jhb171achill

Jhb171Senior (whom you may remember) was a big 0 gauge man. All gone now, unfortunately, beautiful old coarse scale 1920s stuff. I could be tempted - but where to put it!

The Derry Road would be a great advantage now. The Donegal scheme though, like many similar proposals, is indeed a pipe dream, and one of the more unrealistic and unviable ones ever dreamed up!

Absolutely professional job, Ken! Yes, the profusion of grey would indeed have been less than colourful, from the mid 1910s until the mid 1970s... But we’ve gone right back to it - from orange, black and “tippex” 071s to plain grey ones!

Can you get those in 00 scale?

The postcard above is indeed a “colourised” one. The wagons would all have been plain grey in that pic, standard GSR ones. Since the loco doesn’t look to be lined, though more importantly when this line was opened, it too will be plain grey, albeit a much darker shade, looking almost black when dirty. The multicoloured wagons are a fiction for Ireland, in all of the very few places coal was handled.

Amazing place indeed, and Sean is a gentleman. Not sure if he’s into models though, but I’m sure he’d be extremely welcome here.

CIE didn’t have actual dedicated coal wagons, other than some GSR or GSWR built loco coal wagons. Out in traffic, ordinary open wagons were used - wooden bodied until early 60s, but from the late 50s the corrugated Bullied opens were used.

Yes, brake dust thrown up on the ends of the wagon. Given the lighter shade of grey used on H vans & “palvans”, it was even more apparent. But four wheeled railway vehicles were more likely to show it up.

Yes, one went to the Tramore line for bikes and prams. Ends & chassis black. Roof either black or a very dark grey. A van like this would be very heavily weathered in real life, as they rarely saw a paint brush!

Well, a van like that is absolutely appropriate for such a scenario; indeed, it's likely its the same one that was on the opening train in 1899! The livery will be well shabby by then - the light green lines in that livery were lined in thin black and gold lines, and the "snail" in gold only. The logo I use beside my name on this site is a photo of an actual flying snail transfer, so use that; the green it is mounted on is authentic Inchicore paint, as now seen on "Maedb" and various preserved buses. Ends black and roof dark grey; both weathered, though, to a nondescript dark greyish dirty colour.... Superb work.

Now that is an absolute beauty! Will it be finished in Midland, GS or CIE livery?

Absolutely superb! The clip in Mayo referred to above was, I think, between 1949 and a few years later.

RIP! It just left the Wisht Clare..... Pitt that didn’t survive (apart from Moyasta, of course)...

It was the pre-55 green, as seen today on 800 in Cultra and several preserved CIE buses. An exact sample (actual CIE paint) is on the “snail” on my logo on this site, which is a good quality (in terms of light) photo of the mounted flying snail displayed in Headhunters Railway Museum in Enniskillen. Jhb171 Senior got this done in Inchicore about sixty five years ago. Lining was the same EDN with black & gold lining, as on carriages and buses. i stand to be corrected on this, but I’m nearly sure that ends were plain unlined green, as you suggest, with the lining on sides only (despite the whole vehicle being like a biscuit tin on wheels). Carriages, on the other hand, had black ends.

I detest that term "international" that the RPSI has used for years - why not call it the "May Tour" like just about everyone does!

It's an NIR 80 class railcar acquired from NIR, for long term restoration. The one to its left is another. the remaining two-car set is now restored and the interior being worked on. The four 80 class cars are all at Downpatrick. The reason this one is yellow is that after withdrawal from passenger use by NIR it was used as part of the sandite track maintenance train, spreading this compound on rails in autumn to prevent wheel slip. NIR now have a new machine for this purpose, hence its withdrawal. The 80 class were introduced in 1974 and 1978 and withdrawn from normal passenger use about ten years ago.

Interesting, I didn't know that! A bit of Isle of Man, Lough Swilly and CDRJC practice in the south east.......

No - the border didn't exist until after all the railways were built. Having said that, the introduction of the border in 1922 would have killed it stone dead, had it been built. Its new cross-border status would have stopped it becoming part of the GSR, though, unless the actual bit that went across the new border had already been closed after only a few years (like the Welsh Highland). This would, of course, have been entirely possible!

I’ll take the beer any day, Wayside....!

I think the above quote wasn't mine.....! I am known here for posting photos upside down and sideways. My interests in tech skills in reformatting things etc etc etc etc etc are nil.....and will probably remain that way!

I like the finish on that old bricked-up goods shed. What's the finish made of? Is it, and the red brick station building, based in Kingscoùrt, by any chance?

This layout continues to fascinate - all too often scenery is incidental to a baseboard crammed with more tracks than Victoria station, which is art-form to operate but not necessarily to look at. I knew Barrow St & surrounding area well as a child, and this captures it perfectly.

Yes, the cattle wagons were the standard CIE design. After the GNR lines in the west were closed, The was a massive drop in cattle traffic everywhere. It almost vanished in the north overnight. In the south, CIE inherited many ex-GN cattle trucks but few were ever used (and do the modeller, I believe that none were ever re-liveried as CIE. Add to that a lot of GSWR and MGWR types that were worn out. CIE was embarking on a huge wagon building programme anyway, so CIE standard types took over quickly and completely. And this is what's needed for the RDS if depicted in a layout. Most horse boxes remaining were standard GSR designs, with origins in GSWR design. I'm unaware of CIE ever designing any. There's a kit of a GSR horse box, but a CIE cattle wagon is an absolutely essential part of 1955-75 CIE-based layouts. Maybe one of our excellent manufacturers will produce one?

I'll be out in daylight tomorrow..... got it all outta me system.....!

I had a trawl tonight in the Catacombs and far from finding anything, it occurs to me that I've never seen any such thing anywhere! I suspect that the IRRS is the best option. For some reason CIE seemed to want to dispose of DSER stock with indecent haste, as few locos or coaches were still extant within the 1950s. This won't help the research, as vans from other companies, locos from as far away as the Bandon, and GSWR and MGWR coaches were commonplace even on the Harcourt Street line by the mid 1950s. I have eyewitness accounts of MGWR six-wheelers appearing on that line as early as about 1928. Presumably you've seen the various types of GSWR ones, several of which survived in traffic into the early 1960s. In Ernie Shepherd's book, he mentions only about 10 goods brakes, all apparently gone by the 1950s. We may assume only GSR and possibly GSWR vans had been used on the DSE section for years...!