jhb171achill

He’ll be wanting a pay rise next….

Absolutely superb! Many thanks - it’s working perfectly now, and super-quick. Much appreciated.

Earlier this evening when I tried to log on the whole site seemed to be down completely, with a message saying something to the effect that service would be resumed shortly. I logged on again about an hour ago and it seemed 100% as i9t had been in the past. Maybe there was some sort of glitch in Googlestan that's been sorted out?

Livery note: In departmental use, most ex-carriages placed into such use prior to 1964 were plain DARK green, sometimes with normal black ends, sometimes red. The red ones tended to fade to an orangey colour or a salmony-pink over time; but were initially painted red. Markings varied. Lining was absent in all cases. Unlike any other green vehicles of any sort, lettering was often WHITE (like wagons), not the normal eau-de-nil (pale green). After 1964 any other, or repaints of older ones, were plain wagon grey sides and ends, with the normal black roof. Markings varied, as did positions of logos, if any. Barely any two were exactly alike. Again, sometimes they had grey ends (a change from the universally applied black for the ends of any type of CIE coaches in any livery), but occasionally red. Lettering was white. This, of course, is relevant to any coaches taken into departmental use, ex-MGWR six-wheelers included. Waterford painted at least one old GSWR bogie (used as a crew van in PW trains) in brown, and Inchicore did another likewise. An old purpose-built PW van, or possibly two of them, based in Cork in the 1950s also were painted brown (at a time when literally nothing else was). I remember seeing the latter pass throuigh Kildare on a PW train o0ne day when I was out to get a photo of the first trial run of the big ammonia wagons.

They were the same, which makes life somewhat easier!

Black and Tan livery, B141 class.

It’s the 1960s versions I would want, rather than the post-1972 shaded ones. Do those exist?

If it gets it over the line, I'd take a couple of of thirds.

Not as much as you'd expect, as the basic buildings infrastructure had been so solidly built (usually out of stone) some 20-50 years earlier, when the various lines originally opened. However, it WAS used when necessary by the GSR, GNR and NCC. Very little use of it in other companies for reasons stated.

The apparently rusted finish on the water tank itself is most realistic. Many were painted black, others with galvanised (silver) paint, and in earlier CIE times green (naturally)! This captures a black one perfectly!

You too!!

Still slow here - especially on iphone. Since all this started, it varies from adequate, rather than quick, to stuck-wont-open.... Right now, slowish.

The 31st Feb Enterprise will only operate between Dundalk and Dunleer. It will be formed of one "H" van. First class, catering, and a locomotive will not be provided. Passengers are advised to bring umbrellas, and push. Bus transfers will be in operation 2026-2029 due to a kitkat wrapper on the track at Gormanston. This will also result in Portadown to Belfast (Great Hall) being cancelled during July and August. Track maintenance between Ennis and Sixmilebridge will result in bus transfers on the Nenagh Branch, Limerick Junction to Waterford, and the Rosslare line south of Sydney Parade, from July 2026 to May 2051.

Meant to say a while back, when we were discussing six-wheelers in general, even amongst carriages all built in the same batch to identical specifications, variations eventually appeared. As early as the mid 1910s individual vehicles were being rebuilt, re-configured, rearranged. Panelling styles were simplified, end windows in half compartments sometimes covered over, internal differences - Senior recalled two identical DSER 6-wheelers which were on the Harcourt St line in the late 1920s, one of which disappeared (presumably to inchicore), returning some time later with internal partitions being half-height instead of original full height. The GSR heavily rebuilt many GSWR aqnd MGWR full 6-wheel brakes; at least one I saw derelict many years ago - can't remember the number - was actually a Midland van which had not only lost its birdcage, but had been rebuilt in a manner which made it look dowstinctly GSWR-esque. Then along came CIE, who also heavily modified some. At this stage, a comprehensive list of what was done to what (and it applied to timber-bodied bogies too, every bit as much if not more so) is probably impossible. Photos will give clues as to some; but may not be taken as evidence of what happened EVERY coach of the type concerned. Many vehicles - tho0ugh it's impossible to say HOW many - would have ended up complete one-offs. And - some were BUILT as one-offs in the first place, or maybe as a "batch" of just two or three. In both the MGWR and GSWR diagram records, only a handful of actual TYPES of vehicles (again, both bogiue and six-wheel) were built in numbers running into dozens. Most were one-offs or very small batches, or maybe 8 or 10 of a type. Complete minefield! Same with wagons, as you know better than anyone!

It’s pre-1959 anyway, as destinations on the C & L are mentioned. While the list mentions “Location of Siding”, just a thought: is there the slightest chance that in any of these cases a rail connection might have recently been superseded by lorries? If so, the date could be very slightly later…. I doubt it, but it did occur to me. Overall, Mayner’s observation is spot on; a period somewhat earlier than 1990-2000 gives way, way more opportunities.

I am indeed!

Compared with the Neighbouring Isle of funny-coloured trains, we never had anything remotely like the number or variety of yards big and small as they did. What few we DID have mostly vanished by the 1970s - some barely even made it ionto the 20th century. So 1990s is narrowing the gene pool considerably. I would therefore suggest a fictitious one rather than, perhaps attempting to replicate an actual one; or if the latter is preferred, simply use artistic licence to pretend it had lasted longer. Some of these places, where they did exist, were simply sidings off to the side of some station - for example, at one time Enniscorthy had no fewer than seven private sidings within the station itself and its immediate environs. Polloxfens Mills at Ballysodare in Co Sligo lasted into the 1970s and had a number of very short parallel sidings, connected through a short rock cutting to the station. Scenic as well as operationally interesting; indeed, possibly the best such example. You could imagine the Westport Quay line lasted longer than the late 1970s, and that the siding from the station there to two mill buildings on the actual quayside still saw atimidly crawling 141 and a couple of wagons into the 1990s. But there lies another issue. In the 1990s, loose-coupled single vans going in an out of small sidings was a thing of the past by some fifteen years. It was by then all about block workings. If you go down that road, possibly your best bet is some sort of place that handles fertiliser wagons or even just loads beet - Belleville siding near Tuam as an example? This avoids the need to have to model a whole modern industrial plant like a cement factory or a container yard gantry. Even Albert Quay in Cork in its last days handled fert trains with sometimes only 3, 4 or 5 fert bogies. If you go for something like that, you can have a fiddle yard line appearing from under a bridge or something, and just split it up into 2 or 3 parallel sidings, each of which might be so short that it would only hold 3 fert wagons - that could be made to look realistic. Locos, as in so many of these type of places, would not haul trains in (thus needing a good bit of extra space for a run round loop and headshunt), but propel them in and haul them out. I think that is probably your answer.

VERY nice work, indeed, Mol. Your output would put many of us to shame! (Me especially)

Senior transferred from the GSR to the NCC about 1944 for several years, when the latter was going through a phase of concrete engagement syndrome. The coastal erosion on the Larne line, following a period of very bad weather, was critical, and that was his area of expertise, learned the hard way round Bray Head! I always thought the NCC obsession with concrete was unsightly and bland; even ugly - but it wasn’t built to hang in an art gallery. It was efficient and very good at what it was designed for - a bit like a “Jeep”!

Why?

Love the old van body! I've several under construction at the moment....same idea....

I'm happy enough to call them 800s! (B1a class sounds a bit nerdy!)

They're neither "Queens" nor "goddesses". They were all different. Maedb was a queen. Macha was a goddess. Tailté was the wife of a High King of Ireland. The dark green with "G S" is the livery she carries now, since 1994 or so. She arrived in the north in standard CIE lined green, which she still carries, but without any markings. In her thirty-year stay in Belfast, she remained without markings. It was only once she entered the UFTM in Cultra that she acquired the "G S"; this variation of the livery was never, of course, carried in traffic - in fact she has never so much as turned a wheel carrying this lettering! So, IRM are simply giving another "fun" option in providing the model in what might be called its "Museum livery", in the same way they're offering it in the works grey it carried simply to have a photo taken when new. With the real thing only every having two operational liveries, it's a nice - and unique - additional option.

I must have a look for some details I have somewhere on W & L stock. They only had six bogie coaches, one of which was the beautiful but deceased saloon which they used as a Director’s Saloon too. W & L stock, like DSER stock, suffered a large clearout in the late 1940s and early 50s, and very little of either passed into the 1960s.