jhb171achill

Priceless stuff

Great to see Brookhall again, and Kieran Lagan's and Alan's excellent BCDR locomotives. (Paddy - I was there on Saturday!)

Great work by the IRRS in digitising this old early colour footage......

I believe there’s a whole array of bustitutions planned.

Time for a “last fling” into Uncentral Station soon, methinks!

IRM - will it be possible to get these singly?

They did use a somewhat darker red initially - not a great deal darker, but a bit. A cherry red rather than British letter box red. The early railcars were a very dark purply-plum colour, later repainted red and cream, but this yoke was red and cream from new., as was its sister.

There's a pencilled date of that on the underneath, but I am unsure if Fry wrote that or not. Generall he put his dates as painted-on "makers plates", with something like "C L F 11.42" on them ("11.42" meaning, for example, November 1942). Naturally, these cars didn't have such plates, of course, so the above is not an exact science!

I’ll actually have a look at the model today to check what year he made it, out of interest.

Good stuff! That's saved me doing that tomorrow! However - David - if there is any angle you WANT me to take a pic of, let me know as i will be in there anyway at some stage tomorrow.

Upholstery in those was either a very dark navy blue or black. Driver's uniforms were also a very dark colour - probably black or very dark grey. I'll have a look at the model tomorrow to see what shape the fuel tank is, and post pics.

Never knew it was autonomous customs-wise etc..... bit like the Isle of Man, which is neither part of the UK, nor part of Britain, and when Britain WAS in the EU, they still never were................

There's the clue. What steam loco hauled Punjana containers? (Gotta be a jeep or a midland something)

Looks like one of the digitised IRRS archive films! Can we say that Tony Price or Joe St Leger took it in 1964 on an IRRS "outing" as they are (quaintly!) called.............

This one is small, but Bangor is far away............

That's the week in 1957 that they borrowed one from the UTA to assist with a busy time...........

They - plus the SSM kits shown above - are a perfect match for the J15!

Outstanding as always! Love the scruffy looking roof - the upholstery in those compartments will have a very musty smell (I remember this in old UTA steam-era coaches!)

That really is absolutely top class! I spent all of yesterday with friend Barry Carse going through severl thousand pictures with a view to organising our next book. many of these were taken in the 1970s and 80s - locomotives usually clean, but some absolutely filthy. By the 1990s, those facing retirement - first the "A"'s, then the 121 / 141 / 181s - were to be seen in an absolutely atrocious state of filth, and with badly faded paintwork and rust too. Plenty of prototypical scope for a "weatherer"!

Good spot. Yes, I'd say that's what it is.

No. Book the Belfast-Dublin one on www.translink.co.uk, and get the tram to Heuston. Book the Dublin-Cork bit separately at www.irishrail.ie.

Never seen anything like that….. not sure. Given the gauze on it, I suspect that if it is railway-related, it’s off some sort of comparatively recent machinery….?

The tram had some new boarding over it, but was very recognisable, but the BCDR coach was externally perfect! Original door handles and all, but internally stripped.

This is a superb post. I’ve no room in a small suburban garden for a thing like this but I wish I had. When I was a small person, I remember we visited a long-deceased elderly family friend in Co Wicklow who had an old Dublin tram on their farm. They had got it as a summerhouse but one of their farm workers was living in it. Another long gone acquaintance some fifty years ago had a pristine BCDR 6-wheel third class coach, still in faded UTA green. They used it as a workshop. It had tools, vices, small lathes and a whole range of work benches in it. Some time prior to the establishment of the DCDR, it was sadly bulldozed…. All long gone now, but I always wished I had an old railway vehicle and room to keep it.

I’ll have a poke about, Paul, and PM you. I’m away for a few days in Galway so will delve when I get home. Congrats on an absolutely invaluable project!