jhb171achill

I’d like to reserve 135, 131 & 125. One grey & two BnT.

Superb, Tony - well worth the time to build it so perfectly.

A fascinating little loco with a unique history. Being one of the comparatively few “private owner” locos in Ireland, and a one-off at that, makes it of particular interest. Something like its original home, a distillery siding, or its latter home shunting dock lines in Cork, or indeed a fictitious “one-off” like it would make an interesting shunting layout concept for those short of time of space. Long run I’m thinking of a 21mm gauge small shunting outfit like that with maybe a G and a few wagons... That loco will look great when it’s covered with weathered gunge!

My ultimate lot would be perhaps 3 - 4 each of J15, diesels A, C, 121, 142. I already have two 141s. So I suppose I’d be in the same boat Interesting to see if those in the know consider them commercially viable.

I would be up for just one or two more, if different numbers and somewhat under prices recent,y seen on fleabay. One or two for me, and maybe half a dozen others, wouldn't even come near to being remotely commercially viable, but if collectors and perhaps a good few large layout operators and general model world all weighed in too, who knows? My sole point being that while for me 1 or 2 more is enough, if I'm not the only one thinking this way, maybe..... anyone know what the minimum commercially viable "print run" is?

A thing of beauty; well done!

A J15 with bubbles! Well, if the bubbles had been a mere two years earlier, and steam less than two years later, could have happened...... In May 1980 I watched an 1879-built wood-burning 2.4.0 tender engine, built by Sharp, Stewart & Co., Atlas Works, Manchester*, leave Madiun (Java, Indonesia) to head off to a modern military air base with a tanker of jet aeroplane fuel in tow.....! Ye couldn't have made it up. The same locomotive lasted in traffic until as late as 1987 - one of the last steam locos of the PJKA in use. (* before they moved to Glasgow)

That's exactly it - by this time Mullingar was one of the major centres for scrapping anything from track materials to carriages, wagons and locomotives.

Very few pre-standard-CIE guards vans lasted after 1962/3, due to the closures of rural lines and the great output by Inchicore of the new 20T and 30T vans from the mid-50s onwards. I'm unaware of any definitive information as to when the last Midland van was withdrawn, though I'm unaware of any being in traffic after maybe the late 50s. CIE had perhaps as few as 2 or 3 GNR vans in use after they inherited them in 1958 until 1963/4. They also had several ex-GSWR vans in use until the mid or late 1960s. DSER vans appear to have been very long gone by these times. There was one Timoleague van, I think No. 5 of theirs, in use at least occasionally until the West Cork closed in 1961. It looked a bit like a normal goods van but with a door at one end.

I'll take ten to start you off! (But I don't want any live cows....)

I was actually thinking, Galteemore, that the style of numerals you used look very much correct - too often, many of us have little option but to use inaccurate styles of font. If that’s GWR style you’re using, it’s worth noting as suitable for pre-stencil-era CIE lettering.

Remember, as a Midland van, it’ll have “M” after its number.....! Ex GSWR - number only Ex DSER - D after number Ex MGWR - M after number Ex Bandon - B after number Many others too. C for West Clare, T for T&D, L on the C & L, etc.

Very few pre-standard-CIE guards vans lasted after 1962/3, due to the closures of rural lines and the great output by Inchicore of the new 20T and 30T vans from the mid-50s onwards. I'm unaware of any definitive information as to when the last Midland van was withdrawn, though I'm unaware of any being in traffic after maybe the late 50s. CIE had perhaps as few as 2 or 3 GNR vans in use after they inherited them in 1958 until 1963/4. They also had several ex-GSWR vans in use until the mid or late 1960s. DSER vans appear to have been very long gone by these times. There was one Timoleague van, I think No. 5 of theirs, in use at least occasionally until the West Cork closed in 1961. It looked a bit like a normal goods van but with a door at one end.

That's as good as REAL! Excellent job. While logos, lettering and numerals were often actual white when applied, virtually 2 or 3 outings had them off-white. Thus, pure white anything on a model never looks realistic. What you have done is super-realistic!

RIP

Depends on whether we want to risk offending "girth-challenged" citizens....... (hmmmm, me!)

Exactly. Notwithstanding all the above, this is why for certain of us oul fogeys, railway interest came to an abrupt halt about 1972! OK, I'll just finish watching the bluebottle in the nursing home window, and get me coat...........!

Pretty clearly, cattle trucks and horse boxes are essential aspects of a pre-1965 layout - in some areas up to pre-75. In other words, before and during the entirety of the grey’n’green and black’n’tan eras. Certainly in the case of cattle trucks, just as essential as a corrugated open wagon, a J15, a 141 and an “H” van. Now for a Midland six-wheeler!

That’s a perfect line to model for a rural feel, and as you say absolutely J15 country. Good luck with the project!

The BCDR were also keen on lattice posts.

Tis indeed - it has big gantries on it when in use. A very heavily- built thing; great modelling project for someone with 9 days a week, 28 hours a day to spare! There was a whole train of special vehicles.

That survivor was a Midland wagon - probably the last such in service (or existence, anyway).

I must consult jhb171Senior's photos of Enniskillen.....and the NCC..... The SLNCR, and nearby Donegal railways, had all manner of oddball signals, some very home-made looking. I recall seeing two photos of strange looking shortish posts on signals on the Cavan and Leitrim somewhere.

The GNR used the telegraph pole types alongside "square" ones, in many locations. Mostly, telegraph pole ones were out'n'about, with "square" ones mostly in stations - but this was not exclusive.

Very much so. In the 32 counties, square (and the occasional lattice) were absolutely the norm always. CIE introduces the round versions which started becoming common on the CIE network in the 1960s, when (also) the reflective surfaces started replacing red (NOT orange) and white paint on homes, and yellow and black paint on distants. Lower quadrant signals were universal (whereas upper were in Britain usually), with the NCC alone using lower quadrant “Somersault” types.