jhb171achill

Very good thinking!

Probably depends what era you want. For the modern era, various British railcars re-liveried to resemble something Irish. A British 66 repainted as a 201. Some sort of generic railcar iof it can be got cheap, reliveried in ICR livery. Just about any container flats painted brown. For the black'n'tan era, old BR Mk 1 or Mk 2 repainted black'n'tan. A locomotive would be a challenge, as nothing outside Ireland that's available at all, let alone cheap, even begins to resemble an Irish diesel loco - but there are always old Tri-ang 101 class British railcars which can be repainted - these were common on omain lines in the 60s (and before, but we'll come to that). Again, various BR box vans and open wagons, remove decals, paint chassis and body grey or brown, and away ye go. Container flats too. For the grey'n'green (steam) era, there are now repaints of British steam locos available. There's a common and inexpensive 0.6.oT which bears a good resemblance to a MGWR "E" / GSR J26; and any amount of old British 4.4.0s or 0.6.0s which given a lick of paint can pass for Irish. If repainting a British one to look Irish, essential the livery is right, as if it isn't, becvause the original thing isn't Irish, it won't look Irish! If grey, dark grey not light, and grey smokebox and chimney too; green flying snail on tender, yellow cabside number. Tank engines never had snails. Anything bigger than a 2.6.0 maybe in lined green or unlined black. Snails always green - never yellow or white! For coaching stock, the good news is that the hattons six wheelers are on their way and they won't be expensive. But if even cheaper is wanted, go for old BR Mk 1s or LMS stock and repaint them green to resemble then-new laminates. Wagons - easy - any old opens or vans or cattle trucks - all grey prior to 1970. Hopefully that's a brief summary. Always good to start off small, and no two of us have the same level of budget, so there has to be something for everyone! Good luck!

Never knew of LNER connection! Any more details? I've a vague recollction of seeing it derelict somewhere......

…..and the answer there would be yes, but very rarely, and probably one-offs. As I mentioned, Loughrea saw one at least once being used to strengthen the branch set (of one coach!), plus on mystery trains occasionally. Normally, strengthening that set meant an old laminate.

..... Now I need my smelling salts!

Not the right shade of blue, and the lining isn't quite right.................................. nicely weathered, though........

GM's are always a pleasure. Not like Crossleys.

One of the very many works in progress, Mike!! The weathering, expertly done as always, is by Dempsey, of this forum...........

In 1961, the Dugort Harbour goods rarely loads to more than half a dozen vans. But the July Fair Day is different. Here, J15 No. 150 arrives early on 20th July with empty cattle wagons for the Mart.

Between 1962 and about 1964/5 it was possible to see the thankfully short-lived “silver” livery, green and black’n’tan alongside each other. I think the very last green coach became black’n’tan about 1968. Here, it’s summer 1963. Castletown Fair Day is on, so a number of spare carriages and vans off excursions from Cork and Tralee have been shunted down to the harbour to make room up in “town”…..

Dugort Harbour only survived the 1947 closures due to the local CIE bus and road freight garage needing fuel supplies. About once a fortnight a fuel tank arrived with the goods. Here, in 1958, the Castletown delivery lorry has arrived for a top-up. Meanwhile, A30 shunts the stock for the 9.30 up mixed.

Very occasionally, but rare. I’ve photos of them at Loughrea on several occasions, but you’d wait a long time to see another. I’ve seen a photo of a mystery train excursion also in Loughrea, in which maybe half the train are Cravens. I never saw one on the Limerick-Ballina, though, and I only recall seeing one on Limerick-Rosslare once - it was a set like I’ve depicted, come to think of it - a laminate, Craven and genny van.

"Me back's killin' me.... I was up at PJ's last night diggin' turf for his oul lad..." “Look - one o’them new carriages!”

Very nice weathering! Welcome home!

“….Well, ye see, she’s related to the O’Sheas out at Tubber gates. An’ there’s the problem, because of Mick and the girl. The O’Sheas told Father Moran, and sure ye know how that went, ‘cos he’s a first cousin of Timmy Dan at the junction. Now the young wan’s off to England and she won’t be back. So the whole thing’s about who’s gonna look after poor oul Martha!….”

Mid 1960s, and A55 eases out of the goods yard at Dugort Harbour with the Tralee goods. On a drab winter’s day in the late 1960s, the midday train is seen crossing the boglands outside Castletown West. Must try to get the scenery finished…..

Superb signage! Equivalents for Ireland: STAY OUT Scumbags Shooting Up Room STAY OUT Very Smelly Room - You're on an ICR!

An interesting point in relation to this loco. Many times, in 00 gauge, never mind the lesser used 0 gauge, conversations like this take place: "It's a pity they don't make a RTR model of _____" "Well, it wasn't common / wasn't used widely / wasn't on the go in real life all that lonjg, so the market is so limited it wouldn't be worth it" .... There were but two of these things. One only worked a few years. The other only worked a bit more than a decade. Neither, with the exception of a one-off trial run to Carrickfergus, ever did anything on this island other than shunt trucks round Belfast docks - they didn't even pull actual "trains", as such. And yet - here we are; not just a model, but a RTR one; and not just that, but 0 Gauge! And superb it is too. Yes, I know it's just a re-liveried "British" engine - but - food for thought....? (did I mention UTA "Jeeps"?)

Tis a fishy concept all right; Brookhall had an ecclesiastical establishment too; the question is, of course, whether Frs. Jack, Ted or Dougal ever officiated there?

Are ye outta hospital yet?

The easy "get-out" clause is that in post-war years, many carriages (like also on the NCC) were turned out with no lining! So there's a prototype for (almost) everything..........

Senior never travelled on the CBPR (one of the extremely few lines he didn’t cover), but he was certain that just over 50 had been recorded. My own South African travels did not include a 16E, unfortunately , though I saw one - the various 15th & 12th classes, 24s, 19Ds and GMAMs that I travelled behind were decidedly pedestrian in comparison!

Looking great so far! Excellent work

I got some serious enough speeds on the metre gauge in India (with steam) in the 1970s!

Saw zebra 231 + 9002 on today; 208 + 9003 yesterday.