submitted to the Dept. of Domestic, Upper Living Room & House Planning Affairs. Their Chief Domestic Officer assures me that the application has been received, but is currently on file, pending discussion with the Resident Dog, whose basket and water dish will need to be moved, and Todd Andrews. I might add that the cut-out on the left corner is on account of a similar cut-out in the wall in the room where it will be!

That’s a superb prototype - might it find a home for your spare motor? There seems a growing interest in GSR locos now - not before time, as they were the largest company in Ireland by an extremely long way, and had an almost unlimited array of stock - a modeller’s lifetime dream. I look forward to seeing progress.

Superb weathering!

This reminded me of a moment of delusional inspiration in my teens. One of my first layouts beyond the "train set" stage was an eventually unfinished 009 outfit, based on a fictitious CIE narrow gauge line which had survived to the 1975 closures. West Clare railcars would have been evident, and alongside an "F" lass diesel would have been a couple of locos based on a 3ft gauge version of a 121! I did out the drawings for it, and I must say it looked quite a beast. Must delve to see if l still have them....

Number 6 is doing his number 2.....

That's possible, Fivefootthree, and I had wondered myself. When the loco was painted grey at Whitehead some 15 years or so ago, it was correctly painted grey all over. Subsequently, on enquiring why the chimney and smaller kebox looked darker, I was told that since the Whitehead folk thought a grey chimney looked "odd"*, they had allowed it to get darker by not leaning it, whereas they DID clean the rest of the loco. I would be disappointed to hear that it had actually been repainted black, as this is categorically incorrect. Irish preservation, unlike the U.K. or beyond, has an unfortunate history of livery inaccuracy, with virtually every preserved coach or wagon, across the RPSI, DCDR and Cultra, in wrong liveries. There are a number of reasons for that; as a one-time carriage restoration volunteer in the RPSI, I can confirm. Comparing 186 with other locos would not be relevant; it's a different livery - indeed, the plain grey is the livery of the vast majority of steam engines. Between the mid 1910s and the early 1960s - half a century almost, grey locos on the island of Ireland outnumbered all the others by about 3 to 1. 186 should be all grey. So should 184 and 461, as these locos were this colour throughout their lives in their current state (though one photo strongly suggests 461 as one of the small number which got a coat of black in its final few years). In current form, 184/6 were entirely grey always. Lovely model above, Eoin - grey possibly slightly light - however - while the grey used, like all livery colours, remained pretty standard, jhbSenior recalled seeing a J15 or possibly J18 (I can't remember which he told me), being shunted out of the paint shop at Inchicore in a lighter grey, same shade as wagons. Also, when brand new, the loco grey tended to look lighter though it didn't stay that way long! So your model is in "ex-works" condition. Hope this is helpful. Incidentally, Eoin, where did you get those buffer beam numerals? They are absolutely perfect!

You'd think they'd have used a proper Craven.......!

But will the Dubs do four in a row?

Might I suggest that you DO get it right - very right!!! The most nit-picking rivet counter would have difficulties here.....! One thing though - I went into that Temperance Hotel of yours and they wouldn't give me a pint of Guinness.......

Yeah, it's "remember 1966" all over again! "It's coming home".....! You could understand this if England had won it 17 times. You could understand that sort of sentiment from Kerry in the Gaelic football, having won the All-Ireland 37 times, or almost a quarter of all the times it's ever been won. But - England won the World Cup.............just ONCE!

I'd probably go for a smaller version of that - one tank, perhaps....

That's exactly the type of realism I'm planning for, Mayner - thanks. I've this idea of a once-daily bus heading off to some place in the back of beyond, but to justify its existence it probably ends up somewhere - like a Clifden - Westport bus would. I like the fishing boat idea too!

Oil cans it is.... I was thinking about getting a pack of them, actually, to use as a load for one of Leslie’s corrugated opens....

Oooooooooooohhhhhh!!!!!!! Where's me smelling salts!!!

I'm thinking something like the two smaller tanks in the foreground in that pic..... it would be a comparatively small-scale thing and based in the 1960-3 period when health and safety matters weren't taken as seriously as now......

An update from Baseboard Dave has boards complete and work proceeding. It had occurred to me that one of a number of excuses for short workings into this terminus would be the fortnightly tanker of diesel to feed the CIE bus based locally, for the once-daily service to Slievemore village. I am aware that such practices existed at Ballina and perhaps elsewhere. In order to provide a realistic environment to where this wagon will end up at the end of a siding, does anyone have photos of anything of the sort? Presumably there would be a lineside fuel tank and all the associated gubbins. What would be adjacent to it - would it be an open tank, or a small brick building enclosing it all? I'm sure they didn't just unload fuel from a tank wagon directly into a bus!

The above, mint and boxed, never used, €100. This is not the same ad as the one for a V65 which I posted the other day.

That works very well, by the look of it..... The new track plan looks better, too.

Given that passenger buildings, like Cork, are sometimes on curves, it mightn't look out of place even though I'm unaware of anything prototypical. As long as it "looks right", it's your gig!

They'd never manage to have it in the right livery..... they'd probably paint the ironwork black....

Withdrawn; it has a new home.

Odd question perhaps - but do you have a photo of the tanks / storage facilities at Ballina for the buses?

New, boxed, mint; not required. €100.