jhb171achill

A well-known presenter on this forum, and excellent modeller, confided several years ago that one of his iconic layouts was possibly going to be in 145 shades of grey. The reason was uncertainty about correct liveries for the models, but his research led to the (accurate) full colour version!

Thanks, Eoin. I'll check what decals of Des' I already have, as I bought a load of them some time ago at the Stillorgan show, I think. The one I'm looking at is in the original BnT livery, so the numerals are (a) the large ones on the sides, and (b) not shaded.

The RPSI Whitehead set is painted a colour close to UTA green, though it wasn't matched as such when devised. UTA green was darker than CIE. The Bachmann green isn't far off the mark - while inaccurate for a new-paint, like the cie orange / tan, weathering could dull it down. The Bachmann green is close enough to the weathered version that many of us remember.

Greetings I recently got another Murphy 141. I have two already, carrying different numbers, but the one I recently got is a duplicated B141. I want to change it to B145 or B147. The numbers on the ends are so small that I'll deal with these by judicial weathering; in real life, numbers often became obscured. I remember seeing one locomotive at Claremorris with the number on one end being completely unreadable. My question is this: regarding the numbers on the sides, what's the best way to remove the final "1", and with what transfers might a "5" (or whatever) be added instead?

I don't know if this is possible, but if anyone can download my "flying snail" icon to the left, it is from a good quality daylight photograph of an actual snail on actual CIE paint. My late father got a transfer and mounted it on a board painted with paint in Inchicore. This is the shade used on any steam locos that were green, on buses and road vehicles 1945-62, on railway station paintwork until about 1960/2, and on carriages and horseboxes 1945-55. After 1955, any NEW carriages and repainted older ones, plus diesel locomotives, would get the lighter shade.

Nun of them were harmed in the making of this diorama.

This was a GSWR Inchicore design only. Anything and everything that isn’t GSWR, with a few exceptions, and even a few that do say GSWR, are fakes. Total, lock, stock and barrel, fake. One exception was the T & D. My father took a picture of one at Castlegregory station when he travelled there by train. I’ve seen a photo of one somewhere in Tralee as well. I have a distant idea that the WLWR might have got Inchicore to make a few but I am not at all sure. I've never seen a photo or any reliable report of one.

That locomotive is an 0.0.0.....

Not really.... the big NCC ones in use before closure would have to be hand built as they were unique. Original BR stock was all 6-wheeled. Again, like virtually everything Irish and narrow gauge, scratch building would be necessary. The BR did get a bogie vehicle or two eventually, though they too looked different.

I like the point rodding. It adds a really realistic touch, as does the backscene blending into a low bank at the back. The wagons look great too - such vehicles were almost never pristine! It would be a pity to "dirty up" that locomotive, but perhaps you've considered it?

I don't know what happened to Senior's survey of the line - I don't think it survived the UTA's purges of paperwork in the early 1960s. I saw a one-page carbon copy of a summary of it, though I don't know where this is now - I certainly haven't got it. Also, he told me about it. Basically, about 1947 - I think - the NCC wondered if it would be worth converting and just sent a civil engineer over it. Senior's report said it was perfectly feasible, with a few tweaks to bridges. Despite the narrowish loading gauge of the original Ballycastle stock, the bridge dimensions were quite generous, allowing the (by Irish standards, huge!) ex-Ballymena & Larne corridor coaches to go to the line later on. (I'd love to have seen those carriages!). The last paragraph gave a summary of costs. These were deemed by the pen-pushers to be too much, given the likely traffic. Had the conversion been completed, the UTA would have closed it anyway. It might have bought the line a few more years, say until 1955, but that would have been that. Station nameboards were black with white letters in earlier NCC times. I think, but am not sure, that station paintwork was green and a lighter colour at one stage, and a buff colour with maroon later. In that case, it is possible that station nameboards changed to buff with maroon edging and writing. If I can dig up more on this I will post it, as I'm unaware of an NCC-era layout.

A vital beast for IRM to measure!

Interesting.... without seeing the full width of the van it's hard to tell which gauge it was. Some of the camping coaches at Ballycastle were old (broad gauge) Belfast & Northen Counties six-wheelers.

Let's see how the grant application goes before writing it off. The success, or lack of it, of this application (which I have seen) will either make or break the whole thing. Lack of volunteers in such a remote location is the major problem for this particular operation.

If there's another run, and correct UTA lining I would take one.

Do we know the origin of the van body - was it a Ballycastle van or a broad gauge one?

It's surprising just how many unusual sets of points were to be found in the past, as well as, of course, square crossings at Dundalk and Limerick junction. There were curved points at several locations, and diamond crossings, slips, and three-way points to be seen here and there. None were common, though, certainly compared with England.

Wow! Amazing looking beast. £285, though.... and in British Rail lining, if the white shown in the picture is accurate in real life..... UTA lining was red and a straw colour. Didn't look a bit like that (maybe it's just the photo).

Quite a few livery options for AEC railcars.... 1. GNR navy & cream 2. CIE light green (post 1955) 3. CIE dark green (with option of top-of-front-roof stripes, as in one example in Wisht Caaark) 4. Black’n’tan 5. Short-lived UTA plain green 6. UTA green with front wasp stripes 7. UTA riviera blue & thin cream window band 8. As above with wide cream band (Both the blue & cream options were very short-lived and only applied to some vehicles) 9. NIR maroon & light grey.

You're thinking of Tralee, where sadly this is the case, and it doesn't look as if it'll change any time soon.

It was operating the other week when I was there and they are submitting a grant application for a number of improvements.

Brake wheels were never red on anything until comparatively recently, nor were bogies multi-coloured until even more recently. Until about 1970, when all normal wagons were grey, brake wheels, bogies, ordinary wheels and running gear were too. Once wagons started being painted brown, all these bits were brown too, including in the fertiliser wagons. I can't recall if any ferts got red brake wheels before they were scrapped. I could be wrong but I very much doubt it. Certainly, no ferts ever had the current style of black bogies with green and blue details. Always brown bogies.

It was the West Clare.

I’m unaware of any land rovers on CIE.....

All of the above, Leslie! Serious point: it is simply not possible to accurately model the 1950-70s period without several staples. Cravens, A & 141 classes, 42ft flats, H vans and corrugated opens, and AEC railcars. Thanks to Messrs. Murphy & IRM we now have all of these bar the AEC. As a reminder to perhaps some of us here who have had fewer birthdays than I, the AEC cars were as integral as an 80 class in a north-based 1970/90s layout. CIE and the GNR has large numbers of them, initially used on the sort of duties ICRs have today, but also commuter traffic. The GNR ones would be divided between CIE and the UTA, later NIR. They were everywhere on the present system (except the NCC, where visits were extremely few). But they also got to Clones and Enniskillen, the Derry Road, Wisht Caaark boy, and Tralee - Limerick - Sligo.