jhb171achill

Hello Simon. To go through your post, there's quite a lot in there, so here we go. You refer to GSR initials - I'm wondering if you mean the large letters "G S" on wagons? These can be determined by the number of planks they cover. Even on the smallest of narrow gauge vehicles (e.g. the Schull & Skibbereen) they tended to use the same large size. These were white when applied, but would become off-white very quickly, as apart from the (considerable!) weathering, chemicals from the wood preservative leaked through and took the "whiter than white" look off the white paint within days. Low plank wagons did indeed have smaller lettering, as befitted the plank. On these, they would make the letters almost as tall as they could within available space. The CIE logo went through three stages. 1. 1945 - early 1950s: Painted in light green, as on locos, coaches and road vehicles, but painted, not transfers. Numerals the same, and on a background of a dark grey like the GSR - i.e. same as British LMS wagon grey. 2. Early 1950s - late 1950s: Same as above, except painted in white. 3. Late 1950s until replaced by the CIE "roundel" from 1963 onwards: Still white, but wagon grey now considerably lighter, and both numerals and "flying snail" stencilled. After that, once we're into "roundel" times, this was always white except on "H" type and "Palvans", and the 1954 GNR cement vans. On these the roundel bit was tan, with the letters white. White numbers always. Once the all-brown started appearing from about 1969/70 onwards, without any exceptions whatsoever, logos and numerals were always white. Again, brake dust and general gunk tended to tone this down within days in traffic. The narrow gauge lines all used plain white for all wagon markings, though the C & L had at least one (something makes me think three?) open wagons for ballast which were painted yellow (a century before the time when ALL PW stuff is now painted a ghastly garish yellow!), and these had, as one might expect, black letters. The GS actually continued this for a time with black "G S" on these wagons. The Isle of Man Railway, which you mention, had white letters and numbers, shaded black. Metalwork on almost every type of wagon on all lines was body colour, not picked out in black like the zebra-like GN brakevan at Whitehead! Finally, and most importantly for those seeking accuracy, with regard to CARRIAGE markings, these were ALWAYS pale green, lined in black and gold, or (in the case of the C&L) pale green without edging. Carriage numbers on the WCR were also pale green without lining. CIE did not, ever, paint either "flying snails", lining or any numerals on any carriages, in white or gold or cream or yellow. Always light green. the "flying snails" were transfers - same as applied to buses, road vehicles, railcars and the tenders of steam locomotives. There is, of course, an exception to every rule. While it is hard to ascertain, one old Bandon bogie third, still in use at Albert Quay in the late 1950s, has been painted locally about 1955. It was in the recently-replaced darker green, but without any lining at all, and with flying snails which LOOK to be a white colour. I cannot be sure of this - it could be the normal light green, but they are placed differently and it's obviously a "local" job. With weathering, on a model whit coach markings just wouldn't look realistic even if they had been used. Two C & L coaches, by the time colour photography was in vogue, have lines above window level that are so badly weathered and faded that in a photo that old, they look whitish - but they were light green. In terms of a "wish list", I think that if commercially viable, a transfer sheet of stencilled, and weathered, white wagon "snails" would be a good thing. Modelling the 1955-70 period requires stencilled snails, again if accuracy is desired, and on a layout the white looks way too pristine. I hope this helps.

Well, proper order too - highly deserved.

Would it be possible to share the D16 drawing?

He's done an 0 gauge one instead of 00. Disgraceful. And coarse scale too.

I voted for all.

What is WRONG with these eejits who wallop bridges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

True..... they could at least have put a bit of track in it....

It’s a one-off - no plans to restore the railway.

An addendum, on re-reading: the "C" wagons C1-C100 were not all gone by 1969. The Courtaulds traffic ended either 1968 or 1969, but many of the wagons survived on ballast work, as has been seen in other pics and other discussions. I last saw the last few of them in use about 1979 / 1980.

Good to see a Dublin bus and two CIE diesels making inroads into Brexitland!

Done. (I voted for the Republican Loyalist Shinner Brexit Arlene Party).

Yes, re-engined Cs & 121s in "supertrain" livery. No genny vans; the gennies were in one of the ex-AEC cars.

GNR and NCC and GSR / CIE - pretty much the same, and I think the same wheelbase. Any RTR would do.

"The Farranfore to Valentia Harbour Railway" by Patrick O'Sullivan, volumes 1 and 2, were excellent publications by Oakwood Press about ten years ago. Within are several drawings of the corrugated iron sheeted station buildings along that line. Given the branch line nature of these buildings, they are a good size for any layout and could easily be scratch-built to have cement-rendered walls.

Most NIR opens were, as you say, cut down wooden opens. They were fairly standard across the board. Most were NCC with a few GNR - same design basically. Get one of Leslie's and give it a lick of paint (or, indeed, brake dust and filth!). If you want to scratch build, I don't know where you'd get a drawing - though many here might - but a few kits or bought standard wooden opens from one of the British lines would probably do too, unless you'd be a "rivet counter"!

Did a little research. Of the four CBPR 2.4.2Ts that went to Leitrim, two had specially cast numberplates and two had painted numbers. No. 12L had cream painted numbers - never cast plates, and was grey to the end. As mentioned towards the end it was, like other C & L locomotives, in very rough condition.

Happy January!

Happy New Year and best wishes to all here. Someone gimme a refill.

It was very dark grey, made darker very quickly by lack of care! As far as I can ascertain, one of the T & D locos on the C & L was the only narrow gauge engine to be painted black, and even that only in the last few years. Regarding 12L, I’ll delve. There was ONE of the Passage engines in the C & L which received a non-standard cast numberplate which it retained to the end, instead of a cream-painted number. It was very much smaller than the standard Inchicore plates as worn on West Clare or Dingle engines, and unusually the raised rim and number were picked out in red instead of cream.

Any of those things that I ever saw seemed very shabby, as mentioned above almost home-made bits added, and grubby.... I don’t think they lasted that long.

Heavily weathered grey will look amazing too - you could paint a locomotive as beautifully built as that, in purple with tartan spots and it would still look great!

Absolute beauty! Will it be in lined CBPR livery?

If it's been cashed, don't give up. if you want to privately PM me and give me your addesss, I know who (within the RPSI) deals with this. I will inform the relevant people.

I'd love to do Lisummon tunnel.....jhbSenior went part-way on the lifting train.... The line had been abandoned so long that saplings were growing between the rails, and many sleepers were rotten. As a result, a PW gang had to go out to repair the track so that the lifting train could get over it!

That is stunningly realistic and prototypically spot on. Absolutely superb work, and I agree with Mr Holman’s comments on small layout track detail - “Arigna Road” set a very high standard for this sort of thing a few years ago. On first seeing the pics above I was tempted to ask “where’s the photo of the model?”!